Bucking a Trend, Some Millennials Are Seeking a Nun’s Life

[didymus]

NY Times:

Bucking a Trend, Some Millennials Are Seeking a Nun’s Life

SUMMIT, N.J. — It’s been a rough year for the mechanicals at the Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary. The lawn mower died, along with the chaplain’s car, the compressor for the kitchen refrigerator and one of the “new” washers (that is, a machine bought sometime in the mid ’80s).
But the 19 sisters who live here are sanguine about these and other expenses, which include more than $94,000 a year for health insurance. “Oy,” is how Sister Mary Catharine, the gregarious 46-year-old novice mistress, shrugged off the recent breakdowns.

On a recent summer morning, the sisters stood in their chapel and sang the daytime prayer in high, clear voices. Dominican monasteries are essentially engines of prayer; singing, which the nuns do seven times a day, is a deeper, fuller way of praying, Sister Mary Catharine said, “because we are using our whole person.”
Outside the choir door, a bulletin board was layered with a collage of cards, printed emails and letters, flags of hope and despair, asking the sisters for an intercession.

“We get them from all over the world every week,” said Sister Mary Catharine. “We have regulars. If you don’t hear from someone, you notice and worry.”
A woman fighting depression phoned most mornings and evenings. “We tell her, ‘It’s O.K. We’re praying for you,’ ” Sister Mary Catharine said (now she calls less often). “Sometimes I don’t know what to say. Some sisters are better at this than others.”

On a table, a handful of LG Tracfones were charging, as backup in case a sister on an errand has a breakdown (the monastery owns two 10-year-old Subaru Foresters) or an item needs to be added to her shopping list. Of course, said Sister Mary Catharine, nuns are notorious for not turning the ringer on.
While the number of women entering religious life has been in a steep decline since the mid-1960s, it is notable and even startling that a contemplative order like the Dominican Nuns of Summit — where the sisters live in cloister and practice a life of prayer — would be able to attract young, college-educated millennials.

Long article, quite positive except that the Times stuck it in the Style section.

 

[tweedlealice]

Salutations in the Lord, Jesus.
When the High Schools closed, the entrance of novitiates declined and our Catholic behavior became less holy. Praise God for your ministry and may he multiply your flock.and send angels to repair your machines.Keep your hearts and spirits lifted in love.
“I fall on my knees w my face to the rising sun. Oh Lord, have mercy on me.”

in Christs Love
tweedlealice

 

[Midwest88]

Thank you for bringing to light this wonderful and inspiring article about these women.

 

[Midwest88]

Long article, quite positive except that the Times stuck it in the Style section.

Yes, that was odd. Unless NYT thinks it’s fashionable to wear a nun habit, I also find it strange they’d published within the “Style” section. It seems they didn’t know where to put it. No doubt newspapers like NYT have some strange views on these sort of things.

 

[CuriousMike]

While those who do not believe may think otherwise, there is certainly something a lot more than hope for Religious Orders (whether Brotherhood, Sisterhood or the Priesthood).

There may not necessarily be joining in the quantities of days past, but with all the distractions in the world and worldly pursuits, is it not wise to say that these people joining Religious Orders have strong faith? Here we have people educated by institutions which are almost “liberal factories,” yet people still choose this life.

It would certainly seem the prayers for Nuns, Brothers and Priests are working. My Diocesan Seminary has about 25 young men undergoing formation at present.
3 from our actual Diocese (the Seminary serves the whole state).
Western Australia has 2.589 million persons, of which it is believed about 23.9% are Catholics.