Spiritual reform must begin with religious orders.

Vatican City -- Pope Benedict is seeking to revitalize the faith life of the Church, a "spiritual reform" that must begin with the world's men and women religious, said Archbishop Franc Rode, 71, head of the Vatican office that oversees religious orders.

That means that religious congregations must take stock, recover their "apostolic dynamism," and shed the excessive secularism of the post-Second Vatican Council period.

The vitality of religious orders has always been essential for spiritual reform in the Church, he said. For that reason, the "in-depth reform of consecrated life" is one of Pope Benedict's goals.

For some congregations, such a reform will include the recovery of their original charism, and the refocusing of apostolic energy, the archbishop said. Since the Second Vatican Council, some have abandoned their traditional fields of apostolate, only to lose themselves in uselessness or unproductive activities. The result is stagnation.

There are signs that the Church is responding to the challenge with fresh energy and new forms of religious life.

In January the archbishop presented to the Pope 25 requests for pontifical approval for new religious congregations and secular institutes. They share some key characteristics, including the wearing of a religious habit as a visible sign of identity, significant time reserved for daily prayer, and an emphasis on fraternal and community life.

"Far from the kind of dispersion that was widespread after the Council, they are taking great care to promote cohesion of their religious community," he said. "The pendulum is swinging from, shall we say, a secularist euphoria back toward a certain severity. But note that this is not an imposed severity--these young people want it and demand it."

Another positive sign is the growth of lay movements; an associated phenomenon is the birth of new forms of religious life, institutes whose various branches may include men who are ordained, men who take vows, women who take vows, and families. So far, six of these institutes have received pontifical approval.

Archbishop Rode pointed out that the global picture of religious life is quite diverse. In Western Europe, the United States, and Canada, the statistics are frankly depressing.

In Canada, for example, he said it is "mathematically certain" that, if things do not change, by the year 2040 the majority of existing religious congregations will disappear. He said that would be a shame, considering the important role of religious orders in Canada's history.

To illustrate the situation in the United States, the archbishop pointed to the two conferences of women's major superiors--the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, considered more traditional, and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which "goes more in the direction of secularization." The more traditional council accounts for the vast majority of new vocations, although their membership comprises only 10 percent of the women religious in the United States.

The real increases in religious vocations are coming in the Third World. Asia has enjoyed a boom in religious vocations, up about 40 percent in recent years. If China loosens restrictions on Church activity, that number could skyrocket, he said. Among religious orders, "everyone is more or less preparing for this, either in neighbouring countries or already inside China."

Archbishop Rode said Africa has witnessed a tremendous increase in religious vocations, but with the higher numbers have come "huge problems." "The error, if one can speak of error, is that we simply transported our structures of formation and programs of study to Africa. But they are not appropriate to the African person." It is not that Africans are less suitable for religious vocations, but that formation needs to be tailored to the cultural, economic and psychological situation of Africans.

Across the globe, the challenge facing religious orders is to move away from relativist and secularist currents toward greater "evangelical authenticity."

Education remains an important field for religious; the shrinking of some religious orders and the loss of their teaching apostolate has had severe repercussions.

"Today we see the emergence of a generation of politicians or cultural leaders who are completely ignorant of the Christian tradition" (CNS, Feb. 17, 2006).