Diarmuid O'Murchu is a member of the Sacred Heart Missionary Congregation and author of Quantum Theology and Reclaiming Spirituality. In this visionary work, the always imaginative and resourceful author presents a deeply profound recasting of the three traditional vows of Western monastic and religious life. O'Murchu's radical act pulls down the walls and the exclusivity that have characterized the domestication of the vowed life. He blasts away at the insularism that feeds the culture of division and reclaims the "more authentic tradition in which the vowed life engages with the archetypal values that govern our earthly, personal, and interpersonal lives."
In place of the vow of poverty, O'Murchu suggests a vow for mutual sustainability to combat the violence of consumerism and deprivation. In place of the vow of celibacy, he presents a vow of relatedness that speaks to "the daily struggle and challenge of authentic sexual and relational growth." And in place of the vow of obedience, he outlines a vow for mutual collaboration as an alternative to centuries of hierarchical leadership and patriarchal oppression.
O'Murchu's "new way of being in ministry" offers a model of the Kingdom of God that demonstrates to the world "a call to the fullness of life." And best of all, nonviolence is the foundational value for this re-visioning of vowed living!
