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Buzzworthy Sisters
By Sister Julie | November 28, 2007
A recent article from the Washington Post on nuns … What do you think?
Buzzworthy Sisters in Habits Headed to Va. School
Nashville Dominicans Known for Youth, Adherence to TraditionsBy Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 25, 2007; A01
People wait an hour in line to talk with her, pack standing room only into a bar to hear her, and some even squeal when they see her, this woman in a sister’s habit.
She is Sister Mary Jordan Hoover, principal of Northern Virginia’s first new Catholic high school in two decades, a $60 million state-of-the-art project that will open in Dumfries next fall. At a time when it’s possible to count on one hand the number of Catholic secondary schools that open each year in the nation, her arrival in Virginia represents good news for supporters of Catholic schools.
But the cheery 42-year-old brings another major layer of buzz to the Arlington Diocese because she is a member of the Nashville Dominicans, rock stars in the world of Catholic religious orders. Although the number of religious sisters in the United States has plunged since the 1960s, resulting in an average age of about 70, there has been an increase in recent years among traditional, habit-wearing orders, including the Nashville-based Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, which has 226 members and a median age of 35. It recently raised $46 million to expand its chapel because the sisters were spilling into the hall.
In her floor-length white habit with black veil and a rosary around her waist, Hoover is the picture of affirmation for traditional dioceses, including Arlington’s.
And that makes her a hot property. With a stated mission of teaching, the Nashville Dominicans get letters and phone calls almost daily from dioceses across the country, asking that they send their youthful — and overtly devout — vibe to one school or another.
“The bishops are circling Nashville,” said Timothy McNiff, schools superintendent in the Arlington Diocese, who introduced Hoover at an open house in Woodbridge this month for the new school, which will be called Pope John Paul the Great Catholic High School. Officials have a target enrollment of 475 next fall for the four-year school.
More than 150 people came to what was about the 20th such event in the past couple of months, including one in a packed Irish pub in Alexandria. McNiff himself has been to Nashville six times.
There is little detailed research on women who join Catholic religious orders — called “women religious,” “sisters” or often “nuns,” although technically that means a woman who is cloistered. Although traditional orders make up a small slice of the pie, they are where the growth is.
“This generation is more conventional in their outlook and more traditional in values,” said Brother Paul Bednarczyk, executive director of the National Religious Vocations Conference. “Given the relativity of our culture, they really want to know what it means to be Catholic, and symbols — like habits — speak to them deeply. They want people to know they have made this radical choice.”
Some experts say the growth of traditional groups is because their work goals of teaching and nursing, for example, have remained clear; they haven’t strayed as much as more progressive orders into a broader array of careers where they often live and work alone, apart from their sisters. Others say they are the natural result of Pope John Paul II’s papacy, during which the church refocused on its orthodox roots after the social turbulence of the 1960s and ’70s. Some think their meditative lifestyles are simply more attractive in an era of nonstop communication.
Regardless, a sister in a habit makes clear what is unique about Catholic schools at a time when there are hundreds of thousands fewer students there than a decade ago.
“If Catholic schools don’t look any different and use the same textbooks and have the same teachers and the same standards, why have them?” asked Sister Patricia Wittberg, a sociologist at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis who studies religious orders. One way to distinguish yourself is “to get a bunch of women in habits in there. They are icons of Catholicity in a diocese that wants Catholicity.”
The Nashville Dominicans stick out even within the traditional group because their identity has been so solid, said Michael Wick, executive director of the Institute on Religious Life, which is affiliated with the conservative Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious. They have never veered from teaching, and they move to new cities in groups so they can stick to their schedule: wake at the same time, pray and chant together three times a day, meditate together, eat together in silence. Their reputation is of being upbeat and young; promotional material shows them playing soccer and walking on the beach.
“They have always been clear as to what their identity is as a community and how it’s expressed. If you diversify your ministry so much, it’s hard to say what your community does,” Wick said. “And young attracts young. I think other [traditional orders] are learning from them.”
The Nashville Dominicans’ growth started about 15 years ago. At the time, about three or four women would join each year. Since then, the number has jumped to about 10 to 15. From 1965 to 2000, the most recent year for which data are available, the number of women religious in the country dropped 54 percent to about 80,000.
The audience at the recent high school open house was stirred to applaud after McNiff rattled off some of the features of the new school: a glass-walled cafeteria with “bistro-style seating” overlooking the woods, 11 life-size statues of saints, three athletic fields, a 500-seat auditorium. “But all of this would be for naught if we didn’t have adults who are willing to wear their faith on their sleeves,” he said in introducing Hoover to loud applause.
The school will be the single largest expenditure of Bishop Paul S. Loverde’s eight-year tenure. The money will come from bonds, a capital campaign that has raised $12.5 million so far and fundraising. The land, worth $14.5 million, was given to the diocese and isn’t included in the $60 million cost. Construction is expected to continue into next summer.
Arlington is an exception to the national norm, with its school enrollment increasing 15 percent over the past decade to 18,500 students, due in part to population growth in the region. Diocesan officials say this helped them attract Hoover, a trumpet-playing sports fan who was once a resident assistant in a college dorm, and two other sisters from Nashville.
Arlington also has what is considered one of the nation’s more conservative dioceses and was one of only two — along with Lincoln, Neb. — to ban female altar servers until Loverde lifted the ban last year.
Religious sisters and brothers and priests haven’t vanished from Catholic schools: There are 42 out of 1,200 full-time professional staffers in the Arlington Diocese’s school system. Nationally, the percentage is about 4.4 percent, according to the National Catholic Education Association.
But the religious life is remote to most American Catholics. When Hoover gave a lecture in August at Pat Troy’s Ireland’s Own pub in Old Town Alexandria to a group of young Catholics, she went through the basics of how sisters differ from nuns, what a habit is, what it means to be chaste. “It means to give our entire being to the Lord. We don’t become neutered; we’re still real women,” she said in her upbeat, teacherly cadence.
Only four Catholic secondary schools opened nationally last year, so the opening of a high school is rare. And this school is even more so: Pope John Paul will have an extensive bioethics curriculum required for all four years, a first for a U.S. Catholic high school, according to the National Catholic Bioethics Center, the country’s largest Catholic think tank. This was a major draw for the Nashville Dominicans, who are writing the curriculum as well as running the school.
At the open house at St. Thomas Aquinas Regional School in Woodbridge, Marie Meyer and Stephanie DeRaymond beamed as a 50-person line waited to talk to Hoover.
“I’d love my children to be taught by a nun! It’s just unheard of, especially in this day and age,” said DeRaymond, a 41-year-old mother of two, practically squealing. “They’re going to say ‘No’ to a nun? Not do their homework?”
Meyer, 39, a mother of three, nodded in agreement: “To have them be taught by nuns in a habit — that alone will make a major difference.”
Across the room, Maria Moghtadaie and Tania Kestermann, both parents from Woodbridge, reminisced about sisters who taught them when they were growing up. Moghtadaie remembered being ordered to kneel for hours in a public hallway; Kestermann remembered being told to slap her own face.
“There weren’t nuns like the Dominicans. They’re happy, open,” said Moghtadaie, 44, who works in sales.
Kestermann, 38, who does clerical work part time, agreed. “I looked at them as distant,” she recalled about the sisters of her childhood. But today, sisters know music and the Internet, she said. “You see them dancing, interacting with the kids. That’s the Dominicans.”
Topics: news on the nunfront, stereotypes of nuns |
November 28th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Interesting story, happy to hear that they are increasing vocations. For me it really does not matter if a sister has a habit or regular clothing. Just like clothes don’t make the man, a habit does not make a sister.
November 28th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
This is getting so tiring. When I was growing up all nuns worre habits, and let me tell you, some of them were the most miserable woman I have ever met. Why this obsession with bringing back the habit, I just don’t understand it. Certainly an identifiable dress with a short veil is ok, but this constant harping about how wonderful these sisters are…I dont understand it.Yes, young gals are running there, but how many will stay? Sorry, just had to vent as I read this story on another site and you would think that they walk on water. Sigh!!!
November 28th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
“I’d love my children to be taught by a nun! It’s just unheard of, especially in this day and age,” said DeRaymond, a 41-year-old mother of two, practically squealing. “They’re going to say ‘No’ to a nun? Not do their homework?”
Meyer, 39, a mother of three, nodded in agreement: “To have them be taught by nuns in a habit — that alone will make a major difference.”
So, as a layperson, if I wore a habit, I would be a better teacher and better at my job? Or, maybe just more religious? That is what this article seems to imply.
Yes, a new school, probably very conservative, is opening. Hopefully, it, like the Latin Mass, is a rarity that just happens to be getting lots of attention. There are many sisters, of all ages, who are joyful and serving God in a variety of ways, which don’t require wearing a habit or going back 40 years in theology.
November 28th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
I should probably clarify, this is not a critique of the Nashville Dominicans. There is room for lots of different types of religious who are doing good work. It bothers me more that they are seen as a “higher class” of religious and seem to be what the media focuses on all the time.
November 29th, 2007 at 8:28 am
It’s a difficult piece to respond to because, like Just Curious noted, it’s not the sisters that need critique but how the Catholic community (including the author of the article) interprets the presence of, dress of, and role of nuns. Painting a picture of a nun as a rock star, while perhaps briefly entertaining, is an unfortunate caricature. In a way it dehumanizes her and makes her something of a joke rather than the amazing woman that she is. I cringe (to say the least) when I see people including Catholics use/promote the image of a nun like this.
Stuff like this makes me wonder what it is that we as sisters are doing or not doing to convey to the Catholic community and to the world in general who we are as nuns and how there is a great diversity within religious life which is truly a gift to the Church and the world. There has never been one way of being a nun, one way of looking like a nun, one way of acting like a nun. Yet for whatever reason we cling to one single image of a nun and canonize it — doing a disservice not only to those nuns but to all nuns and to the Church itself.
November 29th, 2007 at 8:52 am
I also was a bit dismayed at the “rock star” comparison, whihc is another indication of the journalist’s lack of understanding of the subject matter. I think news media should have a religious on staff to edit articles like this to avoid such silliness. Think that would work?
I also hold that the Church is big, & there is room for many expressions of religious life. As an aside, yes, students will say “no” to a sister in habit, esp. once the novelty wears off. I wonder that perhaps these women who were gushing about the sisters were misrepresented and also are dismayed at their portrayal as near-hysterical fans. I wish I had some concrete thoughts as how to turn the tide. Should I be so inspired, I’ll share!
November 29th, 2007 at 9:01 am
Please do, Gayle. And I’m glad you mentioned that about the supposedly gushing women. I’ve also heard many a tale about habited nuns teaching, and it’s not all singing and dancing!
November 29th, 2007 at 11:38 am
I was taught by nuns in habits, maybe in grade school you had this fixation with the habit. But the older I got I looked at the woman, her faith and strength. Their are so many wonderful different ways that the sisters serve, to gush over a habit
is just trivial.
November 29th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
These two remarks made me laugh out loud: “I’d love my children to be taught by a nun! …They’re going to say ‘No’ to a nun? Not do their homework?”
Meyer, 39, a mother of three, nodded in agreement: “To have them be taught by nuns in a habit — that alone will make a major difference.”
I taught for 12 years, in a black veil and brown habit. It didn’t stop my students from saying NO! to homework or to me. It’s like the habit is a magic wand or something! These parents are in for an awakening.
It’s one thing to give witness to your vows with your clothes. It’s a far more difficult thing to give witness to your vows with your life
November 30th, 2007 at 3:00 am
Yes, such reporting is really tiresome…
What strikes me though is how the word “Catholic” is used. It seems to suggest a sub-group, a sort of ghetto mentality, people who desperately need to affirm their identity and who therefore latch onto extremely visible symbols - like habited religious - as defining that identity, whereas in fact both the historical and the contemporary reality is much more complex. And what I find ironic - and disturbing - is that theologically the word “Catholic” refers to both the fulness of faith and also the universality and inclusivity of that faith. To identify it with a sub-group is therefore deeply problematic.
This is obviously related to the present state of polarisation in the Church in which groups like these Dominicans become standard bearers for a certain type of Catholicism. We recently read Timothy Radcliffe’s (another Dominican!) What’s the point of being a Christian? in which he has two very good chapters on the desperate need to overcome such polarisation. No one group can claim the label Catholic, indeed to turn it into a label is absurd! (The rest of the book is also excellent!)
November 30th, 2007 at 8:50 am
I agree, here we go again! We see the same conservative puch in the seminary. A sister I know who teaches at a major seminary told me,”it is scary to see some of the men who are preparing for the priesthood. A habit doesn’t make a nun. I am still teaching today and the students call me Sister and don’t say no about doing their homework, they just forget!! What goes around comes around, said my mother. We have Catholics who want to change the clock to the 50’s. I wonder if they will do the same in their lifestyle?
November 30th, 2007 at 9:05 am
It’s also disappointing when the media use phrases such as “strayed” to describe the experience of women religious moving into ministries other than teaching or nursing. Few reporters are aware that when apostolic communities first emerged in the 1600s, teaching was not necessarily a primary ministry. While these communities may have engaged in teaching women trades and providing basic education, it was to alleviate the poverty that these young women were facing and was often a way to keep them from the desperation of prostitution. In addition, women in these earliest communities did not typically wear habits. In fact, it was not even allowed. Only monastic, cloistered nuns wore habits, and a woman in a habit outside of a cloister would have been seen as committing a scandal. These earliest sisters wore simple clothing that helped them blend into the populations they were serving and kept them from harassment. The women of my own community dressed as widows. The Daughters of Charity dressed as peasant women. In addition, these early communities often did not have specific ministries to which they were assigned. Our primitive documents clearly point out that we were “to meet the needs of the times” and “divide the city,” performing all acts of mercy of which women are capable of doing. Finally, our houses were often small, with only 2-3 sisters living together. A larger house in a small city might have 10-15 women, but these were not the norms. Thus, the lives that many of us are living now are actually more consistent with the lives of our foundresses and early members.
http://www.doc.org/about/history.asp
http://www.sistersofsaintjosephfederation.org/aboutus.html
November 30th, 2007 at 9:28 am
” We have Catholics who want to change the clock to the 50’s. I wonder if they will do the same in their lifestyle?” I grew up in the 50’s and have some friends who would love to go back. They want the Latin Mass so they can say their rosary during mass. It was a different time not necessarily better,at least not for
women, sisters, or minorities.
November 30th, 2007 at 10:56 am
That’s the thing is that it’s not that the general Catholic lifestyle was bad — it was appropriate to the time. The Church has to always be sensitive to the needs, joys and fears of the present time, it must show how our rich tradition is relevant here and now, that it’s not a religion that can only live in the past. We worship a God who said “I am”, not “I was”.
November 30th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
All excellent posts! This whole habit issue is getting old. It’s amazing how people cannot see past the surface. Personally, I think it’s wonderful that women religious work in a great variety of ministries today including spiritual direction, social justice, journalism, just to name a few. I’m still waiting for some of them to open up their own environmental consulting firm! (smiles) Their commitment and passion often adds greatly to the mission of their ministry.
Oh, well.
deerose
November 30th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
After more reflection, I think the habit is a secular sacramental. What do I mean? Well, like other sacramentals, where something visible represents something else with a much deeper meaning, the habit represents holiness, sacredness, and deep faith to the secular world, especially the media. What other “secular sacramentals” are there?
November 30th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
I am so enjoying this conversation. The article certainly evoked passionate responsses., and I’d like to add my passion to the mix. I too hated the use of the word “straying” to describe sisters’ moving into new ministries. As a member of a community (Julie’s) who describe themselves as women responding to the cry of our world, I resent the idea that God calls to religious communities only once and then expects a rigid adherance to that initial ministry. What about ongoing revelation? I recently attended a Religious Formation Conference where I heard time and again ta message that religious are called to be on the fringe, speaking (not necessarily with words) a way of life that critiqes the values of mainstream society. So, do we advocate for immigrants, persons on death row and those suffering from racist oppression? Such a way of life lacks the aura of mystery surrounding habits, but is perhaps even more challenging. Oops, I’m feeling like a computer-generated soap box! And for the record, my students weren’t overly reticent about saying “No” either.
December 3rd, 2007 at 11:38 am
Mary Bea:
“I resent the idea that God calls to religious communities (and I’d extend that to Christians overall) only once and then expects a rigid adherance to that initial ministry.”
I completely relate to that comment. We hear so many people that propose God is a completely static being. Whether it be the interpretation of Scripture, doctrine, mission, etc., we are always to live our faith in exactly the same way throughout our lives. To me, that attitude completely voids the action of the Holy Spirit. How can that be? It seems to be the complete opposite of reality.
“Religious are called to be on the fringe, speaking … a way of life that critiques the values of mainstream society.”
As a layperson, I do see one of the unique roles of religious is to have a prophetic voice. It’s often difficult for people with families to do this. For example, if we get arrested protesting, who will take care of our kids? If we lose our jobs because of our political involvement, where will we live if we can’t pay our rent? Our local diocesan paper had an article about who Catholics perceive to be prophets in our own time. People like Gandhi and Martin Luther King were mentioned. So was Sr. Joan Chittister. I know alot of people don’t like her (and that perhaps is one indication she is a sort of prophet), but I have always felt she has a strong prophetic voice. I was glad to see that others recognize this.
deerose
December 5th, 2007 at 5:59 am
Just Curious, on November 30th, 2007 at 3:36 pm Said:
After more reflection, I think the habit is a secular sacramental. What do I mean? Well, like other sacramentals, where something visible represents something else with a much deeper meaning, the habit represents holiness, sacredness, and deep faith to the secular world, especially the media. What other “secular sacramentals” are there?
———————————————————————-
This sort of thing is what has been rummaging about in my thoughts lately also - we are a sign, that must point not to ourselves, but to God; and by extension our relationship with Christ. I wear a habit when participating in any liturgical function/church event and travelling to and from such things. It does make a statement.
Just this week I wrote a weekly email that I distribute to my Order and supporters, and I discussed this whole topic of the “Habit as silent sermon” to an otherwise audio and visually super-saturated western society whose ears are “waxed gross” and eyes have become dim from over exposure to the din of life.
The reactions on here - all from women - trouble me. True, the reporting is a bit off the mark, not many reporters “get” religion. Yet, I think the point one can take away is that this Order is BOOMING, in comparison to others that are floundering and dying. Whatever judgment one might level against habits, it ought to be remarked that if the habit is the only difference between an Order that is expanding and one that is shrinking, then our God-given common sense would seem to say “buy a sewing machine and some patterns and get at it.” To stubbornly refuse to wear any distinctive dress to make some sort of modernist feminist statement is no more virtuous than the girl who anticipates dressing in traditional habit and see that as a factor in her choice of vocation.
I would also point out to the Daughter of Charity, which Order I do admire (and mentioned in my article) that it was a matter of decades before the “plain middle class” dress of the filles de la charite was obsolete, and became ever more so until it was the most conspicuous and dare I say outrageous habit in existence until the cornette was dropped in 1965. These Grey Daughters were known worldwide by their dress. I really applaud the work they do, and the way in which their Order is structured, as the one I’m a part of is quite similar in every way.
At the end of the day there will be places for the traditional habit, some modified version, and none at all. Balance and Christian charity demands that we not polarise and make broad legislation or moral censures on this or any peripheral issue. There can be no going back en masse, but we ought never label a Brother or Sister who has chosen to dress in traditional habit as some sort of hidebound, kneejerk, conservative, intent on undoing all the “progress” of the past 45 years.
Sorry for the long comment.
December 5th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
Brother D:
I agree with you that the habit can be a form of witness. I also believe that there is room in the Church for religious with all types of habits as well as those with no habit at all. I suppose some of the women who have abandoned the habit may have done it for feminist-related reasons if that is what you have heard. But personally, I have not heard a sister refer to this as an explanation for not wearing religious garb. The reasons I’ve heard for giving up the habit include:
-Many early sisters did not wear habits. They wore the plain clothes of the time. In a quest to live more in accordance with the original vision of their foundresses, they’ve changed to ordinary dress.
-Sisters sometimes feel that wearing the habit can do more harm than good when working in a particular ministry. For example, if a sister works counselling drug addicts or prostitutes, she might intimidate them with such “holy” clothing. They might not want to share their experiences with her as a result thereof. This could be detrimental.
-Practically speaking, some sisters are more comfortable in regular clothes. They also don’t like being stared at in public.
Although it does seem to be true most of the time, not all sisters/nuns that wear a traditional habit are conservative. Not all sisters that wear street clothes are progressive. I just met an extremely erudite, spiritual and progressive sister who wore a veil and habit down to the floor. I think you can find this especially among monastics. Look at religious like Fr. Thomas Keating.
I would definitely have to acknowledge the fact that the Dominican congregation to which the above-mentioned article refers is booming. I have no problem with that. It’s a good thing that some orders are expanding. I am also aware that the sisters in this order wear a traditional habit. That’s fine too. But if an order is growing just because its members wear a habit, or to be more exact a traditional habit, that could be very problematic indeed. It would mean that they may value externals more than what is inside. I don’t know what the situation is with the Dominicans of Nashville but there just may be something of substance that this order is engaging in to attract more numerous and younger vocations. Perhaps it’s the committment to a life of frequent and structured prayer (some sisters today express they don’t have the time they like to pray) and community? I could see where that would be desirable to one wanting to live the religous life - especially if he/she is more of a contemplative bent.
deerose
December 6th, 2007 at 6:35 am
I was searching around on the internet yesterday amd came across an article written for the Toronto Star (if I recall correctly) that laid out the statistics relating to those living in Religious Orders over the last 50 years or so. It was pretty discouraging to see the catastrophic decline. All during the 50’s and early 60’s Orders were flourishing with new young aspirants and it was only in the 70’s - 90’s that this decline appeared. I wasn’t around during Vatican 2 when Renewal of Reigious Life was discussed, but it would seem to me (having read some of the books and literature published around that time in the monastic milieu) that the decision makers were overly optimistic. When one reads the opinions of the day in retrospect, it is like reading 1940’s accounts of what space travel will be like in 50 years…
The implementation of V 2 reforms and adjustments, chief among which was making a great many “externals” something entirely subjective and optional, proved to be the bucket of cold water on monasticism that began the slow cooling off and wane which we see today. I think the statistics indicated something like a 60% decline averaged across all Orders. Those reforms COULD have been implemented without the post conciliar decline in vocations, but looking back at the cultural and political milieu that was the breeding ground for that generation of young men and women, for them to see a hierarchy in essence “tossing out” hundreds of years of tradition and practice was all the confirmation they needed to decide that it was all a hoax or a joke after all…why bother? This can be clearly seen in Anglicanism writ large. A church adrift, having cut the moorings from the previous 1900 years of orthodox Christian history. The few catholics that remain in her are persecuted, scorned, laughed at, and regarded as stupid retrograde and behind the times. It all ties together in that up until the late 60’s the catholic movement within Anglicanism was a vital and widespread force - witness the statements issued between Archbishop Michael Ramsay, the then Pope, and subsequent ARCIC discussions. It is only those like the TAC today who can honestly approach the Vatican asking for fellowship and full communion.
If Religious life in general is to reassert itself as a significant “voice” within the Church, it will need to reexamine those things that have contributed to the problems that have plagued them for the past 30-40 years. To casually dismiss them as mere “cycles” of up and down destined to automatically reverse in process of time, is a bit naive. Once you lose “critical mass” you lose many economies of scale and one’s shortcomings multiply exponentially. I say this as a participant in an Anglo Catholic Province (TAC) that has struggled valiantly to remain faithful to what has been revealed to be true and in keeping with all of Western Catholicism. We have no voice to speak so as to be heard, and are easily dismissed. Our parishes are so scattered and small that fellowship becomes difficult between clergy and laity. Once it has taken many hundreds of years to build something up, it takes only a handful of years of carelessness to bring it all down in tatters. Those who cry against the destruction are shunted aside, only later being called upon to pick up the ragged remains and then are supposed to perform miracles of restoration. Is it any wonder we’ve washed our hands of mainstream Anglicanism in despair as we appeal to Rome for partnership and fellowship in mission and service and sharing common life?
The abandoning of religious garb is strictly a modern western innovation. Muslims, Buddhist monks and nuns, Jews, and even the Amish have no hesitation in “wearing their faith on their sleeve”. In the cultural clashes that are coming, it would do no harm for some serious thought to be given to something as “simple” and “disposable” as a habit for Religious. Otherwise, one may as well do as protestant laity do and belong to a cell group and do about their ministry in blue jeans and a sweater and runners…no icky vows, with freedom to up and leave if something upsets them or they feel constrained or unappreciated.
Signed,
A Rigid and Hide-bound Stick-in-the-mud.
December 6th, 2007 at 10:08 am
Brother D:
I’m not so sure that Vatican II played as significant a role in the decrease in vocations as some people suggest. You hear horror stories of entire congregations leaving their orders enmasse and the like. But I think, especially in the case of women religious, a lot more is at play. Before 1965 or so, Catholic women had almost no life choices. They could marry and have many children, flounder, as virtual outcasts, in the single life, or become religious, get an education and maybe even see the world. As we all know, today women can do almost whatever they desire, i.e., doctors, lawyers, financial analysts, CEOs of corporations, etc.
I don’t know exactly how “cyclical” religious life is. As with anything else, I’m sure it has its ups and downs. Nonetheless, based on everything I have read, the surge in religious life during the early to middle 1900s in America was an anomoly, something the Church had never before seen. As such, I don’t know if we can ever expect to have those kind of numbers again. And I’m not convinced that it’s so important. I do, however, personally believe that a slow, but steady, rise in solid, well discerned vocations would be a very positive development.
Perhaps in this multicultural society, where Buddhists, Jews and Muslims wear their “religion on their sleeves”, it would be helpful if more Catholic religious wore their traditional or semitraditional habits. Maybe its the subtle undercurrent of antiCatholicism that makes people leary about being too public with their convictions. According to the mainstream media, it seems all religions are virtuous but our own. It’s a sad state of affairs. Wearing the habit might serve to show people that although the media is antiCatholic, we Catholics want to show others just how significant our Christian faith is to us and to the world. Also, I can understand how wearing the habit could aid in increasing vocations in that young girls would be able to identify sisters and therefore see that type of committment as a possible option for their own lives. Kids often relate well to visuals. If they see a sister in plain clothes it is not the same as seeing one in habit. They can’t always make the connection.
Having made the above statements, I do believe that there are plenty of situations in which sisters are better off without the habit. It should be a personal decision.
Brother D, what type of church are you affiliated with? Are you an Anglican, Anglican Rite Catholic, etc.? Are you in England or America? I know the Episcopalians in the U.S. have been having tremendous troubles as of late. Their Church is splintering and I don’t think they really know how to hold it at bay. Perhaps this is happening to their orders as well. You’d probably know better than I.
deerose
December 6th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
deerose,
I’m a layman in the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada,which is a constituent member in the Traditional Anglican Communion, a worldwide communion of Anglo Catholics unconnected to Canterbury based Anglicanism other than sentimental connections. Check out http://www.anglicancatholic.ca and explore the links there.
I think that by and large, the mainstream Anglican/Episcopalian Orders have tended to lean to the Left on many things, hence I think they will be taken care of by the present administration should things implode. Birds of a feather.
One need only hark back to the schism during the reign of Henry the 8th to see the evil portents for the future. The first target of his narcissistic tantrum against “popery” was, of course, those who could not resist, the monastics. Within a decade of the beginning of this phase the once thriving monasteries of England were roofless ruins or used as cattle sheds and handed over to Henry’s supporters. Revenues thus expropriated was funnelled into the royal coffers. Seeds sown always bear some sort of fruit. When one looks at the rationale used at deciding which Religious Houses would be closed first, it all comes down to money - those Houses bringing in less than a certain sum were dissolved and the inmates dispersed, the property seized and pulled down for salvage value. In the end it was all embracing. The roll of ruined abbeys: Fountains, Lindisfarne, Whitby, etc etc is a sad tale of squandering a heritage in a fit of idealistic fervour and political expediency. It is this mix of political expediency coupled with a quintessentially Protestant abhorrence of universal authority and discipline in community that has guided Anglicanism on her way ever since. That the Church of England became merely an arm of the Crown was natural. That the global Anglican Communion, being the Church of England scattered throughout the former Commonwealth, should become just a reflection of the society around it was natural. Instead of being the salt and light she was called to be, she has simply conformed to the image of the world around her. The liberal scholarship that today passes for “theology” is simply the fruit of a long rejection of authority and tradition. What she is today is the inevitable fruit of the Protestant Reformation - “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. So she falls, but the falling has been ongoing since the 1530’s. What we seek to do is to go back beyond the Compromises made then and move forward from there. One of the primary tasks that lieth to hand is our Lord’s will as expressed in St. John 17 and that the breach between us and the Holy See be mended. What complicates this is the fact that Rome Herself has moved on since Trent and it is the reconciling of all these various matters that must be attended to. How it will all shake out only our Saviour knows.
I see the same sort of forces at work within contemporary Roman Catholicism that were at work back in Henry’s day. It makes me feel like Jeremiah crying in the desert at times. Once all the ancient landmarks have been pulled down and the boundaries erased and authority toppled, what shall be the end of it? It is easy to retreat into our little cocoon of personal piety and service, busying ourselves at the many tasks that need doing while shrugging at the angry voices clamouring for loosening of age-old restrictions and a lifting of the “oppressive” authority they seem to chafe under. How much easier to make life a lovefest of see no evil, hear no evil, think no evil and all will be well. We are our brothers keeper, and owe it to them and our descendants to “fight the good fight” and not simply surrender to the spirit of whatever age we happen to find ourselves in. Anglicanism has surrendered, ans Satan is just now dividing up the turf for his own purposes.
Let him that hath an ear hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches…
December 6th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Br. Dominic-Michael wrote: “It was pretty discouraging to see the catastrophic decline. All during the 50’s and early 60’s Orders were flourishing with new young aspirants and it was only in the 70’s - 90’s that this decline appeared.”
It is interesting that the focus is always on how much the religious orders declined in the late 60’s and beyond. From what I’ve read on the history of religious orders, the 50’s and 60’s were really the anomaly in history with how they were booming. What were the social conditions that caused so many to enter (and oftentimes later leave) during those years as opposed to the previous 600-1000 years? Most orders have been around for more than the past 50 years, and have seen steady, but very slow, growth, or have remained fairly small, other than in the 1950’s-1960’s in the U.S.
December 6th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Pertaining mainly to priestly vocations, check out:
http://www.seattlecatholic.com/article_20040119.html
I think the insanity of two world wars drove a lot of men and women to draw back and take stock of what truly matters in this life. Just as they take the plunge into a monastic vocation, someone comes along and throws a monkey wrench into their lives, calling into question all the classical disciplines and sowing confusion. Its bound to unsettle a young person who could easily be out earning a living in the secular world.
December 14th, 2007 at 8:30 am
So when i first read this article i had very mixed feeling towards it. A lot of what i thought of saying was already said by other comments and then the comments said other things i was thinking. I am a masters student and i am just starting the feild work for my thesis. I am writing on many topics that have come up during this disscussion. I am exploring the incress in vocations of woman under thirty in joining religous orders, particulary the “traditional orders.” And the sisters of St. Cecila’s congragation are one of the orders i am hopeing to interview, because they are as the article said “booming”
so at the risk of rambling, im just going to say thanks for posting this, i guess it just gives me the extra confidence in my work because clearly its a topic thats “booming”
June 29th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Now this is going to be an interesting post…In a years time, God willing, I will be entering St. Cecilia’s. Now, despite the connotation that this order gives of highlighting religious in habits, I think that none of you actually have taken the consideration of knowing the sisters. It almost seems as if you are judging them as thinking highly of themselves because they wear a habit…but in reality I have never known anyone as selfless and humble as these sisters. I know these sisters, I know their students…the habit to them is not a fashion accessory, or a fashion statement…they do not wear it to draw attention to themselves, but to God, always to God…it is to them their bridal gown and each of them sew their own and they take great joy in doing so because they know that when they put it on every morning, it reminds them just once more who they are and what they were made to do and that it to serve God…I have never seen sisters who have exemplified such humility. Also, their students love them and respect them…I have not known a single one of their students who does not love the sisters, and I will tell you, it is not just the habit…I take great joy in calling myself a future Nashville Dominican
June 30th, 2008 at 4:26 am
Dear Kate, I am very happy for you about entering St. Cecilia’s. Please know that the comments here were directed not toward the Sisters but toward how the sisters are portrayed by the media. Several times in the comments above this distinction was made clear.
A reporter or writer (such as yourself) who personally knows and has worked with Sisters gives a very different portrayal of Sisters than someone who has not. Your comment in contrast with the article showed just how differently one congregation can be portrayed. What you wrote was beautiful and inspiring. The newspaper article was nowhere close to that.
Blessings to you, Kate. You are in my prayers as you continue your discernment and journey with the Nashville Dominicans.