the Vocatiometer: A young person's perspective on challenges and hopes of consecrated life in Africa

Given the prominent and pervasive role played by religious life within the Church and in the world-particularly in Africa-what will the Church of tomorrow look like, when we know that vocations to religious institutes are now few and far between, or as scarce as water in the desert? This question deserves particular attention, given that the digital culture-within which consecrated life must forge a path of attractive evangelical renewal-seems to offer it no opportunities. This culture is now making its way into the Church and all its structures. There, it is slowly but surely altering certain habits and fundamentals. This intrusion of digital culture sometimes gives rise to new behaviours that seem to strip of their substance all the assurances that make the Church and its institutions distinct from, or even opposed to, the world and its spirit. At the same time, it is building bridges which, if approached with courage and caution by men of the Church and its leaders, could prove decisive in ensuring that the message of the Gospel penetrates the world to its very core and transforms it. But we must dare to do so!