Lay Vocations: The consecrated women of Regnum Christi

By NADIA POZO
CS&T Staff Writer

What is it about the Regnum Christi movement that attracts young women to consecrate their lives to God as lay missionaries throughout the world?
Glory Darbellay and Alexandra Houchhaus say it’s the intense personal relationship with Christ, the fidelity to the Holy Father and the movement's strong devotion to Mary, the Eucharist and the Holy Spirit that attracted them.
“All the things that were so important to me about my faith, I saw in them,” Darbellay said. “I thought they were very solid and that I was in good hands.” This powerful apostolic movement was founded by Father Marcial Maciel and includes lay men and women, as well as deacons and priests.
As consecrated lay women, members of Regnun Christi make promises of poverty, chastity and obedience, live in community under the guidance of a general director, and do not marry. They work within the movement to re-Christianize society by serving one of seven apostolates: education, family counseling and formation, support of parish life, youth ministry, promotion of Catholic doctrine, mass media or ministry to the poor and underprivileged.
“Regnum Christi helps [Catholics] take seriously their baptismal commitment to sanctity and their call to be apostles,” said Darbellay, who works in the youth apostolate with young women.
Darbellay was 12 when she felt a calling to dedicate her life fully to God – but not as a sister.
In Saskatchewan, Canada where Darbellay grew up, she didn’t know many sisters or encounter many religious orders. Instead, she saw herself as a missionary but she wasn’t sure how she could accomplish this goal.
When she was 16, Darbellay had her first introduction to a consecrated woman of Regnum Christi. But it wasn’t until four years later, after giving up a serious relationship, secular friends and much more, that Darbellay was ready to accept her calling.
“My first two years of college were a more serious time of discernment and preparation for me. When I was 18, I started going to daily Mass and intensifying my prayer life, so when I went on the six-week discernment camp [hosted by Regnum Christi], I already knew this was what God was asking of me.”
Darbellay was consecrated Sept. 1, 1994 at age 20, only three years after the first lay woman in the movement was consecrated in North America.
“There’s a special grace being with it from the beginning, for being one of the first,” she said. “My vocation has been a gift to me, to my family and to the Church. I feel very blessed by God for calling me to this vocation and for calling me to be consecrated to this movement.”
Today, Darbellay is the director of youth ministry for eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, where she trains and assists local women in starting Challenge Clubs — small communities where 10-15 year-old girls can live out their Christian life. She gives talks, runs retreats for 16 to 30-year-old women through Youth for the Third Millennium and she gives spiritual direction to young women.
It was through the work of women like Darbellay that 22-year-old Alexandra Houchhaus of SS. Simon and Jude parish in West Chester, was inspired to live out her vocation as a consecrated lay woman.
Houchhaus was in Canada attending the John Paul II Bible School when she first heard about Regnum Christi and the consecrated life.
“I was 18 and I spent a year at the school in a spirituality program and then I spent my second year volunteering as a youth minister in British Columbia. It was during my second year that I discerned a religious vocation and I thought I’d be a sister.”
God had other plans for Houchhaus.
A friend passed on information about Regnum Christi and Houchhaus was instantly intrigued. After speaking and meeting with consecrated lay women, she felt at home.
After attending the six-week discernment retreat jam-packed with information and activities to demonstrate what lay consecrated life was like, she felt called to live out her charism within the movement.
“Our spirituality is very much geared toward what John Paul II and the Church is moving towards, which is to re-Christianize society. It’s what we’re trying to live out.”
Houchhaus took her promises of chastity, poverty and obedience in August of 2001 at 19. Currently, Houchhaus is finishing her four-year degree in liberal arts with a concentration in religious and pastoral studies at the formation center in Greenville, R.I. Houchhaus atrributes her vocation to her devoutly Catholic family and the solid Catholic formation she was given in her teenage years.
“My formation gave me a great sense of being Catholic and the conviction to live it. I love my faith.”
Nonetheless, Houchhaus is aware how hard it is for young people to discern a vocation today.
“It’s sad to say that discernment is becoming more and more difficult because there’s a lot of worldly distractions and noise so the voice of God gets buried.”
Her advice: “Pray. Grow closer to Christ in the Eucharist. I really think it was in adoration that my vocation was born. Whatever you’re called to, Jesus is at the center of your life.”
To learn more about the Regnum Christi movement and consecrated life, visit www.regnumchristi.org or contact Glory Darbellay at gdarbellay@inteducators.org.

Contact Nadia Pozo at npozo@adphila.org or (215) 965-4614