Consecrated life in the social action of the church

Abstract

At present there is a crisis of identity in the consecrated life, provoked by an understanding of the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council, which reduces it to the bionomial ordained-layperson. The answers to this crisis go in the direction of looking at the consecrated life as memoria Iesu in the Church, through the commitment of oneself in the life of the vows. The social teaching has been slow in fully integrating the religious life into the Church’s social activity, gathering the integrity of its identity. The best expression of this integration is in the Compendium of the Social Teaching of the Church. However, this integration must include the option for the poor and the work for justice. With those elements, it is possible to think the form in which the consecrated life is memoria Iesu for the Church, in its social action.