Comments on: Living in Community http://anunslife.org/2009/06/25/living-in-community/ Catholic Sisters and Nuns in Today's World Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:58:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Sister Julie http://anunslife.org/2009/06/25/living-in-community/#comment-38496 Sister Julie Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:06:38 +0000 http://anunslife.org/?p=3065#comment-38496 LOL Jean :) Suzanne, There is certainly no substitute for the face-to-face interaction where all your senses are engaged. I love living in community and I think there are healthy ways to tend to both togetherness and the common life as well as having quiet, alone time. LOL Jean :)

Suzanne, There is certainly no substitute for the face-to-face interaction where all your senses are engaged. I love living in community and I think there are healthy ways to tend to both togetherness and the common life as well as having quiet, alone time.

]]> By: Suzanne http://anunslife.org/2009/06/25/living-in-community/#comment-38458 Suzanne Mon, 20 Jul 2009 01:00:17 +0000 http://anunslife.org/?p=3065#comment-38458 My sense of community would be people who I live and interact with on a daily or weekly basis. Our need for community can be partially filled by the collectivity of online interaction - I'm a big fan of this site! - but I really think community ultimately involves face-to-face interaction. I am hoping to become a sister, and it is very important to me that I would be living with at least several other people and not be alone too much. My sense of community would be people who I live and interact with on a daily or weekly basis. Our need for community can be partially filled by the collectivity of online interaction – I’m a big fan of this site! – but I really think community ultimately involves face-to-face interaction. I am hoping to become a sister, and it is very important to me that I would be living with at least several other people and not be alone too much.

]]> By: jean http://anunslife.org/2009/06/25/living-in-community/#comment-35049 jean Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:29:42 +0000 http://anunslife.org/?p=3065#comment-35049 Elizabeth - i like that. it leaves room for dogs, who are always fully dressed and at the ready! jean Elizabeth – i like that. it leaves room for dogs, who are always fully dressed and at the ready! jean

]]> By: Elizabeth http://anunslife.org/2009/06/25/living-in-community/#comment-35048 Elizabeth Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:11:35 +0000 http://anunslife.org/?p=3065#comment-35048 My definition of community is my '4 am friends'. It's those people whom I could call at 4 am and they would be pulling on their clothes before they asked me what was wrong. My definition of community is my ‘4 am friends’. It’s those people whom I could call at 4 am and they would be pulling on their clothes before they asked me what was wrong.

]]> By: Sr. Mina, BSP http://anunslife.org/2009/06/25/living-in-community/#comment-34724 Sr. Mina, BSP Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:03:34 +0000 http://anunslife.org/?p=3065#comment-34724 Thank you for such an educational post! Its so true that there is a misconception of what "in community" means. My order, the Brothers and Sisters of Penance, each live in their own homes and keep contact usually offline or online. They generally do an apostolate of their choice, even if they're homebound or do have a job or are disabled. Their mission is to promote the Gospel and Penance. Their patron is St. Francis. If you'd like more info, just email me or look them up on Google. I won't spam the comments with a link. Thank you for such an educational post! Its so true that there is a misconception of what “in community” means.

My order, the Brothers and Sisters of Penance, each live in their own homes and keep contact usually offline or online. They generally do an apostolate of their choice, even if they’re homebound or do have a job or are disabled. Their mission is to promote the Gospel and Penance. Their patron is St. Francis.

If you’d like more info, just email me or look them up on Google. I won’t spam the comments with a link.

]]> By: Rosemary http://anunslife.org/2009/06/25/living-in-community/#comment-34624 Rosemary Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:06:00 +0000 http://anunslife.org/?p=3065#comment-34624 Thank you for this post. I'm entering into life in a Secular Institute where one lives 'communion of life' and not really community life. It worries me at times when I think I will be alone... but this reassures me. It doesn't have to be physical closeness. It can be community in so many other ways.... Thank you for this post. I’m entering into life in a Secular Institute where one lives ‘communion of life’ and not really community life. It worries me at times when I think I will be alone… but this reassures me. It doesn’t have to be physical closeness. It can be community in so many other ways….

]]> By: eily246 http://anunslife.org/2009/06/25/living-in-community/#comment-34576 eily246 Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:34:45 +0000 http://anunslife.org/?p=3065#comment-34576 I think community is one of the things that draws me to religious life. It is also one of the things that I miss about college. During my senior year of college, 3 of my friends and I were able to live in a townhouse together. We were and still are (despite distance) a community. Distance has not weakened the bond of community we formed. Living together didn't make us a community. It was the deep support of one another and the sense that we all held similar beliefs and pushed for the same things. Sure, we had our differences, but I know that they'll always be there for me and vice versa. I do miss my college community and knowing that someone right here is always supporting me. I think community is one of the things that draws me to religious life. It is also one of the things that I miss about college.

During my senior year of college, 3 of my friends and I were able to live in a townhouse together. We were and still are (despite distance) a community. Distance has not weakened the bond of community we formed. Living together didn’t make us a community. It was the deep support of one another and the sense that we all held similar beliefs and pushed for the same things. Sure, we had our differences, but I know that they’ll always be there for me and vice versa.

I do miss my college community and knowing that someone right here is always supporting me.

]]> By: Another Sister Julie, CSSF http://anunslife.org/2009/06/25/living-in-community/#comment-34523 Another Sister Julie, CSSF Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:11:57 +0000 http://anunslife.org/?p=3065#comment-34523 I have lived in many configurations, too, but living outside of community these past 13 yrs. while taking care of ill family members has been a real challenge. I had to keep an attitude of having my heart with community and keeping my community in my heart. Soon I will be moving to our motherhouse to live with 30 sisters--talk about two ends of the spectrum! But I have to remind myself that community has to be intentional, not just geographical. I had a wonderful community experience living with one elderly sister. Then I lived in a house of five that felt like a hotel. Attitude and intention makes or breaks community life, IMHO. <i>(Shout out to our candidate Dominique who has been lurking here for quite a while. Hi, Dominique!)</i> I have lived in many configurations, too, but living outside of community these past 13 yrs. while taking care of ill family members has been a real challenge. I had to keep an attitude of having my heart with community and keeping my community in my heart. Soon I will be moving to our motherhouse to live with 30 sisters–talk about two ends of the spectrum!

But I have to remind myself that community has to be intentional, not just geographical. I had a wonderful community experience living with one elderly sister. Then I lived in a house of five that felt like a hotel. Attitude and intention makes or breaks community life, IMHO.

(Shout out to our candidate Dominique who has been lurking here for quite a while. Hi, Dominique!)

]]> By: jean http://anunslife.org/2009/06/25/living-in-community/#comment-34514 jean Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:49:40 +0000 http://anunslife.org/?p=3065#comment-34514 Sister Julie - The story about your sisters going to Korea "just" to rock babies is beautiful. I spent time in Romania ten years ago and visited the State orphanages, where the kind Romania people did not understand they would one day find their own broken hearts: in hundreds of their children the State raised without holding, without rocking, without loving eyes that say "i see you and i love you". i will never forget seeing, with real joy, a robust six month old boy, his face lit up with expectation that i would reach into his crib and snuggle him, and then learning that he was almost 18 months old, the source of his robustness in the context of the presentation of a six month old. God bless the IHMs for holding and looking into the eyes of the children for whom they travelled so far from home. Among other questions, for me, as I contemplate various Communities is that of the "footprint" a Community makes on the community around it and, if you will, what footprint is created by that footprint. The example of your friend in the military is a beautiful one and I see it differently, having grown up on military bases: community and mission are inseparable. In both broad sweeps and minute details, mission determines community, and it is in that tight and conscious braiding of mission and community that the safety and integrity of each is preserved at the level of both those broad sweeps and those minute details. Along these lines, I have been thinking about the brilliant, impossible-to-improve motto of green living: reduce, recycle, reuse in every material sense....and what that means in terms of Gospel community in today's world. And I am thinking that motto is a good "For Dummies" book, for dummies like me, or a military-style SOP for community (standard operating procedure): Gospel Living in Community as a Catholic Religious Reduce [attachments and use of resources] Recycle [love] Reuse [the Gospel] Jean Sister Julie – The story about your sisters going to Korea “just” to rock babies is beautiful. I spent time in Romania ten years ago and visited the State orphanages, where the kind Romania people did not understand they would one day find their own broken hearts: in hundreds of their children the State raised without holding, without rocking, without loving eyes that say “i see you and i love you”. i will never forget seeing, with real joy, a robust six month old boy, his face lit up with expectation that i would reach into his crib and snuggle him, and then learning that he was almost 18 months old, the source of his robustness in the context of the presentation of a six month old. God bless the IHMs for holding and looking into the eyes of the children for whom they travelled so far from home.

Among other questions, for me, as I contemplate various Communities is that of the “footprint” a Community makes on the community around it and, if you will, what footprint is created by that footprint.

The example of your friend in the military is a beautiful one and I see it differently, having grown up on military bases: community and mission are inseparable. In both broad sweeps and minute details, mission determines community, and it is in that tight and conscious braiding of mission and community that the safety and integrity of each is preserved at the level of both those broad sweeps and those minute details.

Along these lines, I have been thinking about the brilliant, impossible-to-improve motto of green living: reduce, recycle, reuse in every material sense….and what that means in terms of Gospel community in today’s world. And I am thinking that motto is a good “For Dummies” book, for dummies like me, or a military-style SOP for community (standard operating procedure):

Gospel Living in Community
as a Catholic Religious

Reduce [attachments and use of resources]
Recycle [love]
Reuse [the Gospel]

Jean

]]> By: Venite http://anunslife.org/2009/06/25/living-in-community/#comment-34491 Venite Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:14:30 +0000 http://anunslife.org/?p=3065#comment-34491 Unorthodox situations are my family's core business :) When I still lived in student housing, all five of us lived in different provinces (and my mother even in another country). There were a lot of long phone calls going all around! But to be honest, I really like it best when my mum is here and we can just all be in the same room, doing nothing special. "Home" is cooking together with my mum. She's more upset that the kitchen of my community is in the cloistered area than that I'm moving to another country and becoming a sister :) Unorthodox situations are my family’s core business :) When I still lived in student housing, all five of us lived in different provinces (and my mother even in another country). There were a lot of long phone calls going all around!

But to be honest, I really like it best when my mum is here and we can just all be in the same room, doing nothing special. “Home” is cooking together with my mum. She’s more upset that the kitchen of my community is in the cloistered area than that I’m moving to another country and becoming a sister :)

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