Ever since I began thinking about the possibility of becoming a Catholic sister, I have been on perpetual nun surveillance. I delight in spotting nuns hither and yon — in churches, in supermarkets, on bicycles, on airplanes — wherever and however they are!

I’ve honed my nundar over the years, deftly discerning the Catholic sister or nun living and ministering in the midst of the world. It’s not as easy as you think, even with the sisters who wear external expressions of their consecration such as with a type of habit, a ring, a substantial cross or rosary, or other form of expression. There’s such wonderful diversity of our world in terms of cultures and religious traditions and personal expression that it takes great skill — and a bit of holy inspiration — to discern whether that veil is worn by a nun or other religious person, that rosary is a fashion accessory or a religious community’s custom.

What I love about nun surveillance is that I get to see what other sisters and nuns are up to and how they live and express their charism (see Ask Sister episode AS082 for more on charism). I have to restrain myself from bolting over to sisters and nuns unknown to me to say, “Hey, I’m a sister too! What’s up? What kind of nun are you? Where are you from? What do you do? Who’s your founder? What’s your charism and mission? How’d you become a nun?” As you can tell, that might be a bit overwhelming. Thank God, nuns do not carry tasers.

I believe in the sisterhood of all sisters and nun. I feel a special bond, much like married parents might like connecting with other married parents or engineers bond with other engineers (Look! she has a stainless steel ring on her pinky too!). No matter our charism or ministry or way of dressing or theology or spirituality, we have a connection that I find encouraging and delightful.

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The nuns are going to a screening of The Might Macs (movie featuring Cathy Rush and the Immaculata IHM Sisters and the legendar women’s basketball team) tonight and will be doing a review by blog and podcast later this week. As a result, we need to move prayer up to 5:30 p.m. CST (your time zone), a half an hour earlier than usual. Hope you can make it!

How times change! I found it interesting to read through the “horarium” (the hourly schedule for sisters) that was used early in IHM religious life. It reflects a time in history when the main purpose of all religious life around the world was to develop personal holiness. Service to others was a “secondary” purpose. But times—and theology—change. In the 1950s and 1960s, service to others was understood as not being somehow separate from holiness, but a path for holiness.

If you were a novice with the IHMs in 1902, here’s what your day would look like!

IHM sisters performing their “charges” – serving meals in the sisters’ infirmary

1902 IHM Novitiate Directory

[Sisters arose to the sound of the bell at 5:00 a.m.]

As good order is the life of a well regulated Institute, the Sisters shall make it their duty to observe most strictly the following regulations. They shall rise in the morning at the first sound of the bell, without in the least giving way to sloth, thinking that it is God who calls them. Entertaining themselves with holy thoughts, they shall dress with greatest modesty. Afterwards, make the sign of the cross, and recite the usual morning prayers, offering to God all the actions of the day. Then, prostrate, they shall say three Aves and ask her blessing while in spirit kissing her hand. And having kissed the floor, before and after the three Aves, they shall kneel and with arms extended, say one Pater and Ave in honor of their yearly Patron.

Assemble in the chapel for meditation
Assist at Holy Mass
Breakfast
Manual work/study until 11:45
Particular examen [of conscience]
12:00 (in silence) go to dinner
Te Deum in Chapel after dinner
After Chapel, repair to refectory, kitchen, or other departments for charges [daily chores]
After these charges, recreation
Study/manual labor from 1:30-3:00
3:00 Spiritual reading (from a book selected by the Novice Mistress)
3:30 One-third of the rosary
4:00 Free time
4:30 Visit to the Blessed Sacrament and the BVM
5:00 Study or instructions
6:00 Supper, followed by recreation
8:00 Silence
8:30 Night prayers
9:30 Last signal shall be given, when all unnecessary lights shall be extinguished and each Sister is strictly commanded to be in bed.

Source: Building Sisterhood: A Feminist History of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, published by Syracuse University Press, 1997. Photo: page 192.

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Join A Nun’s Life Community for prayer today via our live podcast “Praying with the Sisters” and chat room. Just before 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone) join us at http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE … more info on that page.

Sister Julie and I have finally caught our breath after last week’s whirlwind of meetings and festivities at the IHM Motherhouse. The grand finale of the week was the profession of final vows of Sister Maria Antonia Aranda Diaz, who lives in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. During the ceremony, Maria Antonia committed herself to “poverty, chastity and obedience for the rest of my life” (these words are often accompanied by a deep breath…).

The reading at the ceremony was from Luke 4, in which Jesus read the words of the prophet Isaiah:

The Spirit of our God is upon me: because the Most High has anointed me
to bring Good News to those who are poor.
God has sent me to proclaim liberty to those held captive,
recovery of sight to those who are blind,
and release to those in prison—
to proclaim the year of our God’s favor.

The words were very fitting for Sister Maria Antonia. Living out the example of Jesus, she brings Good News to some of the most vulnerable citizens of Juarez through her ministry. She serves in Paso del Norte Human Rights Center, which helps to protect the rights and safety of women and children who are confronted by violence.

In the next couple of days, Sister Julie and I will post photos of Sister Maria Antonia’s profession ceremony on the A Nun’s Life Facebook page. In the meantime, we continue to celebrate her commitment and her life among us as our IHM sister y hermana!

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Join A Nun’s Life Community for prayer today via our live podcast “Praying with the Sisters” and chat room. Just before 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone) join us at http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE … more info on that page.

The annual All-Star baseball game was played last night here in the U.S. The two all-star teams were made up of players from a variety of major league teams and were chosen by the fans, managers, other players, and coaches.

I saw only the very end of the game. But it got me to wondering, if there was an all-star team for religious life, who would I choose? And how would I decide? It would be difficult. For one thing, sisters don’t have stats the way baseball players do – no RBIs, no ERAs, no stolen bases. Plus, there are thousands of sisters, and they do lots incredible things in the world, such as environmental work, prison ministry, hospice care, disaster relief, and much more.

When I thought about my own all-star nun team, the roster overflowed. Plus it tended toward the personal — toward sisters who deeply influenced my life. So let’s see, my first choices included lots of IHMs. No surprise there. Meeting the IHMs changed my life. Being an IHM continues to change my life. Others all-star nuns on my roster … at first base, my grade school teacher Sister Thomas, who helped me learn how to read. At second and third bases, Sister Sara and Sister Barbara, who instilled in me a great love of literature. At shortstop, Sister Coralita. The list goes on and on.

If you had an all-star nun team, who would be on your roster? I’d be interested to hear your line-up!

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Join A Nun’s Life Community for prayer today via our live podcast “Praying with the Sisters” and chat room. Just before 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone) join us at http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE … more info on that page.

It's a big change of pace for Sister Magdalene, S.S.C.J., of San Antonio, Tex., as she steps in determinedly to slam the ball in a ball game at the Davenport Ranch, all over the U.S., attending special summer classes at St. Edward's University, were invited to the ranch for a day's outing. They relaxed on their day off and played volleyball as well as baseball. July 2, 1963 Austin, Texas, USA

At the Conference of the History of Women Religious today I attended a presentation by Dr. Carmen Mangion of the University of London. She presented the project of her colleage Dr. Caroline Bowden. The project is called Who Were the Nuns? and it is a prosopographical study of the English convents in exile in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Scene from the Painted Life of Mary Ward. Mary Ward and some of the first seven Companions setting sail for Flanders.

Who Were the Nuns? project is “a comprehensive study of the membership of the English convents in exile. That is, the period between the opening of the first English convent in Brussels to the nuns’ return to England as a result of the French Revolution and associated violence. Most were enclosed convents, in theory cut off from the outside world. However in practice the nuns were not isolated and their contacts and networks spread widely.

Why did the nuns have to go into exile? Well, Catholic nuns, monks, and clergy were not exactly welcome in England at the time. In fact monasteries and convents were forcibly disbanded, and it was illegal to establish any new ones. (See Wikipedia on Dissolution of the Monasteries for more information).

As a result, “vast numbers of Catholics left their home country for the continent including many men and women religious and men and women with a religious vocation. Some of them found a new haven in Spain, Portugal, Italy or Bavaria, but northern France and the Southern Netherlands were particularly appealing to these Catholics in exile. The English Carthusians were the first to settle themselves on the continent in 1559, later followed by many other religious communities of men and women. Forty years later the first ‘English convent’ for English nuns was founded in Brussels. About a dozen others were to follow in the next fifty years, most of them enclosed and contemplative, but often hosting prestigious boarding schools for children of the English Catholic elite.” (source)

Dr. Bowden found that “twenty two convents were founded on the continent and around 4000 women were professed. The convents became significant cultural centres, fostering the education of Catholic girls, making collections of books, commissioning works of art and maintaining substantial buildings.” The sisters, and their legacy, survived despite exile, wars, and natural disasters.

It is a fascinating study and project and I hope to learn more about it. I encourage you to check out Who Were the Nuns? project website.

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Join A Nun’s Life Community for prayer today via our live podcast “Praying with the Sisters” and chat room. Just before 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone) join us at http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE … more info on that page.

In May 2010, some 800 international women religious superior generals met in Rome under the auspices of the International Union of General Superiors (UISG) to ponder the twin themes of mysticism and prophecy. The following  statement was issued after the conference and “aims to express the spirit, intent and direction of the organization for the next three years through a series of public commitments” (Thomas C. Fox for NCRonline.org). Here is the statement in full:

“I know the fountain well that flows and runs… though it is night”
(St John of the Cross)

THE FUTURE OF RELIGIOUS LIFE IS IN ITS MYSTICAL AND PROPHETIC FORCE

“My soul is thirsting for God, the living God” Ps 42, 3

During this Assembly:

We, 800 superiors general coming from 87 countries, have quenched our thirst together at the Fountain of life, the God of Jesus Christ, source of our joy, our hope and our strength.

We commit ourselves to:

• Rediscover anew and listen to the Fountain which speaks in our hearts, through others and through creation.
• Draw water from the Source of our charism and rediscover the dynamism of our first call.
• Taste and share together the Word and the Bread.
• Promote a constant dialogue between the Word of God and the events which happen in our world.
• Invite others to come and drink at the Fountain.

“If you consider me a believer… come and dwell in my house” Acts 16, 15

Like Lydia, a listening and faith filled woman, we are invited to open our hearts and our homes and to remember the living waters of our baptism.

We commit ourselves to:

• Create a new style of mystical and prophetic life, open and hospitable, inclusive, respectful of differences and acknowledging the richness of other cultures and religions.
• Recreate the art of living in common, marked by deep human relationships, a listening heart, empathy and non-violence in order to be witnesses of Gospel values.
• Focus on initial and on-going formation in order to unify the mystical and prophetic dimensions of our consecrated life.
• Live in harmony with the whole Cosmos and to dwell respectfully on this Earth.

“Put out into the deep… and cast your nets…” Luke 5,4

We have become aware that we should not fear the night of the deep waters.

We commit ourselves to:

• Courageously identify the “nights” of the Church, of society and of our congregations.
• Discover the sparks of light hidden in the heart of violence, poverty and the lack of meaning.
• To open our eyes to discover new paths of light in the darkness of our world: in the precarious situation of women, the existential restlessness of the youth, the consequences of war and natural catastrophes and the extreme poverty which leads to violence.
• Offer as consecrated women a ministry of compassion and healing.
• Build inter-congregational networks at local and international levels, involving the laity in order to initiate different projects and to work for the transformation of unjust structures.
• Go beyond the frontiers of our respective charisms and to unite ourselves in order to offer a mystical and prophetic word to our world.
• Engage in truthful dialogue with the hierarchical Church at all levels in order to achieve a greater recognition of the role of women.

As Mary, let us remain awake and vigilant,
constantly searching for the Fountain that flows,
certain that It will be found, although it is night.

Click here for a PDF of the statement as well as more information on the 2010 UISG Conference.

What strikes you about this statement? What is something that you hear in this that you can incorporate in your own life? What does this say to you about the possibility of religious life?

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Join A Nun’s Life Community for prayer today via our live podcast “Praying with the Sisters”. Just before 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone) join us at http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE … more info on that page.

You may notice that many Catholic sisters and nuns have the name “Mary” included in some form in their religious name. In a recent edition of our IHM Archives News (May 2010), our intrepid archivist Donna Westley looked at this custom in the IHM tradition. (Today we use our baptismal names as our religious names so “Mary” or its derivations are present only if it was originally part of one’s baptismal name). Here’s some of that article along with additional details I gleaned from my email conversation with Donna.

Why take on a religious name? A new name in religion signified a commitment to a new way of life. For more info, check out our earlier blog post responding to Lou’s question What is the reasoning behind a nun or sister choosing a religious name?

Why the name “Mary”? Our IHM Congregation has a special devotion to Mary which has manifest itself in various ways throughout our history up to today. Co-founder Father Louis Florent Gillet, CSsR wrote about our special relationship with Mary in the original IHM Rule of Life: “The principal Patroness of the Institute will be the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of Immaculate, whose feast is celebrated the eighth of December.” The dogma of the Immaculate Conception had just been issued in 1854, just 9 years after our congregation’s founding.

The earliest commentary on the constitutions and customs that Donna found was written by Mother Gertrude Gerretsen (1864-1869). She writes:

“Devotion to the Mother of God has always been dear to religious persons. But as this congregation is immediately under her protection and as she is (under God) its principal protectress, the sisters shall always have the warmest and most affectionate devotion to her; regarding her in a special manner as their Mother and the great model they are obliged to imitate, that by her intercession and under her powerful protection they may be enabled to fulfill the obligations of this holy Institute and implant Jesus Christ in the hearts of the children they are charged to instruct.”

Mother Gertrude goes on in detail about specific devotions: rosary, novenas, celebration of feasts, the month of May, etc.

What was the Sister Mary custom with IHM Sisters? The name of Mary, although not always spoken or written at the beginning of our religious names, was always formally there until 1920.

Indeed, a page in co-founder Mother Theresa Maxis Duchemin’s Notes Regarding the Foundation supports the longstanding nature of this practice. Referring to receptions and professions, she says.

“I will now give the religious names of those 12 Sisters: Igidius, Johanna, Gerard, Liguori, Agnes, Anthony, Ignatius, Xavier, Stanislas, Colette, Gertrude, Clara, it is not necessary to say that every one had the name of Mary preceding the other name as it is customary with us.”

Looking over the religious names of members in our IHM congregation from the beginnings in 1845 and up to the 1920s, it appears the majority of sisters had a single name, preceded by Mary, Maria, Marie, or just the letter “M.”

In 1920, Sister Margaret Mary (Anna) Look was the first Monroe IHM to have a name that did not have “Mary” at the beginning. In a letter written to archivist Celeste Rabaut, IHM, on November 9, 1984, Margaret Mary explained, “St. Margaret Mary was canonized in May 1920. I was received into the community July 22, 1920, and given the name Sister Margaret Mary—coveted by many previously but not given out because ‘Mary’ preceded all names up to that time.”

After Margaret Mary, others began to have Mary, Marie, or Maria as the second part of their name.  We also began to see Latin names like Cor Mariae, Beata Maria, Maria Pacis as well as titles like Marie de Lourdes and Mary de Montfort, Marie Rosary and Mary Immaculate given as religious names.

In the Marian year (1954) almost all the postulants received were given a name with Mary, Marie, or a title of Mary — not just that initial “M.

If you have a Mary naming custom in your community or personally, let us know!

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Join Sister Maxine and Sister Julie and the A Nun’s Life Community for prayer today via our live podcast “Praying with the Sisters”. Just before 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone) join us at http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE … more info on that page.

Theologian and priest Reverend Richard McBrien provides an excellent summary of the five-part essay written by by Sister Sandra Schneiders, IHM, on religious life. Sister Sandra’s essay was published in National Catholic Reporter from January 4-8, 2010.

• Part One: Religious Life as Prophetic Life Form, January 4, 2010
• Part Two: Call, Response and Task of Prophetic Action, January 5, 2010
• Part Three: What Jesus taught us about his prophetic ministry, January 6, 2010
• Part Four: Tasks of those who choose the prophetic life style, January 7, 2010
• Part Five: Religious life: sharing Jesus’ passion, resurrection, January 8, 2010

McBrien published his summary of the main points of the essay on his blog Essays in Theology (NCR).

• Sandra Schneiders on religious life – I, March 16, 2010
• Sandra Schneiders on religious life – II, March 22, 2010

Sisters Sandra Schneiders and Julie Vieira, IHM, standing in a redwood tree at Muir Woods

I encourage you to read both Sister Sandra’s essay and McBrien’s summary, the latter of which serves as a good guide for reading the essay.

What in the essay or summary makes you say “Yes!”? What challenges you? What surprises you?

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Join the sisters for prayer today at 6 p.m. Central Time (check your time zone). Praying with the Sisters is a live podcast where you can chat with us and others in A Nun’s Life chat room. All you need is an internet connection and a heart open to prayer.

http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE

I was wondering about the occupational options open to nuns. Specifically, could somebody be a physician and a nun?

- Maria

A Catholic sister or nun can engage in any occupation or job, including that of a physician. However the choice as to which kind of work or ministry to engage in is discerned according to the mission of the congregation and the needs of the world. Because each community has a particular mission, it might happen that particular occupations will fall outside of that mission proper. Also, communities which are cloistered or semi-cloistered would have additional limitations to working outside of the monastery because their primary ministry is prayer and contemplation.

As mentioned, the choice of what kind of work to do is made through discernment with others in the sister’s community. It is a very intentional discernment that takes into account the mission of the community, the needs of the community, the needs of the world, the sister’s gifts and passions, and most importantly the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

If you are thinking about what it might be like for you to be a sister or nun, I encourage you to get to know a community and, when ready, to chat about this with the vocation director or another sister whom you know in the community.

In my IHM community, for example, our mission is centered around “the liberating mission of Jesus Christ”. Traditionally we have focused this mission around education. So many of us are involved in “traditional”educative endeavors such as teachers, catechists, and professors. We also express our educative mission through ministry as writers, care givers, justice advocates, church leaders, editors, administrators, bloggers, counselors, missionaries, lawyers, doctors, and more.

In what other occupations have you seen sisters or nuns? In what way is that occupation a ministry? If you are a sister, how did you discern that call?

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Join Sister Maxine and Sister Julie for evening prayer
at 6 p.m. Central Time (check your time zone)

This might seem like a random question, but I have been searching, and I can’t seem to find the answer. Can sisters/nuns be in wedding parties? I am not looking to tie the knot anytime soon, but I am a 21 year-old woman, and my 18 year-old sister, my best friend, is very seriously discerning the religious life. I am so excited for her, and I pray every day that she follows God’s will for her life, whatever that may be. I am just wondering, a little prematurely I suppose, whether or not she could be my maid of honor if she were to become a nun before I get married.

- Katie

Hi Katie, Thank for writing. In general, Yes, sisters/nuns can be in wedding parties. Something to be sensitive towards is dress. Sisters who wear habits may be required by their congregation to wear the habit, and not a bridesmaid dress. Those who don’t wear a habit may be reluctant to wear dresses that are “revealing”.

There also may be some communities that have restrictions on interacting outside of the convent which may mean that they can’t be bridesmaids. If a sister/nun is unable to be a bridesmaid at a wedding, one might consider asking her to do something else — if it is a religious wedding, for example, ask her to do a scripture reading.

I think it is really awesome of you to be supportive of your sister. I don’t know what I would have done without my older sister’s love and encouragement. Keep on praying for and supporting your sister. Remember that no matter what, she is your sister, the same kid that you grew up with. Encourage her to be the best person she can be!

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Join Sister Maxine and Sister Julie for evening prayer
at 6 p.m. Central Time (check your time zone)

“Hello Sister. I am a fifteen year old catholic girl and attending a catholic school. I feel that God is calling me to become a nun. I am planning on finishing high school and then taking to a religious life. The problem is I do not know where to go now that I know God is calling me. Can you tell me where I need to go to become a sister?”

- Alyssa

Hi Alyssa, Thanks for writing. Here are a few resources to check out on A Nun’s Life website:

• How to Become a Catholic Sister or Nun: a general idea of where to start, what the general logistics are, and some helpful hints from someone who’s been there and is now a Catholic sister
• Vocation Forum: a place to explore vocations to religious life

The age requirements for each community varies some. Some communities encourage you to get a college degree first. They may encourage you to “experience life” since you’ll be just out of high school. But it also depends on where you are at with your discernment, how long you’ve know the community (or other communities), etc. Even if you choose to go to college first, I’d highly encourage you to stay in touch with the community. Visit them during spring break or on weekends or whenever you have time.

Basically the first steps start with you and your discernment with God. What do you feel God is calling you to? What are you attracted to in terms of a lifestyle? How will you grow in your relationship with God and others?

In terms of the more practical “next steps” kind of thing, it is important to get to know some nuns. Have a chat with one, and see what she is like. Go to a talk by a nun. Go to mass at their motherhouse. Check out a vocation day at one of the communities. Spend some time just getting to know a community. It’s just like developing a friendship. In the meantime know that you are doing God’s will. You don’t have to wait until you decide on a particular calling. Live now how God is calling you to live. Develop (if you’ve not already) a regular rhythm of prayer, do some spiritual reading (scripture, writings of the saints, etc.), involve yourself in a ministry. Be faithful to your vocation now as a student. Remember, that too is a calling from God. If you don’t know a community of sisters, ask one of your parish leaders. Also, every diocese has a vocation office so you can check with them too and let them know what you are thinking. There are also some online vocation resources to help you along. Here are a couple:

• Vision Vocation Network
• Catholics On Call

As you get to know sisters and their communities, pay attention to how you feel, and how attracted you are to the community. Do you feel at home? Do you feel like you are growing in your relationship with God? Can you see yourself flourishing as a human being with these sisters? Keep bringing all of this to God in prayer.

There are no right or wrong steps in this journey. And they may not happen in any particular order. But this is sort of the gist of it. Let me know if you’ve got further questions or more particular ones. God bless you, Alyssa.

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Join the sisters for evening prayer tonight at 6 p.m. CST and every Monday through Thursday at http://anunslife.org/live

The turn of the new year often fills us with ideas and inspirations to try something new, to set out on a new path for the new year. To those of you who have entertained (however briefly or maybe for a long time!) with the idea of becoming a sister or nun, I invite you to consider the following:

Do you long for something more, a something that just can’t seem to be filled by your current work, relationships, endeavors, etc. even though you experience these as good?

Are you interested in deepening your life of faith through prayer, ministry, and community with others who share similar values, vision, and mission?

Are you open to the Spirit and the often surprising ways the Spirit leads?

Are you attracted to the life of Jesus the Christ and to lives of saints and holy people who strove to follow Jesus and live the Gospel?

Do you wish to live and think and “be” in a way that places the common good ahead of other goods such as personal wants?

Are you able to let go of preconceived images of what religious life is or should be?

Can you accept the humanity of yourself and of sisters and nuns and at the same time trust that the Spirit is alive and well in and through our humanity?

Do you feel both attracted to and terrified of the though of religious life, wondering perhaps, why God would call you of all people?

Are you willing to use your gifts, talents, experience, energy, and passion for God’s purposes and for a common mission and life in God?

Are you up for the greatest adventure of your life?

This is your invitation, your opportunity to take a step toward responding to this call. You don’t have to have it all figured out, or rationalize it, or be without doubt or fear. That’s all part of the package. Yo are invited to take a leap of faith, trusting that though you do not know where it will lead, that God is right here with you and will lead you to good.

What do you do now? Start reading and doing any of the suggestions on our page How to Become a Nun. Say something to that sister you admire but were afraid to say anything to about your desire. If you’ve felt attracted to the mission and life of Sister Maxine, myself, or other sisters here at A Nun’s Life, then take a chance and contact us. Check out Catholics on Call. Call the vocation director of the community you’ve been thinking about. Attend a retreat or day of prayer where you can explore how your desires and attractions are part of God’s call to you.

There is only one thing left to say.

Begin.

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Please join us at 6:00 p.m. CST (your time zone) for Praying with the Sisters podcast, a ministry of A Nun’s Life. Visit aNunsLife.org/LIVE.

Tis the season for gift-giving. We’ve received a number of emails about what to give Catholic sisters and nuns for Christmas or as a thank-you gift at the end of the year. Last year we compiled a list of ideas on giving gifts to nuns which we hope you’ll find helpful this year too.

The magazine U.S. Catholic has just published three articles on U.S. Catholic Sisters. Each of them is a “must read”. I encourage you to take the time to read each one and then come on back here to offer your thoughts: what struck you? what do you have more questions about?

1) Entered into Evidence: Women religious respond to the Vatican investigation by Heather Grennan Gary, posted online November 24, 2009 and in the January 2010 issue (Vol. 75. No. 1, pp. 12-17).

This article represents a final report compiled from U.S. Catholic‘s recent survey of Catholic sisters. The survey, though acknowledge to be U.S. Catholic conducted its own “visitation” of sorts, and this final report compiles our findings. The “completely optional, unscientific online survey provided a forum for American women religious to assess the quality of their own lives, raise their concerns about the present and future religious life, and share their thoughts on the visitation process itself.”

Our sisters Angela Hibbard, IHM, and Mildred Baker, IHM, are quoted in the article.

2) Character Witnesses by Heidi Schlumpf, posted online November 24, 2009 and in the January 2010 issue (Vol. 75. No. 1, pp. 20-23).

This article offers the results of “an online survey of U.S. Catholic subscribers and website visitors about the Vatican visitation and doctrinal assessment of U.S. women religious elicited a record 1,700 responses and passionate, lengthy comments. Visitors came from all over the Internet-from both liberal church organizations and conservative Catholic blogs-to take the survey.”

3) The Sisters of Mercy aren’t McDonald’s by Sandra Schneiders, IHM, posted online November 24, 2009 and in the January 2010 issue ( (Vol. 75. No. 1, pp. 18-19)

If you read no other article explaining why Catholic sisters are responding the way they are, read this one. Sister Sandra Schneiders, whose sister I am proud to be, addresses two of the most oft-asked questions about the investigation of U.S. women religious:

• If religious have nothing to hide, why would they object to being investigated by the Vatican?
• Why should religious congregations be any more immune to surprise checks by the Vatican on their quality of life than a fast-food franchise is to a surprise check by the main office on the quality of its operations and products?

Sister Sandra offers analogies of our situation as women religious to ordinary situations that most people are familiar with. Again, a must read.

We look forward to your thoughts on these articles. What struck you? What do you have more questions about?

The investigation of women religious (aka Catholic sisters or Catholic nuns) in the United States has raised many questions and concerns since it was first announced earlier this year. Here at A Nun’s Life Ministry, we’ve received a number of questions about the Apostolic Visitation and the doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR), an organization representing 95% of women religious in the United States. Because of the concern that so many people have shared, we’d like to open the door to your questions so that we can begin to address them with the help of experts in the field of religious life and the Catholic Church.

We would like to begin gathering your questions about the investigations. Some of the questions we’ve already received touch on the following concerns:

• why are sisters being investigated? And why only in the United States?
• is this Apostolic Visitation like the Visitation of the Legionaries of Christ?
• why are sisters upset if they have nothing to hide?
• who are Cardinal Rodé and Mother Mary Clare Millea?
• is this a friendly visit?
• why aren’t contemplative nuns and religious brothers and priests being investigated?
• should this be of concern to me as a lay person? as someone who is ordained? as a religious who is not being investigated?

In the next few weeks, A Nun’s Life Ministry will be collecting your questions as well as creating a resource page with information on the Apostolic Visitation and the doctrinal assessment. We welcome all respectful questions. Please use the comment box below or email us at with your questions. We’ll keep you updated as we go along.

When pondering some thought or idea, I always find it helpful to turn to a dictionary or to a poem or quote. As we continue to ponder the question of what it means to live the vow of poverty or a life of simplicity in a complex world, here are a few more points of view that might jump start another idea or two or invite us to shift a bit and look at this in a new light.

“Voluntary simplicity means going fewer places in one day rather than more, seeing less so I can see more, doing less so I can do more, acquiring less so I can have more.”
- Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are (2005) p. 69

*** ***

“The vows are first and foremost poetic language. Words like poverty and obedience are not literal descriptions … They are world-creating metaphors that are hyperbolic … They intend by their literally impossible extravagance (who can be absolutely poor?) to capture the totality of the commitment being expressed. Hyperbole is exaggeration for effect, the use of extreme language to evoke what is beyond expression.”
- Sister Sandra Schneiders, IHM, Selling All: Commitment, Consecrated Celibacy, and Community in Catholic Religious Life (2001)

*** ***

“How refreshing, the whinny of a packhorse unloaded of everything!”
- Zen saying

What idea popped into your head about poverty upon reading one of these quotes? What new insight might be brewing in you?

I have been meditating on the Vow of Poverty this morning after reading comments on the Nun News Roundup podcast we did on Friday.

Jean raises some very good questions about discerning a call to religious life and encountering the question of privilege. Here’s what she wrote in part:

I am struggling mightily with a concern that 21st century American religious life may place many of its new or younger entrants (post-1990s, say, and I did just pull that out of my hat) in a tremendously privileged life and socioeconomic/cultural class in this society. That the matter of who legally owns the resources can be, in real terms, very much “semantics”, placing many religious and communities well and even deep within the ranks of the “non-poor” in terms of both concrete resources and the stew of privilege (or not) that is “class”, a powerful possibility in this society.

Jean, poverty and the vow of poverty are not easy realities to get one’s head around! But it is good to tangle with them as you are considering your calling in life and exploring religious life. I pulled your comments to the fore because I know I thought about them when I was discerning religious life (still do!) and I know others are as well. So I think this conversation will be helpful to many. All are welcome (as always) to participate in the conversation.

Although not all sisters and nuns profess a vow of poverty, one of three evangelical counsels (the other 2 are chastity and obedience … Jesus’ advice to those who wish to dedicate their lives to God), all religious strive to live this virtue in their personal and communal life.

Here are a couple of my thoughts on the vow of poverty … one comes from my reading of Pope Benedict XVI’s book on Jesus of Nazareth and the other comes from a visitor’s question a while back about the different dimensions of poverty. It’s important to note that poverty in the sense of the vow, the evangelical counsel, is not the same as poverty in the sense of destitution or lack of subsistence or means of supporting oneself or one’s family.

I would like to hear more from you about the topic of living poverty as a religious. If you are a sister or nun, what does this mean for you? If you are discerning like Jean, what concerns do you have? And for all visitors, do you find echoes of the evangelical counsel of poverty in your own life?

P.S. Join us for prayer at midday today — live at noon Central Time.

Today’s post continues a conversation from the last few days about Sister Sandra Schneiders’ writing. Sister Sandra has written and presented much on Religious Life. To each endeavor she brings herself and the variety of “coordinates” from which she speaks: a Catholic woman, an IHM Sister, an internationally recognized scholar in Scripture and in Religious Life, Professor Emerita at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley.

When addressing topic it’s not always easy (or desirable) for an author to speak only from one “coordinate”. In this context we’re talking about the specific issue of Religious Life, which is my lived experience and also the lived experience of my IHM Sister Sandra. It’s not always easy or even possible to separate oneself from the subject of inquiry.

Dr. Margaret Susan Thompson, known as “Peggy” here at A Nun’s Life, has graciously given us permission to post an essay she wrote on this topic. Click on the link below to view a PDF of her essay.

Concentric Circles of Sisterhood

Introduction to Building Sisterhood: A Feminist History of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Monroe, Michigan (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1997)

by Margaret Susan Thompson, PhD

Associate Professor of History and Political Science at Maxwell School of Syracuse University

A note about the use of “feminist” in Building Sisterhood: A Feminist History of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary … The IHM congregation has a long history of what today we would call “feminism.” The word has many different meanings. It’s rooted in the belief that all people deserve respect, equality, and justice. Many women around the world lack these things and suffer as a result. In this regard, feminists are women and men who desire a world where the fullness of life is available to all people. “Feminism” also refers to a perspective. For much of recorded history, the experience of women was articulated by men. Feminists are women who articulate their own experience as women, and this can yield a perspective on events, such as the birth of a child or the decision to enter religious life, that may be very different from the perspective of men.

There’s more information about the feminist perspective in Dr. Thompson’s introduction to Building Sisterhood.

The National Catholic Reporter has a new article posted by Sister Sandra Schneiders, IHM, called Discerning Ministerial Religious Life Today (September 11, 2009). In this article, Sister Sandra helps explain why it is that all nuns do not wear a habit, live in a cloister, or pray the horarium. Essentially Sister Sandra is filling a gap in people’s experience of women religious. Many people have had experience of or heard about sisters who live a monastic form of religious life and sisters who live an apostolic or ministerial form of religious life. But it’s not always easy to explain how we got the two or how the two are similar and how they are dissimilar.

This essay is also a kind of continuation of a discussion on religious life by Sister Sandra in recent publications: the essay Why they stay(ed), the personal email that NCR published, We’ve given birth to a new form of religious life, and the address she gave to the IHM Congregation, God So Loved the World … Ministerial Religious Life in 2009.

In this latest piece, Sister Sandra, a member of my own IHM community, responds to the question, What is ‘apostolic Religious Life’? which, as she notes, has been answered though often times with misinformation. The question appears in various forms, often around three main questions about lifestyle:

“Is culturally conspicuous, uniform garb (habit), fixed group dwelling from which members exit only by necessity and from which non-members are excluded (enclosure, cloister), and a daily schedule including shared meals, work, and especially the oral recitation of prescribed texts and vocal prayers, e.g., divine office, litanies, at several fixed times a day (horarium) essential to Catholic Religious Life as such?” The short answer is “no.”

The article goes on to provide a longer answer contextualized within history, scripture and theology.

This is a very important piece of writing and I recommend that you take a read, especially if you are considering religious life or know someone who is. Use it as a starting point to explore some of the issues and insights that Sister Sandra has raised. Whether or not you agree with what she has written, she has done a good job at naming the significant issues that can create confusion and misinformation.

Discerning Ministerial Religious Life Today
(National Catholic Reporter, September 11, 2009)

Please read the article and then join in the conversation below. (NB: The conversation actually got started on another post here so I moved those comment over here.)

Question from Veronica …

I am a 55 year old practising Catholic. Am married, 2 children are now grown up and living with my husband. Thoughts of pursuing becoming a nun has come and go. Now I feel that there is a need for me to do something, where do I go from here?

Dear Veronica, Many thanks for writing in. You are not alone! I’ve run into many women who have similar wonderings about their life and what they can do to tend to this attraction to religious life.

Becoming a Catholic sister or nun may not be an option for you due to your being currently married and your age. Since the process of becoming a nun takes about 7 years, I’m not sure that religious communities would consider the possibility unless you’ve already had a relationship with them.

Still, your attraction and your desires are real and are a calling from God. Each of us is called in some way to dedicate ourselves to God.

You might want to consider becoming an Associate or Affiliate — a lay woman (married/single) who shares in the mission and spirituality of the community but is not under vows. Lay Affiliates or Associates can also be men.  Not all congregations have associates, and those that do vary in the formation process and the degree to which associates can be involved in the life of the congregation. For a specific example of a congregation’s associate program check out the the Monroe IHM page on IHM Associates.

No matter what age you are or what state of life, there are things you can do and ways to be of service. I encourage you to think about your gifts and talents and about what you would absolutely love to do. There are so many people in need and organizations that would love your help. There are also so many ways to deepen your life of prayer and to grow closer to God. Whether in ministry or prayer, look for something that has a sense of community so that you are supported and encouraged in your work and in your life.

Let me know if what kinds of things are of interest to you in terms of prayer, ministry, and community. That way I’ll be able to offer some more specific suggestions to help.

Blessings, Veronica, and to all who have similar wonderings.

You never know what the digital mailbag is going to pop out. This morning it’s a question from Katy.

Hi there! I have a rather silly question but, can nuns swim? Like go to the beach/pool and swim, are they allowed?

I love this question! At one level it does seem a bit silly as Katy noted, but it’s still a good question that people aren’t always sure how to answer.

First, not all nuns can swim. It is not a divinely-bestowed skill that we automatically receive upon profession of vows. “… I vow celibacy, poverty and obedience for the rest of my life and so do promise to cherish and use my sacred nun gift of swimming for good and not for evil …” Some of us know how to swim, and some of us? well, not so much. I actually was in the “not so much” category until after my final vows (hmmm … maybe the gift only comes after final vows??). I actually taught myself to swim because I had entered myself in a triathlon and figured it would be helpful to know how to swim! But I digress …

Okay so that was the silly part of the question/answer (though the last part is in fact true). Your question is really about whether or not nuns are allowed to swim rather than their actual ability to swim.

There is no general prohibition against nuns swimming. In fact many nuns I know swim. Some orders may not have ready access to water to swim in which may prevent them from swimming. Or some may not allow sisters to wear clothing other than the habit and other religious garb. In those cases, some nuns may not be allowed to swim. Other than that, by all means, nuns can and do swim. You might be thinking that the swimsuit is too revealing for a nun, but it’s appropriate for a nun to don a modest swimsuit when at the beach or pool. And as with our other dress, we maintain modesty so you probably won’t see us in bikinis or swimwear that is eye-catching.

Well, I do have one exception to that last statement. Sister Maxine can attest to this story. We had some ministry to attend to in Florida earlier in the year. It was winter here and of course beautiful in Florida. I forgot to take a bathing suit because I’m so used to it being winter. We get down there and find a great pool and whirlpool where we are staying, and of course the beaches are spectacular. And I, I have no swimsuit. So I run out to Target to pick up a “modest swimsuit” but it’s Florida for heaven’s sake and apparently all the modest swimsuits are sold out. So I end up with this funky two-piece suit (not a bikini, thank God) with all kinds of gold and tiger stripes on it with a top that ties around the neck.

The suit was a fashion nightmare but folks, it was an emergency situation.

So there you have it. More information about nuns and swimming then you ever thought possible!

Celibacy is a way of life for Catholic sisters and nuns as well as for religious brothers and monks. But what is celibacy and how does one live celibacy, especially in a society that can be both sex-obsessed and a bit prudish about sex?

Before talking about celibacy, I think it’s important to point out that celibacy is not a condemnation or rejection of sex. And celibacy (as well as sex) relates to a lot more than the physical act of having sex. “Sexuality affects all aspects of the human person in the unity of his body and soul. It especially concerns affectivity, the capacity to love and to procreate, and in a more general way the aptitude for forming bonds of communion with others. (Catechism) Also important to note is that there is a difference between celibacy and chastity.

Okay, so celibacy. I’m responding in part from a reader’s email asking for a post on celibacy — not just an “academic” approach to what it is but sisters’ own personal witness to the celibate life.

As she noted, it’s not all that often that we celibate folks talk about it from a personal standpoint. I think mostly that’s because it is has to do with one’s sexuality and is indeed personal. Still, since celibacy isn’t mainstream, I think it’s important that we do talk about it with some degree of candor while also respecting personal boundaries. I was blessed to have a couple nuns whom I could ask any thing and it was through their own experience and witness to celibacy that I could find answers to my own questions and carve out a way of understanding what God’s particular call to me.

The only thing I knew about celibacy in religious life, prior to knowing my nuns, is that it meant NO SEX. It was something that was half-admired, but also half-mocked. Are nuns celibate because they “can’t get a guy” or because they are sexually repressed? Is it a special calling for only the holiest of holies? Does God give nuns a gift of not having sexual urges? None of those things particularly appealed to me or applied to me (I did not imagine myself to be particularly holy) so I never thought that lifelong celibacy would be my particular calling.

In grad school when I first began thinking about religious life (and resisted being attracted to it) I got to know more religious — women and men who were celibate. They didn’t strike me as repressed people and seemed to have a healthy sense of self and other. They were not “holier than thou” people, just ordinary women and men serving God.

Long story short, I became more open to the idea of celibacy and now I’m celibate for life.

My witness to celibacy is more than just not having sex, it’s about being free. An important “ah-ha!” moment was watching Dead Man Walking and the scene where Sister Helen Prejean talks about why she became a nun and chose not to be married. There was a sense that her not being attached to one single person or one single family allowed her to be free to go where the needs were. It made a huge impression on me. I began to realize that as big of a deal it was to commit to no sex it was a bigger deal to commit to the positive life stance of being free to serve wherever God called.

I know you probably have some questions so I’ll end here with this quote:

“Life is not all about sex.”

Samantha (Kim Cattrall) in a Sex in the City episode

Every religious congregation and diocese has Vocation Directors, that is, persons whose primary ministry is to reach out to people discerning their calling and to help them see if they are called to that particular community or diocese. In religious life, a Vocation Director is there to help you get to know the community, to introduce you to and facilitate connections to other sisters or brothers in the community. She or he is also the one who gets to know you, where you are from, what your story is, what attracts you to God, to religious life, and to that particular community.

For those of you who are discerning, it can feel like a huge step to make Official Contact (begin dramatic music) with a religious congregation. I remember how terrified and exhilarated I felt the first time I made contact (yes, it felt a little like Richard Dreyfuss’s character in Close Encounters of the Third Kind) with our IHM Vocation Director. It was not because she or any of the nuns were alien-esque but rather it was something happening within me. I was actually making concrete, publicly articulating this desire that was welling up in me … a desire that I still struggled to put coherent words on.

Some of my fears about contacting a Vocation Director had to do with thinking I was “signing on the dotted line”. I didn’t know that the Vocation Director was there to help me discern, give me more data for my research, help me to get to know the community. I didn’t know that she held both the community’s best interests and my best interests at heart. I was also afraid that as she got to know me, she’d find out I wasn’t all that holy or nunly (whatever I thought that meant!).

The very act of making contact was for me a real help in my discernment because I had to trust God and really believe that the Spirit was working within me. It was like my secret was finally going to be out in the open which was not only terrifying but kind of a relief. I didn’t know what would come of all that but I knew that if I didn’t respond to this nudging of God’s Spirit (no matter how crazy it all seemed to me) then I might miss something. I could never have dreamed that that little nudging would end up in the life I experience now as an IHM Sister dedicated to the liberating mission of Jesus.

I came to value and rely on the relationship that I had with my Vocation Directors (I had two, not because I was a handful … or was it? … but because one was at the end of her term and the new one was beginning). One of the most important things they did for me was to help me to get to know other sisters and to have others get to know me. That was foundational for me and to this day I continue those ever-deepening relationships. My directors and the nuns I met sustained me as I went through the ups and downs of discernment. They let me know that I was welcome and wanted and also that I was free to do what God called me to do, even if it meant not staying.

For those of you considering religious life, what’s your experience of “making contact”? or even just considering making contact? For others, have you ever had this kind of experience of “making contact” in which you made public a desire that you were still in the midst of trying to make sense of?

If you’d like more info about discernment and calling, check out Vocation Forum, Catholics on Call, and Vocation Match.

Over the weekend we had great contributions to the post You may be a nun if …. An important question came up about being a Catholic sister or nun and having pets.

Not being able to have a dog is actually the one part of religious life I believe I will never get used to. I dreamed one night that I started sleeping with stuffed animals in my nun life since I am so used to having a dog pushing me around in bed at night…

For animal lovers, the pet thing can be a real bummer. Many of us grew up with these little (and not so little) critters as part of our family. However, when you enter religious life, you really do have to be absolutely free which includes not having any dependents. We have women who are unmarried/formerly married moms who enter the community but only after their children are no longer dependent. Same reasoning applies in a way to having pets which are absolutely dependent on us (except for cats who think they are beholden to no one ).

But fear not, animals do have a way of scurrying back into our lives, but we must always put our community first, and we must make decisions around pets with them. Many people have allergies to animals or just plain don’t want to live with an animal.

More thoughts or questions about animals and the sisterhood?

Check out Psychology Today magazine this month for an interview with me about being a Catholic sister and about A Nun’s Life. It’s called “Mass Communication: God connects through a new medium” by Jessica Pilot in Psychology Today (May-June 2009).

While I’m not happy that my name is misspelled — VIEIRA, not VIERA — I am thrilled that they put the photo of me in full regalia on the front cover of the magazine.

Nah … I’m kidding, that’s not my habit although if it were, I’m pretty sure no one would mess with me or dare to suggest a nun stereotype in my presence.

Question from Shelly …

Dear Sister Julie, I would like to know if it is possible or allowed to become a friend of a semi-cloistered nun? The spiritual guidance and witness of this nun has brought me closer to God. God has blessed me with such a beautiful gift of fellowship.

Dear Shelly, Thanks so much for writing. How wonderful to hear of your relationship with Sister. I am not sure how to answer your question because my religious community is not cloistered. However, there are a number of such sisters that visit and/or have blogs. I’ll get in touch with them and invite them to respond to your question today.

Stay tuned!

The question about the habit being the answer to vocations recruitment comes up every now and again on the blog in various forms. It’s an interesting question that is way more complex than a simple “yes” or “no” can account for. Hilary well articulates this question in a comment on Why is a nun’s habit called a “habit”? Hilary writes:

Nuns are practically invisible nowadays, even in my very Catholic area, which is probably part of the reason why more women are not becoming nuns and even do not realize that that is an option. Perhaps if more orders wore some sort of habit – not necessarily the full, traditional habit – to distinguish them, to make them visible to the public, more young people would answer a call to vocation?

A couple different ways to look at this … one would be to look at the visibility issue by looking at priests, for example, who are clearly dressed as priests during liturgical events and often in other settings. One might say they are clearly visible yet why are U.S. seminaries not overflowing?

Another way to look at this is to consider the Internet. In this day and age, it is possible to get bounds of information about any subject (provided one has access to the Internet). One can easily, “visibly” find any number of Catholic sisters, nuns, brothers, priests, monks, friars, deacons, hermits, consecrated virgins, etc. There is more information accessible to a larger number of people than ever. Yet seminaries and houses of formation are not overflowing — of course that begs the question, do they need to be? Is quantity what we are aiming for here?

What do you think? Is the habit the answer to vocations recruitment? Are there other other ways that the issue of “visibility” could be addressed?

Question from Janelle …

Hi Sister Julie, I am considering becoming a nun because I think God might be calling me. Right now I am only in high school but I thought I should look in to the religious life. All my life I have thought about becoming a Chef and have loved to cook. I also love to help people but the problem is I can’t stand blood or needles and I don’t think I would like to be a teacher. I know being a nurse or a teacher is the most common things nuns do. I think by learning more about what nuns do and praying a lot I can decide whether or not God is calling me to that life. So I was wondering what other things do nuns do? – Janelle

Dear Janelle, Thank you for writing. Being in high school is a good time to see what religious life and being a nun are all about. It’s also a good time to explore your talents and your dreams of what you’d like to be and do in life.

In terms of religious life, you are already beginning to get to know about religious life and nuns just by visiting A Nun’s Life! I encourage you to also “run into” sisters or nuns in your parish or local community. See #2 of How to Become a Catholic Nun — Meet Nuns (includes how to do nun surveillance).

If you love to cook and want to learn to be a chef, I say go for it! Remember that the gifts and attractions that you have (such as loving to cook) are also God-given and are as much a part of your vocation as a choice of a life commitment.

Now, can you be a chef and a nun? Absolutely! I for one would volunteer immediately to live on mission with you! Traditionally teaching and nursing have been common ministries for Catholic sisters, and these are still two important ways we continue to serve God and God’s people. But we are also involved in many other kinds of work that span careers both within the Church and in non-Church spheres such as medicine, law, publishing, advocacy, social services, policy, etc.

It depends partly on the particular mission of a religious community. Sometimes the mission is focused on caring for children, for example. So all of the ministries of the sisters somehow will reflect that mission. But it could mean being a court advocate for orphans, or tutoring the children of migrant workers, or teaching children how to choose and prepare healthy meals! If you choose to become a chef, there will be many ways that your training will be invaluable as a form of ministry. If you are considering a cloistered community, a chef-nun might be invited to run the monastery kitchen or to work with the monastery’s “store” (e.g. monasteries that make bread, beer, cheese, etc. to sell). I’m not a cloistered nun so I’m not sure how exactly they would work this, but I’m sure that whatever gifts a woman comes with, there will be a way to use those gifts.

So the upshot is that nuns can pretty much do anything that serves the mission of their community. You may find that because of your gifts and attractions that a particular community resonates more with you. That’s why it’s good to explore a variety of religious communities. The Holy Spirit will be with you all the way, guiding you and helping you to embrace your call, whatever it may be.

Finally, I encourage you to check out the Vocation Forum here at A Nun’s Life. It’s a place to hang out with others who are considering religious life or thinking about their life’s vocation.

Sisterhood among Catholic sisters and nuns is a powerful, Spirit-filled experience. I’ve been thinking a lot about sisterhood after having been home at the IHM Motherhouse for a couple of days. I was with a group of sisters doing some planning for our community’s retreat/celebration days this summer. Throughout the meeting and at supper following our meeting I was overwhelmed with the bond of sisterhood. It’s something that I never even imagined prior to being an IHM Sister. It’s not easy to define or explain, but let me try to put words around what it feels like.

Sisterhood is …

• always having a home, a real home
• knowing that your nun has your back
• being part of something bigger than yourself, bigger than the sum total of individuals
• falling in love with God and mission, and falling in love with how God and mission are expressed in your sisters
• sharing the deepest things of the Spirit with another sister or group of sisters
• praying together, laughing together, grieving together, working together
• the sparkle in the eye of a sister that lets you know that all will be well
• mentoring one another in religious life, ministry, and prayer
• having a common history and shared core values
• daring and risking together for the sake of the Gospel
• becoming more yourself than ever
• relating to one another with great tenderness
• being in real, tangible community even when ministry takes you to away from your sisters
• holding all things in common with your sisters
• being held up by your sisters’ prayer when you can’t find the strength to pray
• having sisters in heaven who keep watch over us
• working through disagreements, misunderstandings, failings without forgetting that we belong to one another and to Christ
• being willing to lay down your life for your sister

When people ask me what it’s like to be a sister, how we are different from other people committed to God who pray and do good works, this is what I want them to experience, this sisterhood, this dynamic of how we are with one another which is incarnate in how we are with the world.

What else might you add? Sisterhood is …

I am a little late writing my post today because I have a couple of my friends visiting from Monroe. I tried to get one of them to write a post this morning, but sadly, coffee had not yet been fully absorbed in her system. The girls are on their way to Racine, Wisconsin, for a sex workshop. Okay, that may be a little too sensational of a description, but it makes for good reading. Seriously they are attending a workshop on psychosexual development for men and women in formation from a variety of communities in this area.

It’s been great hanging out with them. Last night I took them out for Thai food (vegetarian Pad Thai is AWESOME). When we got back to the convent (Chloe the Convent Cat had everyone’s bed ready but I think she ate the mints on the pillows) we each had some work to do. It was actually quite funny because I looked up at one point and the younger one was sitting in her flannels knitting and our veteran sister was reading the NY Times online from her Mac laptop. The juxtaposition of young knitter and older Internet surfer made me laugh!

This morning we enjoyed coffee together and chatted about IHM community life and other verities of life. It’s so good to have my nuns here. I love to see how our IHM charism incarnates itself in each and every nun and how she uniquely expresses that common charism.

So now I must go before they get too absorbed in double yarn overs and Persepolis. Got to get them on the road so they don’t miss out on the sex workshop!

In my last post, I noted that I am giving myself to more spiritual reading this Lent and beyond. I think I found the book that I’d like to begin with: The Saints’ Guide to Happiness: Practical Lessons in the Life of the Spirit by Robert Ellsberg.

The suggestion to read The Saints’ Guide to Happiness came from my nun, Sister Mary Ann Untener, IHM. Listen as she describes the book and the impact it has had on her. (Please note: this was filmed next door to a room full of nuns playing Wii and other games. So there’s a bit of rowdiness in the background!)

The other books mentioned by Sister Mary Ann are as follows:

• The Way of a Pilgrim
• The Seven Storey Mountain

Sister Mary Ann also mentioned her brother Bishop Ken Untener and the author Henri Nouwen.

Surely, I thought, this must be a joke as I read a news headline saying that the word “nun” has been dropped from the Oxford Junior Dictionary. But it’s no joke. Lisa Saunders, a mom in Ireland, discovered that the new edition of the dictionary had dropped a bunch of words. Upon closer examination, she discovered that a number of Christian-related words were dropped including, “abbey, altar, bishop, chapel, christen, disciple, minister, monastery, monk, nun, nunnery, parish, pew, psalm, pulpit, saint, sin, devil, and vicar” (source: Catholic News Agency).

Interestingly, some of the new words in the latest edition of the dictionary reflect cultural shifts today such as the growth of new media. The dictionary now has words such as “blog” and “MP3 player”. A clever headline in the UK, notes the shift in the dictionary: “Clergyman blasts Oxford Junior Dictionary for replacing words ‘saint’ and ‘devil’ with ‘celebrity’ and ‘vandalism’” (source: The Mail).

So how are we to communicate our faith, our very selves, to children when the words we use no longer are definable? Will kids think that if it’s not in the dictionary, it’s not a real word or that it is somehow antiquated, no longer relevant?

Sister Patty Fawkner, SGS, a “Good Sams” Sister, has written a compelling piece about the disappearance of the word “nun” from the dictionary. Although I would like to quote every word of Where has the nun gone? because it’s a good piece, I’ll just highlight one significant quote and encourage you to read the rest of the piece.

Sister Patty wonders aloud in the piece if the removal of the word “nun” and related words is trying to say “something about the diminishment, in terms of numbers and influence, of various religious congregations.” A sobering thought, indeed, but Sister Patty doesn’t leave us there. She goes on and sheds new light on the meaning of declining numbers, showing that our response as nuns need not reflect the doom and gloom that the media associates with declining numbers. She writes:

It occurred to me, then, that the very decline of religious life carries an invitation for religious to live their lives with even greater integrity. Religious life, after all, is meant to be lived on the prophetic margin of both church and society, where status – even junior dictionary status – counts for very little but where seeking God and inclusive and compassionate love are intrinsic.

And religious life makes an invaluable contribution as it witnesses to the possibility of community in a world so desperate for relationships.

Further, religious life can offer to a sex-saturated world the example of celibacy that also promotes human flourishing. I am not speaking of life-denying celibacy, but that celibacy which believes that some people love best – deeply, generously and joyously – by making Jesus Christ the very centre of their life rather than any other person or project. (Source: Sisters of the Good Samaritan website)

It’s not easy writing a blog post when your heart is heavy. This morning I woke to find out that two of my dear IHM Sisters died. One sister I’ve known since I entered the community. She lived at the Motherhouse in Monroe and always made sure to keep an eye out for new members to make sure they were doing okay. She used to play cards with me and other nuns, and took great pride in letting others know that she was teaching the young sisters Spite and Malice! The other sister was the sibling of a nun that I lived with while I was in formation. I rarely saw her without her smiling or laughing or having a twinkle of mischief in her eye!

As I think about and pray for my sisters, I am reminded of my first experience ever of dealing with the death of a Catholic sister. When I lived in Toronto with the Loretto Sisters (IBVM), a sister from the house I lived at died. Sister Emma was a fireball, a woman in love with life and with God. She was a singer, and tried to get my friend Michelle and I to sing but there was little hope for either of us! Her death was a shock to all of us, and it broke all of our hearts. I learned so much from the sisters of that house of how to care for one another, how to celebrate and to mourn Emma’s death, and how to place one’s sorrow and one’s trust in God.

Sister Emma’s wake was held in our house — it was a big convent, but still felt a little weird to me because I’d never lived in a house where a wake was held. When the funeral home brought the body to the house, the sisters welcomed the body at the door and prayed as the casket was brought in. The sisters sat vigil with the body, sometimes praying and crying quietly, other times chatting about wonderful Emma stories! The lay women of the house (we were mostly grad students boarding with the sisters while we worked on our degrees) were welcomed into this holy mourning and celebrating. We too sat vigil, we served at the funeral Mass, we buried our sister, and we celebrated as Emma would have wanted us to.

The experience of knowing Sister Emma and of journeying with the Loretto Sisters through her death touched me deeply. It was probably one of the most formative experiences of my life. It taught me the meaning of sisterhood, and it illustrated for me — in full color — what it means to give one’s life, and one’s death, totally to God.

Please pray for my IHM Sisters Alice and Bea who are “dwelling now in light yet ever near”… and  for my Sister Marie, Alice’s sibling, and all of those who loved these women and were touched by them.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May the souls of the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Amen.

Ever wonder how cloistered nuns deal with matters outside the cloister? In many cases, such matters are taken care of by members of the religious community who are known as extern sisters.

Sister Hildegard referred to extern sisters just the other day on a post I wrote about lay sisters. I thought I’d clarify by explaining in a bit more detail what an extern sister is in the Catholic tradition.

Extern sisters are not the same as lay sisters as described in the earlier post. Extern sisters belong to cloistered communities that observe strict enclosure. These sisters are full members of the community, having all the rights and privileges that all the sisters share. What makes them different from the cloistered nuns in their community is that part of their task within the community is to relate to people and the world outside the cloister. They express the charism of the community in their active lifestyle while the cloistered nuns express the same charism through their contemplative lifestyle. These “outdoor sisters” are not under strict enclosure so that they can interact with the outside world (e.g., go grocery shopping, contract service work for the monastery, relate to church folks and pilgrims, etc.).

Sister Mariam, ocd, of the Carmelites of Saint Thomas Monastery helped me better understand the vocation of extern sisters. She wrote to me telling me a bit of the origin of extern sisters in the Carmelite tradition:

Because of the strict enclosure, it was always necessary to have some lay person outside who would look after the Chapel, and do some of the necessary liaison work between the nuns and the outside world. This is still the position in many monasteries, particularly in Spain. However, in France, in the 1700’s (I think) these lay persons were allowed to make simple vows and wear a religious habit, distinctive from the cloistered nuns. With the development of time, they were fully incorporated into the Carmelite Order, and special legislation was made for them. It is a unique sort of vocation, very suited to those who feel called to a life of deep prayer, and service to others, but not to the strict enclosure of cloistered nuns. We even have two “Blessed” who were extern Sisters, who belonged to the community of Compiegne, martyred during the French Revolution.

Visit the website of Sister Mariam’s community, Saint Thomas Monastery in Auckland, New Zealand, for a good description of the vocation of an extern sister today.

Are there any extern sisters or brothers reading who would like to tell us a bit more about their vocation? We’d love to hear from you.

Question from Nicole …

Sister – Could you please explain to me what it means to be a lay nun? I’m not quite sure exactly what lay nuns do.

In the past (as far back as the middle ages), some religious communities had a kind of hierarchy of membership.

Choir sisters were women who typically came from an educated, wealthy family. These sisters were able to read Latin and thus able to chant and recite the prayers that were central to the Divine Office. Their ministry was typically teaching.

Lay sisters, or lay nuns, were young women, mostly from country areas, who did not have the advantage of education or wealth. They did not say the Divine Office in Latin, but generally said a certain number of Pater Nosters instead.  They did the heavy domestic work of the Monastery – which was heavy in those days because of the lack of running water and electricity, and all the modern conveniences we have today. Lay sisters were not allowed to vote or have a voice in the affairs of the community.

This “two-class” system is no longer practiced in religious communities. Today, all members are equal members of the community with no “classes” or privileges based on education or wealth.

For more information, check out the article Overcoming two-class systems from the website of the sisters of Saint Benedict’s Monastery in Saint Joseph and the monks of Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville. Also, my thanks to Sister Mariam, ocd, of Saint Thomas Carmelite Monastery in Auckland, New Zealand, for her advice in writing this post.

Question from Lou …

what is the reasoning behind a nun or sister choosing a religious name? where does the significance come from? how is a religious name determined? thanks, lou

In the Catholic tradition as well as in many other religious traditions and cultural traditions, the taking on of a new name is symbolic of entering into a new place in one’s life. In Scripture, there are many times when a person takes a new name. For example, Abram was given the name Abraham and Sarai the name Sarah (Genesis 17) to indicate that God had called them to a new place in their relationship with God and in their role in human history. Jesus called Simon to follow him and gave him a new name: Cephas which translates to Peter (John 1:42).

Taking on a new name is also common in our Catholic sacramental tradition. When a person is baptized or confirmed, she or he takes on a new name symbolizing the new life they have entered into.

Many religious communities required and continue to require new entrants to take a new name as a sign of their new life as a religious. Other communities allow a person to keep their baptismal name since our vocation is intimately linked to our baptismal call.

From what I’ve heard from my community and others (my religious name is my baptismal name), a religious name was assigned in a variety of ways. Some new sisters were allowed to suggest their name preference but it was ultimately up to the Superior of the community or another leader to decide upon the name. The name typically had to be a saint’s name or a title of Mary or Christ. Sisters might suggest as their preference a favorite saint or the saint that their parish was named after or the name of a parent (if it were also a saint’s name). In other cases, sisters were simply assigned a name — sometimes it was the name of a sister who had died in the congregation. For congregations like mine, the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, it was common that all the names include “Mary” as the first part of the name in honor of our namesake.

I’d love to hear from other Sisters and religious, especially those who experienced the name change tradition.

Question from Therese …

Dear Sister Julie, First of all, congratulations on a beautiful website, and thank you for the chance to ask a question of a real live nun!

I’m in a “helping profession,” and find that often times doing a good job–or even a great job, isn’t enough. The expectation is for us to be “perfect.” This means satisfying people with a broad range of expectations, some of which I’m not always aware of.

Relatedly, I find that my own flaws (many of which I’m not aware of) come to the surface to surprise me (smack me in the face, more like).

I know that I’m “technically” doing a good job. The question is do you have to deal with the expectation (when encountering laypeople) that a nun must be “perfect,” despite the fact that we all are also human and make mistakes? How do you cope when someone you are trying to serve is disappointed in you because you don’t meet their notion of the “ideal”? (Sorry if this is a strange question)

Dear Therese, Thank you for writing! I’m glad you stopped by. Let me first reassure you that you are not alone in terms of what you are feeling. I think many in helping professions experience what you described so well. Needs rarely come packaged in neat, discreet boxes. They are often jumbled together and come spilling out when we encounter someone who is there to help. A visit to a physical therapist for an ankle injury, for example, might cause one’s deep hurt at not being able to run to surface in unexpected ways. Sometimes it’s clear what’s happening, other times, not so much.

In answer to your question, yes, I do have to deal with the expectation that a nun must be “perfect” — and interestingly it’s not just from lay people but from anyone, including myself! A Catholic sister or nun is often expected to be perfect in charity, holiness, virtue, and prayer. We are expected to always be perfectly present to others at all times, whether we are at our “day job” or standing in line at the grocery store. I have had the experience of going to the doctor for my own checkup and end up listening to his personal concerns and spiritual questions! But, even in the grocery line or at the doctor’s office, I’m still a nun. I’m not “off duty” because being a nun pervades all that I am, 24/7. I don’t stop being a nun when 5 p.m. hits, just like my sister is never not a Mom.

Honestly, I don’t always cope well but I am learning. An important first step is for me to know that I don’t have all the answers — and to be okay with that. When I bump into someone who expects me to be perfect, I try to acknowledge my own personal feelings (Hello?? You’re the doctor here. You’re supposed to listen to my aches and pains!) and also to move beyond them to a place of genuine compassion. Sometimes that means spending a little time with someone around their concerns. Or sometimes that means graciously refocusing them on the needs I can help them with or redirecting them to others who can help with the other needs that spill out.

In the end, as you know, not everyone will be satisfied. Not everyone will thank you or even recognize that you are trying your darnedest to help them. But don’t be discouraged. You are doing good, and the Spirit helps bring all good endeavors to grow and prosper, even if we are not there to see the fruits!

Question from Christina, a visitor to A Nun’s Life …

Hello Sister, My son and I were watching the Rosary tonight and he asked,”can Sisters be married and still be a Sister?” I didn’t know the answer to this question so I’m asking you for help.

The answer very simply is no. Catholic Sisters and Nuns cannot get married. Here’s why.

When a woman becomes a nun or sister (or a man becomes a monk/brother/friar), she makes 3 vows: a vow of poverty, a vow of obedience, and a vow of celibacy. So just as married people make vows to each other — that they will love one another and be a family for their whole lives, “till death do us part”, so to do sisters make vows to God within the context of her religious community (her family) for her whole life. These are two different kinds of life commitments.

As a married person, your love for God is expressed through love of your spouse and children and through the work that you do. As a sister, your love for God is expressed through your community life with your nuns and through prayer and ministry. There are similarities, but the two life commitments are mutually exclusive.

It is possible, however, for a woman who has been married and is no longer married in the eyes of the Church to become a nun. It is also possible for a woman who was a nun and left the convent validly to get married. But she cannot do both at the same time.

Many thanks for the question, Christina, and son!

What thoughts do you have on this question?

Catholic nuns today often have many, many different careers throughout their life. We have a saying in our IHM Congregation that comes from one of our founders, Louis Florent Gillet: “I desire to be everywhere when I see so many needs.” This spirit pervades all that we do, and often means that we end up doing many different kinds of things throughout our life.

Sometimes we take on a ministry because our congregational leaders (superiors) ask us to consider it. Other times we become aware of a need and are inspired to address it. We pray and talk it over with our nuns and decide together what to do. Many nuns also experience what you do in terms of having a passion (e.g. promoting literacy, caring for the sick, catechizing young people) and entering the job market to find a position in which we can minister.

My nuns are no exception to having multiple careers or callings throughout their religious life. I’d like to introduce you to my Sister Margaret Chapman, IHM, who currently serves as president of Compassionate Companions, Inc. in Michigan. Here’s her story.

P.S. This interview is a result of my Nun Questions post.
Your Questions. IHM Sisters respond.

Sister Anne Crane, IHM, joins us today. This is one of the videos that I took when I was home in Monroe. You’ll hear a bit of partying in the background as this video was taken during “pub night” at one of our IHM gatherings. Sister Anne responds to one of your Nun Questions.

What books are you reading now?” (from Marquis and others)

In this video Sister Anne talks about three books (listed below) which are different in themselves but which are connected by a common theme of “girls growing up”.

The three books that Sister Anne reviews are as follows:

• Run: A Novel by Anne Patchett
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi

Sister Anne Crane, IHM, is a Catholic nun belonging to the Immaculate Heart of Mary congregation. Sister Anne recently retired from Saint Edward’s University where she was a Professor of English. She lives on our IHM Motherhouse campus in Monroe, Michigan.

Today we are blessed to have Sister Theresa Milne, IHM, with us. This is one of the videos that I took when I was home in Monroe. Sister Terry responds to one of your Nun Questions.

What particular spiritual practice is most important to you in your walk with the Lord and why?” (from deerose)

In this video Sister Terry talks about the simple prayer of saying “yes” and “thank you” to God.

The two books that Sister Terry mentions are as follows:

• Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de Caussade
• Thank God Ahead of Time: The Life and Spirituality of Solanus Casey by Michael Crosby

Sister Theresa Milne, IHM, is a Catholic nun belonging to the Immaculate Heart of Mary congregation. Sister Theresa lives at our IHM Motherhouse in Monroe, Michigan.

Question from a reader …

Dear Sister, I notice that religious nuns wear a ring just like a wedding band or wedding ring married couples wear. The wedding ring of my brother and my sis-in-law has an engraving of their names underneath the ring. What about religious nuns do they engrave something on the ring like Our Lord Jesus name or ICHTUS or JMJ or AMDG? (acronyms etc.)

What about the design of the ring … do they have one or they’re just plain? Thanks for answering. Adia

Good questions! First, the tradition of Christians wearing rings is an interesting one. The Catholic Encyclopedia article on rings notes that Christians, like their non-Christian counterparts, wore rings as a sign of their station, occasionally having them engraved with a religious symbol or bedecked with a jewel. The ring in some cases was used as a seal but it also was a symbol of “conjugal fidelity”. And so a bishop might receive a ring as an “episcopal ornament conferred in the rite of consecration … as emblematic of [his] betrothal … to his Church.” Other ecclesiastics might also receive the privilege of wearing a gold ring. In terms of nuns, the article notes that “nuns and consecrated virgins wore “plain rings … in memory of their betrothal to their heavenly Spouse”.

So this symbol of fidelity, of lifelong commitment unto death is a significant one for wearing the ring. The tradition of wearing rings in religious life continues. Each religious community of Catholic nuns and sisters, as well as monks and brothers, has its own customs around the ring — if they wear one, what material it is made from, whether it has an engraving, etc. The ring is normally given when the sister professes vows — for some communities (like mine) the ring is given at first profession; for others it is given at final profession of vows.

In my IHM Congregation, we wear a gold band that is engraved. On the outside of the ring, there is an engraving of two hearts that are pierced by a single sword. The two hearts represent the Immaculate Heart of Mary (our namesake) and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On the inside is the Latin text, Ego te sponsabo, which means “I will wed thee”. What is particularly cool about my congregation (probably others too) is that we “recycle” our rings. I did not receive a new ring when I professed my vows; rather I received the worn ring of one of my IHM sisters that is “dwelling now in light”. I love this tradition because it binds me to the whole IHM “communion of saints”. I don’t know the name of the sister who wore this ring, but I can feel her warm presence and encouragement.

For sisters and nuns reading, what is your ring like and what does it symbolize for  you and for your congregation? Also, for anyone, tell us about the important ring that you wear.

Providentia providebit. Providence provides. I learned the phrase from the Oblate Sisters of Providence when I first met them over 10 years ago. As I’ve gotten to know them through the years, heard their stories, worked side by side with them, and listened to how Providence is alive in their lives and congregation, my own spirituality and indeed how I see my IHM life and tradition has grown, helping me to see that Providence pervades my whole life.

I wrote recently about the Oblate Sisters of Providence on the occasion of the IHM Sisters’ Founders Day. Deerose commented on the post and had a question for the Oblate Sisters: “Does your charism have anything to do with the theology/philosophy behind the classic, Abandonment to Divine Providence?” I checked in with a couple of Oblate Sisters for their response. Sister Alice, OSP, sent me this response:

“Abandonment to Divine Providence” as described by the theologians, for example, Caussade, is truly what we are all about. Providence Spirituality is dependence upon God as Provider of all our needs, including our spiritual welfare. Whatever we have, we know that it is gift of the spirit and we must use it wisely and share it generously. As our Statement of Charism says:

The original inspiration of the Oblate Sisters of Providence is that gift of the Spirit, so evident in the life of Mother Mary Lange.

This charism enables us, with total trust in God’s Providence, to bring joy, healing and the liberating redemptive life of the suffering Jesus to the victims of poverty, racism and injustice despite contradictions, prejudice and pain.

What is your experience of Providence? How does the experience of Providence express itself in your life, your prayer, daily living?

Of the many questions that you folks asked of my IHM Sisters
(see Nun Questions) this one was one of the more difficult ones.

Have you ever experienced something that made you re-evaluate your vocation? How did you overcome that experience? (from mjpss)

It is a very good and important question, but I wasn’t sure that anyone would want to spontaneously answer the question — let alone on video camera! I think it’s a question that many people have on their minds, especially as they consider a vocation to religious life.

I am happy to say I was proven wrong because one of my IHM Sisters did step up and take this question on. I’ve watched this video at least a dozen times and am still blown away.

Sister Candyce Rekart, IHM, is a Catholic nun belonging to the Immaculate Heart of Mary congregation. Sister Candyce is a clinical psychologist ministering at Clinica de Salud Mental Inc. in Puerto Rico.

Thank you so much for your participation in the call for Nun Questions. The response was overwhelming. Here’s what’s been happening since you submitted the questions.

Since I’m in Monroe at my IHM Motherhouse attending meetings important to the life of our congregation, I thought I’d ask my Sisters if they would like to participate in A Nun’s Life by responding to questions from visitors about a variety of topics ranging from their favorite place in the world to their vocation. I took each question (some had to be edited a bit to fit on an index card) and posted them on a board in our IHM Motherhouse. Last night the meetings gave way to “pub night” (organized by the very talented Barbara, Marilyn, and Karin whom you’ll see later in a rare video interview about what it’s like to work for nuns). During the pub we invited Sisters to check out the huge board with all your questions posted and to take a question and respond on camera.

I am enormously grateful to these women, my Sisters, for participating and offering their experience and wisdom. Now, the videotaping was all me and definitely a work in progress. For example, you’ll hear some ambient sound coming from the pub party-goers who were playing Wii, singing, and having a great time.

Here is the first Sister who stepped up to respond to one of your questions. The question comes from Deerose: “Do you believe there are any prophets living today? If so, who is it and why do you think of this person as prophetic?” Sister Joan Mumaw, IHM, responds. Joan is currently ministering as the Vice President of our IHM Congregation. She has spent many years ministering in Africa and is a leader in addressing the issues around the global pandemic of HIV AIDS.

I am going to be home for a few days in Monroe, Michigan at our IHM Motherhouse. I’m bringing my handy camcorder with me so that I can film nuns, nature, chapel, and other interesting subjects.

I thought it would be really cool to get some one-line questions from all of you for my IHM Sisters … questions that they could respond to in 2-3 minutes. Some of us (including myself) are a little shy on camera, but if we have an index card with a real question from a real person, we cut loose (well, within reason).

What I need you to do is, using the comment section below, write your one-line questions. They can be serious or light. Examples:

• “Why are you called Immaculate Heart of Mary sisters?”
• “What is your favorite movie and why?”
• “Did you ever want to be married and have children?”
• “Where do you work?”
• “What is your favorite prayer?”

Be creative, friends! My hope is to then post the mini-interviews here on my blog and on my ANunsLife YouTube Channel.

I would LOVE to get at least 50 one-line questions for nuns to respond to. Thanks for participating!

Question from Hayden …

Hi Sister Julie! First of all, I admire you so much! Nuns fascinate me so much. What an amazing spirit you have to lead a life totally for Christ. I am a Christian (Episcopal; raised Episcopal, Methodist, and went to a Church of Christ College), and desire to be closer to God every day! I do have a great relationship with Him, but sometimes think I have trouble hearing what He is telling me. Any advice? I want to learn how to really listen with an open heart and mind. I think it was fate that I even stumbled upon your blog! You are amazing!

Hayden, I’m so glad you came by for visit. Your question is an important one, one that many people including myself have wrestled with. Even Saint Teresa of Avila — a Doctor of the Church in the Roman Catholic tradition because of her teachings on prayer — struggled with prayer and listening to God.

The first thing I want to say is that your very desire to be closer to God is itself a clear indication that God is working within you, drawing you close. As Thomas Merton, the great spiritual writer and Cistercian monk, wrote in a prayer, “I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you and I hope that I have this desire in all that I am doing.” He continued, saying, “And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road although I may know nothing about it.” For me, that is one of the key things to listening to God and responding to God’s call — tapping into that God-inspired desire within yourself to please God, to respond to God in love, to reverence and stand in awe of God.

One of the best ways to do this is to spend time with God as much as you can. Practice Saint Paul’s injunction that we “pray without ceasing“. That means to have a spirit of prayer in all that you do, as you go about your daily life. It also means taking time just to be with God, alone and without distraction. This can be tough to do, and it is also a very intimate and vulnerable thing to do. But just as we would in a relationship with a loved one, we grow into these moments, we’re able to behold a sunset together without words or to gaze into one another’s eyes with great love. These experiences with God nurture us and help us be more in tuned with what God’s desire is for us, what God’s voice “sounds” or “feels” like.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola teaches that there are some other specific ways to get in tune with God’s call to you and to help you better listen to and respond to God. The overall term for this is “discernment”. Ignatius developed a simple method by which you can review each day in a way that will help you grow in self-understanding and free you to follow God’s will. This practice is called the Daily Examen.

Those are just a few of my thoughts as I pray with you, Hayden, and all of us who long to draw close to God.

What ideas or thoughts does this inspire in you? What helps you to listen to God’s call to you?

Question from Jack …

Dear Sister Julie, Could you tell me why a Nun’s Habit is called a Habit, I cant seem to find the answer anywhere! Best wishes

I had to do a little searching for this one. First stop: Merriam-Webster.

Main Entry: hab·it archaic : clothing
Pronunciation: ˈha-bət
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin habitus condition, character, from habēre to have, hold
Date: 13th century

Next stop: Elizabeth Kuhns’ “popular history” book The Habit: A History of the Clothing of Catholic Nuns. Not much in the way of an origin or meaning of the term, however Kuhns does succinctly define the term: “Habit refers to the ensemble of clothing and accessories that make up religious dress. It can also mean specifically the robelike tunic or dress that is the main garment worn over the body.” (page 5) And a glance at the table of contents also reveals a range of terms that have been associated with the term “habit”, each of which is a whole discussion in and of itself:

• enigma
• tradition
• holiness
• conformity
• emblem
• charity
• courage
• explosion
• remnants

What I find most helpful in understanding why the habit is called a habit is to look at the symbolic meaning behind it. As M-W and Kuhns note, the word habit refers to “clothing”. Often times when persons go through a major change in life, especially in a religious context, it is symbolized by a change in clothing symbolically covering up the “old” person and expresing the “new person”. Sound familiar? It’s what we do at baptisms and funerals with the white robe or cloth which symbolizes our new life in Christ Jesus. And it’s not just Catholicism that does this. Many religions have special garb to designate a “new” personality or state in life.  There’s an interesting discussion of “religious dress” at Encyclopedia Britannica.

Other thoughts on the origin of the word “habit”?

Question from Shana …

Can nuns be visual artists? I’m studying art and minoring in education right now. I don’t really plan on becoming a nun because I want a husband but then again religious life has some appeal to me. I’m really interested in theology and in using art to redeem culture, my faith is very central to me. Also, my favorite subjects for art are people, so I like portraiture and figurative stuff. Would nuns/ sisters not be able to work from nude models? Do you know of any artists who are nuns? Nuns are awesome.

Thank you and God bless you!

Hi Shana! Thanks for writing. Yes, nuns can be visual artists and pretty much any other kind of artist they want! God gives us all wonderful gifts and whatever state of life we choose (single, married, religious) we are to use the gifts God gave us. I love what you write about art and theology — I’ve done some work in my own theology around art and visual expression. I also took a fine arts class a few years ago in which we had a nude model. Nuns, especially nuns who are artists in whatever medium, have a great appreciation for beauty and that includes the human body. Have you ever seen Sister Wendy Beckett discuss art masterpieces that reveal the human body? She deals with it quite naturally. (See an archived article from the LA Times that addresses this.)

I know a ton of nuns who are artists, many of which are in my own congregation. Here are a few off the top of my head:

• Sister Nancy Lee Smith, IHM (my nun) an Iconographer, painter, and photographer at Saint Joseph Studio
• Sister Doris Klein, CSA (Sister of Saint Agnes) watercolor
• Sister Helen David Brancato, IHM (Scranton) oil, acrylic

Also there’s a fascinating book about medieval nuns as artists … Nuns as Artists: The Visual Culture of a Medieval Convent by Jeffrey F. Hamburger. Check it out!

Who are other Catholic nun visual artists that you know?

People are always asking good questions here at A Nun’s Life. Here’s a question from Harrison that I thought I’d share with you all …

I am not a catholic, but I love your blog. It’s very refreshing in the midst of excessive online trash. I was just wondering you’ve ever seen the episode of The Golden Girls where Sophia becomes a nun. It’s hilarious. Do nuns get silly when they live together or is it all serious all the time? What do you ladies do for fun?

Hi Harrison! Thanks for hanging out on my blog. I don’t remember seeing that episode of Golden Girls, but I’m sure it was a hoot. I loved watching Estelle Getty!

As to your other questions, I can assure you that we are not serious all the time! We all have our moments of silliness that we share with one another and with others. Most people see the “professional” side of us which might include humor but usually not so much silliness. But, as my friends can attest, we do have fun and we can be pretty silly at times (I write this as I laugh at The Simpsons episode which ends with God, Buddha and the Colonel enjoying KFC popcorn chicken in heaven).

What do we do for fun? Oh, it’s pretty random. I personally am amused at the oddest of things. I’m laughing hysterically at dorky jokes by friends on Plurk while I watch The Simpsons (I multitask). My nuns are also some of the funniest people I know. There are a few of them that tell THE BEST stories. Seriously, you can’t make some of that stuff up! I’m going home next month for meetings at our IHM Motherhouse. Since it’s a multi-day event, they’ve scheduled a “Pub Night” with games, yummies and beverages. If you’ve never seen a group of nuns rumble over Wii or a game of no-holds-barred euchre, then you haven’t lived.

Really, though, nuns have fun in many of the ordinary ways that you have fun in. We like to joke, have fun, be silly and quirky and enjoy people’s company.

Now back to The Simpsons …

Wall Street is not a pretty place to be these days. Like many of you, Catholic nuns and sisters (as well as other religious communities) have been keeping an eye on the stock market and economic crisis. The ups and downs of the marketplace can have a profound affect on our finances as well.

It may be surprising to some to think of nuns having Wall Street savvy. It is not only true but it is absolutely necessary in order for us to continue our mission and care for our sisters, especially those who are older. Although many of us nuns are good wage-earners, we also have to have smart and ethical investments. Some have asked me why nuns have to be concerned about finances when “nuns are supported by the Church”. Well, there in lies the problem. Although many parishes and individual Catholics have been very supportive and generous, overall most religious communities do not receive automatic financial support from the Catholic Church. (I think an exception is diocesan congregations — anyone know?) The Church is not responsible for our pensions, retirement, costs of living, bills, etc. It’s up to each congregation to take care of itself and find it’s own sources of income and financial security.

Aside from sisters’ salaries, congregational assets (land and buildings), and investments, we rely on the generosity of our friends and benefactors. A significant fund-raising campaign is the Retirement Fund for Religious which helps many congregations support and care for our retired sisters, brothers, and religious order priests. Catholic News Service recently published an article about how the slide in Wall Street stocks is affecting the Retirement Fund for Religious.

In addition to national fund-raising, each congregation has to do its own fund-raising. Sometimes its through raffle tickets or golf outings or a straight-up, humble request by a sister during a mission appeal.

So while we sisters must always keep an eye on Wall Street and make good choices regarding our investments, we also rely on folks like you to help us out so that we can care for our retired sisters and continue the liberating mission of Jesus Christ.

A question from Annie …

I have a totally random question. When visiting one’s Mother Superior or going to speak to her in her office, do nuns still go up to her and kneel before sitting down? I would figure that that custom had been phased out during Vatican II, but I heard that some orders still have it, particularly for postulants and novices.

Thanks for the question, Annie. It depends on the congregation. Some may still have that custom though I personally do not know of a congregation that does. Even though the particular custom may no longer be practiced, great respect is due to the Mother Superior or whomever is the Congregational Leader or President of the community.

The leader is someone whom the community has discerned by the grace of God. She is the person who is called upon and is needed at that particular time in history. This is also true of all the sisters elected to congregational leadership (there’s usually a vice president, chief financial officer, and others).

I wish I could describe how there is a qualitative difference in these women when elected. It’s not hierarchical or power-trip-esque in any way … it’s what my IHM nuns call the grace of office. To begin with, these women are grounded in prayer and in the charism of the community. They also possess gifts such as administration, vision, education, etc. When elected to leadership, it’s like they get an extra boost from the Holy Spirit (at least that’s what it looks like from a regular nun). The Spirit gives these women what they need to lead the congregation, to live the mission, and it shows in who they are. At the same time, it’s important not to forget that these women are our sisters, ordinary and human just like the rest of us. They are our sisters first and foremost yet their grace of office is a part of who they re too. There are times when I do feel like kneeling (and I have) out of my great reverence for these women and their willingness to take on such an important role in the congregation and church.

For those of you who are or were in congregrational leadership, what is your experience related to this sense of “grace of office”?

And for others, have you ever experienced this feeling of “grace of office” in yourself or others?

Occasionally I am asked if a person has to be Catholic in order to become a nun. There are a number of ways to approach this question.

First, the word nun is used across religious traditions to refer to a woman who takes vows “committing her to a religious life.” Wikipedia further notes that “the term ‘nun’ is applicable to Roman Catholics, Eastern Christians, Anglicans, Lutherans, Jains, Buddhists, and Taoists, for example.”

Here in the United States, the word nun most often refers to the Catholic variety of nuns because that’s probably what most people are familiar with, even outside of Catholic circles. And for many the distinction between nun and sister is rarely if ever noticed by those outside of religious life (a term that refers to a way of life characterized by the vows of poverty, celibacy, and obedience).

Still there are a number of people who have a kind of generic image of nuns as women who dedicate themselves to God, pray a lot, and do good for others. Sometimes this image is also associated with a rejection of not only the world but with ordinary living and being human … that that nuns somehow live a blissfully peaceful, utopia-esque life that is totally unencumbered by the ordinary stuff of life — relationships, heartache, struggle, joy, fun, suffering, busy-ness, etc. While it is true that we live a different kind of lifestyle and seek peace by the grace of God, we are still human and are affected by the world we live in and our own humanity whether we are cloistered nuns or nuns living in the mainstream world. All that is to say that for people who have the generic image of nuns, they may have no idea that being a nun means that your vows and your way of life is located within a particular religious tradition, not just free floating.

The Roman Catholic Christian tradition, of which I am a member, is not the only religious tradition, nor is it even the only Christian tradition that has nuns. I recently read an article about Episcopal nuns who belong to The Order of Saint Helena in Augusta, Georgia. There’s even some who blog — check out Sister Claire Joy who is also a member of Sister Bloggers, “Catholic Sisters, Episcopal Sisters, women in formation, those discerning a religious vocation and others who want to join the conversation.” There are also ecumenical communities of nuns such as the Benedictine Women of Madison whom I’ve had the joy of meeting.

So the answer to the question really is, No, you don’t have to be Catholic to be a nun, but you do have to belong to a particular religious tradition. If you want to be a Catholic nun, then yes, you have to be Catholic!

A beauty contest for nuns? Forget that. How about a real demonstration of the life, ministry, community, prayer, skill, and passion of Catholic sisters? I’m talking some 3-on-3 basketball. Lace up your high-tops, ladies, we’re hitting the courts!

Think that’s crazy? Not at all. Nuns aren’t just a pretty picture or a nostalgic memory — we are alive and well, actively praying and living in today’s world. Whether we are contemplative nuns or apostolic nuns, we are Catholic women embracing life fully, ministering to the needs of others, and being a prayerful, compassionate presence in the world.

After reading about Miss Sister 2008, I and some of my readers started envisioning what sort of thing we might do instead of a beauty contest. What would be a cool (and respectful) way of helping people to get to know Catholic sisters and nuns and to understand a bit more about what a vocation to Catholic religious life is like?

Chuck got us started playing off of my suggestion about 3-on-3 basketball:

“The problem is that Vatican City never sends athletes to the olympics. I want to see a team of weightlifting nuns. Or Nuns curling at the winter games. That would shoot down some stereotypes.”

So give us some more ideas … there’s got to be some great ways Catholic sisters and nuns can breakdown stereotypes and replace them with a more compelling image of who we are.

After four fabulous days in Monroe at my IHM Motherhouse, I am home in Chicago. It was so, so good to be immersed in IHM life and spirit again. I don’t know how to describe the feeling of being home, surrounded by all of my nuns (save for a few who couldn’t make it) and in Monroe, Michigan, where our founders Mother Teresa Maxis and Father Louis Florent Gillet first began the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The first two days were our community days, time that we take to be with one another in a contemplative way as we reflect on our life together and where the Holy Spirit is calling us. It’s amazing to be in a place where decision-making, interactions, and presentations are qualitatively different than any other group I’ve been a part of. In community, we all make decisions — the “least” among us has a voice and is encouraged to speak and participate. The leaders of the community guide us and participate with us, but they also serve us, facilitating our growth and empowering us to live the mission and spirit of the IHM community. We take seriously our name “Sisters, Servants …” and we model the strength and courage and prayerfulness and faithfulness of Mary who is also part of our name “… of the Immaculate Heart of Mary”. We leave open the possibility that God might be leading us into a new place, a place that we can’t quite imagine or put a shape or words to. I so admire this about my sisters and I try to bring this spirit to all my work and daily living.

I still have to upload some videos and stuff. Can’t wait to share with you a bit more of our IHM time together.

Greetings, friends. I’ve been out and about for the last few days. I was able to make it home for my dear Sister Annunciata’s funeral and burial. Celebrating the Resurrection Liturgy for a Sister is one of the most amazing things — again and again I am reminded by my nuns that though we grieve we celebrate the life of our Sister and her new life in the Presence of God. I miss Nuncie quite a bit. It was great to hear stories about her from the old days all the way up to her last moments.There were some pretty amazing moments while I was home … here are a few of them.

• Outside the closed door of Nuncie’s room is a table with a flower and notebook. Inside the notebook nuns, nurses, staff, and others leave notes addressed to Nuncie about what she meant to them. We do this for all of our sisters.

• We have the wake for our Sisters at the Motherhouse in our chapel. Often sisters will sit vigil with the body at different times during the night and day. I arrived too late for the formal wake, and wanted to be sure to spend some time alone with Annunciata. Early in the morning I walked over to the Motherhouse and into the dark chapel. No one was there. In the back of the chapel was the casket, and on either side of the casket were two beautiful lamps yielding a pink glow. Nuncie wore the blue suit from her Jubilee celebration. I pulled a chair over and just sat vigil with her and talked with her. I pray that she watch over me and the congregation.
• Following the funeral, we got in our cars and headed out the back part of our campus to our cemetary. As we went, we passed by our IHM organic farm. There was a young man working in the field. When he saw the procession, he stood, immediately took off his hat and held it at his chest until well after we had passed by.
• A Sister recounted a story from after Annunciata had died. She had said a prayer to Nuncie and asked her for a sign that everything was okay. Within seconds the bell for the Angelus began ringing — the Angelus is a Catholic prayer about the Annunciation, Nuncie’s namesake. The Annunciation is the story of the angel of God announcing to Mary that she would bear the Son of God.

When I returned home, I happened upon this article about another person’s experience at the funeral of a beloved nun. Be sure to check it out.

Thank God for Sister Matthew and Those Like Her
by Eddie McGuire for the Australian newspaper Herald Sun (July 13, 2008)

I received this comment/question a little while ago and want to address it front and center because it is an important issue in religious life. It also follows a bit from Sister Susan’s post about Religious Life in the Age of Facebook.

Hello Sr. Julie. This is my first post and I would like to say how much I enjoy reading your blog. I didn’t know where to ask this question, so, I will put it here.

I am the youngest member in my congregation under 40. It’s very lonely at times. The the loneliness is difficult and I only meet with younger members from other congregations sporadically. Sometimes, I really feel like leaving my order because of the loneliness.

I am posting this because I know younger religious read your blog and thought your advice would be helpful. Thanks and God bless!

Dear Younger Sister,

So good to hear from you. I am very sorry to hear that you are having a rough time with feeling lonely. It can definitely be tough when you are the youngest one in a religious community and there’s no one near your age. You are not alone in the sense that other young religious feel the same way. Have you been able to talk about how you feel with a trusted friend in your congregation? Are you able to relate to people your own age outside of the community? For me it was helpful to stay in touch with friends my own age and to get to know colleagues with whom I minister and young people who attend my parish. I know it’s not the same as having young sisters in your own community, but it does help.

I had some struggles with the age thing for the first few years of my life with the community. I always felt (as much my own expectations as others’ expectations) like I had to mirror the religious life of my sisters who lived it as 50, 60, 70+ year-olds. I couldn’t exactly distinguish between what was a characteristic of age and what was a characteristic of religious life. It took time, and the help of wise mentors, to find my way. Not always easily, but authentically and with trust in God, in my Sisters, and in myself.

Never forget that you are a gift to the community and that you have much to offer. They need you there and are open to being changed, “formed” as it were, by you just as much as you are to being changed by them. Spend time with the Sisters who “get” you and who can help you grown in religious life in an age-appropriate way.

A few weeks ago when I was home in Monroe at my IHM Motherhouse, I brought my laptop in with me when I went to visit a dear friend, Sister Annunciata (“Nuncie”), who will be 100 years old in August. She is a light in my life and I can always feel her prayers with me. After chatting for a while, I pulled out the laptop and explained a bit more about my blog and my ministry online. I took her through the blog and read her some posts and comments (wireless Internet at the Motherhouse is totally awesome). She was so happy for me and proud that I was extending gospel hospitality and the IHM mission online. It meant the world to me that she could rejoice in what I was doing even though she herself had never been on the Internet.

It is nuns like Nuncie who see the gift that you are and can encourage it by even the twinkle in her eye. Find your Nuncies and don’t be afraid to let your light shine. Loneliness is definitely a reality, but don’t let it consume you or prevent you from experiencing new kinds of relationships. At the same time, find ways to connect with younger people. And come online and hang out with younger sisters. There are a bunch of us on Facebook too. Perhaps we should form our own online forum just to hang out with and encourage one another.

My prayers are with you, Younger Sister. Please feel free to email me anytime if you’d like to connect — sisterjulie (at) anunslife (dot) org.

Sister Julie

P.S. The idea of having a space for younger religious to congregate online is not a bad idea. If you are 45 and under and interested in this possibility, let me know by following this link: Survey for Catholic Religious 45 and Under. You can also comment below.

]]> http://anunslife.org/2008/07/08/letter-to-a-young-religious/feed/ 15 http://anunslife.org/2008/06/03/james-martin-cloistered-apostolic-distinctions/ http://anunslife.org/2008/06/03/james-martin-cloistered-apostolic-distinctions/#comments Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:03:02 +0000 Sister Julie http://anunslife.org/?p=501

SMX: Good morning, Fr. James, I read chapter 4 — thanks for putting it online! My question is about “classifications” of religious orders. Thomas Merton belonged to a cloistered order, yet he was a world traveler. Today there are a number of cloistered religious who are electronic world travelers, in that they have websites and other ways of directly connecting with the outside world. I don’t have any opinions about that one way or another. But I’m wondering if the traditional categories of “cloistered nuns” and “aposotolic sisters” are still useful?

Father Martin: Well I should say to begin with–just to clarify things a little bit–that Thomas Merton really was only given permission to travel at the very end of his life. Like the vast majority of cloistered monks and nuns, he remained within the walls of one monastery for his entire religious life, venturing out only rarely. But you are absolutely right in saying that these days many cloistered religious have much more connection with the “outside world,” which is a wonderful way of enabling them to better know for whom, and for what, they might pray. But those distinctions (cloistered and apostolic) are really still useful, because the cloistered person finds God mainly through prayer and community, and the apostolic person, mainly through prayer and work. Of course cloistered persons work (and have the “apostolate” of prayer), and apostolic persons pray and live in community. But those general distinctions are still helpful in describing the outlines of their religious lives, and describing their different charisms.

One of the first things I learned when I became attached to the IHMs was that we are a dynamic group. We are always moving — scoping this ministry or prayer opportunity in one place; going by plane, train, automobile, bicycle, or one’s own two feet to attend to the needs of people and God’s creation in another place; meeting up with one another in Monroe (location of our Motherhouse) or in a central location where IHMs are gathered (east coast, chicago, africa, detroit, juarez, southwest, toronto, puerto rico, etc.).

By our nature as an active apostolic community (as distinct from a contemplative and/or enclosed community of nuns) and living directly in the world — living and worshipping in the neighborhoods in which we work. We are also mobile — when we see a need someplace — anyplace really — we pray and consider what we can do and we go there. One of our co-founders Redemptorist father Louis Florent Gillet, CSsR, once wrote something to the effect that “we desire to be everywhere when we see so many needs.” That is truly a part of our charism as IHMs and certainly of many congregations of women religious. Even communities whose nuns are enclosed practice this charism in one way or another. They may not physically fly to Africa to help children who have AIDS, but they pray on their behalf ceaselessly. They take into their hearts and every cell of their being the cares and concerns of the world.

This reflection comes after being in Monroe for a gathering with my Mission Unit (smaller groups of IHMs in which we regularly meet, pray together, support one another, and attend to the business of the congregation). I’ve had many opportunities because of my community to see the world — again, not just by going to places (which I do) but by seeing the world through different eyes — eyes of compassion and love and the desire to walk with people where they are, embrace those who are often kicked to the side because they live in poverty or with illness, learn from and be open to others (for we all hold the spark of God within us!), provide education and opportunity to people, and care tenderly for all of creation (even the little fuzzy caterpillar meandering on the sidewalk). In religious life, we truly desire to “see the world” not from our own provincial (and limited) perspective, but from the perspective of God who knows no boundaries and makes none of the distinctions that we humans make to separate, categorize, and discriminate. And not just religious — there are many women and men in this world (of all sizes and stripes) that are committed to this vision. Each one of us has this capacity for “bigness”!

In “Novitiate – Overview” (my previous post in the Decoding Formation series) I wrote about what novitiate is in general and where it fits in the grand scheme of formation.

In this post I want to look at novitiate from another lens: Canon Law. Canon Law is the fundamental legislation that governs the Catholic Church. It is important to be aware of Canon Law in terms of religious life, specifically novitiate, because it provides guidelines and safeguards for people joining and for the religious communities. The section on religious life can be found in Book II of Canon Law:

Here are a few things that Canon Law addresses in terms of Novitiate:

Article 1: Admission to the Novitiate (Canons 641-645)

Can. 641 on the sole right of the major superior to admit candidates to novitiate

Can. 642 on the health, character, and maturity of a person entering

Can. 643-644 on impediments to validly entering religious life (e.g., having a spouse or overwhelming debt)

Can. 645 on necessary proof that must be provided (e.g. proof of baptism, confirmation)

Article 2: The Novitiate and Formation of Novices (Canons 646-653)

Can. 646 on the nature of novitiate as helping “novices better understand their divine vocation … , experience the manner of living of the institute, and form their mind and heart in its spirit …”

Can. 647 on the novitiate house (the place novices live)

Can. 648-649 on the requirement that novices spend a full 12 months “in the community itself of the novitiate” (with provision for some apostolic work)

Can. 650-651 on the person and role of the novice director

Can. 652 on how novice directors help novices discern their call and immerse themselves in prayer and the life of the community

Can. 653 on leaving novitiate

You might have heard reference to a period of novitiate called the canonical year. Canonical year refers to one of the two years of novitiate which is shaped specifically by Canons 646-653. Every religious community follows these canons in a way which is suitable to each particular community and tradition and which is approved by the Church.

If you have questions about how a particular religious community incorporates these Canons into their formation process, please talk with the community’s formation director.

Here is an article from my cousin IHMs in Scranton, Pennsylvania on A Week in the Life of a Canonical Novice. This article gives a real life example of how a particular community and its novices live the canonical year of novitiate.

The non-canonical year of novitiate is a second year of novitiate that is not called for by Canon Law but which most congregations have. It’s a time in which the novice is more actively engaged in ministry (apostolate). The work of the non-canonical year is still geared toward formation in the life of the community and in growing in relationship to God.

Toward the end of the two years of novitiate, novices prepare for their first profession of vows. They receive specific training on what the vows are, how they are lived, etc. Typically during this time, novices make a retreat in preparation for vows.

Still tweaking … I’ve created a new page that includes all the links for the “Decoding Formation” series including excerpts. You can now find this link in the main navigation of the page. There used to be a list of the pages on my sidebar under “vocations” … now there is just a link to the Decoding Formation page which has all of the links there.

My charge this week is to finish the series so that there is at least one entry for each stage of formation. Novitiate kind of stumped me because it is a complex stage of formation. But I’m ready to go again, tackling the topic of novitiate in terms of Canon Law.

While the habit does not make the nun, it is a part of religious life. Unfortunately the habit is sometimes used by Catholics and the media as a gauge of faithfulness, catholicity, and/or relevancy. I can never understand why Catholics want to be so divisive within our own Church or why the media must pit groups against one another. Religious life is meant to be diverse, and this diversity is a gift to the Church and world. We need nuns in identifiable habits and nuns in habits that aren’t much different from the ordinary, modest dress of the people. We need nuns who are devoted to solitude and pray ceaselessly for the good of the Church and world. And we need nuns who are actively engaged in apostolates in every sphere of life. These ministries, these callings have been present in the church since its inception.

A fellow blogging nun has posted a wonderful reflection that she gave to a group of lay people about religious life. This contemplative Redemptoristine sister (Order of the Most Holy Redeemer) writes the blog Contemplative Horizon. This reflection on religious life, she writes, is meant “to bring our lay friends up to date and give them a perspective concerning the current state of religious life. It was meant to give historical context, be reassuring and also to offer a bit of a challenge.”

The reflection, “To Pray Always” – Monastic Life into the 21st Century, begins with a great quote from Mark Twain …

After the London Times published his obituary, Mark Twain quipped to a lecture audience, “The report of my death was greatly exaggerated.”

Tonight I would like to assure you that reports of the death of monasticism, indeed the death of religious life, have been greatly exaggerated. Both are alive and well, though diminished in number. Indeed, if the record of history and culture is predictive and if, as a result, artistic imagination keeps bringing monastic images to our cultural radar screen, they will never die….

Please take the time to read Sister’s reflection and begin/continue a conversation with her and her readers. Also I’d love to hear what you think too. While the article is focused on monastic life, what take-aways do we have for our own vocations?

Question from a website visitor …

I’m stepping into religious life… or at least I think I am. I was wondering – do you ever feel lonely and alone? I really hate travelling alone and I yearn for the physical presence of a man – not sexual – just the ‘being there’. Jesus is my spouse, yes, but there are times when He just isnt there – and you just want someone to lean on or to hold you or to just pick you up from the airport. I dont know if you know what I mean. Is this normal? And how can we deal with it? Or do we just accept it and learn to suffer it?

Thank you for the question, Rosemary. It’s a good one, one that I certainly wondered about when I was considering religious life. The answer has many dimensions, so I’ll just give you my thoughts (hopefully in some semblance of order) on loneliness.

Feeling lonely is something everyone feels at one time or another, nuns included. But do nuns feel it more acutely because they make a vow to be celibate, that is, nuns choose to not have 1) sex or 2) romantic or exclusive relationships? (NOTE: the vow of celibacy is actually not about the “have not’s” but about being free to love all and go where God calls us to … but that’s the subject of a future post). Because of this vow, it may seem like women who become nuns are going to be physically lonely — like you said, not necessarily in a sexual way, but just having someone physically present to you.

This is a question that I too had when I was discerning religious life. I wondered about how intimacy (not talking sexual here) could be expressed as a nun — physical intimacy, emotional intimacy, spiritual intimacy. I didn’t know if the vow of celibacy and just the general life of being a nun prohibited any kind of close connection with others. I treasured my relationships with close friends, siblings, etc. What was going to happen?

Now, I’m not exactly sure how this all worked itself out (probably by living into it and trusting God), but I do know that I came to realize that God did not desire that I be cut off from everyone, that I be isolated and therefore alone. It’s just that my primary relationships were now with my religious community, and (as it always had been) with God. My community of nuns is my family. They’ve got my back — always. And I’m there for them. I’d drop just about anything (short of someone else’s welfare) in a heartbeat for any one of my nuns. So in this sense, I am never lonely or alone.

In another sense, however, there is a kind of loneliness that I and others (not just nuns) experience. The source of such loneliness is not necessarily lack of another person, but that ultimate realization (conscious or otherwise) that only God can fulfill us. Saint Augustine wrote, “Our souls are restless, O Lord, until they rest in you.” Even with our closest relationships, we feel this radical loneliness because we long to dwell with God. Don’t mean to go existential on you here, but it’s an important understanding of loneliness. It’s what helps people not suffer loneliness, but embrace loneliness as an experience of God.

A little while back I wrote a post called, Do Nuns Know How to Love? You might check that out to for a response to your question here.

Do respond and let’s have a conversation about this. And I know others will have insight into this question too.

Today’s nuns answer calls to serve differently 

Modern sisters reach out to the world around them in ways unlike their stereotype

Nancy Lofholm
The Denver Post
March 23, 2008

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.

Sister Karen Bland is a thoroughly modern Catholic nun. Her gold Chevrolet Malibu is proof.

The well-used tennis shoes she wears in her early-morning, after-Mass visits to a health club sit on the passenger seat. An audio book, a novel about two boys of different races growing up in Southern California, is in the CD player.

And in the past hour, this diminutive, middle-aged woman, who holds five degrees including a doctorate and speaks three languages, has been making the rounds in the well-used automobile.

She has driven from the soup kitchen she administers, to the day center she oversees where the homeless can get warm and clean, to the construction site of an apartment complex she has raised funds to build for the mentally ill.

As Bland demonstrates, nuns are finding their way in today’s world in creative and sometimes surprising ways.

Today’s sisters are dwindling in number. There are only a third — 63,699 — of the sisters of a half century ago.

But many of today’s nuns are independent-minded women who have a higher profile in the church. They fill in as pastoral leaders at more than 200 parishes around the country that are short of priests. They are engineers, physicians, counselors, ecologists, computer experts, lawyers and artists.

In Colorado, they teach the homeless to plant flowers in downtown Denver. They counsel those suffering marriage woes. They help immigrants. They drive buses. They organize political movements. And they teach tai chi.

They say they do whatever God calls them to do in jobs that fit their particular skills.

They are still linked to often-distant religious communities by mutual prayer and teleconferenced meetings, but they make their own way in the world. They apply for jobs, rent apartments, juggle budgets and take on many of the same headaches of those to whom they minister.

The additions to their ranks nowadays come not from college-age girls who heard the call of a vocation. Those taking vows of poverty, chastity and obedience are more often middle-aged women who have raised families and look to a religious vocation as a second career.

“The focus is more on our individual gifts rather than on the group. The motivation comes from within. You are the one who has to make decisions,” explains Sister Sen Nguyen, a Franciscan who operates an art gallery in Denver that sells the work of disabled Vietnamese women and orphans.

Nguyen joined the convent after life-altering experiences during the Vietnam War. She was separated from her mother during the fall of Saigon in 1975. She reunited with her in Denver after 15 grueling attempts to escape Vietnam by fishing boat.

Nguyen became a teacher, but when her mother was ailing from a stroke she decided to open the Provide-N-Ce boutique in Denver to sell art that would benefit the needy in Vietnam and to leave more time to care for her mother.

“I had no money. I had nothing. I didn’t think my [religious] community would allow it. It took a leap of faith,” Nguyen says.

Her community did bless her mission, which melds art and spirituality. Many religious orders operate that way. Sisters find a mission and ask permission to pursue it. If superiors believe it fits with a nun’s gifts it is approved, leading to the array of professions for modern sisters.

This sea change has its roots in the 1960s and the Catholic Church-altering Vatican II Council when the dwindling numbers of convents were instructed by the church hierarchy to reassess their missions. Nuns were liberated just as the feminist movement was getting a grip on the secular world.

In 1965, there were about 180,000 nuns in the United States. A decade later, there were 45,000 fewer, according to figures from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. The average age of those remaining is now about 75.

Sister Faye Huelsmann, a Sister of St. Joseph who operates a counseling center in Grand Junction, says it was a difficult time.

“We had not had much chance to really talk to each other before that. Your superiors just told you what to do,” she says. “We had to learn how to express our own opinions.”

Huelsmann and her partner in the Counseling and Education Center, Sister Pat Lewter, have since spent 27 years in the business of talking with people. They found their mission and entered the counseling business because of their interactions with troubled students and struggling families while they were teaching high school.

Sister Caroline Conway, who had more traditional jobs of administration and teaching in her order, the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, does spiritual directing, which is a combination of sitting down with someone to pray, listening and making suggestions.

She is also a tai chi teacher, an Eastern form of nonviolent martial arts that fits with her belief that people should be gentle with each other and the world around them.

She is guided by demand.

“I believe that if there isn’t a need that you’re meeting, then hang it up,” she says from her sunny office.

Modern-day sisters joke that nuns are able to get so much done because they don’t retire. When they reach retirement age, if their health is still good but they are suffering burn-out in one mission, they grab the Catholic newspaper classifieds and look for another.

“I’m in the process of discerning what I’ll do next,” says Huelsmann. “I’m looking around at the signs of the times and looking at where are the needs and where will I be most useful.”

Copyright © 2008, Orlando Sentinel

Here’s a little follow up to my post on nuns and sexual urges.

Too often people assume that nuns are women who couldn’t “get a guy” or who broke up with someone they thought was “the one” and was left with no alternative. Nuns are also stereotyped as sexually repressed, dowdy women who lack passion and care only about piety, cleanliness and order.

On the contrary …

Women do not become nuns because they had a bad relationship or because they don’t like sexual activity/energy or because they “can’t get a guy”. Nuns are women who would have made wonderful lovers, wives, and mothers. Still we choose to respond to God’s call to a different way of life, a way of life that is just as full and natural as single or married life.

I think I’ve pretty much covered this one already, but it deserves being said again: As a rule, nuns are not sexually repressed. (for more, read “How do nuns deal with sexual urges?“)

Nuns are not required by their Rule of Life (aka Constitutions), the Church, or anyone else to be dowdy. Frugal and modest? Absolutely. But this doesn’t mean we have to be bland or cover up our personality. I’ve seen nuns in some of the most plain, inexpensive habits and outfits but they shine and sparkle nonetheless. Nuns are not dowdy, generic women but women who are confident in themselves, in their God, and in their chosen way of life.

Nuns are some of the most passionate people I’ve ever known. Whether they are in prayer, wrangling executives on a school board, opening clinics in rural Brazil, protesting the death penalty, or catechizing children and adults, nuns are filled with passion for God, for others, and for life.

Piety, cleanliness, and order are good things, but they aren’t the only or even the main things that characterize us as nuns. How about these? Compassion, prayerfulness, humor, strength, gentleness, confidence, insight, forgiveness, openness, faithfulness … the list goes on. Many of these things are virtues that we all strive for, sometimes not quite reaching, but striving nonetheless.

So next time you see or hear one of these stereotypes, speak up and set the record straight.

A question from Kellie that I think many have wondered but never asked …

Dear Sister Julie, I would like to tell you that I have nothing but the utmost respect for you. My question is not meant to offend you in any way shape or form. I know that nuns are human like the rest of us. Do nuns ever have sexual urges, and if so how do you deal with the temptation of wanting sex.

Kellie, I am not offended at all and am glad that you asked. You are right — nuns are human like you and everyone else.

Part of being human is being a sexual person — humans are attracted to other people, have romantic feelings and sexual urges. Nuns are no different; however, we choose not to act upon these natural, sexual feelings and urges.

Think for example of other people in committed relationships. Just because you are married doesn’t mean you don’t find another person attractive or have great chemistry with someone. In fact married people might even “fall in love” with someone else, but that doesn’t mean they have to act on it. Committed people make a choice to not act on those feelings. Same thing with nuns. We are deeply human and can have sexual urges or fall in love.

When I was discerning religious life and felt convinced it was for me (and it was!), I fell in love with someone I’d know throughout grad school. Horrified that I fell in love while considering religious life, I went to my nun mentor and told her. I expected that she’d bid me farewell (I should have known better because she is one of the most deeply loving and compassionate persons I know) but instead she said, “Wonderful!” She didn’t tell me to stop discerning religious life nor did she tell me to cut off the relationship. She said to enjoy it! If we lose the capacity to fall in love, she said, then we lose the ability to truly open our hearts to God, to the people with whom we live and minister, with God’s beautiful creation. Doesn’t mean we have to express this love sexually. My nun was a great guide through that time because it was important for me to know how to deal with those feelings because they inevitably will arise if we are to be true lovers of God.

So, how do nuns deal with the temptation of wanting sex? I think the first thing is to remember that wanting sex isn’t bad in and of itself. Sex can be a powerful experience of union and love. For a nun, we vow to be celibate and so we choose to express union and love in other ways, such as through our community life, our relationships, and our ministry (Check out my post Do nuns know how to love? for other ways we express love). We have to acknowledge to ourselves a sexual urge we may have (not bury it as if it’s not there) and find ways to deal with it in a healthy way. Dealing with it may be solved by a splash of cold water or it may mean talking it over with a trusted friend or mentor. This is where being part of a community really helps because you are with women who have made the same choice and can support you and guide you through times like this. Community life helps you tap into the relationships that truly sustain you, that give you a joy and intimacy that goes beyond any urge for sex (however compelling it may seem at the time!). I’d be surprised if this were any different for married people.

I’d love to hear from nuns and others around this question. It is a great question for us to reflect on, and any dialog we can have on this would be especially helpful for those considering religious life.

Over the last year I’ve received requests from folks about how to make habits and where to find sewing patterns and fabric. I’m hoping that you might have some suggestions for me to pass along to these folks.

I would especially like to help a woman who wrote me last week. She has volunteered to help a religious community by making their habits for them. The community is Cistercian and is having a difficult time finding the black and white fabric used to make their habit. I would be most grateful if you have any suggestions as to where to get fabric (keeping in mind the value of frugality), patterns for habits, and any other suggestions you might have for this woman who is trying to learn as much as she can (she has limited time talking with the nuns because they are cloistered).

If you happen to have some expertise in this area and would be open to connecting with this woman, I know she’d be so thankful — just let me know and I’ll hook you up.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions, ideas, etc. that you can offer. Sister Julie

I’ve been wanting to share with you a bit of my experience of the workshop for women and men religious that I went to a couple weeks ago. The workshop was called Poverty in a Land of Plenty and was led by my own IHM sister Sandra Schneiders, IHM. Sandra is an expert on the theology and history of religious life, especially its biblical roots, and is author of the trilogy Religious Life in a New Millennium (vol 1 = Finding the Treasure, vol 2 = Selling All, vol 3 = forthcoming).

A foundational insight in Sandra’s work is that religious life is not reducible to a career or religious sentiment; it’s a lifeform that is rooted in the crucified and risen Christ who is active among us today. We aren’t nuns (or monks) just because we like to help others or wear religious gear or participate in rituals. We are nuns because God has called us to orient our lives around the quest for God “in a total and exclusive way”. Sandra describes this well:

Religious … do not have exclusive access to holiness nor, necessarily, superiority in relation to it. What specifies their life, their “specialization,” is their exclusive life-commitment to religion itself. Like the person who shapes her or his life around art, or sports, or scientific research or family (even while also participating in some or all of the other spheres [of life]) and who may or may not be better than others in the chosen sphere, the Religious is a specialist in the God-quest in the sense of having structured her life life around it in a total and exclusive way. (Finding the Treasure 37)

“The Religious is a specialist in the God-quest.” Wow. I cannot finish typing that without a sense of fear and trembling. It’s no wonder this way of life is a calling from God because this is no small “specialization.”

I’ve often heard my nuns talk about the grace of office, how when a nun is elected to a position, she receives the grace to faithfully meet her responsibilities. Being called to leadership calls out skills and gifts in a new way. I think this “grace of office” thing applies to all of us when we make a life commitment such as becoming a Religious. We are each ordinary people, living the Gospel as best we can. But when we are called, it’s as if we receive a “new” grace from God to rise to the challenge of such a radical, powerful, beautiful way of life.

Religion and Ethics Newsweekly published this interview with the Dominicans of Nashville and their increase in young vocations: “Young Nuns” (February 8, 2008 — Episode no. 1123).

There are some real gems in this story especially when the sisters begin to explain their own experience of being called. I think many of us could relate!

Sister Amelia Hueller: I finished high school, I went to college in Washington, DC for four years, and I came up against relativism: the idea that we can’t — people said that we couldn’t know what was good, what was bad, what was true. So I really began questioning where truth comes from. Where does goodness come from? I know I have values. Who gives them to me? And so between that moment and here, it was a process of, “This is scary, I don’t understand this. I don’t see why I would be called. How can I be called? I am so normal.”

Sister Christiana Mickwee: For me, it wasn’t so much a voice per se but through prayer — just in the silence, just letting him be there and finding out, really asking him, “What do you want from me, God?” I mean, I really had everything I could have wanted in the world, and there wasn’t anything that I was trying to get away from.

Sister Catherine Marie Hopkins: Very rarely do people come and say, “I’ve always wanted to be a sister.” You know, I always found that very suspect. You know, usually it was, “I was going through life very happily and suddenly this strange idea came and I tried really hard to eliminate it.” In my own life, that was the case.

What is fascinating to me is that God’s call to us — to me — is always unique, yet whenever I hear another Sister’s experience, I can often resonate with them. And even though the Nashville Dominicans have a charism and lifestyle different than my own IHM charism and life, we have so much more in common because of “the call” and our commitment to serving God, the Church, and the world.

If you are wondering if you are called (and you know who you are!), consider this: whoever you are, wherever you come from, whatever you desire most — God is with you and wants you to answer with your whole self. Forget about such things as “I’m not that holy” or “I’m just a normal, average person” or “Why would God call me?” or “I like guys too much.” Check out what’s it’s like to be a nun and you just might find your heart’s desire.

Nothing makes one feel hip and relevant like an interview by a mysterious-sounding group called DaRK PaRTY. Check out the blog DaRK PaRTY ReVIEW and read their interview with me in “5 Questions About: Nuns“. And to peak your interest, the five questions were:

1. Why did you decide to become a nun?
2. What order are you and what are the differences among the many orders of nuns?
3. What is a typical day like for you?
4. Where does your faith come from and why are you so sure there’s a God?
5. What is the most difficult part about being a nun and what is the most rewarding part?

DP: What order are you and what are the differences among the many orders of nuns?

Sister Julie: I am a Sister, Servant of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Monroe,Michigan. We are usually referred to as IHM Sisters. My nuns are related to the IHM Sisters of Scranton and Immaculata, Pennsylvania. We are also related to the Oblate Sisters of Providence in Baltimore, the community from which all three IHM communities emerged. The IHMs were founded in 1845 by Mother Theresa Maxis Duchemin and Father Louis Florent Gillet, a Redemptorist priest.

Every religious community is founded through a unique inspiration of the Holy Spirit to address a particular need in the world or church. Therefore no two communities are exactly alike. We might do the same ministries, wear similar habits, and pray in similar ways … but each charism (that original gift of the Holy Spirit) is unmistakably unique.

One of the main differences in religious life is between active religious communities and contemplative communities. Active religious communities (such as my IHM community) were founded to be present in the world by actively tending to people’s needs and working for a world of love, compassion, justice, and peace. Nuns in these communities typically live in the midst of the world and may work in church jobs or in non-church jobs — wherever they are called to live the Gospel, the good news of Jesus. Contemplative nuns were founded to be a prayerful presence in the world. These nuns minister to the world through prayer and living a more ascetic life. Many of these nuns may be cloistered or live in enclosure which means they are physically separated from the world. Still they are deeply connected with the world because they devote their lives to prayer for the world.

DP: What is a typical day like for you?

Sister Julie: Most days I wake up to the quiet hum of my clock radio at 5:00 a.m. I head directly to the coffee machine. Once the coffee mug is in hand, I settle in for morning prayer. I pray for all of my IHM sisters, the other two communities of IHMs, and the Oblate Sisters of Providence. I pray for my family especially my parents and siblings and their families. I pray for all those people who have asked me to keep them in my prayers. I conclude by praying for all those who do not have someone to pray for them.

After prayer I head to the computer with my trusty mug of coffee. I check my email, write on my blog, and do other computer tasks. If I have time, I might go for a run or engage in some other athletic endeavor. Then it’s off to Loyola Press, my place of ministry. Loyola Press is a nonprofit publisher serving the Catholic community in faith formation, education, and spiritual growth. We were founded by the Jesuits in 1912.

After work I head for home. Unpack, get my mail, visit with my cat Chloe, check in on my IHM Sisters, and do ordinary domestic things. In the evening I read — theological texts, spirituality books, novels, whatever peaks my interest at the moment. I occasionally turn on the TV or listen to NPR. Sometimes I do some writing. I conclude my day with the Examen. I learned this form of prayer from my Jesuit friends when I studied in Toronto. It is a prayerful way to review one’s day and get a sense of God’s presence in one’s life. Then it’s off to bed!

I have learned from my sisters what it really means to “pray without ceasing” asSaint Paul calls all of us to do in his first letter to the Thessalonians 5:17. We are to make the whole day a prayer — coffee rituals, caring for God’s creatures, working out at the gym, doing our job and chores around the house, sitting around daydreaming — all of these things can be opportunities to open ourselves to God, to experience his love and to radiate this love to others. This is what I strive to do every day of my life.

DP: Where does your faith come from and why are you so sure there’s a God?

Sister Julie: My faith comes from God. By myself, I tend to be something of a skeptic about intangible things. I like to research things, test them out, and systematize them. It’s very hard to do that with intangible things like faith. I think that is why I studied theology to see how faith “works”. While gaining valuable knowledge about God and faith, I somehow managed to embrace faith wholly and unreservedly. I encountered a God who calls me to not just know about God but to be in relationship with God. So in a way my faith comes from God. I nurture that faith by praying, being part of the Catholic community, participating in Mass, ministering to others, caring for God’s creation, and reading the scriptures.

My faith was also deeply shaped by my family. I grew up in a Catholic family and loved the rituals and prayers and sacramentality of the Church. These things helped me to develop the habit of finding God in all things.

I’m know that there is a God because I’ve experienced God. I’ve seen how God has worked in the world and in my life. I know that some things could just never have come from me. As I mentioned above I’m somewhat of a skeptic and I never wanted to be a nun yet here I am, deeply committed to my faith and a Catholic nun. The crazy thing is that it’s the best thing that ever happened to me.

DP: What is the most difficult part about being a nun and what is the most rewarding part?

Sister Julie: The most difficult part about being a nun is that it’s a very counter-cultural way of life. It can be difficult to live a life of simplicity and of faith in a culture that is highly materialistic and competitive. That’s why living as a member of a community of nuns is so helpful — sisters support and encourage one another. I could never live as a solo nun because the life of the community is what sustains me and helps me negotiate the tougher parts of being a nun.

The most rewarding part about being a nun is, well, everything. I am so grateful to be able to serve the Church and world in this way. Being a nun is not a job or even a lifestyle. It’s more like who I am, just like I am a daughter and a sibling. There’s no part of me that is not a nun. I love that I can expect to find God in all of life, even in unseemly situations. I pray that I can bring a little of God’s light to others no matter who they are or where they’ve come from.

Happy feast day! Today is a major feast day for us IHMs. It is the feast of the Immaculate Conception. This feast celebrates the conception of Mary (Jesus’ conception is celebrated on the feast of the Annunciation) who was born “immaculate”, that is, without sin so that she could be a pure vessel of the holy.

Though this feast day is cause for great celebration, today it is with a mixture of joy and sorrow that I celebrate with my sisters. Today was the funeral of one of my dear sister’s mom. Virginia was a wonderful woman, a loving wife and mother. I am a better person for having known her.

Though the circumstances were tough, it was so good to be with my IHM sisters, many of whom I see only once or twice a year. Though we don’t say these words in our vows, “for better or for worse” definitely describes how we are with one another. Life is real and we hang in there with one another no matter how tough it gets. And we IHMs weren’t the only nuns to come to support our sister and her family. Many sisters from a variety of religious communities came out to mourn and to remember and to celebrate her mom’s life. I am in awe at the sisterhood that exists not only among sisters of the same community but of all sisters. It’s like we are all cousins to one another and share a bond together that is as thick as blood.

On this feast day, please say a prayer for Virginia and her family. And my prayer for you and for me is that we–like Mary and Virginia–be vessels of the holy.

People often wonder whether or not nuns are allowed to see or spend time with their families. Here are a couple questions I received recently.

Hi Sister Julie,

I love your website. I was wondering, do you ever get to see or spend time with your family (parents, siblings)? I think this would be the hardest part about becoming a sister/nun. Do different groups have different rules about when/if you are allowed to see your family?

Thank you,
Melissa

I do get to spend time with my family (parents, two siblings+families). We don’t live in the same area so we are mostly in touch by email or phone or letters (my Mom is awesome at sending little notes of cheer, article clippings, and other cool stuff). Because of the distance I don’t get to see my family too often — like other people, nuns have only a certain amount of vacation time from our employers and we have to budget like everyone else to fly or drive home. My religious community does not impose any rules about seeing one’s family. But sometimes it is a bit of a juggling act because I am committed to my ministry, my “religious” family, and my natural family. Each commitment is something to which I give my time, love, and energy. I think it is true for all people that whatever we give our life to means that we sacrifice time and energy elsewhere, even if it is with those we love.

Yes, different religious communities do have different rules about seeing one’s family. I don’t know of any community that forbids seeing one’s family. Sometimes it’s just logistical — we don’t have the money for flights every holiday, family is too far away, we have community responsibilities or ministry responsibilities. For some communities whose sisters live a more cloistered life there may be more of a desire to see visitors less frequently because of their particular calling.

In my religious community, I experience my IHM sisters as family. Just like my sister has her family and my brother has his. My IHMs are my family. I chose this lifestyle and this particular community because with them I am my best self and I love them dearly. I am able to grow in my relationship with God and be a person of mission and service. As a person grows into her or his vocation, I believe they are given the grace to be, well, graceful in their relationships and negotiating the struggles of various commitments to family, community, ministry, etc. Doesn’t mean it is easy, but it is with love and with purpose.

P.S. on the topic of being able to love others in religious life (including family) see my post “Do Nuns Know How to Love?“

Yesterday I listened to the broadcast of the conversation between Sister Marie Pappas, CR, and myself on the “Pathways to Learning” program on Sirius Radio’s The Catholic Channel #159. Strange to listen to oneself. Never quite sounds like yourself.

During the program we talked about what was happening in religious life around the time of the Second Vatican Council. This was a very important time of renewal for the whole Church including religious. In the document, Perfectae Caritatis, “The Decree on the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life” (1965), the Council called religious to adaptation and renewal “under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the guidance of the Church.”

“The adaptation and renewal of the religious life includes both the constant return to the sources of all Christian life and to the original spirit of the institutes and their adaptation to the changed conditions of our time.” (Perfectae Caritatis #2)

So much could be said about this one sentence. It is filled with this call to return to our foundation — both our foundation in Christ (which all are called to) and our foundation as a religious community. Every religous community was founded through a unique inspiration of the Holy Spirit. No two communities are exactly alike. We might do the same ministries, wear similar habits, and pray in similar ways … but each charism (that original gift of the Holy Spirit) is unmistakeably unique.

I think this is an amazing idea … to renew ourselves we must return — not just once — but again and again to our foundations. I do this first through the “sources of all Christian life” — prayer, the Eucharist and celebration of the sacraments, meditating on Scripture, participation in the faith community and so on. As a religious, I also do this by immersing myself in the story of our foundation, of our founders Mother Theresa Maxis Duchemin and Father Louis Florent Gillet, and of our “godmother” Mother Mary Lange of the Oblate Sisters of Providence. I read the letters, visit the places they lived and worked, and pray on this wonderful gift of IHM that the Spirit has given my community for the good of the Church and world.

I want you to visit Sister Susan Rose’s blog “Musings of a Discerning Woman” where she writes about her own experience of literally returning to the foundations of her community. Sister Susan Rose is a Sister of Saint Joseph of Peace here in the United States but is currently ministering in London. She’s had the opportunity to visit the places of the foundation of her community. Take some time to go through her back posts and read about her ongoing pilgrimage and what it has meant to her. Sister Susan is very much incarnating the call from Perfectae Caritatis to return to our foundations.

What are the foundations that you return to again and again for renewal?

Last week I had the pleasure of talking with Sister Marie Pappas, CR (Sisters of the Resurrection), host of the program “Pathways of Learning” on The Catholic Channel #159 on Sirius Radio.

Sister Marie Pappas is the Superintendent of Schools of the Archdiocese of New York with responsibilities for the education of more than 107,000 students in the largest Catholic school system in the nation. She is a Sister of the Resurrection [New York Province], the only order of women religious that, as Sister Marie likes to say “was founded by a mother and her daughter.” Sister has an MA in Religious Education from the Angelicum in Rome, as well as a P.D. in Religious Education and has taught and lectured at the Notre Dame Pontifical Institute and at the Catechetical Conference of Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. Sister thinks of Pathways of Learning as a “nationwide conversation about life’s larger lessons.” Conversations include finding God in today’s movies, girl bullies, if and what American teenagers think about God, whether kids are suffering from homework overkill, and the threats faced by Catholics living in the Middle East war zone. (source)

We spent an hour together discussing how we became nuns, what it’s like being a nun today, and my blog, A Nun’s Life. Because of our difference in age (Sister Marie entered around Vatican II, and I entered around Y2K) we brought varying perspectives to what it was like to decide to become a nun, wear a habit, minister, live in community, and many other things. What was remarkable was how much we had in common (though from different generations and different communities) and how it seemed as if I’ve known Sister Marie my whole life (this interview was our very first meeting). I admire Sister Marie, the work she is doing and the beautiful way that she lives her religious life. Sister Marie is definitely “A Nun You Should Know”.

The show airs tomorrow (Tues, Oct 23) from 1-2 p.m. (eastern standard time) on Sirius. If you don’t have Sirius you can start a free 3-day trial and listen via the Sirius Internet Radio (http://www.sirius.com/listenonline).

It’s been a while since I wrote about the stages of formation in my series, “Decoding Formation” (see the sidebar on my blog for the previous posts). But now it is time to look at novitiate. I’m going to write this in several parts because there are a number of things I’d like to address. As in the previous stages, there is some variance across communities in terms of what exactly happens during novitiate. And know that I come from a community of active women religious, not a community of contemplative nuns. So there may be things that are particular to contemplatives that I am totally missing — contemplative nuns: please feel free to comment with your experiences!

After Candidacy/Postulancy, a person is ready for the big step of entering the novitiate. ” Novitiate” is the stage at which a person is a novice (meaning “new”) in the community. The community and the person have discerned that the fit is a good one. The “dating” is over (so to speak) and now comes the official engagement period. Just as a couple is committed to one another during an engagement, so the woman and the community are committed to one another. She is now ready to become a member of the community — not a full member for she is not yet under vows, but a novice member. As a novice she is still learning about religious life and the ways of the community, and at the same time she participates in the day to day life and mission of the community. Whereas in the previous stage the Candidate/Postulant usually supports herself and continues with her “former” life, now she is part of the community – what was once “mine” is now “ours”. During novitiate (and for the rest of her religious life), the novice receives what she needs from the community. As mentioned above, she is not yet under vows, though she lives as if she is — the vows of povery, celibacy, and obedience become not just something she knows about but something she lives.

During novitiate, a novice has a novice director – a professed sister who is responsible for the formation of the novice. The novice typically lives with the novice director and any other novices in the same convent/house. Other professed sisters may live in this community.

When a woman is preparing for novitiate, she and the congregation must be attentive to both the congregation’s Rule of Life (or Constitutions) and to Canon Law which provides guidelines and safeguards for the novitiate. I’ll develop this a bit more in my next post on novitiate: Novitiate – Canon Law.

According to the footnotes in The Life, Saint Teresa of Avila entered the Monastery of the Incarnation November 2, 1533, and made her profession November 3, 1534. Though scholars disagree about these dates,  Teresa undoubtedly entered the monastery and professed vows as a Carmelite nun.

When I took the habit, our Lord at once made me understand how He helps those who do violence to themselves in order to serve Him.  [Teresa seems to be referring to the terrible pain at entering the convent without her father's consent. See previous post.] No one observed this violence in me; they saw nothing but the greatest good will. At that moment, because I was entering on that state, I was filled with a joy so great, that it has never failed me to this day; and God converted the aridity of my soul into the greatest tenderness. Everything in religion was a delight unto me; and it is true that now and then I used to sweep the house during those hours of the day which I had formerly spent on my amusements and my dress; and, calling to mind that I was delivered from such follies, I was filled with a new joy that surprised me, nor could I understand whence it came.Whenever I remember this, there is nothing in the world, however hard it may be, that, if it were proposed to me, I would not undertake without any hesitation whatever; for I know now, by experience in many things, that if from the first I resolutely persevere in my purpose, even in this life His Majesty rewards it in a way which he only understands who has tried it. When the act is done for God only, it is His will before we begin it that the soul, in order to the increase of its merits, should be afraid; and the greater the fear, if we do but succeed, the greater the reward, and the sweetness thence afterwards resulting. I know this by experience, as I have just said, in many serious affairs; and so, if I were a person who had to advise anybody, I would never counsel any one, to whom good inspirations from time to time may come, to resist them through fear of the difficulty of carrying them into effect; for if a person lives detached for the love of God only, that is no reason for being afraid of failure, for He is omnipotent. May He be blessed for ever! Amen. (Life 4.2-3)

When I professed final vows, I did not expect to feel any different than I had because I’d been with the community for approximately 10 years already. I’d taken my first (“temporary”) vows 3 years earlier and figured that I’d already had the “vow experience”. I was looking forward to it and knew it’d be great, I just thought that it would be a confirmation of everything that had already happened.But surprisingly, the experience of professing final vows was different than anything else I had ever experienced. I felt ontologically (in my very being) changed, like my DNA was uncoded and re-coded with IHM. I felt like a new person, different, yet more myself than ever. The way I saw my sisters and my place in the community shifted too. This is one of those things that again is difficult to express but unmistakeable nonetheless.With Teresa I can say, “I was filled with a new joy that surprised me, nor could I understand whence it came. Whenever I remember this, there is nothing in the world, however hard it may be, that, if it were proposed to me, I would not undertake without any hesitation whatever.” Blessed be God forever!

Continuing my reflections on Saint Teresa of Avila … Finally, after all kinds of questioning, resistance, and prayer, Teresa happens to read the Epistles of Saint Jerome which must have truly edified her for she says she was filled with much courage. Courage was exactly what she needed for she knew that telling her father about her desire to enter the Carmelite monastery would be really, really tough. Teresa writes:

My father’s love for me was so great, that I could never obtain his consent; nor could the prayers of others, whom I persuaded to speak to him, be of any avail. The utmost I could get from him was that I might do as I pleased after his death. I now began to be afraid of myself, and of my own weakness—for I might go back. So, considering that such waiting was not safe for me, I obtained my end in another way, as I shall now relate. (Life 3.9)

In those days, when I was thus resolved, I had persuaded one of my brothers, by speaking to him of the vanity of the world, to become a friar; and we agreed together to set out one day very early in the morning for the monastery where that friend of mine lived for whom I had so great an affection: though I would have gone to any other monastery, if I thought I should serve God better in it, or to any one my father liked, so strong was my resolution now to become a nun—for I thought more of the salvation of my soul now, and made no account whatever of mine own ease. I remember perfectly well, and it is quite true, that the pain I felt when I left my father’s house was so great, that I do not believe the pain of dying will be greater—for it seemed to me as if every bone in my body were wrenched asunder; for, as I had no love of God to destroy my love of father and of kindred, this latter love came upon me with a violence so great that, if our Lord had not been my keeper, my own resolution to go on would have failed me. But He gave me courage to fight against myself, so that I executed my purpose. (Footnote:  The nuns sent word to the father of his child’s escape, and of her desire to become a nun, but without any expectation of obtaining his consent. He came to the monastery forthwith, and “offered up his Isaac on Mount Carmel” (Reforma, lib. i. ch. viii. § 5). (Life 4.1)

Teresa was determined to remain true to this call from God even though she was painfully aware of her father’s feelings on the matter. She knew herself well enough to know that if she didn’t pursue God’s call now, she just might let it fade away from her. As she writes, “waiting was not safe for me.”I’ve met other religious who have had similar experiences in that their family just couldn’t bear to be separated from them. In Teresa’s time, this separation was very clear as she was entering a monastery that observed enclosure. Certainly she would not be able to interact with her family as she had in the past. That is probably true for most religious, especially those who observe enclosure. It’s as if all our relationships are reordered … not cut off, but changed. It’s not unlike when someone gets married or has a baby. Your relationship with them naturally changes and shifts around a bit. Somehow we learn to give one another the space to grow and change while at the same time hanging on to that core of a relationship (love). With religious life, things are a little different, a little more mysterious perhaps because it’s not a choice that is widely made or understood especially in our society today. Understandably family and friends might have apprehensions. But it can be tough to explain how you feel when you’re still in the process of figuring it out yourself, let alone articulating to anyone!Thoughts, reflections, questions?

Continuing my reflections on Saint Teresa of Avila …Teresa was in the convent school with the Augustinian Nuns (see previous post) for about a year and a half. She says that although she grew closer to God, “I still had no desire to be a nun, and I asked God not to give me this vocation” (Life 3.2). But, she notes,

“By the end of this period of time in which I stayed there I was more favorable to the thought of being a nun, although not in that house, for there were things I was afterward to understand were most virtuous that seemed to me to be too extreme…. These good thoughts about being a nun sometimes came to me, and then would go away; and I could not be persuaded to be one.” (Life 3.2)

I love Teresa’s honesty here. I think many people struggle with their vocation (not just to religious life). For some, they know clearly what they are meant to do; but for others like Teresa (and myself), it’s not immediately clear. We have to test it, wrestle with it, ponder it, and ultimately live into it. No one way of discerning is better than another. Somehow or another we end up where God is calling us, though it may be a matter of moments or years. It is so important to hang in there and to continuing to pray and to serve others.Flash of light or cloud of unknowing? — which image fits your experience of finding your vocation? Or what other image fits for you?

Continuing my reflections on Saint Teresa of Avila …While Teresa was growing up, she was sent to be raised in a monastery (her mom having died when she was younger and an older sister recently moving out of the house to be married). Although Teresa “suffered much” in the first days of being in the monastery, she grew to like being with the nuns.

I was very uncomfortable; but within eight days, I think sooner, I was much more contented than I had been in my father’s house. All the nuns were pleased with me; for our Lord had given me the grace to please every one, wherever I might be. I was therefore made much of in the monastery. Though at this time I hated to be a nun, yet I was delighted at the sight of nuns so good; for they were very good in that house—very prudent, observant of the rule, and recollected. (Life 2.10)

Teresa was profoundly affected by one nun in particular through whom “it pleased our Lord to give me light” (Life 2.12).

I began gradually to like the good and holy conversation of this nun. How well she used to speak of God! for she was a person of great discretion and sanctity. I listened to her with delight. I think there never was a time when I was not glad to listen to her. She began by telling me how she came to be a nun through the mere reading of the words of the Gospel “Many are called, and few are chosen.” This good companionship began to root out the habits which bad companionship had formed, and to bring my thoughts back to the desire of eternal things, as well as to banish in some measure the great dislike I had to be a nun, which had been very great … (Life 3.1)

It is so comforting to me to read about how Teresa’s decision to become a nun wasn’t instantaneous or some life-long dream. She grew into it. I too never had a desire to become a nun (though perhaps a marytr or a hermit! … see earlier post). I knew nuns, grew up with nuns around me, but never felt the urge to become a nun. It’s not that I didn’t like them or wasn’t impressed with how they lived their life. I just didn’t even think of considering myself as a nun any more than a hamster would consider racing in the Kentucky Derby. Much later when I was in grad school, I met an IHM Sister who eventually became a mentor to me in the spiritual life as well as religious life (though that was the farthest thing from my mind when I first got to know her). I can’t tell you how important that relationship was and is to me because very truly “it pleased our Lord to give me light” through her. She helped me grow in my relationship with God and become more of myself.Through whom has God been pleased to give you light?

When I linked to the image on my previous post, I discovered a fabulous little page by the Sisters of Saint Birgitta complete with various clever illustrations and writing! It’s called “One Thousand and One Questions“. The questions address everything from “do you have hair?” to “have you ever doubted?”

The questions have been put to and answered by Sr.M. Patricia, (with a little interference from her abbess!). Hundreds of questions mainly from school children that have visited the abbey in connection with their history course. In the 4th class, they read about the Black Death and Saint Birgitta, their own compatriot, and the Abbey and Order she founded here in Vadstena. The questions are not only from children but also from adults who have been here for information.

Fall has definitely arrived here in Chicago. The temps are cooler and the air has that bit of crispness that can only mean the change of the season. I’m pleased about this. As much as I loved this summer, especially after learning how to swim in Lake Michigan and training for my triathlon, I am still very much of a winter kind of gal. It’s the season that seems to speak most to me spiritually.

This morning I’ve been thinking a lot about a comment I received on my previous post. Lil, who just discovered this blog, wrote a beautiful little reflection that has just stayed with me. I remember asking some of those same questions when I was young and had a few nuns teaching at my grammar school. That’s probably why I never thought of myself becoming a nun because I figured they were way holier than I was, more prayerful, and had a direct line to God. I was just an ordinary kid mixed up in the world like everyone else. Years later (in my early twenties) when I got to know sisters, I found people that were kind of like me. Mind you, these women were/are stellar women, wise and compassionate … characteristics I would hardly give to myself, yet nonetheless, they were human beings, real and down to earth. What Lil said about being “like the rest of us” rang true for me. And like those first nuns, I am “still asking the questions…getting it sometimes, or never…but still dedicated to living devoted.”

One of my favorite saints is Saint Teresa of Avila, the great mystic, writer, and Doctor of the Church. I was always wowed by her descriptions of her experiences with God and her teachings on prayer. It wasn’t until later that I learned that Teresa had many, many years of struggling with prayer. You’d think that she had all the answers, that she could just pop into the zone with God at will. Yet she had periods of darkness where she couldn’t feel God’s presence even though she knew God was with her. Somehow, she hung in there and has left an incredible wealth of writing and experiences for all of us.

I take great comfort in Saint Teresa and try always to hang in there even when I don’t have the answers (which is more often then I would like to admit) or can’t seem to connect with God even though I know that God is closer to me than my very next breath.

I just returned home after spending a few days in Monroe, Michigan, with my IHM Sisters. On July 28 the Monroe IHM sisters all came together to celebrate Jubilee. A Jubilee is the anniversary of when a sister entered or professed vows in her religious community. We have a big celebration each year for sisters celebrating their 25th (silver jubilee), 50th (golden jubilee), 60th and 75th (diamond jubilee) anniversaries.

Click this link for more of what this day means in our congregation.

I wish I could communicate to you the feeling of what it is like to be home in Monroe with all of my nuns. It is electric. It’s like the air is charged with IHM energy. It is pure delight to see one another and have a chance to say hello and catch up. Walking around the motherhouse is like Christmas morning to a child. There are wonderful gifts around every corner — a beloved nun you haven’t seen in ages, your formation buddies, the president of the congregation, a nun burning rubber on her scooter. Though I may not know all of the sisters well, every one I run into is my sister, someone who is part of me as I am a part of her.

One of the reasons why I think Jubilee Day is so special is that we have no other agenda than to celebrate our sisters and our life together. It is a day built on connecting with one another, delighting in one another, and having fun together. For myself living out on mission in the diaspora, this time at home with my nuns is so important. I feel like I am immersing myself into the heart of the congregation, into the very IHM spirit. Every moment, every step, every connection is like a prayer for each one of us recognizes that we are bonded together by the Holy Spirit and by our commitment to the liberating mission of Jesus Christ.

I love my nuns very much and am grateful each and every moment for their lives, their encouragement, and their commitment to our mission and our community.

In response to my post Can You Become a Nun if you have a Chronic Illness? I received an email from Sr. M. Zita Wenker, OSB, a Benedictine sister who is a member of the Benedictines of Jesus Crucified, Monastery of the Glorious Cross in Connecticut. I asked her permission to post it on my blog because it is such a direct, honest response to considerations involved in accepting people with a chronic illness. It brings a new light to this complex and important issue.

1. As vocation director, it’s important for me to know exactly what the chronic illness/condition is, that someone has who is considering religious/monastic life. There are some illnesses that could be integrated into community living rather easily–someone with a heart condition, for instance, knows what her limitations are, and as long as she gets adequate rest, takes her meds, and exercises common sense in what she does, it could be very workable. Of course, this assumes that the community is willing to take her condition into consideration, and would not ask some work she couldn’t do. On the other hand, I’ve seen women with such severe allergies that they spend most of the day preparing their own special diet, or staying out of any place with dust, mold, mildew, etc. This kind of condition would be next to impossible to integrate, at least into any community I know of.

As far as I know, there’s no community that will accept women with mental illness of any kind, or those with the likelihood (from family history) of developing it in the future. Any candidate has to be well-balanced psychologically and emotionally. (God help us all! We joke that if we were applying today, we wouldn’t be accepted!!!)

Back to chronic illness–a few women with fibromyalgia and/or chronic fatigue syndrome, seem able to manage it well. Nevertheless, I suspect it would be rather hard in community, where everyone is expected to pull her own weight. Again, it would depend on what the community is willing to do—to what degree it can stretch. In my experience, we’ve had to say no to women with cerebral palsy. Some are so afflicted with it that normal conversation isn’t possible. Others have much milder cases, and may perhaps be integrated, but still–in our experience we’ve had instances of psychological problems surfacing years after entering, in some women who have CP. To what extent it’s due to the CP itself, I’m not competent to say. We also refuse women with multiple sclerosis, or other neurological conditions that would get progressively worse. Whether a community could handle the repercussions of accepting such women would depend on the various communities–we are small, and can only handle so much. A larger group might be able to do it.

2. My community is one that is open to women with certain physical limitations: blindness, deafness (although this is a challenge for the person and the community), polio and its after-effects, arrested TB, heart problems, diabetes—these are some of the conditions our members have. We are the Benedictines of Jesus Crucified, Monastery of the Glorious Cross, 61 Burban Drive, Branford, CT 06405. We are a monastic community, with no outside ministry.

An apostolic community that accepts women with disabilities is the Sisters of the Lamb of God, in Owensboro, Kentucky.

The Visitation Monasteries may be open to some women with chronic illnesses, depending on what they are. The various monasteries probably have varying criteria, so anyone interested would have to try one by one.

A group that is not a religious community, but is a “pious union,” is the Franciscan Missionaries of Jesus Crucified. They welcome women (and men, for that matter) with chronic illnesses.

My community offers the possibility of becoming Oblates to those who are interested in living according to our spirituality, but in their own homes, marriages, jobs, families, etc. Some of our Oblates are physically handicapped and many are not. It’s not a factor, as long as they want what we have, and understand what becoming an Oblate entails. A lot of communities have Oblates, third orders, associates, affiliates, etc. These can sometimes be a route for women who might not be able to be fully accepted into a community.

I hope this is some help. Please visit our web site at www.benedictinesjc.org.
Sr. M. Zita Wenker, OSB

In her email to me, Sister added that the following:

Some apostolic communities are beginning to be more open to women with certain chronic conditions, although of course they have to be careful too. Sometimes not being able to do everything that is expected of all members can eat away at a person’s self-esteem and self-worth.

If you have any questions for Sister M. Zita, please let me know and I’ll forward them to her or feel free to write to her at the snail mail address given above.

I’ve been reading Pope Benedict XVI’s new book, Jesus of Nazareth: From Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration (Doubleday, 2007). Of the book the pope himself says, “This book is… my personal search ‘for the face of the Lord.’”

I’ve been quite impressed by this book … some very excellent reflections on who Jesus is and how to understand Jesus in light of today’s world and concerns. It’s got an academic and apologetic edge to it, and yet also has some truly inspired pieces that make you feel like you are praying.

I recently read chapter 4, “The Sermon on the Mount” and spent some time reflecting on the part about the “poor in spirit” from the Beatitudes. The Pope connects this saying with the piety of the psalms which reflected people’s sense that even in the midst of their poverty and oppression, God did not abandon them but was working toward their salvation. This, the Pope writes, “developed that generosity of heart that was to open the door for Christ.” (page 75; emphasis mine) I think this sense of generosity of heart is something that should characterize the vow of poverty for us religious.

“[Persons who are poor] know that their poverty also has an interior dimension; they are lovers who simply want to let God bestow his gifts upon them and thereby live in inner harmony with God’s nature and word. The saying of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux about one day standing before God with empty hands, and holding them open to him, describes the spirit of these poor ones of God: They come with empty hands; not with hands that grasp and clutch, but with hands that open and give and thus are ready to receive from God’s bountiful goodness.” (page 76; emphasis mine)

“… in order to be the community of Jesus’ poor, the Church has constant need of the great ascetics. She needs the communities that follow them, living out poverty and simplicity so as to display to us the truth of the Beatitudes. She needs them to wake everyone to the fact that possession is all about service, to contrast the culture of affluence with the culture of inner freedom, and thereby to create conditions for social justice as well.” (page 77; emphasis mine)

In my last post “Can you become a Nun if you have a chronic illness?” I received some good feedback from Lisa about the different ways that chronic illness can be understood. Lisa also suggested that I balance out the post by writing about the fact that “if people become ill once in community, particularly post perpetual profession, the community stands with them and does not ask them to leave.”

When a person is fully a member of a religious community, the community is with her 100%. Should she become physically or mentally ill or whatever, the community takes care of her and does not abandon her. She is still a vital member of the community even though she may have to find new ways of expressing this.

Let me give you an example of a sister who was cared for by the community and who, down to her last breath (unable to communicate well or get out of bed), was a vital member of the community. I remember a day when one of my dear IHM sisters was sick and dying. Normally when a sister is dying, there are always sisters sitting vigil with her. Our nuns make sure someone is always in the room or nearby so the sister is not alone. So this one day I went in to see my dear sister Mary Ann. The sister with her graciously left so we’d have some time alone together. I went to her bed and just held her hand and talked to her. She was not really awake and I wasn’t sure if she knew I was there. She didn’t open her eyes or make any response. I wanted to be strong for her as she had always been for me, but I just couldn’t muster up any strength. So I started praying the Hail Mary aloud. Amazingly Mary Ann, in a barely audible voice, said a few of the phrases of the Hail Mary. At that moment I knew that of course she knew I was there and with what little breath and energy she had, she consoled me — she was still being there for me, comforting me like she always did when things were tough. I stayed with Mary Ann a while longer, just sitting in vigil with her. It was one of the most grace-filled moments of my life. Mary Ann died not long afterwards.

The community takes care of one another in sickness and in health. We stand with one another, not always perfectly, but with great love, care and affection. Even when a sister is dying, she can be a source of life and energy and love for all those around her, the sisters, the housekeeping staff, the family members, the health care staff. Everyone. Although being sick or having a serious chronic illness isn’t the same thing as dying, the way we care for one another is the same. It isn’t always pretty being sick, but it is a true blessing to have sisters who care so deeply and would move mountains for you.

I was recently asked this question and have struggled with how to respond to it. A little wisdom from the sisterhood would be most welcome!

Most if not all communities require physical and psychological “healthiness” as part of the process of becoming a sister. The community wants to ensure that the person is fit to live the community lifestyle and mission. The community also wants to ensure that the person is in a position to best live out her vocation and use her talents and gifts.

Having a serious illness can be a very consuming thing. It can affect how one gets through the day, who one interacts with, how much one does, etc. Living with a serious chronic illness can therefore be perceived as a limitation (debatable). On the other hand, people with a serious chronic illness often have a unique insight into life, God, and the world that granted is forged in the fires of hell but nonetheless is an invaluable gift to the world.

So what happens when a person with a serious chronic illness feels called to religious life? How do communities handle this? I think in general we tend to discourage such persons from entering — is this the result of discernment or discrimination? I know that sounds harsh, but people with a chronic illness (or any illness for that matter) have long been discriminated in our society. As women religious we really need to examine what we are doing and why. Not being a formation director or in community leadership, I don’t know all the factors that go into discernment with persons. I trust in their wisdom. Still, my heart breaks for people with a chronic illness who feel called to religious life.

So my questions are these:

I received a question from Donna about career choices for women religious and thought I’d post it and my response because it raises some important points about being a nun.

I remember hearing that years ago most women who entered religious life (apostolic) had to become teachers pretty much if they wanted to or not. I’m thinking there were some nurses thrown in between.

Today, what type of choices of career do women who enter religious life have? Aside from teaching, I’ve known/heard of sisters mostly as social workers, counsellors, retreat directors/spiritual directors, college, school and hospital administrators and parish associates. Obviously there are a number in publishing too. You occassionally hear of sisters as doctors and lawyers, etc.

I guess my question is this, who basically decides what career/actual job a sister will have? Is it she, the mother superior, she and the mother superior, etc.? Does the community have any input? Does a sister need to be concerned with how much money she earns or would, say, a low-paying job (minimum wage)in a food pantry be ok, for example? Do some orders give women more freedom in this area? What orders do you think are most open to a sister chosing her career? (I do realize there might be some limitations based on the ethics/lack thereor involved in certain avenues for employment .

Each community does things a bit differently in terms of identifying which ministry one is going to engage in. In some cases, a community may have a specific need or be asked by an organization (e.g. diocese or mission) for some help. In that case the community leadership might identify some folks within the community whom they believe can best meet that need, all things considered. The sister would be asked to consider that ministry and she would then discern and pray about this request. So the community leadership and the sister would mutually discern a ministry. A request from one’s leadership is a serious thing and there must be strong reasons why one would deny the request (e.g., “I don’t want to” doesn’t cut it).

In today’s world many apostolic sisters must find work the way anyone else does. We read the want ads, network with people, and see what is out there. We put our resumes together just like other professionals do.

If a sister were looking for a job she would most likely let her leadership know and seek any advice from them. She’d probably let them know what she was looking for and keep them in the loop as to her search. Before she accepted a position she’d run it by them. This would be like a wife and husband discussing things over before one of them made a big decision, or someone checking in with a good friend as a sounding board.

Money is and is not a factor. As a community we want our sisters to minister in a place where she can best use her gifts and help those in need. At the same time it is important for each/most of us to earn a fair wage. As a community we must be wise stewards of our resources so that we can direct them towards serving our mission. Contrary to many people’s belief, the Church does not financially support religious communities (exception: annual religious retirement fund). We nuns are on our own. We rely on our sisters’ salaries, services (e.g. renting out a facility), donations, the generosity of our friends and benefactors, and wise investments. So we have to be conscious of obtaining a fair wage but at the same time we are commited to helping people who are poor and vulnerable and jobs like that don’t often pay much at all. This is where discernment comes in and the community’s wisdom is invaluable.

Ultimately the leadership of the community has the authority to approve or disapprove a ministry choice and a sister must respect that decision. However in my experience, the process of mutual discernment works extraordinarily well in helping the sister and the community be “of one mind” … doesn’t mean you have to like the result, but mutual discernment is a way to be at peace with the decision and with one annother. In all my big decisions, I have found that I always ended up where I was supposed to be, even if I couldn’t see it in the beginning. I am grateful for the prayerful wisdom of my nuns.

Across congregations there is probably a lot of variance in terms of how much freedom a sister has in choosing her ministry. Communities which are more focused on a particular mission, e.g., working with the Haitian community, will probably have fewer options for working outside that mission. But a sister knows that going into a community so it’s not like it is a hardship.

What are your experiences with choosing a ministry (or being chosen by one, as the case may be!) and/or with mutual discernment?

I spent my blogging time this morning reflecting on and responding to a question from “An Ex-Candidate of an Order.” I thought I would share it with you because I want you to keep Ex-Candidate in your prayers and because I’d like to hear your reflections on this as well.

Do you think nuns/sisters know how to love? Can you describe ways you love? I think this is the question that I struggle with in thinking of whether I want to enter a religious order. I felt like the sisters in the order I was in were very distant and not capable of opening up. I’m not sure if that means that I may be called to marriage since I want to love deeply. What is your experience?

Dear Ex-Candidate … Absolutely I know that nuns/sisters know how to love. I wouldn’t be here otherwise nor do I think that religious life would be able to survive without love. The center of religious life, as with all of life, is a personal relationship with God, a love relationship, if you will. That love overflows in all of our relationships, behaviors, attitudes, etc. I know this sounds trite, but without love, we got nothin.

The ways that I love and other nuns/sisters love are very much like the way you or anyone else might love. Within my community, I love in many ways. First, I care very deeply for each one of my sisters and hold them with great regard and love. I tend to our common values, mission, prayer and life together. I make sacrifices for my community and choices I might not otherwise have made because I love who we are and what we are about. On a personal level, I have a variety of friendships within the community, each of which is nourishing and life-giving to me. Being with my sisters there is an unmistakable feeling of joy, delight in one another’s company, and love. Sure, we have struggles and misunderstandings and the like (as in all relationships) but the tender care we have for one another is always palpable to me. Depending on our relationship, we talk at various levels about our relationship with God, our joys and our pains, hopes and desires. We share mundane things like a good sale at the grocery store and deep things like discerning a change of ministry. We also show our love by praying and playing together.

Outside of my community, again I love in many ways. My family and friends are just as dear to me than ever. I have two small nephews whom I adore and I delight in being “The Aunt”. I am passionate about my ministry and I try to bring the love and care that I experience in my relationship with God and my sisters to each encounter I have with people — be they friends or strangers, likeable people or otherwise — and with all of God’s creation.

Your desire to “love deeply” is very beautiful and a precious thing to know about yourself. I’m sorry that you had that experience, but I want to assure you that it is not typical of religious life. Yes, we sometimes struggle to know how to love and to show that love. We have good days and not-so-good days too. But in the end, we know that we’ve thrown our lot in with one another, we’ve given our lives to God in the company of one another. That knits us together and holds us together through thick and thin.

Any lifestyle — religious life, ordained life, single life, married life — can be about loving deeply. It depends on where you feel called, the particular contours of how that love seeks to express itself.

Hang in there with the soul-searching and questioning. Keep coming back to your heart’s desire to love deeply which is from God and let it be the light that guides you. My prayers are with you, my friend. Sister J

Quite a conversation is taking place around Nuns: Perceptions and Assumptions. The latest comment sounded like a good springboard for a new post. This one comes from Diane who writes:

I’m interested in reflecting on the word, “growth,” in terms of religious congregations. Growth implies vitality. It is possible to see growth as being an increase in the number of vowed members. It is true that some congregations are seeing a large increase in the numbers of young women choosing vowed membership. At the same time, other congregations are seeing growth in a different kind of way. While the numbers of women seeking vowed membership may remain small—women are still entering and staying, but maybe one or two every few years—these congregations are redefining the notion of vocation. For them, the call is not to focus on replacing themselves with vowed members but to put their energy into nurturing their charism in people who feel a call to this charism, but not only in traditional vowed memberships. They are, in fact, seeing growth in the ways that lay women and men are drawn to these charisms and living them out to create the world that Jesus spoke of throughout his life and ministry.

(To read Diane’s entire comment, which I highly recommend, click here.)

There are a couple things here I’d like to highlight.

One is my ongoing mantra that religious life is not about numbers. It never has been and never will be. Yet, as some have noted, you have to have people in order to carry on the mission of the community. This is true. We welcome numbers and rejoice in the communities which are attracting large numbers of women. But the number of people coming, the age of the people coming, the dress of the people coming is really rather secondary to what the growth and vitality of a community. I think Diane well illustrated that with the Sisters of Saint Joseph in the full version of her comment.

Two is the issue of religious congregations who share their charism with coworkers, associates, volunteers, benefactors, etc. All these people who are not under religious vows are part of the wider community of that congregation. They choose to be associated with the congregation in different ways. This too is a sign of growth. The success of institutions that we founded and/or sponsored (regardless of how many nuns continue to serve there) is also a sign of growth. Every child that was ever taught by a nun who lives the values that were instilled in her or him is a sign of growth. I think sometimes we get too caught up in the numbers game to realize that growth is a far different reality in God’s eyes. To quote Sister Susan Rose‘s quote again: “numbers are a Capitalist answer to a Christian question.”

As nuns, we do not exist to perpetuate ourselves or to set ourselves up for emulation; rather we exist to serve God, the people of God, and all of creation. Our congregations are gifts of the Holy Spirit for the good of the Church and world. We trust that God knows best and by the power of the Holy Spirit enable us to do the work of God. If that means a handful of nuns, great. If it means truckloads, that’s great too. Vitality and growth have so much more to do with being true to this original call and gift of the Holy Spirit.

It is not often that I feel compelled to respond to someone’s comment in an actual post. But a recent comment touches on nun issues that I hear from folks from time to time. I am grateful for those who articulate how they feel about nuns even when it takes the form of respectful criticism. Your feedback is important and helps us nuns to reflect seriously on our ministry and life and on how people perceive us.

Here’s the comment:

I read an article about you way back in March.

Quite surprised to hear a nun say she visits a bar. I wonder if Jesus approves of nuns visiting bars?

I don’t mean to sound too harsh or negative but nuns are too worldly today, living by them selves, wear no habits. A nun is much more respected when everyone knows who she is by her wearing a habit. Too bad that this had been lost, and of course, since many wear no habits, they no longer get any vocations.

God Bless you, ER

Thank you for writing and articulating how you view nuns. I have a number of responses floating through my mind but in the end have more questions than answers. I really want to understand where you are coming from with your observations.

1. I guess one of the first questions I have is what exactly is your understanding of what a nun is? What do you base this understanding on — current or past experiences in church or school, the media, other experiences?

2. Are you familiar with the many different charisms of religious life? Did you know that some communities of nuns were founded to be more contemplative and to dedicate their lives to prayer and sacrifice on behalf of the world? and that other communities were founded to be more active in the world, and to minister to people where they are? and that some are a mix of the two?

3. Why do you wonder if Jesus would approve of nuns visiting bars? Is there something about Jesus that you think would abhor visiting a bar? Is it the drinking of alcohol? or the image of bars as “unseemly” places? When you look at the life of Jesus, how does he show that he would disapprove?

4. The habit issue raises many questions for many people and is probably THE biggest source of critique of nuns (many reasons for this, not least is the very compelling visible symbol that the habit is for many). First, for the sake of clarification, all sisters and nuns wear a habit. However, the wearing of the habit is often assumed, albeit erroneously, to be equivalent to the wearing of a veil and a long, robe-like dress which may or may not include the wearing of a rosary, cross, scapular or other part of the habit. I would like some more insight into this because the Church has approved every single Roman Catholic community of sisters and nuns, including their dress code. Why do you think nuns are more respected when they wear a recognizable habit? Does it matter more than the nun’s living out of her call and mission from God? Do you feel that the habit integral to being a nun?

5. What evidence do you have that “of course, since many wear no habits, they no longer get any vocations”? That is one hefty statement that needs some serious backing up in order to make. The media has been throwing around similar statements and people seem to just assume that it’s true. Where is this information coming from? There are communities that do not wear a recognizable habit that are growing in number, and there are communities that do wear a recognizable habit that are not growing in number. Plus, why are numbers the measure of a religious community? (I’ve addressed this before, should you want to read my observations.)

As nuns, we would do well to reflect on these questions and issues both for our own growth as well as for insight into how we are perceived by those within our Catholic family and the world in general.

As readers of this blog post, please let me know your thoughts on the issues raised here. And to ER herself, again I want to thank you for articulating your thoughts on my blog and giving me pause for reflection. The questions I asked are by no means rhetorical … I do want to better understand where you are coming from and to continue the conversations with you. Sister Julie

A while back I began a “series” called Decoding Formation.

• Decoding Formation: a basic introduction
• Decoding Formation: who me??
• Decoding Formation: Initial Inquiry
• Decoding Formation: Aspirancy/Pre-Candidacy

Here’s the next segment of the series. As mentioned in a basic introduction, each religious community may have its own particular nuances to the formation process, however, the basis for the formation process is discernment and the pattern for formation is similar.

Wow! So now’s the time that a person has been accepted into the religious community’s Postulancy or Candidacy. The Postulant or Candidate is not under vows but she has made a more formal commitment to enter into the mission and life of the congregation. From the various women and communities I have known, it seems as if there are many different approaches to this period of formation so be sure to check out particular communities for what they envision for this time. If you’ve experienced Postulancy/Candidacy and had a different experience, please share with us (especially those who are cloistered … my experiences comes out of being a member of a non-cloistered community).

Beginning Candidacy is a big step in the woman’s life and in the life of the community for it signals a formal commitment to one another, not just a casual relationship with no strings attached. True, a Candidate may choose to leave at any time or be asked to leave, but basically there is a mutual desire to know one another more deeply and to share one’s life.

At the heart of Candidacy is the deepening of one’s life of prayer and integrating this life with the community. The Candidate may live with the community itself or in a house of formation. This house of formation might include others in formation for that community as well as the formation director. Or the house of formation might be a local community which is willing to continue their regular ministries but also place the formation of the Candidate as a priority in their community life. In any case, the Candidate prays with the community, lives with the community, and enters into their life of mission. In some cases she may continue working or studying as she was prior to becoming a Candidate. In other cases, she may leave all that and begin a specific program that the community has in place.

During this time a Candidate will be engaged in studies around religious life, theology, scripture, personal growth, and the charism and history of the congregation. She may do this in a variety of ways: taking a college course, joining other people in formation from a variety of communities to learn about religious life, joining with others in formation in the same community to learn about that particular community. While learning about the community is something all Candidates do, the other studies really depend on where one is in one’s life. For example, if you already have a degree in theology, you might spend this time focused on a particular or related area.

One of the things I found most helpful during this time was the opportunity to get to know our IHM sisters who were retired and living at our Motherhouse. These are women who have lived The Life, some for 75 years and counting! Not only could they talk to me about the history of the congregation as they lived it, but they shared their experiences of walking with God, of prayer, of mission and service. These women had the kind of wisdom and hospitality that made you feel holier just being in their presence. I’m sure that part of my formation and coming to understand myself as a religious came through osmosis, through just being with these women. To this day, our IHM Motherhouse is truly HOME to me and the women there continue to inspire me, challenge me, and call me to be my best self.

And of course, during this period of formation, discernment continues. The Candidate continue to reflect on and pray about what God is calling her to. She pays attention to how she is growing personally, and to whether or not this life “fits” with her. She continually brings her experiences to prayer. She meets regularly with the Sister who is the formation director or Candidacy director. She also meets regularly with a spiritual director (usually someone outside of the community, though in some cases a member of the community). The Candidate is also beginning to integrate her life with that of the community in the sense that her family and friends are getting to know the community as well. On the community’s part, they are also sharing their lives with the Candidate, allowing her to get to know them personally and begin forging relationships.

There’s so much more I could say but as I read back over this, it is somewhat of a jumbled mess. Candidacy is such a fluid time that it’s tough to nail these things down and be more specific or systematic. Perhaps the best thing to do is to direct you to what congregations themselves say about this time period. Here are a few:

Scanton IHMs
Sisters of Saint Francis of Perpetual Adoration
Sisters of Providence
Daughters of Saint Paul
Saint Benedict Monastery

Next installment: Decoding Formation: Novitiate – Overview

Over the last couple weeks there has been a very good conversation continuing on the post Habits Revisited. So I’ve been thinking about how it is that nuns and sisters (or anyone of a ministering-type persuasion) let others know that they are a nun. What are the cues that we give? I’m not talking about the habit or other forms of dress. I’m talking about the more intangible things such as demeanor, behavior, etc.

I often think about what it must have been like to encounter Jesus walking through the dusty streets of Galilee. He certainly didn’t have on glowing white robes (except maybe at his baptism in the Jordan or the Transfiguration) or a sign around his neck saying, “I’m the Messiah.” What was it about Jesus that exuded God’s love, that made people seek his presence and reach out to him? How did people know that Jesus was there to minister to/with them?

Somewhere in Jesus’ lived experience is the key for all of us who minister not just at the pulpit or in our official ministry roles, but in all that we are and do.

April 19, 2007

Dear Media Professionals,

Thank you for your recent interest in the lives of women religious. We who are Sisters and Nuns are grateful for the opportunity to share our lifestyle with others and to share the liberating mission of Jesus with all whom we encounter.

As you know, each of us belongs to a particular religious community. I for one am a member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Monroe, Michigan. Who I am as a Sister has everything to do with my community. It is for this reason that I, along with other women religious, identify myself in writing with my congregational initials, IHM. For many people, not just Catholic Christians, these initials help locate a Sister or Nun in time and space, that we are not just “generic nuns”, but rooted in a particular spiritual tradition, area of the country, type of ministry, and so forth.

My request to you is simple: When writing about or in any way identifying a Sister or a Nun, please indicate the religious community to which she belongs as well as her congregational initials. Also, many sisters do use their last names when identifying themselves, and so it would be appropriate to use a Sister or Nun’s full name when she has openly given it.

Here are some examples:

I thank you for your attention to this matter. Though it may seem to be a small adjustment in the way that you refer to women religious, it has great significance for us and for many of your readers and listeners. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Sister Julie Vieira, IHM

From the recent apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis (February 22, 2007) of Pope Benedict XVI on the Eucharist as the source and summit of the Church’s life and mission …

81. The relationship of the Eucharist to the various ecclesial vocations is seen in a particularly vivid way in “the prophetic witness of consecrated men and women, who find in the celebration of the Eucharist and in eucharistic adoration the strength necessary for the radical following of Christ, obedient, poor and chaste.” (225) Though they provide many services in the area of human formation and care for the poor, education and health care, consecrated men and women know that the principal purpose of their lives is “the contemplation of things divine and constant union with God in prayer.” (226) The essential contribution that the Church expects from consecrated persons is much more in the order of being than of doing.

Footnotes:
(225) Propositio 39. Cf. John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata (25 March 1996), 95: AAS 88 (1996), 470-471.
(226) Code of Canon Law, can. 663 § 1.

Yesterday Elizabeth asked the following in her comment on my About Me page:

I was wondering if you would be interested in describing what your day is like. If you consider this an intrusion, please feel free to ignore it.

It’s no intrusion at all, Elizabeth. I’m pleased to respond. I must first preface my response by saying that not all my days are like this nor do all sisters/nuns’ lives necessarily follow this particular pattern.

Most days like today, I wake up to the quiet hum of my clock radio at 5:00 a.m. I head directly to the coffee machine. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Straight to the coffee machine. Once the coffee is ready I visit with the convent cat whose name is Chloe. Chloe is an 8.5 year old girl. She is very sweet and contemplative. I think of her as a live stuffed animal because when I was a kid (okay a few years ago) I always hoped and prayed that my stuffed animals would come alive. Now I have Chloe!

Then I pray Morning Prayer according to the Liturgy of the Hours. This is one of my most favorite prayers. This prayer also unites me with my sisters because though we do not live under the same roof, it’s like we can come together in prayer wherever we are. I pray for all of my IHM sisters, the other 2 communities of IHMs, and the Oblate Sisters of Providence (all of whom were part of our early days as a congregation). I pray for my family especially my parents and siblings and their families. I pray for all those people who have asked me to keep them in my prayers. I conclude by praying for all those who do not have someone to pray for them.

After prayer I head to the computer with my trusty mug of coffee. I check my email, write on my blog, and do other computer tasks. Then I rev up for the day ahead of me. I pack a lunch, get my work bag and clothes together, and leave the house as soon as I can so that I can make it to the gym for a swim before work.

Then it’s off to Loyola Press. I must say that I truly love going to work. I have fabulous colleagues, a great work environment, and a job that is truly prayer and ministry. I work in the catechetical department of Loyola Press. Among other things, we are responsible for the theological content of our religious education program and materials and for ensuring good catechesis. We work closely with editors, designers, production, customer service, marketing, etc. When I first came to the Press, we were working on Finding God — a new religious education program based on Ignatian Spirituality and written by the folks at Loyola Press. It is a beautiful series that begins with prayer and the understanding that children are already in relationship with God. Not only is the writing and artwork stunning, but catechists keep telling us how much it helps them help the children experience God and learn our Catholic faith. I’m proud to be part of this good work.

Here are some of my colleagues: Joe, Tom, and Jean (a nun!). At the beginning of the year Joe started his own blog about being a catechist. It’s very cool. Check it out at Catechist’s Journey and learn not only about catechesis but also about Joe’s favorite sports teams!

After work I head for home. Unpack, get my mail, visit with Chloe, check in on my IHMs, and do ordinary domestic things. In the evening I read — theological texts, spirituality books, novels, whatever peaks my interest at the moment. I occasionally turn on the TV (as I will this evening to watch “Heroes”, one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time) or listen to National Public Radio (NPR). I conclude my day with the Examen. Click here for more info on the Examen. I learned it from my Jesuit friends when I studied in Toronto. It is a prayerful way to review your day and get a sense of God’s presence in your life. I will occasionally pray Evening Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours. Then it’s off to bed!

I have learned from my sisters what it really means to “pray without ceasing” as Saint Paul calls all of us to do in his first letter to the Thessalonians 5:17. We are to make the whole day a prayer — coffee rituals, caring for God’s creatures, working out at the gym, doing our job and chores around the house, sitting around daydreaming — all of these things can be opportunities to open ourselves to God, to experience his love and to radiate this love to others. This is what I strive to do every day of my life.

Within religious life there is a huge diversity of lifestyles and charisms. There is no single way to be a nun or sister or monk or brother. Such diversity is a good thing for the Church and world for it allows the different gifts of the Spirit to be manifest and used in response to the needs of the world. I am reminded of Saint Paul’s letter to the Corinthians where he talks about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Read on, and as you do, consider how different communities have different gifts.

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.

To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another mighty deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another varieties of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes.

As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

Now the body is not a single part, but many. If a foot should say, “Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. Or if an ear should say, “Because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended. If they were all one part, where would the body be?

1 Corinthians 12:4-19

When looking at religious life and particular religious communities, I believe this is a good framework to use. The Church and world would be poorer if all religious had to look the same, dress the same, minister the same, or pray the same.

A while back I began a “series” called Decoding Formation.

• Decoding Formation: a basic introduction
• Decoding Formation: who me??
• Decoding Formation: Initial Inquiry

Here’s the next segment of the series. As mentioned in a basic introduction, each religious community may have its own particular nuances to the formation process, however, the basis for the formation process is discernment and the pattern for formation is similar.

Once a person has gone through the period of initial inquiry (discerning and learning more about a particular religious community) she may feel ready to take the next step which is formally preparing for applying to enter the community. The period of time when a person prepares to apply to join a community is called aspirancy or pre-candidacy. This period gets its name “aspirancy” because the person “aspires” to pursue her call to religious life through a particular community. The main work of this period of time is to continue the discernment and prayer that has been ongoing both in the life of the aspirant and in the community.

The person interested in joining begins to more formally study and experience the community’s lifestyle and spirituality. She may be invited to attend certain formation events or community events so that she can truly get a feel for the community. It is so important during this time that the person meet sisters, get to know them, and share her journey with them. Developing and tending to relationships are important aspects of community life.

When I lived in Toronto (5 hours away from the IHM Motherhouse in Monroe), I visited Monroe maybe once a month, but everytime I was there, various nuns would look out for me and be sure I had someone to eat with at lunch or sit with at an event. They made sure they introduced me to other sisters and took me around to the infirmary to meet sisters who weren’t up and about. Though I wasn’t living near Monroe, I met women then who have become my very dear friends. They are the people who helped get me through formation and the various joys and sorrows of life. They kept in touch with me and always welcomed me in Monroe. The events that I went to were important, but more important was the opportunity to get to know these women, to tell them my story and listen to their own. Somewhere in their, I/we discovered that we had a common story and that’s how I knew in part that this was to be home for me.

In addition to the ongoing formation and getting to know one another, there is a formal application process. Once there is a sense from both the woman and the community that the process should continue, the woman may ask to apply to formally enter the community. The application process is not for the faint of heart. It involves getting reports from physicians and psychologists that indicate that you are healthy of mind and body to join. It involves filling out forms with all your basic information, education and employment history, family, etc. Usually there is a series of “essay” questions in which you reflect on your call, your spirituality, your history, who you are, and how God has been at work in your life. Then there are interviews — interviews with formation personnel, leadership and/or sisters at large. Again this is an opportunity to learn more about one another. I say this is not for the faint of heart because a lot — I mean A LOT — of soul-searching takes place. The process of applying gives you a fabulous opportunity to take a look at yourself — mind, body, and spirit — and to integrate your whole self with this call from God. It is amazing as it is terrifying, yet it is all good because you are coming to know yourself better and God and the community. It may feel like you are laying everything out there — because you are — but let me tell you: it is worth it. Whether you end up joining the community or not, this is perhaps one of the most valuable times of your life.

During this time of aspirancy/pre-candidacy, the person maintains responsibility for herself. She financially supports herself and carries on all her ordinary responsibilities. Though she is in the act of applying, she is under no obligation to join. She is always free to leave at anytime. She is not under vows, though she most certainly will be trying to live as if she is as she grows more accustomed to the lifestyle. On the community’s part, there is no obligation to accept a person who applies nor is there an obligation to financially support her. This arrangement allows both parties to remain free in discerning the call. In this way neither the community nor the woman is beholden to the other. Both can freely listen to the Spirit and have that be the center of the relationship and decision.

Once the application process is complete and there is a sense of readiness on behalf of the woman and the community, leadership and/or formation sisters review the application, reflect on their experience with woman, and enter into a period of discernment. After this time, the community will convey it’s response to the woman applying. When the woman is accepted, she may enter the period of postulancy or candidacy. See next installment: Decoding Formation: Postulancy/Candidacy.

Donna raised an important topic in religious life — the role of lay associates (or affiliates) in religious life — in her comment on my post The Demise of Religious Life. Here’s what Donna said:

Sister Julie and others:

What role do you think lay affiliates of religious orders will play in the future in religious life? Do you think these folk will be more integrated into a given community’s life(i.e., their ministries, activities, etc.) than they are now?

How do you view the associates of your order?
Is it difficult for older, more traditional sisters to accept associates?

First things first … Lay affiliates or associates are women and men who wish to formally associate themselves with a religious community, their mission and spirituality. Not all congregations have associates, and those that do vary in the formation process and the degree to which associates can be involved in the life of the congregation. For a specific example of a congregation’s associate program check out the the Monroe IHM page on IHM Associates.

Now, specifically regarding Donna’s questions … Lay people (including associates/affiliates) already play a significant role in many of our communities. They may hold significant positions in our institution such as financial manager, building administrator, nurse, development director, etc. While these positions are all responsible ultimately to the leadership of a religious community (which is made up of sisters who are our elected leaders/superiors and council members), they still are in positions which enhance and exert influence on the life of the community. Not every community, for example, has a sister who is trained in development work. So we hire someone who is willing to enter into our vision and work with us in that capacity. So congregations have for a long time now relied on the expertise and gifts of lay people. Associates/affiliates are lay people who formally choose to associate with us. They may already be our coworkers, alumna/us from our schools, relatives, former sisters, or simply innocent bystanders who somehow came in contact with us and are attracted to our mission and life. So, since lay people have for a while been part of religious communities, I believe they will continue to play a role in the future of religious life as well.

Do I think associates/affiliates will be more integrated into a given community’s life than they are now? Depending on a community, associates/affiliates may already be integrated into a community’s life. In any given congregation, there may be a range of ways an associate can be involved — from a prayer partner to heading a community’s office of peace and justice. An associate may come to one or two events yearly, while another associate may be on a committee and attend as many events as she/he is able to.

To take Donna’s question in another direction, one might ask (as many have): since some religious communities are experiencing a decrease in numbers, does that mean that communities will become more fully integrated with vowed and lay members in order for the community to survive? A big question which many communities have discussed. I’m not sure I can really answer this question. I do however think it is important to be clear about the significance of God’s call. Being an associate is part of a lay person’s larger call from God. The lay person may be married, have children, and/or be involved in some profession utilitizing their God-given gifts. The call to lay life is no less significant than the call to religious or ordained life. Choosing to associate oneself with a religious congregation does not mean that one wishes to be a quasi-nun. Quasi-nunness (for lack of a better word) is a disservice to the integrity of both the religious life vocation and the lay life vocation. They are two distinct lifestyles. Is there overlapping? Sure. Do we learn from one another? Absolutely. However religious communities proceed with associates/affiliates, I believe we must be clear about this.

In terms of how I view associates … check the link above to see my community’s web page on IHM Associates. I treasure our IHM Associates and have enjoyed working with IHM Associates on various committees and projects, learning with them, and worshipping with them. Each Associate in her or his own way enriches our community.

Finally, is it difficult for “older, more traditional sisters” to accept associates? I’m not really sure. We really can’t make generalizations about this group because there isn’t really one way that any particular age group or type (?) of nun thinks about a particular issue. In my experience, our sisters have been very welcoming of associates. There is a wisdom in our older members that sees beyond labels and embraces people for who they are and respects their journey. Whether liberal or traditional (I use such labels sparingly and with great caution because I believe they are too much of a generalization and do more harm than good), young or old, new to the community or a veteran, a sister may accept associates joyfully or with hesitation. There is such variance.

Well, there’s my two-cents … well, maybe four- or five-cents. Do comment, friends. I’d like to hear the range of thinking on the role of associates in religious life.

In a recent comment, Marilyn asked what I think of the vow of poverty. She pointed out the different meanings of the word poverty: 1) lacking resources and 2) renouncing the right to individual ownership. The vow of poverty has more to do with the second meaning.

Here’s how I came to internalize in part what this vow means. When I first came to the convent, I noticed that in the sisters’s prayer books, the inscription in the front read — in pencil — “for the use of Sister (name)”. In some books, you could see faintly see names from previous users of the prayer books, sisters “dwelling now in light”. In all of my books, I write “Julie Vieira” in the top right corner signifying it is MY book and I want it back if I lend it to someone. When I asked a sister about why they say “for the use of” she said that no one of us owns a single thing in the congregation — even that prayer book that we’ve used for years and which bears the marks of our praying hands and of our tears. By the simple act of writing “for the use of” a sister recognizes that she truly does not own a thing and that all she has is gift. A sister recognizes that if one of her sisters needed that prayer book, she would give it to her in a heartbeat. One might think that giving away a book is a simple things. Sure it is (well, being a biblioholic myself, I would have a tough time, but I’d do it). But this applies to ALL THINGS. Not one thing in this house is mine. Not the books, not the clothes, the furniture, nothing. The vow of poverty compels me to hold all things in common, to live simply, to not become attached to material things (again, books are very hard for me not to become attached to), to be moderate in all things.

Keep in mind that the vow of poverty is not lived in isolation. It is lived in harmony with the other two evangelical counsels: celibacy and obedience and so cannot really be understood apart from those vows. In addition the vows aren’t professed just for their own sake. They are the context for our relationship with God and one another and for our mission to serve the Church and world.

There are many ways that religious interpret and give meaning to this vow within their own communities. For the religious reading this, please comment on what this vow means to you and your community.