Domincan Nuns are vibrant!

  • Thread starter Thread starter debraran
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Good for them, and for you! They are an amazing group and it’s great to see so many young women devoting their lives to Christ!

But just fyi (and I’m really not trying to nit-pick here, but it is an important distinction for Dominicans), Dominicans (and many, but not all, other orders) make a distinction between nuns and sisters. The group you have linked to are Sisters.

The most important difference is that nuns are cloistered contemplatives whereas sisters have an apostolic vocation (e.g. teaching, as you describe), which they live out in community. Also, Dominican nuns are all one undivided branch of the order (although living in different convents) and are subject to the Master of the Order (a friar), but sisters are made up of many hundreds of (semi-)autonomous orders which are all part of the Dominican family but which are not under a vow of obedience to anyone outside their own order.

hth x
 
Yes, I get lazy sometimes with sister/nun and I shouldn’t…my church is Dominican! 🙂

I noticed this group was growing fast and some other orders with younger sisters, but not quite the numbers the Domincan group has, The Sisters of Life for instance. EWTN’s nuns have always done well with vocations but for active orders, Domincans didn’t take the hit quite as hard as hard with priests or sisters.
Recently for what this trivia is worth, Harvard had a graduate (their valedictorian) go to this Dominican group and Yale had a graduate go to Sisters of Life. So…even those very secular and non-religious universites can cultivate a vocation where there is a call and a place to go.

catholic.org/hf/faith/story.php?id=38005

sistersoflife.org/vocation-story-three
 
I just saw the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist presenting a programme on EWTN; so cool!

I was at Oxford University and some of the people there went on to join religious orders, including a Dominican sister. I wouldn’t say a huge number, but then I didn’t hang out with other Catholics very much so my circle of Catholic friends was limited. There’s definately an encouraging number of educated young people discerning a vocation to the priesthood & religious life, especially women imo.
 
A lot of people don’t really know the difference between nuns and sisters. I’m very particular about the difference only because I discerned with both the Sisters of Mary and a group of Dominican Nuns.
I really seriously discerned with the Sisters of Mary. I love them so much!! They are a wonderful group of women. 🙂

JMJDTF+
~Betsy
 
It was the example set by a very young sister in the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose that brought me into the church.

That was in 1954, and Sister Renilda Cade, O.P. remained a Nun for all of her adult life. I was thankfully able to find her almost 45 years later (I didn’t know which specific Dominican community operated that school, and the diocese had no records on it because it closed before the Diocese was formed).

I wrote to her and told her that it was her example of joy in serving that brought me into the church. She was amazed, because that was her first year of teaching, and she had always thought she had been a complete failure as a teacher that year.

I was able to maintain contact with her until she died.

Yes, Dominicans are indeed vibrant. And they are good people too.
 
I was talking to someone that wasn’t Catholic that didn’t know that not only Jesuit’s taught…they didn’t realize even Providence College was Domincan. They aren’t the majority but they do teach.

I am always glad to see young woman that have a true calling, becoming nuns, and if they are in an active order, seeing their pictures or hearing about their vocation story.
I was listening on EWTN that a lot of older orders will just fade away, not all were bad, but just not attracting younger women. We had an older teaching group near us that got down to 4 and they went somewhere else, another order took them in.

I hope in the next 20 years, we see postive changes and start to swing back a bit.
 
The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist are in my Archdiocese…I thought about discerning with them, especially when I was first thinking about being a Sister, my father likes them as well.

They are a newer community, mostly younger, so I definitely appreciate that since I am also younger.
They are teachers, which I love since it builds a strong foundation for our Faith. (SO important esp. nowadays sad to say…lot of people my age who say they are Catholic yet don’t even go to Church, let alone anything else)
They seem to have more structured prayer, which is the style I most appreciate in my own life…seem to good dedication to Scripture, Magisterium, etc.

On the other hand they are TOO large and that for me is a source for some anxiety…I am a more introverted person who feels the loneliest in a big crowd so I don’t know if I would like being in such a big community, every time I go to their site and see so many sisters and “make sure you bring a sleeping bag since there are so many discerners”, I feel not so sure… 😊
 
Aizi said:
The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist are in my Archdiocese…I thought about discerning with them, especially when I was first thinking about being a Sister, my father likes them as well.

They are a newer community, mostly younger, so I definitely appreciate that since I am also younger.
They are teachers, which I love since it builds a strong foundation for our Faith. (SO important esp. nowadays sad to say…lot of people my age who say they are Catholic yet don’t even go to Church, let alone anything else)
They seem to have more structured prayer, which is the style I most appreciate in my own life…seem to good dedication to Scripture, Magisterium, etc.

On the other hand they are TOO large and that for me is a source for some anxiety…I am a more introverted person who feels the loneliest in a big crowd so I don’t know if I would like being in such a big community, every time I go to their site and see so many sisters and “make sure you bring a sleeping bag since there are so many discerners”, I feel not so sure… 😊
Click to expand...
I understand the overwhelming feeling but I would highly encourage you to go for a visit. It’s a little bit insane on retreats but people are super friendly and it’s a lot of fun! Not only that but, at least for me personally, they are very powerful and life changing retreats. I can’t encourage you enough to give it a try. Even if you’re not called to that order it’s a chance to meet some sisters, hang out with a bunch of other awesomely holy women and and spend all night (only if you want you don’t need to) with Jesus in Adoration!! 🙂 I had some really good experiences on retreats with them can you tell? I’ll be praying for you!

JMJDTF+
~Betsy
 
I can’t agree enough with Betsy, Aizi, I really wish a community like that had been on my radar when I was discerning! They may, indeed, turn out to be too large for you and not what would suit you, but you’ll only find out by giving it a try. You lose nothing by giving it a go and you may find your calling!

When I was discerning, I stayed with some Benedictine nuns and we asked one of them what would you do if you were a really lively, extroverted person cloistered up in silence for life. She replied that the most successful contemplatives are people who are really comfortable in themselves and often very outgoing and bubbly. Maybe it works the other way too: you might be a really good active sister because being in the group might encourage you to come out of your shell a bit. It might not, I’m no psychologist 🤷, but definitely give it a go. Something has been pulling you towards that order, see where it leads!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top