10 minute read
sIsTER JuLIE VIEIRA, I.H.M
Lea este articulo en español en linea.
Lisez cet article en français en ligne.
Read this article in spanish or French online.
. n .D. de n s . m atthes, R istin iste R K s AT THE 2011 intergenerational giving Voice conference, sister Jenn graus, C.s.J. (right) talks with sister Cheryl Rose, H.M.
six compelling excuses for not becoming a nun— debunked
Don’t see yourself becoming a religious sister? Think again.
by sisteR Julie VieiRa, i.h.m.
ME, A nUn? But there’s no one my age . . . but i always wanted to be an engineer . . . but i’m going to feel alone.” But nothing! Today’s sisters are a dynamic breed
sister Julie Vieira, i.h.m. is a member of the sisters, servants of the immaculate heart of mary of monroe, michigan. she ministers online at a nun’s life ministry, anunslife. org, via a blog, podcasts, a community forum, and other internet technologies to help people discover and grow in their calling and life of faith. of educated, creative, community-oriented women who are a breath of fresh air to religious life and to the church and world. Let’s look at some of the common reasons young women give for dismissing the idea of becoming a sister or nun—and why they don’t necessarily hold up.
1. “But most sisters are old.”
Think again! We stand on the shoulders not of “old” sisters but of sisters whose wisdom, faithfulness, and experience are leaven for the new ways that God is
Enter #171 at VocationMatch.com
calling us to live and serve as women religious. While every congregation has elderly sisters—that’s not a big surprise given that the U.s. population is aging—there are in fact many younger sisters in congregations across the country and the world. one of the great gifts religious life has to offer, and to model for the rest of the world, is an intergenerational community that values the energy and new ideas of the young and reverences the perspective and insight of elders.
2. “But I don’t see any younger sisters.”
don’t be discouraged—they really do exist! one reason you don’t see many
young sisters is that we are spread across hundreds of congregations. Thanks to the internet, however, we are able to network with one another and support and encourage one another. A perfect example is giving-voice.org, a network of women religious who entered religious life after the second Vatican Council (1962-1965). They are sisters and nuns in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s from across many congregations and ways of living religious life. They offer conferences, workshops, newsletters, forums, and a variety of ways to stay connected.
Another is that we look, talk, pray, minister, and live in a variety of roles, not necessarily in the classic ways we’ve been known in the past.
Enter #211 at VocationMatch.com
School Sisters of St. Francis of Christ the King
Build the Kingdom of God through lives of:
♦ Gospel Community in Franciscan simplicity ♦ Living Prayer that animates our spirits ♦ Active Compassion expressed in a variety of ministries
For example, we are in mission in many different areas of the church and world, not only in ministries where you might expect to see nuns, such as classroom teaching or parish life. in addition, most of us in apostolic religious life do not wear habits that visually distinguish us from other laywomen. Take another look around. you’ll be surprised by what you find!
3. “But I’ll be forced to give up my peeps and tweets.”
Really? Far from abandoning social media and networking sites, the Catholic Church encourages women
and men religious to promote the gospel by using Facebook, Twitter, and whatever else the digital world can dish up. it may not be the way you are used to interacting with the online community, but, like everything else in life, moving into religious life reorders things. That can be terrifying, yes, but it is also the thing that sets us free to engage wholly in our lives as sisters and nuns.
Today’s sisters rely on blogging, “ tweeting, updating their status, and posting in their circles in order to communicate with others and minister effectively in a digital age.
sisteR KRistin matthes, s.n.D.Den.
sIsTER ALIsOn McCrary, C.s.J. during a session of the 2011 conference of giving Voice (giving-voice.org), an organization for sisters under 50, held at Loyola university of Chicago.
in order to communicate with their sisters, coworkers, and loved ones as well as minister effectively in a digital age. While each religious community has its own policies and practices regarding social media, it’s definitely part of almost every religious community from cloister to monastery to mission.
Enter #267 at VocationMatch.com
contact: Sr. Katherine Baltazar, MMS . info@medicalmissionsisters.com 8400 Pine Road, Philadelphia, PA 19111 . 215-742-6100 Enter #042 at VocationMatch.com
At the Heart of Who We Are Is our Name: Holy Union We strive to bring this union to our world. To learn more about the HOLY UNION SISTERS, contact: husvocations@gmail.com and visit www.holyunionsisters.org
SEE GOD IN Action
Discover the life God is offering you.
www.shcj.org/american
4. “But I’ve been around the block a few times.”
younger women today come to religious life with more years of life experience than in the past. Many have been in serious relationships, had careers, seen the rough edges of life, and more. While some of their concerns are the same as their older sisters in religious life, others are new or have greater urgency. What if i’m not a virgin? What if i have a tattoo? What if i did some things in my life that i’m not proud of? What if i ever questioned my faith?
These questions are not easy,
and each community may respond to these kinds of issues differently. But the upshot is that today’s younger sisters are women who have tangled with the tough questions of life and emerged with a few bumps and bruises. no one is perfect, and human imperfection is no reason to dismiss the idea of religious life. you never know how God will use your experiences to be a source of consolation or healing for another or a new expression of a congregation’s enduring charism.
5. “But my family and friends will totally freak out.”
you’ve got a point there, but the
good news here is that you can make it through those tough conversations (read: bombshells) and deal with the misunderstandings and growing pains.
Friends and family care about you and want the best for you. Their questions and comments, not to mention “casual” introductions to a potential mate, are ways that people sometimes try to make sense of what your calling means in your life and how it will affect the relationship that they are used to having with you.
Remember that just as God is nudging you along in your exploration of religious life, God is also at work in the lives of your family and friends. That may not make things go smoothly, but it’s also not the end of the world—or your vocation. Many family and friends become a lot more comfortable with your decision once they get to know the community you plan on joining and perhaps rethink some of the ideas they may have had about religious life.
6. “But I’ll be left alone to turn off the lights.”
Religious life always has been and will continue to be a gift of the Holy spirit. We operate not on the world’s electrical system but on the Holy spirit’s power grid! so leave that issue to God and—to quote Mary oliver’s poem “The summer day”—focus instead on how you are going to use this one “wild and precious” life you have been given to be a source of life and of hope in the world. =
tHe CYCleS Of RelIgIOUS lIfe
CATHOLICs of a certain age remember the “good old days” of religious life between the 1940s and the early 1960s when monasteries, convents, motherhouses, and other religious houses overflowed with monks, sisters, nuns, priests, and brothers. Parish convents were full of teaching sisters, and rectories had several priests in residence. If you visit many religious communities today, there’s a good chance you’re going to see ones that are smaller and older than they once were (though of course that’s not the case across the board). Why the change, and what does it mean? While the causes are several, one factor has to do with the huge numbers of immigrants who came to the united states, especially in the first decades of the 20th century, and the big jump in population during the Baby Boom after World War II, both of which meant lots more American Catholics who needed education, health care, and social services, and proportionally more vocations to religious life. After this wave of growth crested, however, the average age of community members began to go up because far fewer younger people were there to replace them. In addition, the u.s. population has itself aged. Thus the older faces. Wonderful though they were, the “good old days” were just that: good but past. The drop-off that began in the 1960s was in part a correction rather than only people voting with their feet against a religious vocation. While interest in religious life is gathering momentum again, the current smaller number of members reflects two basic facts: 1. Communities grow and contract over time; some cease to exist while new ones come on the scene; 2. Only a very small percentage of Roman Catholics choose to enter religious life As Holy Cross Brother Paul Bednarczyk, C.s.C., executive director of the national Religious Vocation Conference, has said, “The fact is, there has always been a small number of Catholics who have responded to a religious vocation” (stltoday.com, posted nov. 26, 2011).
RELIgIOus LIFE in the u.s. today reflects the reality of religious life throughout its history. notwithstanding the cycles of expansion and contraction, at the core religious communities consist of a small but effective group of people who choose to live out their faith in a way that preserves and passes on the tradition of religious life and serves and shapes the world today for the better. “Religious life has taken different forms in different times in response to different social, historical, and church situations,” says sr. Mary Charlotte Chandler, R.s.C.J., director of the Center for the study of Religious Life, in the 2007 issue of VIsIOn. “In whatever form, it is lived as a radical gospel response to these situations.”
—Joel Schorn, VISION managing editor
Religious life timeline available online at VocationNetwork.org
