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U.S. sisters have served with grace and fidelity
Sep. 14, 2009
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When the Vatican announced a visitation of the women’s religious communities, it prompted many happy memories of sisters. These aren’t the stories the visitors will hear. But maybe they should.
My long connection with the sisters began in high school, shortly before the Second Vatican Council. I was the annoying student who posed the pesky questions that stumped Sr. Harriet, our theology teacher. It didn’t take a genius, even in 10th grade, to ask, “If the Mass is our most important prayer, why is it in a language we don’t understand?” She had more trouble with “Why won’t my kindly Baptist relatives go to heaven?” but that may have been my misperception of Catholic teaching. A few years after the council, Sr. Harriet had the grace to phone. “Remember all those questions?” she laughed. “You were right.”
Never once did the Religious of the Sacred Heart tell us that girls should be pretty and dumb. Au contraire. They modeled that women should use their gifts and intelligence. One college professor was the first cloistered nun to earn a doctorate in physics in the United States; another set up our honors program on the same model she’d followed in graduate studies at Oxford University. Department chairs, deans or college presidents? Of course women would fill those roles with skill and dignity.
The sisters adapted with grace and fidelity to enormous changes brought on by the council, moving out of the cloister and into a society many were unfamiliar with. But they knew, deep down, instinctive human courtesy and compassion. When my mother was dying, her colleagues and friends at the college where she taught were sisters. They walked steadily and courageously through that final illness with us, and remained motherly figures to me for years after her death.
Servite Sr. Joyce Rupp, knowing I was trying to write my first book, Hidden Women of the Gospels, asked, “How can you concentrate with four kids at home? Use my apartment when I’m away!” I marveled at her understanding and later at her generosity when she wrote the foreword.
Sisters’ networks promoted books and cheered my first efforts at giving retreats. Wait -- didn’t this work the other way around? Weren’t they supposed to give retreats to laypeople? When a Jesuit director asked Sr. Eleanor to give a mother-daughter retreat, she refused. “What would I know about that? Get a mother-daughter team!” Her honesty opened the door for my daughter and me to direct those amazing experiences for five years.
Change didn’t flummox such secure women: They were supportive and kind as roles reversed. The Australian Ursulines flew me there to give their province retreat for sisters from South Africa, Thailand and throughout Australia. I secretly wondered what a frazzled mother could possibly tell them, but they were consistently warm and appreciative.
Afterwards, the provincial and I spent many hours driving around the country, because they wanted to expose their speakers to rural areas beyond Sydney. A town west of the Blue Mountains was unusually cool one evening, and most houses don’t have central heating. The elderly nun at whose home we were staying sidled up before I began an evening talk. “I’ve turned on your bed for you,” she whispered. I puzzled about that for a while. Turned out she had kindly warmed it up with a “wooly underlay,” which we’d call a heated mattress pad.
Back in the United States, at a local retreat center, several of us arrived the evening before the retreat began. Sr. Rita was somewhat addicted to a harmless television program, and asked a Peruvian staff member why none of the TV sets seemed to work. Seeking to reassure her, he grinned broadly, “Yes, we have no channels!” That lovely non sequitur quickly upstaged any inspiration I’d hoped to give during the retreat.
The Victory Noll sisters were unwitting stars of the show during the retreat at their motherhouse in Huntington, Ind. One 93-year-old told how she’d visited St. Peter’s in Rome on the same day as a mother and her daughter from Kansas. The daughter was wearing shorts and the guards wouldn’t allow her to enter. Her mother was agonizing that they’d come so far and couldn’t see any of the treasures within. “Then I remembered,” Sister brightened. “I was wearing a half-slip. So right there in the Vatican, I dropped my petticoat. The girl wore it over her shorts; the guards were happy and off they went. They’re probably still praying for me.”
As I read the Song of Songs (“Arise, my beloved and come ...”) to the elderly sisters, some dozed. Others were bent over, their heads poking out like turtles. But they displayed photos of their profession days when, slim and erect, they carried candles and wore bridal gowns. They had taken risks, lived in Bolivia, or the adobe buildings of Santa Fe. Now in walkers or wheelchairs, their tasks are folding napkins worn soft with many uses. Unlikely as it may seem, they are the portrait of fidelity.
On a brilliant spring day at Victory Noll, a spry 89-year-old gave a tour of the grounds in her golf cart. She had labeled every tree on the property with a small plaque that identified its species, and each had a name of a sister, every sister in their community, living and dead. Some sisters make regular visits to “their” tree. On Arbor Day, fifth-graders from the local school visited -- and each one left with a sapling to plant at home.
My work in religious education continued my early friendships with the sisters. I remember going to a restaurant for dinner with several sisters after the San Antonio religious education congress. “Watch this,” said one in habit as we entered the crowded bar for a drink while we waited. “I can clear out this place faster than lightning.” Indeed, we were whisked to an empty table in a flash.
One of my best friends, a Sister of St. Joseph, practices a similar technique, since she and I don’t like sharing the hotel hot tub with teenagers. So she’ll ask kindly if my “disease” is still contagious and I’ll respond with a sweet inquiry about the state of her (imagined) oozing sores. Funny how fast the kids leave. Meanwhile, I take quiet delight in this Sister of St. Joseph wearing a swimsuit. When I was growing up, nuns were draped in head-to-toe black habits. I’d secretly wonder if they had feet.
The same friend, hearing on the phone that I have a nasty cold, arrives the same day with a basket of citrus. In the same generous way, she brought her famous homemade spaghetti to my new home on moving day. She works with the marginalized women of Denver -- prostitutes, ex-felons, those who struggle to earn a GED. Symbolic of her work: In her backyard are 37 fruit trees left by the house’s former owner. But where do the birds choose to nest? In a hanging basket on her back porch, where they’ve hatched many eggs. That speaks volumes about the secure nests she’s made for the most frail and vulnerable people.
My spiritual director, a Sister of Charity in her 80s, fills my annual eight-day retreat with practical guidance. No “Consider the lilies of the field” advice from her. She’s brutally frank: “You need a financial planner.”
She intuited how money worries were undermining my spiritual life -- and knew exactly how to improve the situation.
Of course it’s impossible to generalize about any group of unique individuals. Those reporting to the Vatican may have a hard time summarizing all the varied works and personalities of sisters in the United States. Rigid labels will slide right off: liberal/conservative, outgoing/reserved, active/contemplative. The only generalization that holds true paraphrases John Patrick Shanley’s dedication for his play “Doubt.” In tribute to the order who taught him in grade school, he admits that we’ve all made fun of sisters and enjoyed jokes at their expense. But few among us have served with more generosity or compassion. Amen.
Kathy Coffey gives retreats and workshops nationally and internationally. Her latest book is The Art of Faith (Twenty-Third Publications).
Wonderful article. Thanks
Wonderful article. Thanks
Amen is right. The nuns who
Amen is right. The nuns who taught me how to read (Benedictines) also taught me how to laugh and what the measurements of a committed purposeful life looks like. A favorite nun professor (BVM) from my college days taught me how to risk being wrong and never stop thinking. Another, in charge of a room full of babies in a Chicago orphanage, how to love unconditionally. What this world could definitely use more of is a whole bunch of those smart, dedicated, savvy, compassionate worldbeater nuns who made so many spheres of influence smarter, kinder, possible, better.
It is because religious
It is because religious orders of sisters/nuns have done such outstanding pastoral and educational work that there is concern about this charism dying in the church. How many young people today have contact with sisters as the author of this article? Very few! Most schools and hospitals that had numerous sisters on staff are now exclusively lay operated. Children, teenagers and young adults today only know of sisters by reading history books or watching EWTN. They might have a picture of a sister hanging on their school wall. Why the fear of investigation and the smoke screen criticism that this is hatred of nuns/sisters?
At the same time, though, there are some orders of sisters who have abandoned not only the principles of their founder(s) but also the teachings of the Church. Like the Legionaries of Christ, these orders should be investigated and called to task if they have in fact abandoned church teaching, become cult-like in their leadership and lead others astray. We can't be naive about this in any institutions of the church whether clergy, religious or laity!
The writer asks and answers
The writer asks and answers the same question. "Why the fear of investigation and the smoke screen criticism that this is hatred of nuns/sisters?" The answer? Because of people like you, who make the sort of baseless claims you just did.
"At the same time, though, there are some orders of sisters who have abandoned not only the principles of their founder(s) but also the teachings of the Church. Like the Legionaries of Christ, these orders should be investigated and called to task if they have in fact abandoned church teaching, become cult-like in their leadership and lead others astray." With certain members of the Church on a permanent witchhunt, no wonder nuns are worried.
you answer your own question
you answer your own question and prove the point. Only those with something to fear have something to fear. Smoke screens and the like might obfuscate for the moment but won't last. Just ask Fr. Maciel of the Legionaries of Christ and his minions.
Maybe there is another shift.
Maybe there is another shift. Many successful educated men and women in this country can recall the sisters who taught them. They have gone on to leadership in parishes, cities and business. They were educated for just this reason, to provide this leadership. Religious women have moved on to those who are not receiving education, health care and the other benefits of living in our first world country. This Anonymous writer cannot see them because they are living with and for those whose poverty makes them invisible in our society.
Well anonymous let me tell
Well anonymous let me tell you that I am 55 years old and I have only had one contact with a sister directly. That occasion was when we moved and my kids were ready for their first communion where we had lived and were now told they'd have to wait another year. I told sister to give them a test and if they passed could they not make their First Communion now. She agreed, they passed and that is the last real experience I've had directly with sisters. If you really want to go back to when sisters were as commonly around as you seem to imply then I think you have to go back to never. We can't expect the vast numbers you seem to think should be available to sign up for this vocation.
Then why generalize the whole
Then why generalize the whole USA nuns/sisters?
And why many bishops later the Vatican let go and protected priests who they knew were abusing children? Why did the Vatican not catch these criminals and sent the investigator soon enough? No, because the Vatican is prejudice of women. If one congregation is out of line, then investigate it. Or better still why not ask all congregations to have a self evaluation of their spirituality if they are in line with their founder's and church's teachings instead of the Vatican sending these investigators as if the nuns are doing the ungodly things? Like you said the Legionaries of Christ? No, the Vatican is like an insecure husband who checks on his wife's activities when in fact he's the one cheating on her!
Very True Susan! It is the
Very True Susan!
It is the Vatican and company who are unfaithful.
I find it amazing that the
I find it amazing that the Vatican has elected to investigate congregations of apostolic women in the US, when it had to be forced by the secular legal authorities to investigate the Legionaries, whose founder was a pedophile, against whom his victims have been complaining for years, and who also fathered a child. Only when the local attorneys general were suing dioceses in the US did the bishops reluctantly begin their own investigations.
So the Vatican elects to investigate women who have broken no laws, but have to be dragged into investigating men, who can be jailed as felons. o
Fair? Not exactly!
You remind me of some of the
You remind me of some of the pundits on T.V. Your use of "if in fact" is a sham at the least. You have planted the seed for that belief and then sort of backed off but not reallly. The sisters are still doing great jobs in this country and around the world. You, on the other hand, are sowing groundless discord.
A lovely tribute!
A lovely tribute!
I recently read an article in
I recently read an article in the National Catholic Reporter concerning the Vatican’s investigation of the American Sisters and their accomplishments. I am one who has profited greatly from their ministry, so I feel compelled to share my experiences with this investigative committee.
I am currently incarcerated at the Indiana Women’s Prison in Indianapolis, Indiana, where I have served over twenty-five years for murder. Needless to say, I have and was living a violent way of life.
At the prison, we are allowed to have a Minister-of-Record who is, more or less, a spiritual guide and companion who walks with us on our lonely journey and assures us that God’s mercy is ever-present. Priscilla Hutton, a Providence Associate, is that person for me. Before taking on the responsibility of becoming my minister, Priscilla was told that I was one of the worst offenders housed at the facility. But that did not deter Priscilla. She has met with me each week for over five years. Two years ago Priscilla shared with me her connection to the Sisters of Providence located at St. Mary-of-the-Woods in Indiana. Being an Associate of the Sisters, her duty was to carry out their charism in her daily life, which was to honor Divine Providence and carry out the virtues of love, mercy and justice in all she did.
One day I asked Priscilla if I might also become an Associate since I also wanted to live out love, justice and mercy in whatever way I could in my present state. By that time, several Sisters had begun visiting and writing to me. That added to my desire to walk with them as best I could. I knew that I was not at liberty to go to their meetings (because of my incarceration) so the visiting would have to be done on their part. In spite of long waits and considerable inconvenience, four Sisters come to visit me on a regular basis.
In January of this year, I became an Associate of Sisters of Providence and making that commitment would not have been possible without a lot of hard work and prayer. The Congregation treated me like everyone else. For some, that might not be anything unusual, but for someone who was viewed as a “lost cause”, this was indeed a moment of grace and rejoicing. There is a lot of holiness that cannot be described coming from that community of Sisters. Being connected with the Sisters has given me a better way to live. They are teachers and taught me how to sit by my dying mother and forgive her. I was able to see my mother as a gift and not as I had viewed her before. I learned to let God’s love be my peace.
Today I was visited by Priscilla, Sister Rita Clare Geradot and Sister Catherine Livers. It was a visit that can’t be compared to anything else. I write to another member of the Order, Sister Alma Louise Mescher, who always inspires me. These are strong, healthy women that I have become a part of. I pray that the investigators from the Vatican will see that Sisters are bringing light and new life to this dark and very lonely place.
Donna Kaye Stites has been incarcerated since 1986. Donna and Priscilla were present when Donna’s mother died inside Indiana Women’s Prison on May 10, 2008.
Wow...your sharing is as
Wow...your sharing is as powerful and poignant and full of the rich gifts of the Spirit as Kathy Coffey's. Thank you for offering your story..."the Spirit She does blow where She will".
Thank you for this so
Thank you for this so uplifting statement! It made my day.
Your story is one of the most
Your story is one of the most beautiful, grace-filled stories I have ever read. Your holiness humbles me and motivates me to do more for people right here in my city. The Providence Sisters are there doing God's work day by day, week by week with no fanfares, just their love of God in Christ. This is what needs to be investigated? I don't think so.
May God's richest blessings pour out on you and your sisters.
And a 'cloistered nun' would
And a 'cloistered nun' would not have been able to reach out to you as such! Thank God for religious sisters and nuns, habits or not, they have responded to their vocation as I hope we all respond to ours and stop judging others just because they don't wear a habit. Whether we are Religious Sisters or not, we should all be questioning our own daily prayer, our lives and not have greater (or holier) expectations from sisters and nuns.
This is a true srory of
This is a true srory of redemption. God bless the sisters and Priscilla Hutton. Thanks you so much for giving Donna new hope. God is truly at work here.
Thank you so very much! My
Thank you so very much! My comment is a copy of 2 obituaries here in San Antonio:
3 weeks ago, Mother Mary John Buckley, Presentation Sister, born April 14, 1911 in Cork City, Ireland, entered eternal rest on August 30, 2009. Mother Mary John came to San Antonio in 1952 and served in the following parishes - St. Leo's, St. Mary Magdalen's, St. Gregory's, and St. Agnes'. She celebrated seventy-five years of Religious Profession on August 18 last. She will be greatly missed by the Presentation Sisters, her family and friends.
This past Sunday, Sister Angela O'Mahony, Presentation Sister, born October 9, 1926 in Ballyorban, Co. Cork, Ireland, entered eternal rest on September 20, 2009. Sister Angela came to San Antonio in 1953 and served in the following ministries; Our Lady's Kindergarten at Presentation Convent, St. Mary Magdalen's School, St. Gregory's School, St. Thomas More Parish and St. Agnes Parish.
Both of these wonderful women - and the Sisters that have served with them - built are Catholic schools, nurtured and cared for our sick, help found and develop parishes... where would we be without them?
At the Vigil for Mother John, approximately 70 former students came forward at one point, gathered in the altar area around the coffin, and as a group led a decade of the Rosary. As Msgr. McManus stated in his homily at the funeral the next day, let the Vatican interview "them."
I was one of "them." I am not perfect; I have made mistakes in my life. Yet these Sisters have conveyed the love that is Jesus Christ through their witness and their challenges.
Tonight, we celebrate the life of Sr. Angela at her Vigil. There will be past students, parishioners, Sisters of other congregations, and many priests. Tomorrow at her funeral we will remember the life that she led, and how she led us. In remembering Angela, we remember all who came before her and all who continue the journey.
Let the Vatican send their investigators here to San Antonio tonight and tomorrow. And witness what we have known and treasured.
Thank you John for your
Thank you John for your comment. I am a Presentation Sister and I want to thank you for remembering my dear sisters Mary John and Angela. They were wonderful women and have touched so many lives, more than we will ever know. I would like to add that eventhough Sr. Mary John was nearly 100 yrs old she was very alert and walking daily. Yes, as the sisters led the Rosary Sr. Mary John's past pupils stood up. You have to remember her students were in their 50s-late 60s. A fantastic tribute that they had kept up with the sisters for so many years.
Here in California and other states we unite with our sisters and friends in celebrating the life of Sr. Angela who has now gone home to God.
Blessings and peace.
Ms. Coffey: I agree with your
Ms. Coffey:
I agree with your assessment. The religious orders and congregations in this country have done things the world has never seen before. They've succeeded wher bishops and male religious have failed (one needs only to look at the Humility of Mary Sisters in PA). They were amazing.
Sadly...somehow...they have lost their way since the Council. I don't give a damm what they wear and I would never be so bold as to say how they should run their internal community life. And I don't think the Vatican is saying that either. But lets face facts. Something is going on! The only religious that are getting new members are the ones who live and dress like these current communities used to...in the time when they built these school systems and hospitals! I think that says something.
The SND's of Chardon made me in to the successful (so I'm told) educator I am today...they gave me my first teaching job and they taught me the fine art of teaching the whole person. That is why I am sad to see that the very first year they gave up the habit, was the very first time they received no new novices that year...in their entire history. So again. I would never tell them what to do...but when faced with the facts, what else can one surmise?
J. Basil Damukaitis, I feel
J. Basil Damukaitis, I feel sorry that you have missed the continuing good works of sisters in America. Those who wear habits and those who don't. I'm blessed to know many in each collumn. Equal credit is due for those who have shown courage to reach into new missions, where they could not serve in distinctive dress and those who continue to wear habits. Each have good reasons for their choice.
I suppose Ms. Coffey speaks of habited, non habited and cloisterd in her friends.
I'll not go into the reasons I believe some "ultra conservative orders" have an abundance of applicants.
J. Basil Damukaitis repeats a
J. Basil Damukaitis repeats a common misconception. Over the last several decades, the numbers of new religious are down across the board -- not only in the orders that abandoned the habit. Before the 1960's, there were very few opportunities for women who wanted a career, and becoming a sister offered the chance to get an education and enter a number of fields. Since then, however, opportunities for women in the broader world exploded, as they entered law schools, medical schools, and every other part of society. The other factor that has been driving the number of female religious down is probably the same behind the reduction in vocations to the Priesthood. Most men and women would prefer to serve God within a family, rather than as a Celibate.
well put, CathAlum ...and I
well put, CathAlum
...and I might add, that even in the reduction in vocations, there are still more women vocations to religious life - habit or not - than there are to the the priesthood.
Actually, there are so many
Actually, there are so many issues involved in this time period with women, in American society, and in the Church that I don't know how anyone can pick out the habit and create some cause-and-effect statement tied to a decrease in all vocations to religious life. So, in answer to your question "what else can one surmise?", I would say "just about anything." This isn't even enough to work with mentally, let alone scientifically. It just isn't looking broadly or deeply at the issue.
Dear J Basil, The only women
Dear J Basil,
The only women who would enter the religious communities of Vat. II won't do so because they are wise enough to see the sin of sexism when they see it. A mature, thinking woman who seeks equality of women in the Church ( and I am NOT referring to ordination)is too smart to enter a religious community of women that are unjustly treated by ecclesial authority.
To reply to this
To reply to this comment...The lack of vocations is NOT due to the lifestyle of the sisters, nor is it due to their choice of ministry or anything they have done or not done. Society changes. Cultural values change. Look only to the "greed machines" of US corporations, to the "me first" attitude of the current battles with health care reform...We live in a country with a type of capitalism that even Ayn Rand might have a tough time with. Then there is a more conservative undercurrent in society, taught in schools where black and white answers are demanded. So religious orders who give more black and white kind of rule to live by would have the highest numbers of new vocations.
Religious communities have asked members to face the tough questions. To respond to the world with "soft hearts" and "compassionate, tolerant minds." These women run counter to the culture we live in.
It's not their fault, it's ours.
Tina Busch-Nema (ex-nun)
Basil, you are missing the
Basil, you are missing the point. A "habit" does not make the nun. If that is why women went into the convent then they went in on false pretense. In these days of more options than teaching and nursing they are more educated and serving their vocation than ever. Many are more than not to have advanced or professional degrees. There are fewer nuns today because the young girls are not exposed to nuns teaching in Catholic schools which is where most vocations were incubated.
Hi, Kathy! Brilliant as
Hi, Kathy! Brilliant as always and on target!
Leota Roesch
Cute article!! Yay sister!
Cute article!! Yay sister! They even mention you.. ha ha!! : )
Amen!
Amen!
But those kind of nuns are
But those kind of nuns are long gone or they are in retirement. As most people know, their retirement was never properly planned for because no one foresaw the crisis in religious life following the unfortunate council termed Vatican II.
There is an organization called SOAR (Support Our Aging Religious) which is trying to fund retirement for these women & men (brothers) who worked & prayed hard all their lives for peanuts. People who benefitted from education & healthcare from nuns & brothers should support SOAR. From what I can tell it is very well managed in terms of investment, etc. And it is not just retirement per se, it is a question of infirmity of the aging religious which requires financial assistance.
Dear Paulte: How unfortunate
Dear Paulte:
How unfortunate was the council termed Vatican II? What it has to do with the investigation of American nuns by the Vatican? Let us pray that the Holy Spirit be always with the dedicated and self-sacrificing nums in their various ministries in the Church for God's people.
Most of the religious orders
Most of the religious orders now dying out and under investigation are the result of the flawed theology implied in Vatican II by heretical theologians. The hopeful sign is the emergence of conservative orders with distinctive habits which are attracting young women today. These orders need no investigation.
The 'local' boys are the ones
The 'local' boys are the ones that need the SERIOUS investigation. Read the following links about how they have been caught red handed committing MURDER, PORNORGRAPHY, SEXUAL ABUSE, AND MONEY LAUNDERING. ...and they call these sisters 'heretical' because they challenge them to LIVE THE GOSPEL!?
MURDER: http://cathnewsusa.com/article.aspx?aeid=16918
PORNOGRAPHY(Bishop): http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091007/bishop_folo...
SEXUAL ABUSE: http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hr1jydpVors...
MONEY LAUNDERING: http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/02/priest-indicted-for-theft-mon...
Thank you, Kathy. Yes, we
Thank you, Kathy. Yes, we sisters are human beings, women who are risk takers and do appreciate the kind words and spiritual support of women and men who have observed us in action over the years.
I agree. Yes, we are risk
I agree. Yes, we are risk takers. I think many of us should bombard Rome with the good things that happened to us because of the sisters that taught us and helped us along the way. I just celebrated my 50th Jubilee. I have many sisters who have touched my life and made me the person I am today.
I do not like it when some church leaders and Christian Catholics label people. They try and put them into categories. We are not liberal and conservative. We may be progressive in some things. We may be conservative in some things too. I do not believe in either/or. Labeling is not good for human esteem. So, I said my peace. Sr. Mary A. Cross, OSF
God bless you Sister: We
God bless you Sister: We love, respect, and honor you for your kind faith and ministry without which many would not see the loving face of Christ in this life.
I would have not made it
I would have not made it through childhood nor as a young adult if there had not been some decent people to role model honesty, integrity, strength, and unadulterated, natural, feminine beauty. These decent and holy people were Catholic Sisters.
My mother died when I was 13 after being bedridden for 4 years. My father was in the Hospital for an entire year when I was in Highschool. I was home alone and the priests I knew at church were oportunistic cheaters on their vows of celibacy.
I was overwhelmed and lost. However, because there were Sisters who were not in habits I could identify with them. These women were crisp professionals. They were highly educated leaders that modeled what a Godly life meant. I desparately needed to be reassured that something in this life, in this Catholic faith, was not a lie.
Because of the Sisters and no one ... no one else in the Catholic church ... I was saved. I began to believe that Christ could be seen and felt in the healing faith and actions of others. Catholic Sisters are the only reason I still believe.
The work of the LCWR Sisters is the work of Christ. With Christ may they rise and rise and keep on rising from the dead.
Thank you Sisters for all the good you have done.
These are beautiful stories.
These are beautiful stories. Thank you for sharing.
I see no reason why those who
I see no reason why those who have stories like this supporting Religious Sisters do not write to Rome with their accounts.
Interesting choice of photos.
Interesting choice of photos. A nice politically correct
(integrated) photo of nuns in habits.
Ridiculous comment, Ray.
Ridiculous comment, Ray. Those are not people in the picture. It looks like a picture of clay nuns. Or icing nuns on a cake.
The "Blessings" company that made those nun dolls has gone out of business. The habits were perfect, but the dolls' faces were soooo ugly.
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=blessing...
Delightful and oh, so
Delightful and oh, so true!!!!!!!!!!
How wonderful to read this
How wonderful to read this affectionate, articulate expression of gratitude!
I am now in my mid 70s. From
I am now in my mid 70s. From a very early age I wanted to enter the convent. I was certain I wanted to give myself to God but as I finished my teacher training in the mid 1950s I realised that I did not have to become a nun to do this. I became aware that for me this would be a running away from the world more than embracing my Saviour.
I have never regretted this but have never compromised my committment to a life search for an ever closer relationship with my God. For me the relationship with my children has shown me what unconditional love is. I do think that today most women are aware that giving themselves to God does not necessarily involve joining a community of religious. Todays most nuns have moved out of their cloisters and are serving others alongside the lay community and both groups are benefiting from this challenge.
Sure mistakes were made in the enthusiasm for this enormous change. These though are often in the eyes of the beholder. Can one really give complete and utter obedience to another human. That the ordinary lay woman is taking up the challenge of giving themselves to God in the world is something to wonder at and thank God for and we need to look more at how to encourage them and give them every assistance to do what they have come to see as God's will for them in the Church.
WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL,
WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL!!!
Bravo Kathy.... Send this one
Bravo Kathy....
Send this one to the Vatican if they want to know what women's religiious communities have done and are willing to do over a life time.
I say God bless them and keep them well.
Rome, I hope you realize that you are skating on very thin ice.
This essay hit me right where
This essay hit me right where I live. My special angels are disguised as Benedictine Sisters. Those from St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith, AR began the job of forming me into a fearless female full of faith at our two-room Holy Redeemer
Grade School in Clarksville, AR and later at their St. Scholastica Academy in Fort Smith. The ongoing job was taken over at Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, KS when I was ready for college and continues today as I gratefully support their unique and invaluable ministries, cherish their friendship, and bask in their reflection of the feminine face of God.
What a great article! I am a
What a great article! I am a very proud product of twelve years of parochial schooling. These years included four different orders - all wonderful.
When I was a sophomore in high school, I told my homeroom teacher that I was not going to attend a dance that week because I didn't know the current dances - (this was in the early 40's with new jitterbug and swing dances). Several days later, Sister asked me to remain after school. When class ended, she locked the door, rolled up her sleeves and taught me the Suzie Q., the Lambeth Walk and a couple of others!!!! She then told me if I told anyone about this, I would get an F! We learned many years later that she was in her mid-twenties and had been very popular before she entered the convent.
This is just one incident of how human and how much fun these women were - all after spending the entire day teaching us. I know for a fact that I learned more in my first eight years of school than all my children learned in twelve.
Please pray for vocations - especially teaching orders.
Thanks for the report. I
Thanks for the report. I hope the investigation clears up misconceptions about religious orders, and weeds out the problem areas.
Sisters that I have been
Sisters that I have been associated with do wonderful work for the church.
I wonder how one finds a
I wonder how one finds a Christian Financial Advisor? I have little money, but what I do have I would like to invest in a Christian manner that is tune with a liberal Catholic Social Justice Philosophy. When I spoke to my financial advisor along these lines he could only suggest funds that did not invest in tobacco or alcohol. Hardly helpful. I wish NCR would have an article on this topic.
Like so many others, I am
Like so many others, I am grateful for the many wonderful sisters who have been part of my life . . . Caldwell Dominicans through grade school and high school, Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters through college at Immaculata, PA, Felician Sisters who nurtured me through my first years teaching in a Catholic school in Illinois,and in later years Sisters of Providence, Sisters of St. Joseph of LaGrange IL, BVM's , Adrian Dominicans and sisters from the Congregation of Notre Dame, all of whom befriended me and gave me unfailing support as I followed my own path as a laywoman working in Catholic education. I have learned so much from these wonderful women and feel the need to acknowledge the many ways they have touched my life. I am not sure what the "visitators" expect to find, but if they consult those of us who have benefited from the Sisters' dedication to the Lord and His Church, they will leave knowing what a powerful, positive impact religious women continue to have as they minister to the People of God.
I, too, joined the Catholic
I, too, joined the Catholic church at Vatican II time via the Benedictine Sisters and Priests. I remember telling one traditionalist--No matter the frosting if the cake is good you can't destry it. She was having a hard time with quitar music. I sang gregorian chant for Mass as a student and have gone down the years with many changes. One must remember nothing remains the same but change!! I love my faith--the only Catholic in my family--but we each respect the other's beliefs--Morman, Baptist or what ever. I am having a very hard time with what seems to be an effort to swing the pendalem back to the Dark Ages. I love the Latin Mass and see the good in having one lsnguasge, but I do not see the bad in using the vernacular. I do not picture our God or Jesus as being so rigid and I know Jesus rebuked those who were caught up in rules and regulations. There were marvelopus nuns and still are--they shed the habit to be more a part of the real world and that lost them some respect they had from it. But some in habits deserved very little respect, but got it!! Why must we be so closed minded? I continually remind myself that the church is not it's government. The church is the love of God as he shows it thru his people. It makes one want to run away !! Thanks K
Bravo to the person who wrote
Bravo to the person who wrote from Indiana Women’s Prison. Her courage to overcome her difficulties and not give up on life is an inspiration. And bravo to the sisters who helped her, and to the sisters everywhere who are present to and work with those in life's trenches, places the Vatican would rather not recognize.
the first 16 1/2 years of my
the first 16 1/2 years of my education was with Domincan Sisters (12), Daughters of Charity (3 yrs of Nursing School), and 2 1/2 years as I pursued a BSN with the Daughters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.
These wonderful, intellegent, caring and "with it" women made me much of what and who I am today...closer to the Lord, able to function successfully in the world, a mother and grandmother. They are still apart of my mind and heart and I thank God for the many gifts of life and love they gave me.
I have been wondering if the
I have been wondering if the agenda for the current investigation of women religious by the Inquisition includes a comparative analysis of the mental health of religious today when they live in the freedom of the People of God vis-a-vis that which was experienced under the jail model of the past.
Maybe someone, preferably lay
Maybe someone, preferably lay or clergy, should collect these stories of Sisters "being with" and get them to the "visitors". If we have tried to be "sister" to all, and the people we have been present to have helped shape us, all should get into this process.
Dear Anonymous, "It is
Dear Anonymous,
"It is because religious orders of sisters/nuns have done such outstanding pastoral and educational work that there is concern." I beg your pardon, but an investigation is no way to show concern. This is a very costly (money and timewise) and very serious visitation. If the hierarchy were truly concerned about the "loss of this way of life" (it's not a charism--a charism is a particular gift of Spirit given to a particular person/founder), they would promote sisters in their newspapers and vocation offices. When was the last time you saw a sister who was non-habited on one of the first pages of your local diocesan newspaper? And don't tell me you couldn't "recognize" them. Every sister I know wears a very visible symbol and people who live and work with her know she is a religious.
I worked in vocation work for my province of sisters for several years and the local diocesan offices all but ignored any efforts on the part of women religious to coordinate events, collaborate on church ministry days, etc.
This also gets to what J. Basil was talking about. The lack of vocations to women's orders has TONS of strands--one of those the above lack of support of the ever-more-taliban-like clergy in many dioceses. (anything that promotes the notion that women are people too, well, that's a no-no). Another is that many women who have the caliber for religious life would say to me, "Being a sister would be really interesting, but what I'd really like to do is be a priest." Another reason is that there are THOUSANDS of ways women can serve in the church today--and like the amazing author Kathy Coffey, they can do it and have husbands and children, too! Many women with enough smarts can see that there is very little place for women's leadership in the church these days, and they have found other places to express and practice their deep spirituality and their gifts of service--a few within the church, and many more outside the church. Why subject themselves to an increasingly gynophobic structure?
And frankly, as many know, religious orders were never meant to have huge numbers and only run large institutions. All good ideas started small, and I, for one, feel very blessed for the depth of spirituality, community and ministry that we, as sisters in smaller numbers, still share and express. Religious life is alive and well where I live!
Anonymous, how dare you make blanket statements about "abandoning the principles of their founders." If you're going to allege such a thing, why not name real people, real orders and real founders, or are you just picking up right-wing sound bytes from someone else?
Would all the priests, deacons and laypeople kindly step up to the investigation table and lay bare your lives, your ministry, your fidelity to every Catholic teaching (or let's pick some especially juicy ones like homosexuality, contraception, premarital sex)? Something is awry with this investigation, and I challenge every reader who responds with vitriolic spitfire and judgment on sisters out of habits to go visit some of these women and see for yourselves. Enough with the habit talk! Sisters are lay people! Not clergy, and not anywhere close to the clergy structure! Stop trying to fit us back into some nostalgic image of your own that might hold together your own fragile ego. Time to move on.
thank you Kathy for your
thank you Kathy for your wonderful observations!!!!!!!!!! I have your book "Hidden Women of the Bible" and I loved it the first time I saw it. I have used it in numerous small groups with women. Right now I am using it in a spirituality group where I work. The group is small but consists of men and women. I work in a Retirement Home that is made up of priests, women religious and laity. We love your book and the discussions are fantastic! Thank you for being you!!!!!!!
Is there a clearer or kinder
Is there a clearer or kinder author writing today than Kathy Coffey? As always, she has humbly given us just a taste of her lifetime of experience in the field of religious education. Through her worldwide travels she has lived and worked and celebrated with women from dozens of religious communities.
Why does it continue to be fashionable to mock the wonderful and brilliant women who taught generations of us how to think? We owe them more than we will ever repay. Let the Vatican interview us...the boomers who have done well and done good, all because of their careful guidance of our minds and souls during their formative years.
Who of us has been as generous? Not me. I am forever thankful to have had the great misfortune of a Catholic education in the fifties. My sole complaint against all the fantastic women who taught us and loved us is that they stood back and let themselves be mocked in plays and tv and movies, instead of banding all together and giving this ungrateful culture the kind of tongue lashing we deserve.
Thank you, Sisters of Loretto, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, Daughters of Charity, Benedictine Sisters, Dominican Sisters, Franciscan Sisters, and the Handmaids of Jesus. Every single one of you has made me so, so proud to be Catholic.
Some people who have posted
Some people who have posted in this thread expressing a longing for pre Vatican II sisters in habits are trying to capture a moment in history that has passed and will never return again. Vatican II was and is a monumental and transformative event in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. It happened because the Holy Spirit made it happen. It is only the very beginning of the emerging Church that will be the future church. The sisters who served the pre Council Church as well as the post Council Church are remarkable women who shaped our lives and serve the People of God in a much larger capacity than do the popes, cardinals and bishops. This beautiful essay by Kathy Coffey really paints an honest picture, one that will most likely be under valued by the men in Rome who are so out of touch with The People of God and the Church that Christ intended that they might as well close up shop. The silly notion that the Council caused religious communities to stray from their original foundations is not only dishonest and insulting to the many women who have served the Church and continue to serve the Church and society in general, it is but another example of ignorance and the sadly misinformed human beings who long for the Hollywood image of a nun.
It is abundantly clear that
It is abundantly clear that the "visitation" of US women religious is iniquitous, on many levels. The question that it prompts in my mind, is what what will it take to demand a comparable visitation of the Vatican itself?
The one-sided concentration of power is entirely contrary to the Gospels and the practice of the early church, and is in defiance of the more collegial spirit and decisions of Vatican II. Such concentration of power is not only obviously susceptible to abuse, it has been so abused, in a multitude of ways. Not the least of these, is that this concentration of power has been widely identified as a prime causal factor in the appalling stories of clerical sexual abuse around the world.
In theory, the Church must pay attention to the "Sensus Fidelium" . It is high time that we start to insist that the church take the principle seriously - and withdraw it from unbridled Vatican power.
I had sisters as my teachers
I had sisters as my teachers from 2nd grade through college. I can remember wondering if they had feet...or hair. My dad was a parish organist/choir director, led the boys choir in one church while my mother did it in another, so we were a bit closer to nuns than most people. I was often sent home with a note to my dad requesting May Procession practice on such and such day, or sometimes, could my mother take them out for a ride to pick bittersweet sometime? My father taught organ to a Sister of St. Joseph, so sometimes we would go along to wait for him in their convent. Those were the days of dozens of postulants and novices, all somehow exceptionally gifted in such arts as making lamb cakes at Easter and creating banners and posters and holy cards for special occasions.
When Notre Dame was only for men except in the summer school, there used to be so many orders represented that they would put out a small catalogue to explain which habits were which order. The poor nuns came summer after summer for years to complete their degrees while keeping up their regular missions during the school year. My dad as a professor of organ and liturgical music would have picnics at our house, and the nuns his students would often come out, and felt safe enough to actually ride on the swings and play baseball, things they'd have been nervous about doing in normal public.
I did my college degree at the College of St. Teresa in Winona, MN, where some of my teachers had been my dad's students (along with my mother) so when I got there, they took me in as something of a friend besides a student. My violin teacher, who had also taught my mother, had been a concert violinist with a prominent orchestra before entering the Franciscans, but the only time anyone ever heard her display her skills was in the convent midnight Mass on Christmas. The nuns in this college, just before the start of Vatican II, were really great. They are the same nuns who run St. Mary's Hospital at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, where their motherhouse is located. The one who was Dean of Students in my day, and my Shakespeare teacher, had been my mother's Chaucer teacher. She was said to be the first woman to complete her doctorate in English at Yale. The one who was president of the college in my day (my mother's French professor) had her doctorate from the Sorbonne and had white rabbit fur on her cap and gown. She seemed very much above us and more of an authority than a friend, except for Christmas when she'd shyly request that we all sing White Christmas for her. When my daughter was looking at colleges, this gentle person sadly let us know that the school was not what it had been so my daughter should probably look for somewhere else (she got into Notre Dame). I went back to visit the school for reunions, or my mother's reunions, and met many of these nuns longer and longer after Vatican II. The Chaucer/Shakespeare professor died 3 years ago at the age of 103, a bit deaf but still doing translations of French poetry. At one meeting I had a long talk with one nun who was Prefect of Discipline in my day. She had gone off to Berkeley for her doctorate during the Flower Children era, and said she'd been torn about keeping her (modified) habit or changing to plain clothes, and explained that she had kept her habit there, because she felt that more people were likely to turn to her for advice or compassion if she was wearing the habit. However, one of her colleagues had gone elsewhere, and found that she got closer to people if she was not wearing a habit, so she went around in plain clothes. It really depends who and where you are.
Twenty years later I worked in a refugee camp in the Philippines. There were two Maryknoll sisters and a Mercy sister working there. I'm not even conscious of whether they wore habits or plain clothes--I guess plain clothes; certainly the Jesuit who came from Manila on weekends went around in tan slacks and a sport shirt--but I was very conscious of their being nuns, from their serenity in their mission, and their commitment and compassion for the people they were working with. The Maryknollers felt a lot of frustration in their work, and I said to them one day, why don't you just hang loose and do what you can and not feel bad about not being able to do everything that's needed. A couple of days later, I met one of them in the camp, and she said, I guess you're disappointed in us for not being good nuns. Which was not at all what was going on. They were being very good nuns, I was just trying to comfort them for their frustration. The Mercy sister dealt with the most miserable people in the camp, refugees who had undergone horrendous hardship and sometimes torture. She went on there for years after my job ended and I left the camp, and she reached a serious level of burnout that caused her return to her convent in Burlingame, CA, She still worked with refugees on their arrivals in the US. I would stop sometimes to visit her on my way home from my job in Japan, and I was worried about her that she was still very tense, and miserable at not being able to be in the camps where she felt people needed her. Her relatively soft life in the US was embarrassing to her, although she still had the sense of respect for her vow of obedience. Last week some other friends from those days in the camp tracked her down and forwarded to me her excited letter to them. I was relieved to see that she is a lot more relaxed and settled in her job, helping transfer babies who have been adopted from Asia by families in the US.
My daughter, born in 1966, has never had a nun as a teacher, I think. Even in the Catholic grade school where she did 7th and 8th grade, she had lay teachers. The nuns she knew best were the plain clothes ones in the refugee camp. Nuns in habits seem a bit weird to her, but she certainly respects nuns as special people who, whatever they wore, committed themselves to their missions and the people around them, because they were dedicated to following the way of Jesus. We were very glad to have them with us in the camp. Lately my daughter is a doctor in Grand Rapids, and when she looked for a church to attend, she chose a group of Dominican nuns who had taught her and my son-in-law mind-body-spirit courses when they were residents. The nuns have a wonder parish. A retired priest comes to say Mass for them, but the sisters read the readings and even give the homily sometimes. It's a place where I really feel all are welcome. Two lesbian partners brought their new baby there for baptism, and it was a big parish celebration. The sisters love it when my daughter's sometimes noisy children are at Mass, but the don't have enough children around to offer catechism, and my daughter reluctantly switched to a large regular parish nearer her home where there are normal classes for children, knowing that at the Dominican center she would have had to start up children's programs herself, and she just didn't have time. Those sisters are mostly in plain clothes but you can immediately tell which women there are nuns, somehow.
In my mind, the reason there are not so many new recruits these days (does anyone call them postulants anymore?) is that these committed people have developed and matured in their missions while the hierarchy still calls them to be passive and submissive and their vocations "protected" from the real world in which they work. The conditions back home in the convent are in some cases old-fashioned and repressive. These are strong competent women. They can't waste their time and energy dealing with that repression. When the hierarchy reaches the maturity to no longer need to force these women to kowtow and stay obediently at home, and starts dealing with them as colleagues collaborating in the Way of Jesus, there will probably be more young women entering. It's the hard, cold, overbearing character of the official church that would keep me out. Even in my college days, I had friends who left school to join an order, and I thought about doing it myself. Some of them left after short times because they couldn't take the repression. One of them is still a very happy Daughter of Charity I have just gotten back in touch with, as I tried to track down classmates for our 50th reunion at St. Teresa's. She's too busy to come to the reunion but she sounds like her old self, almost frivolously happy to be a nun, secure in the knowledge that she's able to help people as a follower of Jesus. She's been a provincial in more than one region, and when I found her (on-line), she was in Paris at a conference of provincial administrators. Some people manage to follow their calling as nuns, even the "old-fashioned" type. Some provincials have found a good balance between administering a group and encouraging their people to be what they can. I recall the Benedictine abbess in Erie, Pennsylvania who stood up to the Vatican when Rome forbade Sr. Joan Chittister to give an address at a women's ordination conference in Ireland. The Benedictines don't force that kind of obedience.
There must be some people who prefer the cut and dried regimented life of the pre-Vatican nun. There are all kinds of people in the world. It must give some people a sense of security. There must also be groups who have reorganized to meet the challenges of Vatican II, and can lead and inspire rather than force and enforce rules. But that's not so much in the public image of a nun. In the old days the convent was the only place a woman could be a professional and work at a job. That's obviously not true anymore. In the old days formation was humiliating and even abusive, but probably most people, unless they had a nun in the family, didn't realize what an ordeal it was. Now we know more about it and find no reason to submit ourselves to that. I believe that, slowly, the Church grows in the directions the world needs. One could wish that it grew a little more quickly, but I'm confident that if religious orders find ways to provide formation for a life-encompassing commitment to the life Jesus called us to, for this day and age, people will respond. Lay Institutes such as The Grail Movement have a different approach: They train lay people to carry the Christian life into families and the professional world. They have some people who take permanent vows, and others who stay at Grailville or other centers for a fixed period such as a year. I wish more people knew about them. For women who would like to help make this world more Christian, but who feel a call to marriage or professional life rather than to the religious life, should find groups such as the Grail a good place to start. (I wonder if the Grail is being investigated....) Last weekend in my supermarket I was surprised to see two elderly nuns in full habit. I went behind them in line so I could ask who they were: Daughters of Divine Charity. They work in a local parish. They have never given up wearing habits, they told me proudly. However, they are not being visited by the investigators. They don't know why. The workings of Rome are still mysterious to them. Me, too.
I feel like contacting all the nuns in my life to thank them for being good inspiring models and teachers, and reassure them that we know their real worth, they shouldn't feel bad that Rome can't quite see it. It's not the only thing Rome doesn't quite see yet. I believe that I'll see women priests accepted in my lifetime. The institutional church isn't entirely hopeless. The hope endures and the dream lives on.
Sorry, I didn't intend to write such a tome, but this is important.
Thanks so much for the
Thanks so much for the memories...one of mine is Dominican Sister Catherine Florence with full habit flying (especially those beads) jumping rope with us on the playground.
Great article, Kathy! Come
Great article, Kathy!
Come visit us again some time!
I was delighted to see the
I was delighted to see the Religious of the Sacred Heart mentioned early in the essay. These nuns were my nuns, starting in 1940 at Eden Hall, their boarding school in Philadelphia. They also taught in the tiny local parish school where I was a student. I've tried keeping in touch all of these years. My family benefitted greatly from knowing them. They adjusted their lives to become highly accomplished women in the world; they've established premier colleges and universities. I hope Mother Millea uses these women as models for her actions. Let's hope she can emerge from behind her canon law degree and show independence from the vast bureaucracy of Roman clerics and Cardinals. She'll need the prayers of martyrs (our present nuns) to accomplish this.
I had very little contact
I had very little contact with nuns as I grew up, except for my Aunt who was a cloistered Franciscan nun in Germany who I visited a few hours on a few Sunday afternoons during any given year. Another of her nieces would join the same Fransiscan order but lived out an entirely different life as a nun. However, nuns have had a profound impact on me and changed the way I lived out my Catholic faith. Nuns like Sister Joan Chittister and many women theologians like Elizabeth Johnson. If it weren't for them, I doubt that I would still be Catholic. I would have loved to have been exposed during my childhood to the kinds of nuns whose stories were written about in this article.
I wonder if God's secret plan
I wonder if God's secret plan in this Vatican visitation was to remind all of us who were blessed to have these women part of our lives and our formation of their value. From the first day of 1st grade through college, nuns provided my formal education. Beyond that, I've had the very good fortune in my adult life to have nuns for friends, co-workers and mentors. Some of the nuns I knew and loved were prison chaplains, spiritual directors, catechists, chemists, musicians, and artists. One was a missionary who was martyred in Liberia. Living and dead they have been part of the mystical body of Christ that I feel part of every day of my life.
As I read the comments of others who've been similarly touched by nuns throughout their lives I think, what other group of people could bring forth this outpouring of testimonials? I hope these women who have loved, inspired, challenged and befriended us will read and take consolation in the wealth they have given. I am truly a grateful beneficiary.
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