Vatican document says vow of obedience shows dependence on God

Published: 2008-05-28

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A religious vow of obedience is a witness to the truth that obeying God's will sometimes involves reining in unbridled personal freedom, said a new Vatican document. "With their very existence, consecrated persons present the possibility of a different way for the fulfillment of their own life, a way where the goal is God, his word the light and his will the guide," said the document from the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. The document, "The Service of Authority and Obedience," was released May 28 at the Vatican and was presented the same day to the heads of men's religious orders at the assembly of the Union of Superiors General. In the past, the document said, religious superiors risked focusing so much of the order's mission that they could overlook the needs and gifts of individual members; "today, the risk can come rather from excessive fear of hurting others' feelings" or by focusing so much on individual talents that the impact on the order as a whole is neglected.

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