The year of consecrated Life 2015.

"God consecrated life" means you profess three vows: poverty, obedience, chastity.
I insist: people of today will not or misunderstand these vows.

Poverty today means: not have enough to live. Food is daily unsecured, housing is poor, your power is minimal, you have a bad image and a painful existence. There is no hope
of development. Mostly: paid is the helper, not you.
The Namibian State and the society and the business etc... All like to eradicate poverty.
cf. "Poverty: history"  cf. New Ministry
But in the Rom.Cath.Church - there is a group of people they like poverty...  more: they profess a vow to live in poverty - very strange. But they only make a vow. In reality they never live i n poverty. Their lives are secured, not painful. They live a moderate  life.

Obedience. As we now  it's a military discipline. The commander orders you to shoot and you have to do it; without any objection. Your will is not asked for... Sometimes it's the same in business; there is an order; you have to do it. And as a pupil -you have to do the home-work; you like it or not. And in traffic - there is a stop-sign; you have to stop. Sorry - life is not going without obedience. And your God is the great Commander cf. dekalog etc...
But in public and at home we educate people to use their won thinking and to decide to do what you see is right to do; only if you are not able to grasp the intention of the order - do what is ordered (it is supposed the order knows better than you).
In the Rom.Cath.Church some people don't like to see by themselves what is right. For them: right is obedience. They don't strive to discover what is to do; they don't develop a own will - it's better to be obedient. The Bishop, the Superior knows better.

Chastity means: not to be sexually active. The abstinence may be for some people a good choice; we hope a healthy one. We know everybody is called to build up good relationships, friendships - "love each other" is a biblical call. The vow of chastity came under suspicion because of the Church-Image: to be against sexuality. The Church has framed sexuality into the marriage and is well known about homophobia. Can we not find a name, a word better explaining the well-intended purpose? Chastity is also under the suspicion that you have chosen Jesus Christ as the bridegroom (cf.  the history of Mysticism) or the famous belief "God is my all", underlying the old dualism: God or humans. No trace of Incarnation.

I'm not against the vows - please - but we should find a better word; a word explaining more clearly the ground-intention...
                                                                                              to bring a solution soon...