Can a movie inspire a vocation?

Sister Rejane  
This Random Nun Clip is brought to you by A Nun's Life Ministry.

Sister Julie  
We have another question that came in earlier. This question comes from Carla in Virginia. Carla writes, "I have always felt drawn to the religious life, but have experience based only on what has been portrayed on film. Everything from The Trouble with Angels to In This House of Brid. I was raised Presbyterian, and I'm quite anti dogmatic about virtually all forms of religion. I've always wanted my life to be a prayer and gift to God. But no religion seems open to that unless I first give myself to that organization. My question is, how do you do it?"

Sister Maxine  
Thank you very much for the question, Carla. Have you seen the movie The Trouble with Angels?

Sister Julie  
Yes, I have. It is a vibrant movie.

Sister Maxine  
It really is. The House of Brid -- I know there's a book but I have not read it, nor have I seen a movie of that name. She's talking about the nun genre of movies and books. And so it seems that she is attracted -- when she says "the religious life," it would seem that she's attracted to being a sister or nun.

Sister Julie  
Definitely her choice of film suggests that.

Sister Maxine  
And interestingly, I think both are set around the time of the Second Vatican Council.

Sister Julie  
One a little bit more before and one a little bit after.

Sister Maxine  
And just as a note for Carla, whenever you see these things, pay special attention to the time in which a work is set, because it will reflect a certain time in religious life.

Sister Julie  
So the portrayals at those times are particular to those times. They're also portrayals. They are fictional accounts. It is interesting, because you can be attracted to religious life by watching these things, and there are pieces of them that are so compelling. Like, for me, it was the series The Brides of Christ that I found so compelling. And what I loved about it was how community life was expressed. So many times, sisters and nuns are portrayed in their own spiritual search. It's all about them. And while of course, there are protagonists in Brides of Christ, what is so central is the way the community interacts with one another, supports each other, challenges one another. And so for me, even though it was set in a very different time, it spoke to me that universal truth of what I see in sisterhood and community life. Carla's probably catching on to some of those things that she's sensing in these different movies.

Sister Maxine  
Yes, for example, in The Trouble with Angels, it was the relationship of the nuns to the young women in school and how they were really with them in all of their adventures. And really, that sense of being all for these young women, and helping them and realizing that they had some energy and some zip and that they would need that later in life, and they didn't crush that spirit.

Sister Julie  
So one of the questions that Carla has, of course, is how is it you can be attracted to all this goodness? And in each of these cases of the films we're talking about, they are not Catholic Sisters and nuns that exist in the abstract. They are Catholic Sisters and nuns. They belong to a religious tradition that is bigger than the religious community that they have. They are not just simply anonymous, generic sisters and nuns.

Sister Maxine  
That's right. They are attached to a tradition. And I think that kind of gets to the heart of Carla's question: if I want to live that way, give myself to God, I think is how she expresses it -- do I have to join a church first? And she talks about dogma and dogmatic.

Sister Julie  
When she talks about dogmatic, I think we can understand it both ways. You know, in one sense, there is the word dogma and for us as Catholics dogma has a very particular definition. It refers to particular areas of church teaching that have been divinely revealed and that we, as Catholics, are bound to take and to assent to as part of our faith.

Sister Maxine  
For example, the belief that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine. As a Catholic, you don't think Jesus was just fully divine. Or that Jesus was just a really nice guy. Just a guy.

Sister Julie  
And it's important as Catholics. I mean, it's part of who we are as Catholics. Now, dogma is often used, and the word that the Carla used is dogmatic -- so for example, Sister Maxine is very dogmatic that peanut butter ought to be crunchy peanut butter, and it ought to be natural, none of that processed stuff. And there are no two ways about it.

Sister Maxine  
Well, and that's because it is a principle that should be understood as absolutely true and without question, obviously.

Sister Julie  
Obviously. As a proponent of creamy peanut butter... [laughter]

Sister Maxine  
So dogma, one thing. Dogmatic -- you know, a lot of times dogmatic does not have good connotations.

Sister Julie  
Right. I mean, for me to even call you dogmatic -- I felt a little bad doing that, even if it was an example about peanut butter, although I still maintain that it's true. [laughter] But it also has negative connotations that the person or organization that is dogmatic is unyielding.

Sister Maxine  
Has no regard for facts that might contradict that unyielding opinion. Just is not going to even think about changing that opinion.

Sister Julie  
And since, Carla, you've talked a little bit about the fact that you're quite anti dogmatic about virtually all forms of religion, I'm assuming that you mean dogmatic in that other sense, that you're not talking about dogma in particular, but about religious traditions that seem very unyielding.

Sister Maxine  
Based on that, for Carla, maybe belonging in a place, in a tradition, in a church, that is more all-embracing.

Sister Julie  
But that's an interesting thing here. You know, Carla, you're talking about this desire to give yourself to God and to make your life a prayer. And there is no monopoly on that by any religious tradition, any organization, any institution, any one. At the same time, your question and the way you phrase it also shows an attraction to institution, organization, bodies of teaching.

Sister Maxine  
We can give our lives to God, and we do as Christians -- that's just foundational. To be Christian, that's what it is about. How you do that within a specific tradition, that's another thing. We're all not attracted to the same thing.

Sister Julie  
Right. It seems like you have explored different forms of religion. And I think, in most cases, religion -- by virtue of what it stands for -- these different systems of belief around God, that they do necessarily have teachings, they do necessarily put forth the teachings and the facts and the truths that they hold to be unique, that they are seeing a particular way of pursuing God and living into God. And understandably, they see them as unique, as the way.

Sister Maxine  
And to be helped to that relationship with God, not a hindrance. And I would say to Carla, if you're running into thinking, Oh, I have to join a tradition, I have to join a church, a congregation somewhere. And if that is not looking like it's life-giving for you, that's a good thing to pay attention to. It may be that you'll be called someplace else that is life-giving.

Sister Julie  
That is the key. I mean, every religion is about the relationship with God. There is no religion that is not that. Really, religion is about pursuing the relationship with God, and allowing that relationship with God to spill out -- out of our own lives and into the world. And so, at the same time, these other things, as you mentioned, our teachings, our customs, our ways that we look at the world, those are all part and parcel of a religious tradition. At their best, they help us grow in our relationship with God, they reflect the divine to us and to the world. But we fail sometimes.

Sister Maxine  
For as much as we would like to look at those institutions and expect that they are perfect, they are human institutions. Otherwise, we would all be like little gods walking around perfectly. And for Carla, it isn't going to be perfect. There's no church that's perfect. There's no country that's perfect, there's no perfect relationship. And we still find stuff that is extremely life-giving in all of those situations. And so you know, that old saying, throwing the baby out with the bathwater -- you know, you got to be careful not to do that.

Sister Julie  
And if religions and religious organizations are something that you do struggle with, there are a lot of other kinds of associations, because it sounds like you're attracted to doing this pursuing of God in common with others. There are a lot of other ways to do that -- other kinds of associations that you might attach yourself to, or look into becoming, just as a way to have the benefit of the communal pursuit for God and that encouragement and support. It may be just in the midst of that, you do find your way. You may find that there is a religious tradition that is appealing to you, that that helps you cut loose and feel most fully alive.

Sister Maxine  
And as you mentioned, other kinds of associations. In the chat room there's the comment, "You know, there's a lot of women now who dedicate their lives to God as single women within their day to day lives and make vows to do so, and more women are becoming associates of monastic or apostolic orders, instead of necessarily being vowed members. So there's a couple of different kinds of associations.

Sister Julie  
That would be an interesting thing, because to be an associate or an affiliate or an oblate of a religious community, doesn't necessarily mean you are of the same religious tradition. You know, there are certainly some expectations around are you attracted to the core values and the main spirituality and mission of a religious community. But many, many religious communities accept men and women, married, single, different Christian communities. And so that might be an option, you're not held to the same expectations, I suppose, as a member might be, let's say for example, in a Catholic community that you observe all the Catholic doctrine teaching, because they recognize you're not Catholic, or you may not be Catholic. But you have the benefit, at least of being part of that broader spiritual community. And in our chat room, Mark says, "It may be the desire just needs to simmer a bit, that it's just not time for her to join a congregation or a religious community."

Sister Maxine  
Again, on the level of association, we have Pita in the chat room saying she's discerning to be an oblate to the Benedictine monks, which are men there in West Australia. And she said, "And who, by the way, have lovely table manners." [laughter]

Sister Julie  
We had a question earlier about table manners for monks. So that totally fits in perfectly.

Sister Maxine  
We also have mentioned of Holy Wisdom monastery, which is in Madison, Wisconsin, which is an ecumenical community who follow the rule of Benedict. And we can have links to some of this stuff in the show notes for our podcasts. So if you want to check into some of these things, you can click on those links and do so.

Sister Julie  
And you know, Carla's main question in all of this is, how do you do it? And I love it, it's just been sort of sitting with me, you know, how do I do it? I do belong to a religious community; I belong to the Roman Catholic religious tradition. And both of these things lay a claim on me and I have to say, in growing up and also the process of discerning and becoming a sister, you have to ask those questions, because we should bring questions about our faith, our tradition, our church. We should bring those. And even in the midst of my own life, and asking those questions like, Well, what about this? And what does this mean? And I'm not sure I really liked this part. In the midst of all that I still found my home in this tradition. I found that it was, for me, the best way I could express myself and that there was always a horizon for me to go out to. I never felt closed in. Well, Carla, know of our prayers for you. We pray that you'd be open to the crazy awesome adventurous possibilities that God may have in mind for you.

Sister Rejane  
To hear full episodes of A Nun's Life podcasts, visit the podcast page at anunslife.org/podcasts.

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.