Go geeks!!

I am really not that familiar with the past discernment process (40-50 years ago plus) of nuns. I know most entered right after high school at age 17 or 18. One of my nun friends went to a boarding high school for girls who wanted to be sisters. So her choice was made at age 13. She said her grandmother always told her that she was the one in the family to be given to God while her sister was the one to marry.

It seems almost like being a nun was just something you did back then, especially if you were a devout and religious parochial school girl. I don’t know if tons of thought or discernment was behind it all. Most 18 year olds are really still just kids. It’s tough to make lifelong decisions then. I know I wouldn’t want my daughter to get married or enter religious life until she was at least in her mid-20s.

Since women can do whatever they like in this day and age, it does seem that religious life will attract more women who are interested for the right reasons, i.e., not just to escape marriage, have a career, do what their friends were doing, etc. I find this positive.

donna

Anyway, the reason people think of nuns as the tyrants is because as children many did know nuns who were like that. My parents can tell you stories of being smacked on the hands with rulers… but my parents can also tell stories of sisters in the same order who played jump rope with them on the playground.

Sisters I knew told me that sometimes it was an expectation for them to act like the “tyrant.” Some didn’t want to smack kids with the ruler, but were expected to. Other sisters have told me that some of those tyrant sisters weren’t very healthy mentally.

Today there are more psychological screenings for the sisters. And I hope better discernment. Sisters told me stories that they didn’t have much discernment! Many of them just went through with the other 20 some people they entered with. Sisters told me they were never asked what they wanted.

I think even today we know sisters who are loving and very spiritual. But we also know some that don’t know a loving God, and sometimes aren’t loving to one another… very similar to the world… we know people in the world who are loving and some who aren’t so loving towards us… I think all of us have to work on being loving like Christ and that is a life long challenge.

My hope for formation today is that it is for women who know a loving God, who are able to discern knowing their choices, and who are healthy. I think Donna had a very good point- that while some women are called to marriage, some of the sisters did things women of that time couldn’t do. But women today can do the same careers as sisters. So what is religious life today? It is a mystery God is leading us to.

But I hope we can see Christ in one another no matter what vocation we choose. Oh man, I sound like I’m on a soapbox now!

This is indeed one interesting, thought-provoking topic.

From what I have seen through the years, most people (many of whom do not really know any nuns) think of them mainly as, as you mentioned, either “angry, ruler-armed tyrants” or sexually “repressed.” Some people do view nuns as holy. (That’s positive!) Others see nuns as just plain bizarre. There is most definitely a tendancy, whether just randomly among those in secular society or in the media, to mock nuns. It’s also considered politically correct to mock any Catholics/Christians. Well, I don’t want to get on that soapbox here.

Although I grew up in the Church, my exposure to nuns was minimal. I had a few for CCD and one as a guidance counsellor in college. I never really thought that much about them. Occassionally, I’d hear the nun jokes and other paltry comments. Everybody seemed to think they were funny. Noone objected. Either did I at the time.

During my 20s and most of my 30s, I was only a sporadic churchgoer. As the result of a dramatic conversion experience, I became very religious. It was then that I got a spiritual director and began attending retreats, workshops, started doing charity work, etc. Through these activities, I came in contact with a lot of nuns. Much to my amazement, I found most of them to be women of substance, i.e., intelligent, educated, spiritual, committed, just plain good people. I really enjoyed their company. It was refreshing to talk with folk who weren’t always focused on money, prestige, etc. I love being with people who love God.

The most impressive part about nuns, though, is the role they have played throughout history as WOMEN. I recently heard a statistic that the RCC has educated, nursed, housed, fed and clothed more people than any institution in the entire history of the world. Who did all that work mostly? Yup. Nuns. Who founded hospitals, colleges, missions, etc. Nuns. While women in other cultures were limited to marriage and children (which is a good vocation – it’s mine), sisters were CEOs of educational institutions, healthcare organizations, bankers (in monasteries), composers, poets and artists. Sounds like something Gloria Steinem was fighting for in the 60s. Too bad she didn’t read any Hildegard of Bingen (ok, maybe a bit of an exaggeration!).

If sisters, the Church, the guy who owns Domino’s pizza, etc. could publicize how crucial women relgiious were to the development of society/civilization in Europe, the US, etc., the general public might just be shocked into respect.

As you said, Sister H. Prejean has had a positive presence. And Mother Teresa, noone could question her. On the videos, I personally liked the interview with the sister relaxing on a couch, petting her dog.

donna