Essential
Elements in the Church’s Teaching on Religious Life as
Applied to Institutes dedicated to Works of the Apostolate
is the title of the May 31, 1983 document published by the
Sacred Congregation for Religious and for Secular Institutes
(now known as the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated
Life and Societies of Apostolic Life).
In it, nine
“characteristics” of Religious Life are identified.
Now, twenty-five years after the release of Essential
Elements, men and women Religious will benefit from a
reconsideration of these nine characteristics.
