Are There Any Religious "Callings" Here?

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I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the Dominicans are not “promoting heresies”. Most especially, let’s be very clear about the “ordinary habit of the order”. No where…that’s right…NO WHERE does it say nuns must wear a veil. The “ordinary habit of the order” can be anything from a white nurse’s uniform to a gauze sari. It MIGHT include a head covering but is not REQUIRED to have one.

Further, the Dominicans are a very well-established and respected order. The Amityville Dominicans are not under scrutiny by any religious authority for ANYTHING. Calling them heretics is a big mistake, and in fact should be considered sinful. They’re very devout religious women doing something that 99.9% of the Catholic women in this country wouldn’t begin to consider. Before you start attaching venomous labels to them, meet them and get to know their level of orthodoxy. It’s obvious you haven’t done that and are judging them on something very trivial.

Lastly, let’s give Kim a load of credit. She’s not a college senior who’s just jumping into this because it seems “cool”. She’s nearly 40 (sorry sweetie), has a very secure and lucrative profession in Manhattan and has taken many years to make this decision. She explored every order on Long Island that would even consider taking a woman in her late 30s into their order and got (name removed by moderator)ut from a good many people…including more than a few very orthodox priests.
Maybe the real problem with American Catholicism is the need to label heretics and ask questions later. Sounds a lot like Torquemada, huh?
 
loyola rambler:
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the Dominicans are not “promoting heresies”.
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I did not say that they were. Here’s what I said, “in addition to any doctrinal heresies that this order may promote.” I’m sorry that I wrote it in such a way that it could be perceived to mean that I knew they were heretical. I was not trying to make such an implication. I was basing it on redkim’s own statement that they are “liberal.” I was not addressing whether they were teaching wrong things, but rather that their actions seem to be going against Catholic teaching in not wearing habits.

Loyola, I was attempting to point out to redkim something that someone showed me. I am new to the Catholic faith and considering a vocation to the sisterhood. When someone introduced me to the organizations of orthodox sisters that I linked above and showed me those statements from Vatican II and Canon Law, I was very grateful. I doubt I would’ve known about these things without this person’s counsel, or at least that I would’ve found out the hard way. I am ever grateful to this friend who shared the truth with me, and I wanted to do the same here.

I could not have had any idea how much research redkim has done or how old she is. I am not attempting to discredit her, but merely give her the opportunity to hear what I myself was so grateful to hear. I too am giving my vocation a lot of thought and prayer.

I meant no offense in my statements. God bless,
Lily628
 
Then I fear you’ve fallen into a trap that too many Catholics have entered. First off, being a “liberal” order does not mean they’re not orthodox. The two terms are completely unrelated. The opposite of liberal is conservative. A conservative order would be the Carmelites who remain apolitical. In fact, liberal and conservative are primarily political terms with social overtones. But they’re not religious terms.

Most orders are orthodox, though obviously not all are. Any order that isn’t orthodox is called heterodox. Those orders would be deviating from what is acceptable in the faith and would be on the fringes. One example is that of the nuns who attempted to become priests a couple of years ago. It’s obviously an illicit act and contrary to the faith.

The Dominicans are hardly heterodox…they’re just socially very liberal and get “down and dirty” in their ministries by working in ghettos and prisons, as well as filling gaps in the parishes as pastors and pastoral administrators. There are a few who push the envelope, but they’re doing it with the knowledge and consent of their bishops.

But back to the issue at hand…your friend gave you only partially good information. The idea of the “habit” being mandatory is a bit of a misnomer. The habit is not the veil, it’s the entire uniform. If a nun is working in a hospital, her order may prescribe a certain habit, whereas if she’s in a prison or a classroom there may be another. The only thing the passages you’ve quoted say is that the order is responsible for deciding what it’s “ordinary habit” will be and making sure that its members adhere to that. The veil is not mandated anywhere, nor is horsehair wool (news to some Franciscans, but that’s their own choice). When Mother Theresa made a cotton sari into her order’s “ordinary habit”, that was all that was needed. But if the Dominicans or Felicians don’t mandate a veil, they’re perfectly within their rights to do so and are not out of sync with the Vatican’s mandates.
 
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redkim:
But I won’t be any more socially liberal than the majority of them, but definitely will be more doctrinally orthodox than many.
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Then why did she say this?
 
Thanks bud! Yeah, I don’t think any offense was meant by anyone here,but you did point out some stuff that I was going to point out. With the Amityville Dominicans, the older nuns had the choice of keeping the habit or not. Women entering today don’t wear the habit, but that may change, who knows.

I wouldn’t mind going back to a habit, full or modified. There are good reasons for having the habit and there are good reasons for not wearing the habit. Some of the older women like wearing the habit because they feel it makes them more approachable to the public and some of the older women like NOT wearing the habit for the very same reasons. I have found though, that habit or not, doesn’t really indicate orthodoxy or a Christ-centered life. It seems to me the women who don’t wear the habit live their Christ-centered life in a more apostolic fashion, and those that do live it more contemplatively. Which is fine, since the congregation is apostolic/contemplative.
 
lily:

Because there are those who, personally, like to call God Mother/Father, etc. But this by no means reflects the thinking of the congregation.
 
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lily628:
Then why did she say this?
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Probably because she’s doctrinally to the right of Cardinal Ratzinger. That doesn’t mean the other nuns are heterodox, just that they’re not as far to the right.
 
lily, i think you really should read the book i mentioned. it discusses the history of the habit of religious women, and will provide some information to help you understand what redkim and loyola are talking about:

The Habit : A History of the Clothing of Catholic Nuns
by Elizabeth Kuhns. Doubleday. ISBN: 0385505884

in my opinion, it’s better than another popular book about catholic nuns, “Sisters.”

i recommend that you focus on learning about Catholicism for now, since you’re going to be a convert. there’s so much to learn, and i’m still learning about the faith. when you’ve been Catholic for one or two years, then it may be good to begin receiving spiritual direction to discern the religious life, or any other vocation in the Church. you can be a secular religious (even a married one!), or an associate/oblate of an religious order (like the Maryknoll Associates), a consecrated virgin of no professed vows, you can simply remain committed to an apostolic group, like Opus Dei (just for an example), etc. St. Teresa of Avila’s autobiography talks a bit about what makes a good spiritual director and the importance of spiritual direction, for anyone.

for a little more understanding about the non-professed religious or associates tradition of the Church, you can read:

“The Inner Room: A journey into Lay Monasticism” by Mark Plaiss. St. Anthony Messenger Press. ISBN: 0-86716-481-6

“The Cloister Walk” by Kathleen Norris. Riverhead Books. ISBN: 1573225843

as for myself, i’m drawn to the carmelites:

www.ocarm.org

ocd.pcn.net/index_en.htm

www.carmeliteinstitute.org

www.icspublications.org

carmelitedigest.org/

i hope this all helps!
 
 
Greetings Church

While reading this and other threads, the subject of Nuns in habit caught my attention. We are pretty isolated where I live and about the only nuns we see anymore are the Sisters of Mercy at our local hospitals or at the Retreat Center in Sacramento. They wear little suits.

However, I see so many nuns and male religious at the SCRC conference in Anaheim, CA, I think I forget all about them.
The Convention center is crawling with sisters in full, long habits. Every religious community I can think of. Many communities have booths with all sorts of information. My grandaughter was very interested in attending an open house the Carmelites were having a few years ago.
I have no idea why so many of the Charismatic nuns are in full habit. They are so obvious and may I say so popular. Their booths get a lot of attention and I do notice a lot of young sisters.

I guess there must be a lot of nuns in habits that blend in with everyone else as well.

Funny how you see this every year and just take it for granted.
 
There’s no doubt that those orders with a formal habit and good sense of tradition are doing much better than those who have politicized themselves. Having worked with Franciscans, Dominicans, Resurrectionists and Daughters of Charity for many years, it is a very strong statement when a nun walks in dressed nicely and with a head covering of any sort. The more professional the nun appears, the more respect she receives. On the otherhand, the Sisters of St. Agnes with whom I’ve worked wear nothing but blue jeans, sweatshirts and sneakers. They don’t use the title “Sister” and they live in apartments in groups of 4-6. It’s a little sad because they don’t bear witness to their faith and they’re really nothing more than consecrated virgins working in a professional world IMHO. But they’re happy and that’s the way they want to run their order.
 
Good Morning

One thing that I found confusing was one of the Benedictine teaching Sisters who was teaching in a Public School. With the need in Catholic Schools, wouldn’t you think that would be where a Catholic Sister would be teaching?

I understand it is because the Public School system paid better.

Good Grief!
 
ahh, the carmelites!
I belong to a carmelite parish.
Wonderful religious order to belong to.

Discerning is a terribly difficult thing for me.
however, i suspect that there is too much other clutter in my life right now which is why i am having such a hard time discerning God’s will.
And it has been very hard trying to get rid of that clutter.

At least for now, I am happy being an RCIA team member and know this is where God has put me at least for right now.
I’ve only been back in the Church for almost 2 years so
I need some years of service in the Church under my belt before I would be ready to decide to try to enter into the deaconate.

Anyways, I’m only 34 so i at least have 1 year to go before i could be accepted into the formation program, and since we are just starting our family, i don’t see the deaconate for a few years yet.
 
While in my teens, I spent some time living with Benedictines and, during college, I worked with the Little Sisters of the Poor. I’ve prayed for help in discerning if I also have a calling to a religious vocation; if only it were as strong as my “calling” to medicine.

I’ve been looking for a religious order that would allow me to continue practicing medicine, such as: medicalmissionsisters.org
 
I voted “discerning” before realising that I mean discerning between the religious life and married life, not discerning a call to the religious life primarily :o

I’ve long had an interest in the religious life but it comes and goes. I’m still open to it if that’s where God wants me but sometimes I think He’s made me consider it so that I can encourage others to consider it – particularly my children if I’m called to the married state – rather than for myself and to serve as a reminder that vocation is first and foremost to holiness.
 
Yes I am discerning, one of the reasons I came to these boards. I wanted to know more about the faith. Yet the more I think I know, the more I seem to be far away from the answer. I walk two steps then back three but nevertheless…

I have been thinking about the Franciscans. I sense a call of poverty on me but I will know in time.
 
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