This seminal work which surveys the historical rise and fall of religious orders and congregations reveals the fundamental dispositions that these institutions need to integrate into a new spirituality and sense of mission. These include: * Being faithful to the new Reign of God as a companionship of empowerment * Internalising a cyclic sense of the paschal mystery in history * Embracing God's creation as our primary eschatological space * Learning from the great Foundresses, including Mary Josephine Rogers * Reading the signs of the times of the 21st century