RE-ELECTED BY VICARS, 
WHO MEET NEW CARDINAL

Halifax Sister of Charity Maryann Seton Lopiccolo, Episcopal Delegate for Religious in the Diocese of Brooklyn, has been elected to a second two-year term as president of the National Conference of Vicars for Religious.

            The election took place March 27 in Rome, during the conference’s annual assembly. Every five years it is held in Rome. This year’s theme was: “Consecrated Life: Gift to the Church.” 

            Vicars from 37 (arch)dioceses attended the assembly and met with one of the newest princes of the Church, Cardinal Franc Rode, the Slovenian Vincentian who heads the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

            The March 24 consistory and the events surrounding it prevented him from spending more time with the American vicars, but they were pleased with the brief meeting they had with him, Sister Maryann said.

            “Cardinal Rode was very engaging, and he has a good insight on the diversity of religious life in the United States,” she said.

            The diversity of ministries involving U.S. Religious and the nature of their roles relating to “the myriad forms” of consecrated life in each diocese was the focus of a two-year “reflection process” that preceded the Rome sessions, according to Sister Maryann.

            Vicars contributed ideas that shaped a “study sheet” presented to the Vatican congregation and discussed with its officials, entitled “Vicars as Bridge-Builders: The Invitation and Challenge.”                                                                                                                                    

            Sister Maryann said the document “reflected the reality and the challenges” that face consecrated life in the U.S.

            The vicars were “deeply grateful” for the opportunity they had to describe for the members of the Vatican congregation “the continued vitality and commitment to the Gospel that consecrated women and men live each day in the Church in the U.S.,” she said.

            “Religious today share their readiness to explore new areas of ministry, to seek out unmet needs and to respond in Gospel poverty with the risk and abandon of their founders to the face of God around them,” she added.

            The ten-day assembly included conferences with Immaculate Heart of Mary Sister Sharon Holland, an American on the staff of the Vatican congregation, who discussed “Consultation and Communication in Rome,” and Donna Orsuto, also an American and a professor at the Gregorian University, on “The Challenges Facing the Church and Consecrated Life.”

            The vicars attended a papal audience and also made pilgrimages to “sacred places where the seeds of consecrated life were sown---Assisi, Montecassino, Subiaco and Aquino,” Sister Maryann said.

            Visits were arranged for vicars whose dioceses have seminarians studying in Rome and living at the North American College. Sister Maryann met with Robert Mucci, who is in his first year of theology studies there.

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4/24/06