Metro Detroit — Pope Francis’ announcement and inauguration of an international Year of Consecrated Life is being welcomed with open arms by men and women religious in the Metro Detroit area.

The special year, which began with the first Sunday of Advent on Nov. 30 and will conclude Feb. 2, 2016, the annual World Day of Consecrated Life, is especially needed, say local religious, given the state of religious vocations and a general unfamiliarity with much of what men and women religious do.

Sr. Rosemarie Abate, HVM, of the Detroit-based Sisters, Home Visitors of Mary, said that in today’s Church, the role of religious men and women “has been kind of lost, because there are fewer in number.”

“The (Year of Consecrated Life) helps us to give some focus, to let people say, ‘Yes, this is part of the life of the Church,’” Sr. Abate said.

This year is extra special for Bro. Richard Merling, OFM Cap., who in 2015 celebrates his 50th anniversary as a member of the Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Joseph.

“The years have gone by quickly for me, but it has been a wonderful way of life for me,” said Bro. Merling, who serves as director of the Father Solanus Guild and co-vice postulator for the cause of Ven. Solanus Casey, out of Detroit.

Bro. Merling said consecrated individuals have contributed much to the life of the Church, such as St. Francis of Assisi, the famous founder of the Franciscans.

“Just as in married life when a couple commits to raising a family,” he said, “so too with consecrated life in carrying out God’s plan to be of service to one another, and grow in deeper relationship with one another.”

Sr. Mary Cynthia Ann Machlik, CSSF, and Sr. Mary Alfonsa Van Overberghe, CSSF, are Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice, commonly known as Felicians, and serve in Livonia.

“Remembering the joy of being surprised by God’s personal call to religious life, I see the year ahead as a call to ‘wake up the world’ — the theme of our Holy Father, Pope Francis for the Year of Consecrated Life — by responding to the surprise nudges of the Spirit to see the world in a different way,” said Sr. Machlik, “and respond with new endeavors.”

Sr. Van Overberghe said it fills her with “thankfulness, joy and hope” to have the opportunity to share stories of religious life with others during the special year.

“And with much hope, I pray that all the activities of this year will encourage many other young women to choose a life of consecration to the Lord,” she added.

Sr. Karen Donahue, RSM, who serves with the Sisters of Mercy in Detroit, said her hope for the Year of Consecrated Life is to have opportunities to share in her order’s charism of mercy, and to explore her order’s main areas of concern: “nonviolence, anti-racism, earth, women and immigrants.”

Sr. Gilmary Bauer said she entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1964, and ever since has sought to respond to the challenges directed to consecrated persons by the Second Vatican Council.

“In the face of global, systematized sin we do not lose heart; rather, in the words of our founder Catherine McAuley, ‘we bestow ourselves most freely and rely with unhesitating confidence on the Providence of God,’” Sr. Bauer said.

Sr. Mary Ann Bredice, IHM, of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Monroe, is working with Sr. Margaret Alandt, IHM, to promote and plan activities for the Year of Consecrated Life.

She cited Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation, “Evangelii Gaudium” (Joy of the Gospel), in which the pope explains that people are drawn to the faith not because of proselytizing, but by attraction “to happy people,” she said.

“We should be reflecting that joy,” said Sr. Bredice. She said plans for the Year of Consecrated Life are still in the works, but that an open house, a day of prayer and service projects in Detroit are being discussed as possibilities.

In inaugurating the Year of Consecrated Life, Pope Francis said all Catholics are called to thank God for the gifts members of religious orders have given the Church and the world, to join them in prayer and find practical ways to support them and their ministries.

“Let them know the affection and the warmth which the entire Christian people feels for them,” the pope said in a letter issued for the special year. The Apostolic Penitentiary, a Vatican court, issued a note Nov. 28 specifying that both lay and consecrated people can receive an indulgence for participating in events related to the Year of Consecrated Life, going to confession, receiving the Eucharist and offering prayers for the intentions of the pope.