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Odell
Guest
Does anyone else have a problem with nuns not wearing traditional dress? I saw one on tv in regular dress. To me they should be set apart they should look like a mother angelica!
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rwoehmke
Guest
Even when they all wore habits, they did not all look like Mother Angelica. Every order had its own style. I do agree that it is of comfort to some lay people if they do not wear current fashions, but I personally believe the Church often treated them more like prison inmates or slaves than human beings.
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Scoobyshme
Guest
I think that in general, those orders who have shucked their habits are dying out. Those who have kept their habits, on the contrary, are growing.
Case in point: Nashville Dominicans. They’ve experienced continual, steady growth for some time now. They wear the traditional Dominican habit. More importantly, they are faithful to the rules of their order. They LIVE it.
The nuns in my old home town who taught at the Catholic school shucked their habits, for the most part. I was told that the youngest nun in that order is now in her 50’s.
There was another Catholic school of which I am aware, that my daughter attended until they closed it. It was an all-girls school (Mt. Carmel). They were drowning in debt, and they asked my uncle for advice (he was on the diocesan schoolboard). He met with them and he said they needed more nuns to teach vs. lay people, to whom they had to pay a living wage. Nuns, on the other hand, took the vow of poverty and only needed a mimimum subsistance. They told him they weren’t getting any vocations, but didn’t know why. He pointed out, in charity, that they no longer wore habits and asked what example they were offering to the girls at the school that distinguished them from lay people. He pointed out that wearing the habit highlighted the point that they were IN the world, but not OF the world, and that Christ had called them to give all to Him. They got mad and asked him to leave. A few weeks later, they closed the place. On the news, they showed the school when it was flourishing. They showed pictures of the many more nuns, all of whom were wearing full habits. Then, they showed the pictures of the school as it was closing. There were a handful of nuns in street clothes with a little cross on their lapel. It made a very stark contrast and, as far as I’m concerned, answered the question of why they were closing.
Case in point: Nashville Dominicans. They’ve experienced continual, steady growth for some time now. They wear the traditional Dominican habit. More importantly, they are faithful to the rules of their order. They LIVE it.
The nuns in my old home town who taught at the Catholic school shucked their habits, for the most part. I was told that the youngest nun in that order is now in her 50’s.
There was another Catholic school of which I am aware, that my daughter attended until they closed it. It was an all-girls school (Mt. Carmel). They were drowning in debt, and they asked my uncle for advice (he was on the diocesan schoolboard). He met with them and he said they needed more nuns to teach vs. lay people, to whom they had to pay a living wage. Nuns, on the other hand, took the vow of poverty and only needed a mimimum subsistance. They told him they weren’t getting any vocations, but didn’t know why. He pointed out, in charity, that they no longer wore habits and asked what example they were offering to the girls at the school that distinguished them from lay people. He pointed out that wearing the habit highlighted the point that they were IN the world, but not OF the world, and that Christ had called them to give all to Him. They got mad and asked him to leave. A few weeks later, they closed the place. On the news, they showed the school when it was flourishing. They showed pictures of the many more nuns, all of whom were wearing full habits. Then, they showed the pictures of the school as it was closing. There were a handful of nuns in street clothes with a little cross on their lapel. It made a very stark contrast and, as far as I’m concerned, answered the question of why they were closing.
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Will_B
Guest
My own personal opinion…
Nuns, Monks and the Ordained clergy should wear a habit or clerics as a sign of their office.
Nuns bring a since of reverence to both the laity and the un-churched. I know of a few who have been drawn to the Church because of a nun in full habit.
Monks also have their habits.
And the ordained have their collar.
Short True Story: A bishop from my former church was sitting outside a book store at National Airport. A young man carrying a magazine out of the store saw him, tossed the magazine in the trash then went over to the bishop and said, “Seeing you in your clerics convicted me of my sin. I had just purchased the newest issue of Playboy with the intent of reading it on the plane. When I saw your collar I know this was something I shouldn’t do”
Had the bishop not been dressed in his clerics, the young man would have sinned.
Nuns, Monks and the Ordained clergy should wear a habit or clerics as a sign of their office.
Nuns bring a since of reverence to both the laity and the un-churched. I know of a few who have been drawn to the Church because of a nun in full habit.
Monks also have their habits.
And the ordained have their collar.
Short True Story: A bishop from my former church was sitting outside a book store at National Airport. A young man carrying a magazine out of the store saw him, tossed the magazine in the trash then went over to the bishop and said, “Seeing you in your clerics convicted me of my sin. I had just purchased the newest issue of Playboy with the intent of reading it on the plane. When I saw your collar I know this was something I shouldn’t do”
Had the bishop not been dressed in his clerics, the young man would have sinned.
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Miserys_Fence
Guest
It doesn’t make any difference to me. But then again, I’m pretty fed up with people judging me by my outward appearance, so I tend to be more sensitive in that regard.
If I join an order that tends to be more contemplative, then a good old fashioned habit would be nice. But other orders, who do more physical-type work out in the world, may be more comfortable in more “ordinary” clothing.
Ths Sister who was in charge of my RCIA class does not wear a habit, but she’s one of the most kind, gentle, and compassionate people I know, and talking to her about my calling has been immensely helpful to me. My opinion of her won’t change, regardless of what she wears.
Miz
If I join an order that tends to be more contemplative, then a good old fashioned habit would be nice. But other orders, who do more physical-type work out in the world, may be more comfortable in more “ordinary” clothing.
Ths Sister who was in charge of my RCIA class does not wear a habit, but she’s one of the most kind, gentle, and compassionate people I know, and talking to her about my calling has been immensely helpful to me. My opinion of her won’t change, regardless of what she wears.
Miz
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LilyM
Guest
I’ve seen plenty of habits that are more than practical enough and comfortable enough for any type of work one can do ‘out in the world’. They don’t have to be floor-length, but they should be unmistakeably nun’s habits!It doesn’t make any difference to me. But then again, I’m pretty fed up with people judging me by my outward appearance, so I tend to be more sensitive in that regard.
If I join an order that tends to be more contemplative, then a good old fashioned habit would be nice. But other orders, who do more physical-type work out in the world, may be more comfortable in more “ordinary” clothing.
Ths Sister who was in charge of my RCIA class does not wear a habit, but she’s one of the most kind, gentle, and compassionate people I know, and talking to her about my calling has been immensely helpful to me. My opinion of her won’t change, regardless of what she wears.
Miz
I’m glad your nun was nice and kind and gentle and all - but can I ask you, what made her a nun? In other words, what was there about her that made her distinct from any other nice, kind, gentle, knowledgeble woman? Because she isn’t, and shouldn’t be,*** just ***a nice kind gentle compassionate woman.
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Ocarm
Guest
I’m sure you’d agree that she also shouldn’t be *** just *** someone who wears a habit. So what exactly do you mean?
Just for the record, I’m a religious who wears a habit. But that hasn’t made me nice, kind, gentle, compassionate or anything else. I have to keep working on those (with God’s help, obviously) regardless of what clothing I wear.
The habit just makes me visible. Of course, I think that’s a good thing - that the habit is noticed, rather than me, I should add. But without the inner disposition that I still have to struggle to find, its just cloth cut to a medieval design. The qualities evidenced by this sister are much more important, and a much greater witness. So clothing can be important, but how holy you look really is the easiest part of religious life.
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LilyM
Guest
Very simply, of course, that she should be BOTH a habited woman - a visible reminder to us secular types as well as to herself of her vows and the faith that underlies them - AND strive to be the type of person we’ve been discussing as well
Of course it’s a struggle, as it is for all of us, and God bless you in it.Does wearing a wedding ring make a man a better husband? I don’t know, but for him and those around him to constantly see that reminder of his wedding vows certainly can’t hurt. May even make THEM better husbands or wives as well, for that matter. Same with a habit - it benefits those of us who see it, you know.
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