Professor Donna Orsuto is a lecturer at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and an expert in lay and marital spirituality. She was in Singapore recently to speak about critical issues facing Catholics today. Here is a condensed version of the exclusive interview she gave to Nick Chui of the Singapore Family Life Society.

HELLO PROFESSOR Orsuto. Could you share with us your vocation story. How did the Lord call you to what you are doing today i.e. your interest in lay, family and marital spirituality?

I was from the United States and I had a degree philosophy and religion, and I came to Rome to work for one year at an ecumenical centre called Foyer Unitas (in the 1980s).

My original plan was to study for one year at the Gregorian University and then return to the United States and get a job, or go to graduate school or do something “useful”.

I was quite involved in the Charismatic Renewal at that time, and I was in a prayer group in Rome called Lumen Christi. I was studying in the Gregorian University and I learnt a lot about Ignatian spirituality. In going thorough a discernment process I came to the conviction that I should stay in Rome to continue my studies.

In a certain sense, I always had in my life a sense of Divine Providence, leading me to the next step. And so, one thing led to another and as I was finishing my degree—a Licentiate (a masters and a doctorate)—I became more and more convinced my vocation would be as a single lay person totally committed to Christ, living a celibate life. A sort of a life of Nazareth, a hidden life dedicated to the Church in service. I came to the conclusion when I did an Ignatian retreat in 1989.

Let me go back a little bit: while I was working for my doctorate in 1986, the ecumenical centre which I worked at before closed down, and it was at that time a friend and I decided to start the Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas.

How was it different from Foyer Unitas?

This friend and I started the centre for lay students studying at Pontifical Universities because there are lots of houses for priests, seminarians and religious but there wasn’t really anything for lay people that really respected the lay vocation. So while I was doing my doctorate, we started the Lay Centre which flourished and did very well. Basically what we do is try to provide a community life for lay students and some sort of formation for them in their spiritual life and to help them discern what God’s will is for them.

We also had an educational component when other lay people who are not living with us but are living in Rome come to the centre once a week for classes in scripture and theology At the third level, we have people who come in for week-long programmes. We just recently did a programme (in Rome) on praying for a group from an Ignatian parish in Washington D.C. They came and we had a combination of lectures, sightseeing, fellowship and opportunities for prayer and spiritual growth together.

At that time I was the director of the Lay Centre. So as I did the Ignatian discernment in 1989, it became clear to me that my vocation seem to be as a single person living with a commitment to the Church, connected to the Lay Centre, and at the same time teaching at the University. So I am a sort of juggler, juggling two duties. Just recently I was granted tenure and promoted to a professorship. A pleasant surprise indeed!

Throughout this period I have been very active in helping lay people realise they have a vocation, that the lay state is a vocation proper to itself, and that they have a mission, a mission in the Church. People who are married and have secular professions are to be a leaven in the world, and also some lay people may have a special vocation within the Church, like in the United States, like what we call the lay ecclesial ministry.

So there are two ways of living out a lay vocation?

Yes; the majority will be in the world, but there are some who have a special call to serve the Church. So I see my call as helping both groups of people, really, as well as priests to help them think about working with lay people and collaborating with them. So that’s one of the things I do.