Religious brothers

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A word about the vocation of religious brothers from Catholic News Service: 

RYE, N.Y. (CNS)—Religious brothers say they are an invisible group in the church, but that it's not such a bad thing because it allows them the freedom to be ordinary men performing an extraordinary ministry.

That's the view of brothers and other participants at a think tank convened last fall to examine their vocation.

“Our vocation is one of the church's best-kept secrets,” Holy Cross Brother Paul Bednarczyk, executive director the National Religious Vocation Conference, said. “We are vowed religious who commit ourselves to a particular ministry, live in community and share prayers.

“We are not part of the hierarchy of the church, which gives us more freedom in ministry to respond to those most in need. Our vocation complements the religious priesthood,” he said.

The number of religious brothers in the United States fell from 12,271 in 1965 to 4,477 in 2012, according to statistics compiled by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. More than half are at, or close to, retirement age.

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