Semi-cloistered?

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justagirl

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Hi,

I’ve seen references to orders that are semi-cloistered, but I haven’t been able to find any online. What exactly does “semi-cloistered” mean? Do you know of any orders that fit this description?

I was also wondering about orders that are “active-contemplative.” Is this just an order that’s in between active and contemplative? Is it similar to semi-cloistered? Do you know any good orders that are in this category?

Thank you!! 🙂

(If anyone remembers my last thread, asking about talking to a priest about a possible religious vocation, I haven’t done it yet. My priest has been away. I’m planning on doing it sometime soon!)
 
The one order that jumps to mind is the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde, MO.

benedictinesisters.org/

This is what it says on their website about “semi-cloistered.”
What does semi-cloistered mean?
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It means that although we observe a certain amount of enclosure for the sake of our contemplative life, we’re not strictly cloistered. While we work within the monastery, we may leave for education, workshops, recreational outings, shopping and needed appointments. Each sister is also allowed an annual two-week home visit/vacation.
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In a regular cloister, you would not be allowed to go home. They would leave for doctor’s visits and stuff, but other than that, you are restricted to the cloister. Semi-cloistered is different from active/contemplative, in that they don’t have any outside apostolates. They don’t work with the public.

Active/contemplative is where I am called. If you have read my posts, my order of interest is the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus. They have several provinces here and one in Canada.

carmelitedcjnorth.org/ (this is the province I applied to)
carmelitedcj.org (my friend is a candidate here)

There are so many good active/contemplative orders around for women! It all depends on what ministry you are looking for and what charism (Carmelite, Benedictine, Dominican, etc.) you are called to. Here is a good website to look at different orders:

religiouslife.com/VocationHome.html

I hope this helps you! 🙂 God bless!
 
Thank you! I don’t think I’m called to the Benedictine way of life, but that description was very helpful. I will look into the Carmelites, as well. Thank you for the links! 🙂
 
justagirl said:
Thank you! I don’t think I’m called to the Benedictine way of life, but that description was very helpful. I will look into the Carmelites, as well. Thank you for the links! 🙂
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No problem! I’m not interested in the Benedictines, but in truth, I found the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration very beautiful! 🙂

The Carmelites are my favorite order and spirituality out of all the orders. 🙂
 
When I spoke to one of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy at World Youth Day last year, she described her Order as active-contemplative. I think they spend much of their time in cloister, but go out sometimes to speak at schools, parishes, and institutions.

It’s the Order that Saint Faustina belonged to, and the English-speaking motherhouse is in Boston. Their objective is the salvation of all sinners through prayer, and by preaching the Divine Mercy of Jesus. (I don’t know what Rule they follow.) They’ve also kept the traditional habit, which is very beautiful.

Here’s their web-page: sisterfaustina.org/
 
To be sure that you guys understand the difference, “semi-cloistered” is not the same as “active/contemplative.” “Semi-cloistered” orders only do work within the convent, but they may attend school, outings, doctor’s appointments, and go home. “Active/contemplative” orders have ministries outside the convent. They do not stay in the convent for work. 👍
 
Spiritu said:
When I spoke to one of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy at World Youth Day last year, she described her Order as active-contemplative. I think they spend much of their time in cloister, but go out sometimes to speak at schools, parishes, and institutions.

It’s the Order that Saint Faustina belonged to, and the English-speaking motherhouse is in Boston. Their objective is the salvation of all sinners through prayer, and by preaching the Divine Mercy of Jesus. (I don’t know what Rule they follow.) They’ve also kept the traditional habit, which is very beautiful.

Here’s their web-page: sisterfaustina.org/
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The Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy is the exception to the rule. They are semi-cloistered AND active/contemplative. 🙂
 
Thanks! I’m looking at the website for the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy right now.

I know some orders run retreats, often for priests, and do spiritual direction. Do you know if this would be considered a ministry inside or outside of the convent?
 
justagirl said:
Thanks! I’m looking at the website for the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy right now.

I know some orders run retreats, often for priests, and do spiritual direction. Do you know if this would be considered a ministry inside or outside of the convent?
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The Sister Servants of the Eternal Word in Birmingham, Alabama run retreats within their order. They have a special retreat house on the convent grounds. I think their ministry would be considered both inside and outside the convent because they are not cloistered.

sisterservants.org/

But then you have the Visitation Nuns in Mobile, AL who run the Desert Experience retreat inside the cloister. So that would most definitely be inside the convent. 🙂

visitationmonasterymobile.org/

I think it all depends on where they do their ministry and what kind of order they are. 😃
 
CarmeliteGirl25 said:
To be sure that you guys understand the difference, “semi-cloistered” is not the same as “active/contemplative.” “Semi-cloistered” orders only do work within the convent, but they may attend school, outings, doctor’s appointments, and go home. “Active/contemplative” orders have ministries outside the convent. They do not stay in the convent for work. 👍
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oh i’m wrong! thanks for the correction. Intercessors aren’t semi-cloistered.😛

Do you know the Children of Mary? www.childrenofmary.net Are they semi-cloistered?
 
ThomasEugene said:
oh i’m wrong! thanks for the correction. Intercessors aren’t semi-cloistered.😛

Do you know the Children of Mary? www.childrenofmary.net Are they semi-cloistered?
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No problem, Thomas. It’s not a big deal.

In answer to your question, I do not know the Children of Mary personally, but I looked at their website and it says it’s semi-contemplative, but I see no outside work being done. They do retreats, but they don’t say that they are a cloistered order. I think it’s strictly semi-contemplative. 🙂
 
I was in a “semi-cloistered” Benedictine community. We pretty much stayed put except for doctor’s appointments or necessary shopping. There were no “recreational outings” and no visits home, unless a parent or sibling had died. We kept to a strict monastic schedule of praying the Divine Office and work in silence. We had guest areas for retreatants, and we also had our own enclosure in which the guests were not allowed.

Unlike a fully cloistered nun, we had some contact with the retreatants. We served them meals and would speak with them briefly and charitably if they spoke to us. The sister in charge of guests had more contact with them, of course.

This is the website of the community to which I belonged: www.walburga.org

The best example I personally know of active contemplatives are the Carmelite sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles. I visited them on a few occasions back in the 1980s and they have grown since! Theirs is a very strict following of the rule, coupled with work in schools and hospitals. It was a beautiful life they lived then, and I’m sure it still is 🙂

carmel-msh.org

God bless you in your search for God’s plan for your life.

Gertie
 
justagirl said:
Hi,

I’ve seen references to orders that are semi-cloistered, but I haven’t been able to find any online. What exactly does “semi-cloistered” mean?

I was also wondering about orders that are “active-contemplative.” Is this just an order that’s in between active and contemplative? Is it similar to semi-cloistered?
Click to expand...
You can basically make a summary of religious communities this way:
Religious Communities belong to the Apostolic (those with external ministries in education, nursing, prolife, daycare, etc) and the contemplative (prayer life as their main corporate ministry). The Apostolic Orders can be divided into the Active-Contemplative or Contemplative Active. These 2 categories are really meant to highlight the communities emphasis of lifestyle. What I mean is that some communities will have a more active and busy apostolate than a contemplative-active group which will have more emphasis on may be choral office, periods of silence and solitude, while engage in ministry.

The Contemplative Communities can be divided into the cloistered and semi-cloistered.
The cloistered communities do not engage in external ministries and do not go out of the monasteries except for doctors visits, deaths of parents. Most of the strictly cloistered have Papal enclosures which means specific reasons for going out are specified by the Holy See and permission from the Holy Father is required for any other reason. The Semi-cloistered also live in monasteries and follow an enclosure but may hold an external ministry to support themselves. They always go back to the monastery.

I am not aware of semi-cloistered communities. I am mostly familiar with the Carmelite cloistered communities and apostolic communities.
 
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