Vow of poverty and its social implications

In this brief paper, Paul Grehl (1985) outlines the three dimensions of the vow of poverty: juridical, mystical, and social. It is his focus on the latter that demands attention.

Children in the rubble of poverty, highlighting the reality of global poverty, with 8.5 percent of the population living on less than $2.15 per day.

Father Grehl foresaw many issues which surface in social analysis today. In assessing an integrating religious lifestyle as engaging the disintegrating effects of poverty, he writes...

"Rather, our [religious] way of life [as Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales] will clearly reveal our desire of and search for a society organized with a view to what is human: values of being, service, true democracy, sharing and community tasks, creative work, feminine and masculine leadership, joyful and liberating simplicity of life, complete truth, defense of the poor and oppressed."

Short but value rich, Fr. Grehl's paper is located in the Practical Religion section of the Fournier Online Library.

Mark Francis Plaushin