Community July 1
In the collegial community of life that we desire, all members have the same rights and duties except as stated otherwise in law (Const. 9.2).
It is true that the life of Canons Regular, among them the Crosiers, has its roots primarily in the priestly, clerical life of the Church. However, history shows that, even in the days of St. Augustine, lay members were welcomed into the community who had no intention of being ordained. In the history of our Order, particularly from the 15th century onwards, lay men (“conversi”) were admitted as members, although like serfs without political status and vote, living in lodgings separate from the priests and having a well-defined role as manual laborers. This definition of the Crosier brother, linked to the culture of the times, had to develop during the centuries to a point in our own day when the brother assumes equal membership with the priests of the Order. This was influenced largely by society’s growing sense of human equality and the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council. All the members of the Order are called to the same vocation: a balanced life of the three pillars of community, liturgy and ministry in the context of a vowed commitment to the evangelical counsels, all inspired by the spirituality of the Cross. Discernment about ministry, whether as priest or brother, is secondary. The commitment to the same way of life is the foundation of the community.
What removes the dirt is the dustpan and broom together. (Lega)
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