The Place and the Role of Consecrated Life in Our Church According to the Apostolic Exhortation »Vita consecrata« of John Paul II

Tema ove studije je istraživanje redovničkog identiteta i poslanja na temelju ekleziologije Drugog vatikanskog sabora, te neposredno na temelju pobudnice »Vita consecrata« Ivana Pavla II. na postavkama koncilske ekleziologije. Pobudnica aktualizira i nudi teološki dozrelu tezu o vrijednosti karizme utjelovljene u redovničkim zajednicama, iako pastoralna primjena iste nije paralelno dozrijevala u Crkvi. U Pobudnici nalazimo vrlo jaku težinu kulturološke stvarnosti s kojom se povezuje mogućnost što ju karizma krije za naše vrijeme; ta mogućnost je shvaćena kao poziv koji uvodi redovničku osobu u premišljanje svoga oživotvorenog identiteta u odnosu na zahtjeve i ponude suvremene kulture. Nalazimo Pobudnicu teološki primjerenom, a pastoralno sugestivnom osobito za naše eklezijalne prilike koje su najčešće ostale na važnoj, ali ne i jedinoj, ekleziologiji hijerarhijskog ustroja Crkve. Postavka Pobudnice ide prema izgradnji Crkve - zajedništva u kojoj karizme redovničkih zajednica imaju okus Duha koji povezuje postojeće i stvara novo.The author elaborates theological postulates of the identity and the mission of consecrated life, according to the Apostolic Exhortation of John Paul II »Vita consecrata«. On the ground of the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council, the Exortation takes seriously and offers a theological mature postulate of the value of charism incarnate in religious communities, although the same has not found, paralely, an adeguate pastoral application in the life of the Church. The Exhortation has a strong cultural postulate, which is connected with a hidden force of the charism for our time, and that is why consecrated persons should rethink about the revival of their religious identity facing the challenges of the contemporary culture. The Exhortation is theologicaly adeguate and pastoraly suggestive particularly for our ecclesiastical circumstances, which often remain only at the level of a hierarchical ecclesiology, which is very important but not the only one. The main theological stream of the Exhortation is tο build up the Church - Communion, in which charisms of religious communities has a taste of the Spirit who links together the old stuff and creates the new one