Is the habit the answer to vocations recruitment?

Christopher said: And do those of you who wear the habit when you’re out and about (assuming that you’re not in an enclosed order) find that strangers come and speak to you sometimes?

Oh, yes! That reminds me of when I was serving my first jury duty many years ago. I was wearing our veil and modified garb (dress and scapular) then. While I was waiting in a giant room of 200+ people, at least five of them came up to me and said something like, “I was taught by the Dominican Sisters in New York”–and waited there for me to say something in response (What that was, I don’t know. Did they think all nuns know each other?) I smiled and said something like, “That’s nice,” or “Lucky you.”

Of course, there’s also the negative attention. While wearing my habit and veil, I was once propositioned by a young man! I gave him a polite, “No, thank you,” and hurried home. The nerve!

I am also interested in the comment from the man – a brother, i think – who spoke of idealism. this is a separate issue springing from his:
many of the very “traditional” orders – full, traditional habits – that are seeing an uptick in very young vocations – are very new. the social worker in me can’t help but notice that we do not yet know what will happen when these ***very*** young women get a little older. it occurs to me that is entirely possible that these orders may see and usher in a return to another “traditional” aspect of life for women religious: women who enter as young virgins and do some growing up in the beautiful, disciplined world of the convent and then leave when they are ready to marry or live more independent lives. i know that women leave orders all the time but if i were studying vocation trends i would be watching the exit rates at these “traditional” orders that are seeing lots of very young vocations. i, of course, wish all religious women and orders the best AND i think we are VERY early in this “trend”, so early that we should probably avoid defining it and certainly too early to making any sweeping changes based on it.

Jean

I love seeing nuns in their habits. I always hated it when they stopped and just started dressing like everyone else. I get so excited when I see a nun in Walmart. I go over and say; “Sister; may I please hug you. It is so great to see a nun who looks like a nun.” I always get a positive response from them with their hugs. I think nuns should wear habits more for the same reason I am the only woman in our Catholic church who wears a chapel mantilla veil; because Jesus asked us too. The habit doesn’t make a nun more holy just for wearing it, but it differentiates between a nun and someone who isn’t a nun. Hugs, Mary

Plain jeans, plain white t-shirt, plain cross, plain veil, plain sneakers.

How’s that for a happy compromise?

There’s no doubt that something that looks different draws attention. It’s human nature. The first thing we notice about ANY person is the way they look, they way they appear, the way they dress. Ergo, it stands to reason that nuns seen in some sort of habit = greater exposure, greater “brand awareness,” to borrow a marketing term.

Does that necessarily mean that orders still using a traditional nun’s habit attract vocations? I think the real question to ponder is whether they attract GENUINE vocations. Having said that, the issue of genuine vocations is not one that concerns only those orders who still have the habit. In the end, only time will tell if a person really feels called to a life given to God.

This isn’t just a modern issue, by the way. Back in the Middle Ages, not everyone became a religious because they had a call. Many, many women became religious for non-vocational reasons – being a youngest daughter with poor marriage prospects, being a widow, being a young woman whose honour had been lost and had to be “put away ” somewhere… the list goes on.

I see the habit as a trigger, a symbol that can lead a person to contemplate the possibility of religious life. Not necessarily with the order who has that exact habit, but just in general. Some people are repulsed by the habit, some don’t really care one way or the other, some love it. I happen to love the old tradition full-blown habit, but I am drawn specifically to the habit of the cloistered Discalced Carmelites. I can’t see myself in any other habit. I have come to view this strong attraction to this particular habit as an indication of my vocation. I may be wrong, but so far the idea of wearing it feels right.

Anyway, just my two cents.

Although a modified habit appeals to me, the congregations that wear them are far more conservative than I am. The congregations that do not wear habits are generally more liberal. I have also noticed a difference in how they view themselves and their relationship to their governing bodies.

Habited congregations will not admit a woman my age. Younger women are not encouraged in the non-habited communities. That means that the data is skewed. Beware of correlational data.

Women do not choose religious life anymore because they don’t have to. If you notice, there was a huge drop off of women becoming religious after the 1960′s which coincides with the cultural revolution that was taking place in our country. That means civil rights,the sexual revolution, the pill, and…women’s rights. Since then, women have made incredible progress in the world of work which brings them much more autonomy over their lives, which means more choices and a heck of a lot more freedom, especially over the use of their bodies. They are also better educated than their mothers, which means they have had more exposure to other religions, cultures, economies, etc. The world offers a lot more possibilities.

Religious life seems to be appealing to one of two groups of people. The very young who see nothing but superficial meaninglessness for them in their popular culture, or those who have gotten to middle age and are looking for more meaning in their lives. Either way what they are looking for is meaning, purpose, BELONGING and Love. Authentic, real, non-superficial Love.

Quantity or quality? What will it look like for the generation of religious entering now when the baby boomer generation needs geriatric care? What will missions be reduced to? What will happen to monasteries, catholic schools, motherhouses, when there is no one to put in them or to pay for tuition? I think there are more serious questions to be considering besides habit wearing.

There is an acronym in marketing and adult education. WIFM stands for What’s In It For Me? This generation wants that question answered.

I’d argue that the Church needs both nuns who wear a traditional habit and nuns who wear plain clothes. Seeing a nun in full habit may lift the hearts of active Catholics, but that same habit can be a barrier to conversation with a Catholic who’s fallen away from the Church or a non-Catholic. My pastor doesn’t wear his Roman collar when he’s walking his dog through the neighborhood. Conversations get started because of his dog–then they find out he’s pastor at the Catholic Church, and he has the perfect opportunity to invite them to come join us.

Sr Marcia – I appreciate you comment on visibility balanced with attention to the responsibility of the rest of the Church community to
present Sisterhood as an option.

Every few days I read the website for the local archdiocese – it is HUGE – and there are frequent postings about vocation events for men. I don’t believe that, in the neary two years I have been reading the weekly events page, I have EVER seen a vocation or Come&See event for women posted. the vocations office for the archdiocese is heavily weighted toward men and almost every mention of women is paired with opportunities/resources for men while women are not paired with most of the mentions of men.

i get it that there are not “diocesan sisters” but a diocese is a representative of the Church and, as such, should not EVERY diocesan vocations office be dripping with every bit as much info and reources and support and YAHOOing for women religious as for priests and brothers? and i just don’t see it. There is a Come and See posted for a seminary on the events page as I write this and not a word about any of the several houses of formation here or near. The events that do get posted for Catholic women are for lay women.

that said, i do have what may be an unusual parish priest: he ALWAYS speaks of women when he speaks of vocations and he makes a huge and an appropriate fuss over the sister who is his pastoral assistant. probably worth noting that he himself is a religious priest, not a diocesan priest (his order commits itself to serving as parish priests in this diocese).

jean

All these comments are so interesting. It’s amazing how the habit issue always stirs up so many different emotions.

I too have that instant emotional reaction to the habit. I spent most of my childhood dreaming of becoming a nun and seeing someone in a habit brings back memories of all these things I held dear. Though I think emotional reactions should be cherished, I do think it needs to be tempered with rationality when it comes to painting a portrait of what is happening in the world.

Many people have mentioned that habits are an obvious sign of one’s dedication to Christ. This might be theoretically true, but I don’t believe this is why people like the habit so much. I think there is a feeling of security in being able to “size up” a person by looking at them; the world is chaotic and I think that to some people, seeing nuns in habits somehow makes people feel safer, like a reassurance that some things never change. I don’t think it is any coindence that people who are more conservative are more likely to want all nuns to wear habits.

It is true that habited sisters are easily recognizable and that people may go up to them and thank them for wearing the habit, or even offer hugs! That’s sweet, but you have to think of all the other people who have different associations with the habit – many of them negative – and those people are not likely to go up to a Sister, hence one would never know how they felt. There are many many many ex-Catholics who have had interactions with many mean nuns, especially as children. I know there are many wonderful nuns who did nothing but care for the children they taught or nursed, but there are also many nuns who were anything but caring or loving. In my experience these ex-Catholics have a lot of trouble dealing with their feelings toward the Church, and toward nuns in general. I think nuns should be more aware of that – of the fact that even though they themselves might be caring loving individuals, a lot of people associate nuns with being mean and distant, and a lot of it is from personal experience, unfortunately. It’s easy to blame the media, but I think that actually a lot of the “nun-bashing” in the media comes from the unresolved feelings of former Catholic school kids who are now movie producers. There’s a lot of hurt among ex- Catholics that have to do with their past encounters with nuns, and I think that is rarely acknowledged. A lot of nuns were mean and distant (sometimes worse), and I’m sure some still are. So for those people who have had bad experiences with nuns, seeing someone in a habit hardly brings up good feelings, quite the contrary. You’re just less likely to notice their presence at the supermarket, because instead of giving you a hug, they just look and walk away. This is similar to what Ingrid was saying about skewed data. If you don’ t have a representative sample of the population, you don’t have a valid result.

As Anays Nin’s once said, “we see things as we are, not as they are.”

Annie M and Ingrid – I think you guys have hit upon something really important that gets missed here when we speak of nuns. this sweetness- and-light story has resonance for only SOME Catholics and SOME non-Catholics.

while i think there is at least some urban myth/fish story going on, I think, in the depth of the “mean nun” stories, facts there seem to have been a whole lot of nuns who were 1) very unhappy and/or 2) seemed to have bought wholeheartedly into the “spoil the child”/discipline/obedience/Jane Eyre’s Headmaster’s philosophy thing.

and, for me, I have to ask why so many of those women were unhappy enough in their lives that kids knew it – knew it well enough that they created a whole mythology around it and it sticks with them as adults.

i think that, mixed in with who knows what else, is one partial answer to why vocations are down.

religious life is no picnic. it is hard. if it in not freely chosen – if it does reflect a wholehearted YES to God, if it is not a joyful AND free surrender of Life’s other options for women (read: God’s other options for women) – is going to be excruciatingly difficult. God wants us to choose religious life on our free will; God never forces; God might chase and hound but never forces. And a lot of sisters in the past were “forced” – in a variety of ways and by a variety of factors and dyanmics.

As Nathalie and others have noted, it has not even been 50 years since options opened wide for women and, let’s face it, Ms Magazine still exists for a reason (all is not yet equal in the secular world).

My guess is that convents have plenty of older residents who, in their heart of hearts, would not have become sisters had they had all the options young and middle aged women have today. just the other day a family member told me about a friend of hers – a retired sister who entered her order immediately after high school and this sister was crystal clear that she would not make the choice again, even though she has loved her life as sister; it simply would not be her choice if presented with the range of choices available today.

i know that may be impolitic to say but it just plain makes sense. most of us know older secular women who would have made other life choices had they not been young adults in the decades prior to the 60s and 70s. it only follows that some sisters would say the same thing, especially because the life is hard. (and I say FIE to anyone who says it is not. it is both joyful and difficult. like most of life. and like faith).

anyway, Annie M and Ingrid, I think you are right. a whole lot of Catholics were taught and nursed by some cranky-assed sisters and there is a lot of guidance and information buried in that reality if we allow ourselves to be truthful about that.

(and i don’t blame those cranky sisters. many were forced into something against God’s will: we are to come of our free will, etc….).

I know why some nuns were grumpy back in the day! Here are the reasons, straight from some of our older sisters:

1. SHOES–You nearly never, ever got a new pair sized for you. You took what you could find from the”dead nun” pile of shoes and made do with what you could get.

2. HUNGER–The sisters were paid very little, and most that money had to go to the motherhouse for the elderly sisters and the young ‘uns in formation. If you were lucky (o_O?), people in the parish would throw your convent a pantry shower and give you canned fruits and vegetables. Or a farmer may give you the liver from that hog he just slaughtered. In the history of my congregation, the sisters sometimes came to supper at a table that held only a pitcher of water.

3. OVERWORK–One of our sisters had 128 students in ONE room, 4 grades together. There was no teacher’s aide to assist her. Then she had to teach CCD after school, teach private piano or organ classes, do her chores at the convent, clean the church on the weekends, and say her prayers. When my congregation began, there were no Rules for an active/comtemplative orders to model. We were expected to observe the Rule and horarium of the cloistered Poor Clares AND do the active ministries besides. Some young sisters actually died from overwork until our Rule was approved, 44 years after we began!

4. CLOTHING–Our sisters wore a woolen habit, scapular, and mantle (from Sept. 29 (St. Michael the Archangel) to late spring, probably May 18 (St. Felix of Cantalice) no matter the weather. There were also tunics worn underneath, plus medieval undergarments that did their best to hide the fact that there was a woman in there! Top that off with a hood with heavy starch around the face, a starched band and a long veil. It didn’t matter in what part of the world you lived or what work you did. You either roasted, steamed or froze in that habit.

Any one of the above would certainly make ME grumpy!

For some reason I never hear anyone suggesting that Jesuits should dress as Benedictine monks. What is it with women religious who seemingly become the focus of such battles?

On the other hand, Sr Meg Funk had some reflections on the habit issue that you may find interesting. (http://megfunk.com/entry.php?id=152) But then she’s a Benedictine and speaking in a monastic context.

* Using the word , ‘you’, in this reply to question about wearing ‘habits’ Does not mean this order of Nuns, at all and not any other either, it is just a way of phrasing this answer to all who may feel the ‘habit’ is not important, who are nuns. *

I certainly feel that wearing the ‘habit’ is a great way for people to identify you and know you are approachable and if they should need prayer, or someone to talk with about their Christian walk that you would be available. I do Christian Mentoring, and if people did not know I was available for them to email and to pray for them and with them, to listen to them, and to give them some direction according to what the Bible says about the problem they have, they would never get the well needed help required. If I do not have answers I can send them on to someone else.

If you do not wear a ‘habit’ of some type, people will find you just “blending in” You have given your life to God, the church and his work on this Earth. Yes anyone can do this, but yet you have been trained and had more experience. This is your promise and dedication. You feel you can do it without the ‘habit” but can it be done properly when people cannot “find you?” They do not readily recognize you, and also you are a symbol of shame when dressed in the “habit” for those who are living in ‘sin” and know it.. It could make them feel guilty and they may repent and turn to God all because you wore the ” habit”

Jesus told Martha who had so many worried in life, and wanted to have Jesus let her know she should help with food and the table settings, that Mary Of Bethany her sister had ‘chosen the best part” You are Nuns are to have “Chosen to sit at Jesus feet”

I live as a nun but have been married 40 yrs my family ( are grown) but my worried for them and grand children go on, and I do have work to do and you have work also of a different type.

As a Child I was close to the Nuns in my neighborhood and wanted to become a Nun but being Protestant my mother upon telling her this at around 13 yrs old, scared me to death with her being so upset and saying things like: ” Where have I gone wrong?” I am happily married and glad I have gone this route but yet, wonder how it would have been to have been a Nun? To be ABLE to give my life only to Jesus? Things can get into my way now. I am an Oblate with the Cistercians,, and since have become Catholic, my husband also, and we do share the faith in common, but we all wonder about the ” other side” to some degree. My husband knows I spend a lot of my time reading , praying for other’s and mentoring and studying.
‘
You may look at women wearing bright colors and nice things ( well now a days they wear pants to look like men, but anyway am sure you would like to kick the black or white, but to be a nun means to not try to be who you are not, and that is just a person who is a ‘good Christian” you are to set an example to the young girls who may have great memories of how a Nun is to look, and they may very well want to be a nun one day and actually do it, because you made yourself known to them as a nun and something about that experience will stay with them forever!

Why would you not want to dress like a Nun unless you are afraid, or unless you want to dress like other people and dress with some extra style? Do not give up your humble ‘habit’, to give way to pride, and act like the rest. You are a nun, be glad and sit at Jesus feet, and do not try to just become one of the crowd. People need to know that you ARE a NUN and they can come to you for help. Yes some may know you, but think of all the people who just do not know as you are not wearing the habit.

This world is turning into the wrong direction now, and we do not need to just have our Nuns and Priests, try to act and live like all of the rest. You would be setting a great example for the young people who may decide to become Nuns, if you begin to dress in the “habits.” If not, the next generation of Nuns may start wearing bikini’s and shorts? One thing leads to another and that is whey we are n the situation we are now.

If I were a ‘Mother of a Convent ‘I would want it to become mandatory for the nuns to wear some kind of habit ,anyway.

Why become a nun if you just want to be a single woman just acting and looking like all the rest? Not allowing the public to be able to seek you out when in need?

Yes you can be caring and wonderful without the habit, but do people know you are a Nun if not in your small groups? Can they find you in this world of people in pain and come to you for prayer, and talk to you when maybe ready to commit suicide. Would it not please God if on once, this person told you, I was going to kill myself and I thought I would try one more time after I saw you coming down the street dressed in your ‘habit’ knowing you were a nun and maybe would pray for me and give me a little hope just when I needed it! Would it then be wroth it to you? It sure could happen. This is a “hurting world” But you must be “visible” to serve.

Another Sr Julie CSSF –

The layers would make me crazy! and cranky! and fidgety! and I would want to whap a few hands with a ruler!

Jean

See what I mean?

Oh, in re: the remark above about black or white habits, I have seen sisters wearing blood red, bright blue, pepto-bismol pink (!) and–get this!–purple habits! We’re a regular rainbow of colors.

Well, we would be if we were to find yellow, green and orange-colored habits…

I am a member of the Third Order Society of St Francis (what St Francis used to call the Brothers and Sisters of Penance) – we have never had a habit, save for our Profession Cross, which I wear almost all of the time. However, I have chosen to wear simple clothes that all mix and match s I can simplify my wardrobe down to bare essentials. I wear no makeup (I’m allergic anyway so that was no sacrifice!), no perfume, and a very limited palette of colours (mostly black, white, grey, and some dark blues). I work as a health and safety consultant so I have to look professional, but I have managed to do that on a shoestring and dress simply.

I have been investigating wearing some kind of head covering for worship, especially for high feasts like Easter. In fact, I actually got one of those wide fabric headbands that covers your whole head and wore it to the Easter Day 6am service – not to stand out in the crowd or anything, but to remind myself that I belong body and soul to God. I would welcome it if TSSF introduced a simple habit for worship!

1) I agree that if Canon Law requires religious to wear habits, they should.
2) Too often those congregations that changed to modern dress accompanied that with radical changes in behavior tending toward dissent from obedience to the Church.
3) Many of those who choose habited communities may do so to enter groups that are faithful to the Church.
4) My opinion – if a religious is going to wear a veil, it should cover all the hair. I really hate those “half veils.”
5) And – I miss the days when you could tell one congregation from another by their distinctive habits which, in some cases, were quite unique to their orders’ charism.

My Aunt has a theory about grouchy nuns way back then. She said just imagine a class full of forty unruly teenagers and going through menopause with no understanding of it. Can you imagine hot flashes in those hot outfits that covered everything in layers? I wore a wool uniform for one year at an all girl catholic high school-it could be pretty hot and uncomfortable in late Sept., late May and the part of June we were still in school. I strongly feel an orders ‘ choice of a habit and the sister’s freedom to find the right order is so important. Modest street clothes no makeup etc. is a form of habit to me. I’d also like to say even with all they sacrificed and endured there were plenty of joyful happy nuns too. I had a couple of very nasty unbalanced lay teachers too. My worst memory of catholic grade school in the mid sixties/early seventies involves a lay teacher-not a nun.

hi Julie and all -
i have thoroughly enjoyed reading through all the comments on this thread! i am a Dominican sister – and i don’t wear a habit, but do wear simple clothing – and the outward signafiers of being a sister – the logo, the cross and the ring. where i am now, most everyne knows i am a sister by my actions, and by what i talk about. I was so glad to read Ingrid’s post – and many of the others along those lines. I am a firm believer that the habit does not make a good nun/sister and a good nun/sister does not necessarily wear a habit.
There are many younger women who are looking for something to grasp onto and have meaning in their life – but i believe if they are looking for ‘clothing’ to fulfill that need – or that the habit is going to transform them into that perceived notion – they most likely will run into a time where their motives will be in question and their vocation will have to reach much deeper than the outer garments.
the traditional habit was the dress of a widow and the dress of the day. many people think the habit is a wedding gown (as a spouse of Christ) which i believe is wrong! In the past, young women who were being received did wear a wedding gown, but then went and changed into the habit – after having their hair either cut or shaved. I don’t understand where people are getting the notion that the habit is and always should be the wedding gown and should be worn all the time….can anyone help me out here??

Sister Gayle, OSF–These sisters wore the traditional Franciscan habit with knotted cord. The color was a dark, royal purple. I hearthey only minister in India. One of our purple-loving sisters nearly ran after them in La Verna, Italy until she heard that they didn’t minister in the US!

Red Franciscans? I’ve seen blue ones, one green monk (heavily into the environment), and one denim one (He wanted to look “cool” to the street kids), but not red ones. Hmmm–now to find yellow ones and orange ones, and the rainow would be complete!

I don’t think the FSE’s wear burgundy — one of them works in the vocations office in our diocese and she’s always wearing brown.

I could be wrong, though. Perhaps she’s a rebel in the community.

I’ve just read through these posts. I wonder why we sometimes feel a need to label a right way and a wrong way? Certainly there can be both positive and negative consequences related to wearing the habit. Can we honor that differenet sisters and different congregations have different calls as to how they are called to dress? I have always known I was not called to wear a habit, but I certainly understand why some sisters do.

There is the value of a blatantly visible witness, although we recognize that the response to the habit depends mostly on the receiver and can trigger extemes in both directions. There is also the value in saying, “I have made this public witness to God and I am not so different from you!” We are all called to live in the spirit of the vows; religious women just take them publicly. We are all called to place God first in our lives; religious women do that (or strive to) in a more exclusive way. Perhaps those who are not habited remind others that we are all called to these values. I am not so different from you is what I want to say to people. If I look so different, some people can say, “While, she is special, separate, different, so that’s why she (fill inthe blank). I’m just a regular person, so I don’t have to (fill in the blank).”

All of us are called to love and serve. Discernment is figuing out how we can love best – as a single person, a religious, or a married perosn. But we are all called to love and serve.

Just yesterday I was at a conference of Catholics. The others at the table were friendly, but when I introduced myself as Sister Lorraine the immediate response was, “Oh no, now we have to behave ourselves!” It amuses me when people find out I am a sister after they have been talking a while and they wonder if they have said anything wrong. Since we are all called to consistent Christian values and behaviour, it shouldn’t cause great alarm to discover that an incognito sister in in one’s midst!

I have also found that on the odd occassion people presume that they can be quite rude and show me no respect as a person becuase I am not dressed as they think I should be. It might make these people happy to see me in a habit, but their agressvie reaction to my not wearing the habit really makes me question their Christian motivation!

On that note, let me say that I am proud to be a sister and everyone in the parish where I minister knows that I am a sister. I hope we can be charitable in all our conversations and interactions with one antoher.

For anyone who is interested, here are some sisters who wear purple: http://www.assumptionsisters.org

interesting how this conversation has gone into the various colors and styles of habits of the congregations that wear them! it sort of makes me chuckle at the seeming attempt to be stylish – or different – in choosing outlandish colors!

lorraine makes an interesting and valid point about the people who want or think religious women should wear the habit – there is a group on facebook – “Nuns Should Wear Habits” This group is mostly made up of Catholics who take on the theology and the time from The Council of Trent! They make mention of the SSPX – which is a pre-Vatican thinking and dismissing Vatican2 as not being valid. most of the people who argue that ALL religious sisters/nuns should wear habits are lay people(on this group) There is one gentleman on there that i have gotten into some conversations with – and i must say – he and most of them have been quite rude – and so stuck in this old way of thinking. This is where the thought of the habit is a wedding gown and should be worn at all times comes from.
I think it is interesting and important to be aware of some of the thinking out there – while adhering to the essence of what we are being called too.
I value and take quite seriously the vows i made to God and to my Congregation – as all of us have – it is a wonderful life – filled with challenges and blessings – and i would hope that one of these challenges is not going to be that my vows are not valid, or my profession as a sister is not valid because i don’t wear a habit!!

Dear Jean,
I entirely agree with that statement. A habit is very pretty, but the habit that is worn within the soul holds so much more beauty and worth! A habit in the wrong context can separate sister from sister and does indeed bring about gossipping. But a habit in the right context can be a witness to others of faith in God, which the spiritual habit does as well. Overall, whether a sister wears a habit or not is not my decision, and I don’t think I have a right to suggest what a sister should or shouldn’t wear.

Now back to the question: Does the habit brings vocations? Personally, I don’t believe so. I tend to believe that people are deeper than that. They have intellects and feelings, and hopefully they aren’t so superficial to make a life decision based only on the outside habit. Personally, I believe what affects the amount of vocations to an order varies on the advertisement of the order, the charism, and general apostolate of the community.

Pax Tibi,
DL25

There was a group in San Antonio, TX that we nicknamed the Rainbow Sisters. A company had donated all types of pastle material to their community. In a true sense of poverty, they had made their habits and viels out of the donated material. Very colorful in yellows, peach, green…as well as blue and purple!

I can see why some would want to wear a habit but I really think that what is on the inside of her heart is more important. I wouldn’t want to wear a habit, I don’t think, because it seems like a barrier to the laity. We are supposed to work together. I am considering 3 orders, all of which are modern and don’t wear habits.

Hi everyone!
i’m a high schooler currently looking at the possibility of a religious vocation. being a potential “vocations recruit” , i thought I’d add my 2 cents.
first, a nun’s wearing a habit tends to be seen as a symbol of commitment to Church teaching. NOT that nuns who wear civilian clothes necessarily aren’t, but wearing a habit is like saying “yes, I care about God and my vocation enough to tell the world every time they see me that I belong to Jesus”.
also, a habit is one of the cool things about being a nun. if you’re going to live your life set apart for Christ, why not look like it? You bear witness with your appearance as well as your behavior.
have a great day everyone and God bless.

What a great blog! Like an earlier commenter, I found my way here while looking for a discussion about the movie “Doubt.”

I spent 20 years wearing the “habit” of an active duty military officer. Uniforms have totemic value, conveying a tremendous amount of information to those who understand the significance of various bits of insignia. Conformity to the uniform also intills a sense of discipline, is designed for safety and mission focus, and contributes to a sense of esprit de corps.

To some people, I was more approachable in uniform: usually to express thanks for my service, to share their own experiences in the military, to ask for advice about enlisting, or to ask a technical question related to my job. Others, I know, avoided me. For example, when I was stationed in California, I went directly from work to a local grocery store that serves a primarily Mexican immigrant clientele. I clearly made them nervous and I did not go again in uniform. In that particualar context, the uniform did not serve a positive function. Out of uniform, I had many friendly encounters with the same people.

Let the clothing fit the mission.

Hey KvK – One of the most important things I have learned on this site
is that what many, if not most, non-religious refer to when we use the term “the habit” is simply one example of the religious habits worn – with Canonical approval (which, to me, means that the Vatican gave the Order specific and fully informed consent after a review by the Vatican to determine that the order’s proposed habit meets the Church’s requirements – by Roman Catholic sisters and nuns. Again and again, sisters have posted the Canonically approved “habit” of the Roman Catholic orders. Iin some cases, the Church-required-and-approved “habit” has been described (based on the Sisters knowledge of their own Orders constitutions, that document through which an Order’s habit would have been proposed to and approved by the Vatican) as constituting, say, a Benedictine Cross, a ring and dress appropriate to the ministry (my language). If it is in the Order’s Constitution, Holy Church – as Catherine of Siena refers to it – has given its blessings.

Thus, when we in the lay community criticize Sisters who wear a habit that does not fit our stereotype of “the habit”, we misrepresent Holy Church’s requirements of, agreements with and relationships with others; we risk being agents of diviseness, anger; we fail to “remember the sanctity which makes every disciple of Jesus another Christ” (Father Perrin, OP) and, implicitly, we criticize Holy Church.

For me, that reality presents a deeply powerfully and bottomless meditation: judgment of others is one of the sins that begets other sins.