Sr Mel Williams OSU, new Vicar for Religious in Brisbane Archdiocese. PHOTO: The Catholic Leader.
Many of us may look at religious life today and see dwindling numbers, ageing communities and an uncertain future but Ursuline Sister Mel Williams sees much more – she’s positive and excited about what is happening here and now, and it’s a spirit that is infectious, The Catholic Leader reports.
It’s that spirit that she brings as Brisbane archdiocese’s new vicar for religious, succeeding Josephite Sister Moya Campbell.
Appointed by Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge, Sr Mel said she would be helping him fulfil the part of “his role as leader and teacher of the archdiocese that includes caring for consecrated people so they can live out their commitment faithfully and fruitfully within the Church”.
Considering the challenges and opportunities that are offered, Sr Mel’s aware of how some see diminishment in religious life.
“Some people would say that the challenges would be diminishing numbers and ageing … I’m not too sure; I think we go in waves,” she said.
“There have been many waves of growth and diminishment in religious life.
“And, when we look around the world as well, there is in some places a flourishing of religious life – not so much in our area.
“Diminishing numbers – or even ageing – are not really a worry. I think we’re just like the rest of the population.
“Instead of looking at a ‘golden age’, I think we should just look at what we are.
“And there’s a great number of religious men and women in the archdiocese.
“Having lived right through from Vatican II (Second Vatican Council) to now, there’s been wonderful development and change, and I think we’ve come to something, really, very good.
“At Vatican II we were asked to go back to our sources and, of course, that was our foundation and our Gospel – not that we haven’t been with the Gospel before, but we certainly did a lot more of looking at our origins.
“And that gave an enormous energy to religious life or to members of religious life, and there was a diversification in what we did.
“When we look at the group, which has aged and there is not a lot of new vocations in Australia or in our archdiocese, we see we’ve got a body of people who’ve lived a life of closeness to Jesus and I think there’s maturity, there’s wisdom and in some ways I think they’re a bit of a powerhouse, really.”
For Sr Mel, another important point about religious today “is that they’re mostly found at the edge”.
“We have wonderful institutions – we have hospitals and great schools and they are now run by lay people and there are still religious in some of those schools, mentoring,” she said.
“But I’m amazed … A couple of years ago, I went to a prayer for people who work in prisons and I was so amazed at how many religious men and women there were who were working in the prisons.
“I think a lot of the work (of religious) now is hidden but it certainly isn’t (hidden) at the edges – it’s with refugees; it’s in education still, sometimes working with staff; and also there are wonderful foundations (including lay people) like the Mary MacKillop Foundation, Edmund Rice Foundation – they’re wonderful, and they’re adaptable; they’re adaptable to what’s happening.
“(People in religious life) can make a great contribution to the community today, I think, by who they are, now.”
This article is an abridged version of an article by Peter Bugden, published in The Catholic Leader. Read the full article here.