Navigating the Contemporary Religious Landscape

The chapter first outlines larger societal changes that impact the likelihood of Catholic women considering a religious vocation. In the present spiritual marketplace, Catholics reflect a larger culture of religious choice, constructing their own religious identity—which may not be compatible with previous models institutes in canon law. Distinctions are drawn amongof vowed religious life. The second section of the chapter summarizes the official categories prescribed for Catholic religious consecrated life, secular institutes, and societies of apostolic life; among contemplative, monastic, and apostolic institutes; and between diocesan and pontifical institutes. Newly forming religious movements are described, as are the two umbrella conferences for Catholic sisterhoods in the United States: the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR).