I think habits and whatever you call it men religious wear remind others and themselves of something outside of their daily worldly lives. It was interesting that I would see Buddhist monks in S. Korea in their monk clothes walking around,but older Catholic ones, anyway, dressed in layman’s clothes. I know why they find that better, but it’s not. I think dressing up in a suit means, for most, it’s serious and professional time. A partly buttoned-down short-sleeve shirt or t-shirt means for most, casual time.
S. Korea has no more Buddhists than Christians and Catholics are not a large majority of the Christian population there. Still, expats are more into Buddhism than Christianity, except, maybe non-Western Christians, like the Filipinos. Maybe there would be more Catholics, if people saw ones that looked unmistakingly Catholic. Maybe that would be true in the West, outside of major Catholic pilgrimage sites, as well. Also, if you need to talk to someone about your problems (or a priest for a confession), how sad would it be to see a priest, brother or sister and not know he/she was one who might be able to help, because he/she looked like the average person? I never see friars walking around major cities and I occasionally see a nun. In contrast, you see more Protestant churches than Catholic ones in most non-Catholic, for a long time, cities, I think St. Francis just had his brothers walk through town saying nothing–just for the point I’m making.
As for the enneagram, in Fr. M. Pacwa’s book about being frustrated with liberal trends in Mass, especially, he said he was into the Enneagram and one or two Eastern religion exercises in his early ministry. He doesn’t do those things now. Anything can be abused, even sacramentals, but Catholic things were at least used correctly in the beginning–in Catholic ways. Why use an enneagram when you can use the 4 temperaments. Fr. Conrad Hock wrote a concise, but info. full, booklet about it and the Bennett (sp?)'s (“The Temperament God Gave You” expanded it greatly, though disagreeing that one could be melancholic/sanguine or vice versa.
4marks.com and, I believe, the two books have a quiz and measurement to see what yours might be.
As for the Adrian Dominicans in lipstick and jewelry, is not a habit professional-lloking enough? Lay businesswomen dress in professional clothes or a uniform for them; A habit is a professional-looking uniform for women religious. You don’t need lipstick and jewelry to avoid looking like a bag lady, anyway. I’ve seen women who look perfectly professional without them. They may look plain, but there’s nothing wrong with that when working. Should nuns be looking possibly attractive to men, anyway? Older men are even looking around, so older nuns should not be looking decorated. It could lead men to sin. .
