During the year 2008, our supervising Bishop retired due to health, and shortly after that, our Superior General left the Order for some reason. In the process, the newly selected Superior General moved the Order to Ft. Lauderdale Florida. A few months later, he petitioned the Archbishop of Miami, our new local See, to be our Supervising Bishop. Several months later, in early 2009, the Archbishop of Miami shut the Order down on grounds that it was not set up correctly 13 years earlier, that it had not had correct supervision during that time, and therefore the vows given were not valid. We had 24 hours to move out and turn everything over to the Church or other Non-Profit organization per our Rule of Life. (I want to add here that he was 100% correct on the past of the Order, but I’m not sure he did the right thing in shutting us down, instead of allowing us to get back within Canon and working with us to get things right.)
I began looking for other Religious Orders to join, but was universally told that I was too old, being over 40, inching VERY close to 50 (turn 50 this month, as I type this!). I was tentatively accepted to one Order and went to a Silent Retreat in preparation for being accepted, but in the middle of it, I was told that I would not be accepted due to age again.
One thing led to another and I ended up moving to Kentucky, continuing to study the Bible, the Catholic Faith, and learning all I can about God and His requirements on us.
After much prayer, and much reading and even more prayer, I very much feel the call to Religious Life, and have decided to follow the path of one of my Patron Saints, Saint Francis of Assisi, and have started a new Order, The Order of Brothers of Reconciliation, that will allow any male, 18 and older, in communion with the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and of sufficient health, mental capacity, and abilities to become a Religious into the Order. Age is not to be a discriminating factor, only being in communion with the Church, the Canon of the church, and health, both physical and mental, will be considered.
In Christ!
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I still find it hard to believe that age is so important. As you get older you know yourself so much better.
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I can understand it to an extent. The reasoning behind it is the amount of time the person, who is older, will have to give service to the community and the related ability to bring in revenues to support the community before the community must start supporting them 100% of the time, as well as the typically declining health as the person gets older and has higher medical expenses. I can sorta understand that.
But what I still have a problem understanding is that if a person accepts their calling from God late in life, why should they be stopped from the demands of God and His calling? There are ways to make it work for one and all, and in today’s secular world, having more Religious men and women as well as more Priest, at any age, is a good thing!