Religious Garb and Habit

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.

The article “Today’s Nun Has A Veil—And A Blog” looks at the phenomenon of young women entering convents today and how they are changing “the sisterhood.” I like the diversity of religious life that this article illustrates. There are so many ways to live religious life.

Yesterday’s post on the question Is the habit the answer to vocations recruitment? drew a lot of discussion and perspectives. I want to pull out of there an interesting sub-conversation about what it means to be counter-cultural.

For the past few years a lot of misinformation has been spread asserting that only “traditional” communities whose sisters wear the habit have been receiving new vocations, while religious communities whose sisters do not wear the habit are “dying out.” Typically this misinformation is accompanied by rather equally untrue and rather uncharitable claims regarding Catholic sisters and nuns who do not wear a habit.