Rise of the Radical Nuns

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I saw this article this morning. The title is a little misleading. These are fantastic orders. The only thing radical about these conservative orders is that they are a radical departure from the world.

I see they also mentioned Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor - www.sistersofmary.org where I now have 2 daughters. (One fully professed, and one postulant).
 
JohnMPhilomena said:
I saw this article this morning. The title is a little misleading. These are fantastic orders. The only thing radical about these conservative orders is that they are a radical departure from the world.

I see they also mentioned Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor - www.sistersofmary.org where I now have 2 daughters. (One fully professed, and one postulant).
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What a blessing for the Church that you have two daughters in the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist!
 
After my parish and Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri, this order is my #1 donation receiver.

The whole order is composed of women who are pretty young. One of the things they do is go out into the slums of the South Bronx, in habit and all, to find and aid young women who are pregnant and without resources. They provide a place to live if needed, medical care, job training, counseling. They also have retreats for teenage girls.

A wonderful order. Here’s their web site:

sistersoflife.org/
 
JohnMPhilomena said:
I saw this article this morning. The title is a little misleading. These are fantastic orders. The only thing radical about these conservative orders is that they are a radical departure from the world.
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As a traddie Catholic, I like the term radical in it. Radical, counter-cultural, all that.

It’s cool to be punk rock, after all.
 
THESE are the GOOD kind of “radical nuns” – though the article calling them “ultra-conservative” is, I think, an intended pejorative. 😦 Per the other kind of radical nuns, I remember it starting rather subtly. It IS amazing that the NUMBER of nuns has so far dropped since the 1966 date the article cited. :sad_yes:

In 1968 or 69, some of the nuns at my Catholic High School began changing their habits – to look more like (as a classmate put it) – airline stewardesses.

Later … some took off.

When I returned (in 2011) to my once “crowded to the rafters” Catholic grade school in Northern Illinois … I learned that the Dominican Sisters no longer inhabited the convent next door. Nor was it a convent any longer. Sad.

Last year the Chicago Archdiocese closed the school.

Those nuns of my childhood were radical in the BEST way. And like THESE nuns. Sacrificing their lives to teach (probably without much pay) the Catholic faith to us with care and love – to go along with a discipline they practiced themselves.

I remember when a siren from a passing ambulance or fire engine was heard in class … the sisters would STOP class and go into immediate prayer for the victims … and we of course joined them. Every once in a while … I remember that today … and pray for the people the sirens are sounding for.

“Offer it up …” was a rejoinder to whiny kids (and a reference to the cross). We could offer up our sufferings (or even petty annoyances) to the Lord on behalf of others at any time.

Some nuns of the present time likewise make me want to do an interior “we’re not worthy” due to their saintly witness.

Others rather strike me as people whose priorities run a bit more to the excitement of politics than the tranquil peace of prayerful meditation and unpretentious service I remember the nuns of my youth exemplifying. It was this latter kind I expected the article to be about.

Thanks for the pleasant surprise. 🙂
 
Go, Sisters! You go, girls!
I actually like that they call themselves “radical.” It seems we’re now more drawn to that kind of talk anyway, so it might just work. We need to be strong. How about stronger together? We can start stealing some of that rhetoric for our own values. Why not?
 
Crown_of_Stars said:
Go, Sisters! You go, girls!
I actually like that they call themselves “radical.” It seems we’re now more drawn to that kind of talk anyway, so it might just work. We need to be strong. How about stronger together? We can start stealing some of that rhetoric for our own values. Why not?
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** ------------- ^------------

I’m with HER!**

:rotfl:
 
CaptFun said:
THESE are the GOOD kind of “radical nuns” – though the article calling them “ultra-conservative” is, I think, an intended pejorative. 😦 Per the other kind of radical nuns, I remember it starting rather subtly. It IS amazing that the NUMBER of nuns has so far dropped since the 1966 date the article cited. :sad_yes:

In 1968 or 69, some of the nuns at my Catholic High School began changing their habits – to look more like (as a classmate put it) – airline stewardesses.

Later … some took off.

When I returned (in 2011) to my once “crowded to the rafters” Catholic grade school in Northern Illinois … I learned that the Dominican Sisters no longer inhabited the convent next door. Nor was it a convent any longer. Sad.

Last year the Chicago Archdiocese closed the school.

Those nuns of my childhood were radical in the BEST way. And like THESE nuns. Sacrificing their lives to teach (probably without much pay) the Catholic faith to us with care and love – to go along with a discipline they practiced themselves.

I remember when a siren from a passing ambulance or fire engine was heard in class … the sisters would STOP class and go into immediate prayer for the victims … and we of course joined them. Every once in a while … I remember that today … and pray for the people the sirens are sounding for.

“Offer it up …” was a rejoinder to whiny kids (and a reference to the cross). We could offer up our sufferings (or even petty annoyances) to the Lord on behalf of others at any time.

Some nuns of the present time likewise make me want to do an interior “we’re not worthy” due to their saintly witness.

Others rather strike me as people whose priorities run a bit more to the excitement of politics than the tranquil peace of prayerful meditation and unpretentious service I remember the nuns of my youth exemplifying. It was this latter kind I expected the article to be about.

Thanks for the pleasant surprise. 🙂
Click to expand...
When the emphasis changed from religion to social work, nuns (and those considering a vocation) said, quite rightly, “Why should I be a nun if I can do exactly the same work without being a nun?” See Kenneth Jones, Index of Leading Catholic Indicators for a statistical look at what happened.
 
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