Abstract
The author suggests that decisions taken at Vatican II threw into question the ideological foundation on which 18 centuries of Roman Catholic consecrated life had been built. The Council Fathers, albeit unknowingly, helped set into motion almost a half-century of upheaval among the members of religious congregations in the USA. The effects of that loss of identity on men religious in the USA and on their congregations is examined within the context of their almost 40-year history of renewal and adaptation. The period of preparation for the Synod on Consecrated Life is singled out as providing an important moment for reassessment among religious priests and brothers in the USA. Finally, the article points out that in the process of moving toward a new identity for consecrated life in the USA, men religious, priests, and brothers have progressed from a preconcilliar or radical form to a postconciliar or cultural form of religious life, and, more recently, to a new and transformative form wherein they are beginning to engage their culture so as to evangelize it.