Orders that Preach

[Julie]

So, I've been learning about the original Franciscans and Dominincans. It's very cool to read about how the brothers went out and preached, not just as a sermon to people already in the Church, but as a way of calling to conversion.

Obviously, as Christianity spread, that kind of preaching moved more to missionary activity. But missionaries now seem more focused on  people who need the corporal works of mercy (which is obviously wonderful, and not a bad thing at all). 

But now, in developed countries, we're back to the same situation that we faced in the early days. There are people who are vey materially comfortable, but do not know the faith. I don't mean Christians who are badly catechized or who have become lukewarm (the people the New Evangelization is meant to help, I think). I mean that there are people who don't know even the basic outline of salvation history, beyond popular holidays. People whose only knowledge of Christianity is this:

"Christians say Jesus is God. They say He was born on Christmas and rose from the dead on Easter. He died on a cross."  Plus some associations (both true and false) that they have between Christianity and morality or politics. They MIGHT know a vague outline of the story of Adam and Eve, and (even less common) of Noah's Ark. 

Sure, these people (my peers! I was so shocked in high school to find out how many people didn't have the vaguest inkling of original sin or why Christ died! They'd never heard of such a thing.) have a lot more knowledge of/familiarity  with Christianity than the pagans of old did. But they still have never even HEARD the Gospel. They don't know.

Is there any order that helps those people? 

If there is, are there Sisters  that help those people? (I know that "the first time around" it was pretty much Brothers that did this sort of thing.) 

 

Edited January 9, 2016 by Julie
I accidentally copy and pasted some random thing to the bottom

[katherineH]

It sounds like you are interested in missionary work.  We often associate being a missionary with going overseas to under developed countries but there is plenty of missionary work to be done here as well, namely in educating others about the tenets of the faith.  A few orders off of the top of my head:

• Servants of the Lord (they do street evangelization, go door to door inviting people to their events, very heavy on outreach. I have a friend who joined them and she said they regularly go to airports and set up a table to talk about the faith!)
• Parish Visitors (go door to door inviting people to Mass, catechizing their families)
• Franciscans of the Renewal in NYC (serve the poor, but also very involved in evangelization)
• Daughters of St Paul (evangelization through media, they do a lot connecting with non-believers and engaging culture)

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

I'd also recommend looking at the Dominican Sisters of St. Joseph in Lymington, England. They are not classroom teachers as many Dominican Religious Sisters are, but instead do things like lead classes for catechists and work with others to publish educational materials on the Catholic faith. They are a small Community but steadily growing. (God willing, they hope/expect to have one, possibly two new postulants in 2016.) Here is their Web address http://www.dominicansistersofstjoseph.org/

Although they are in the UK, the Community includes Sisters from at least four countries (including two from the U.S.--both former Phatmassers). If you can somehow get the plane fare to the UK, you could go for a visit/retreat. (The priory is located in a beautiful part of England--worth a visit even if the Community is not what you're looking for.) In the one situation I am most familiar with, the U.S. Sister makes a two-week home visit back to the U.S. every year. Worth a look at their Web site, at least.

Note to longtime Phatmassers: This is the Community where Laetitia Crucis (now Sister Mary Catherine) is a Sister. Pending final approval, she hopes to make her perpetual profession in the fall of 2016. Time has passed so quickly! She is very happy, and every time she writes to me asks for prayers for strong vocations. There is so much work to be done, and there are many unmet needs that the Sisters cannot fulfill. When I read their Web site, I am amazed by how much the Sisters DO accomplish.

[Fr. Antony Maria OSB]

Another wonderful order is the Franciscans of the Eucharist of Chicago. They're a very new order (canonically established in 2010), but they do wonderful work among the poor in Chicago. They do both corporal works of mercy and evangelization in their area. You might be familiar with Sr. Alicia, who was the Franciscan on Chopped not too long ago: she was one of the first two young women to start their novitiate in 2010. Here is their website: http://www.franciscansoftheeucharistofchicago.com/

[Nunsuch]

Other such communities are the Sisters of the Holy Family in San Francisco: http://www.holyfamilysisters.org/

Mission Helpers (Baltimore, MD): http://www.missionhelpers.org/

Daughters of the Heart of Mary: http://www.dhm.org/

Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement: http://www.graymoor.org/

And there are many, MANY individual sisters in a lot of congregations who do the kind of mission work you are talking about.

[vee]

Carmelites do this, yes the cloistered ones  St Therese is the co patron of missionaries because although she didnt go anywhere she dedicated her prayers, life, sufferings everything for the conversion of souls and for the priests working in mission areas especially.  St Dominic, before he founded the brothers, established the nuns years before any preaching began in order to have that spiritual basis there.    I think in the heart of every good cloistered nun is the heart of a missionary, and the heart of every active missionary must have that deep prayer life.  St Francis Xavier would take a whole month off and spend it alone with God in order to recharge. 

[Nunsuch]

What Vee suggests is correct, which is why the Maryknoll sisters began a cloister about 10 years after the congregation was approved. It still exists, and a requirement for entering the contemplative house is that one has served at least a decade in the missions.

But in the early years (i.e., the Middle Ages), Periculoso required that all women in vows be enclosed. So even if a woman was called to active ministry, she had no such options. That is very different from today, of course. 

[Julie]

Thank you all for the abundance of suggestions! 

I'm not sure if this is what I'm called to do, but I'm very glad that someone is!

[josephine]

The little sisters of the lamb, they also have a monastery in the USA.

http://www.communautedelagneau.org/

[Julie]

1 hour ago, josephine said:

The little sisters of the lamb, they also have a monastery in the USA.

http://www.communautedelagneau.org/

Wow! I had no idea that anyone was still living this way! How beautiful! 

The website you linked doesn't seem to work for me (all I can see are three photos... No info at all) but I found a news article and Wikipedia entry about them. Really, really intriguing! Do you know much about them?

[katherineH]

49 minutes ago, Julie said:

Wow! I had no idea that anyone was still living this way! How beautiful! 

The website you linked doesn't seem to work for me (all I can see are three photos... No info at all) but I found a news article and Wikipedia entry about them. Really, really intriguing! Do you know much about them?

Here is a recent thread about them. 

[Julie]

6 minutes ago, katherineH said:

Here is a recent thread about them. 

Thanks!

I feel so dumb. I actually started that thread after hearing about them (though not really knowing what they were all about), but I guess I completely forgot to read the replies! 

So, thanks for reminding me!

Edited January 10, 2016 by Julie

[veritasluxmea]

Pretty much any order that teaches is preaching in a sense- preaching is just combining Jesus' two missions, teaching and healing. So obviously any Dominican order, such as the Nashville Dominicans and Ann Arbor Dominicans. In the east they even go out onto the streets sometimes to talk about the Faith with people, similar to what St Paul Street Evangelization does.