Modern Ascetic Practices – Theory and Practice from the Perspective of Catholic Context

Abstract

The aim of the article is to discuss the changing place of ascetic practices in Catholic consecrated life today. In our investigation of the proposed problem, we focus on official Church documents, sociological studies of the phenomenon and interviews with nuns which we conducted in Poland in 2018. The three sources not only allow for defining the very phenomenon but also unveil the changing place of ascetic practices in Catholic consecrated life today, and beyond the consecrated context. The article is divided into three sections. The first one presents official Church definitions of the phenomenon under scrutiny and depicts its selected, contemporary theological understandings. The second one reviews sociological studies of contemporary ascetic practices in the Catholic context. The last section concentrates on selected aspects of our qualitative study of contemporary transformations of religious life in Poland. Using data collected during qualitative interviews, we demonstrate how nuns from a cloistered monastery understand ascetic practices in their life.