Backing the Habit: Life as a Nun Today

October 2011

"I would have loved marriage in a way, but I didn't meet Mr Right," declares Sister Teresa. "I was so disatissfied with life before. And being a contemplative is no cop-out. You become more yourself, not less."

"I've had a ball as a religious and don't have a single regret," confirms Sister Gemma, "And it remains a viable option for women. There is so much opportunity here."

I ask the sisters if they are optimistic about the future of convent life, despite the statistics. The impetus is not on making convent life more accessible, but in keeping it distinctive. "People enter religious orders because they are looking for a different way of living. And we no longer have a really unusual lifestyle. I passionately believe there's a future for religious life but it will not look as it does now," says Sister Gemma.

Sister Anastasia is quietly confident. "I have worked with young people all my life, and I know that there are more and more of them looking for God. I believe the religious life will flourish because of that. God is still calling. It is just getting harder to hear Him."

The first duty of a nun will always be to her faith; but in a climate wary of religiosity, focusing on the social care nuns provide may bring them back into secular view. For centuries, the cultural contribution and the unique role nuns have played in women's intellectual lives have been overlooked; when it comes to welfare, we surely cannot afford to do the same. Nuns are a force for good; you don't need to believe in God to believe in that.

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Sam Macomb

October 14th, 2011
6:10 PM

Sam Macomb I converted to Catholicism in 2009. I was raised Episcopalian but attended two Catholic high schools. It took me awhile, but I realized there was something missing at mass and about the parish (which has a robust K-12 program). Nuns. After a awhile I did notice a group of four nuns, black, possibly from the Caribbean. They drove about in small Japanese SUV and wore unmistakable blue habits. In high school nuns -- Sisters of St. Joseph and Dominicans -- were still prominent. The late Prof. Ralph McInerny has written -- even in his Fr. Dowling mystery novels -- of what happened in part. But yes, things are changing. In a recent edition of the Wall Street Journal, Bill McGowan wrote of the Sisters of Life who have their origins in challenge from the late John Cardinal O'Connor of New York. There is, as Silvana writes above, "something... in the air." I cannot imagine the Church without them.

Rich

October 14th, 2011
3:10 PM

As a lay person, I am so grateful to these brides of Christ. And the Carmelites, in particular, are the special forces of the Church militant. May God bless all of these religious sisters! I checked out their website, and it does not look like the sisters in Sister Gemma's congregation have habits (she is not pictured with one). She says in this article, "People enter religious orders because they are looking for a different way of living. And we no longer have a really unusual lifestyle." I would suggest that marks of distinction, like the habit, would certainly attract people. The congregations showing growth (CFR Sisters, Sisters of Life) are those who wear habits.

Barbara Sweeney

October 1st, 2011
5:10 PM

Ihave been working for two years as vocations promoter for my congregation, the Society of the Sacred Heart, and it seems to me that what attracts is not what we do but why we do what we do,the vision/charism which inspires our life. We have to love our life and live it with enthusiasm and learn how to communicate it to others I think.

D. Catherine Wybourne

September 30th, 2011
1:09 PM

Thank you. I'm not sure about the decline in vocations (for instance, we have more people interested in joining us than we have room for: from Canada, USA and Britain), but I do agree that nuns tend to be 'forgotten'. People often make assumptions which are wide of the mark, and the chances of meeting nuns nowadays is rather less than hitherto. It isn't accessibility that is the issue as much as finding new ways of sharing and engaging.

Silvana rscj

September 28th, 2011
4:09 PM

A timely article. Like Gemma I would say there certainly has been a resurgence, not only in interest in religious life, but in women actually coming forward and wanting to commit themselves to God in this radical way. Earlier this month three British-born women - aged 27, 34 and 42 - joined my own congregation, the Society of the Sacred Heart. And they're not alone: there are other young women at various stages of discerning with us, plus we know they will have peers in other congregations. Something good and generous is definitely in the air!

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