I reverted back to the Church and it was between 2 and 3 years of attending Mass when one evening Father said that our nun was transfering.
I was excited as I didn’t even know the parish had a nun. Father asked the nun to stand up during Mass and when she did I suddenly realized this was the lady I’d seen multiple times prior to Mass unlocking doors, arranging music, etc.
I felt cheated. All that time had gone and because of her casual dress, I’d failed to recognize her as a nun and to seek her out for guidance.
Before you feel cheated, you may want to find out who her founder was and what was the founder’s intent. If the founder did not want the sisters to be noticed, then you’re not being cheated. When we ignore the vision of the founder, we throw everyone into the same bucket. “All religious must wear a habit.”
My community is one of those younger communities (the brothers are not so young). We wear a habit, because it was in the mind of St. Francis. We also do a lot of work alongside the Marianist Brothers. I would find it very strange to see one of them in anything but secular clothes. They were never allowed to wear a habit. Their founder wanted them to be anonymous. If someone tells me that they feel cheated because they could not seek out a Marianist Brother for guidance, my reply would be, “That was the idea of the founder, that you not use the brothers for that purpose.”
The same holds true for some communities of women.
There is also a clarification that must be made here. It’s about priests. Many lay people associate the Roman collar with priests. It’s true that it began with secular priests in the Diocese of Rome, hence the name Roman. It’s not true that it was worn by every priest or only by priests.
Secular priests from other dioceses around the world gradually adopted it. Regular priests did not adopt it, if they had a habit. It was the Clerks Regular, beginning with the Jesuits, who were the first male religious to adopt the Roman collar, because they never had a habit. They wore what was worn by secular clergy, cassock and collar.
Gradually, there was a secularization of the orders of men, between the late 1800s up to the 1970s. It is one of the saddest chapters in the history of male religious life. Male religious life became clericalized, parish work became the primary ministry and religious life and the original ministries went out the window. Thank God we’re correcting that today.
What happened was that male religious, priests and brothers, began to wear the Roman Collar instead of the habit. This is the secularization of religious life. Because this was the garb of the secular clergy. It makes all males look the same. You have no idea who is a secular priest, who is a Carmelite Friar or who is a Benedictine Monk. The proper clothing for a male religious in an order is the habit.
Male religious who belong to congregations often do not have a habit. The either wear whatever is worn by the secular clergy or they wear what is worn by secular laymen. Among men habits are more common in the orders, not the congregations. There are some congregations that were founded with habits, but not all. Whereas all orders of men were founded with habits.
Since congregations are a community, priests and brothers all wore cassocks and collars in order to maintain a common way of dress.
Today, what I find that is disconcerting is that the laity wants priests in collars and brothers in robes. This is disconcerting, because it violates the principles of the founders of religious communities. As I said before, only two communities had distinct garb for priests and brothers, because it was practical for their work.
If we want to see people properly dressed, the call should be for each community to return to its roots and for the secular clergy to wear what is appropriate for them. That’s an idea that I can support.
We, the faithful, must always comply with the intentions of the founders. Our faith tells us that the founders were given a vision by the Holy Spirit. When communities fail to follow the vision, the Church suffers.
On a thread such as this, it would be more appropriate to call for everyone to dress according to their founders (if they’re religious) or according to the diocesan norm, if they are secular clergy. That would be a fair request and one that religious and clergy should respond to.
If the founder said “wear a habit,” then do so. If the founder said “no habit,” then don’t wear one. The demand should be a call to fidelity to the founders on the part of religious. I believe this is why so many new communities have broken off from the larger and older communities. Many of the larger communities became too confusing. Everyone was trying to figure out what the world wanted and needed and few people were paying attention to what the founders wanted.
Again, follow the founder. If he/she says “habit” by all means, wear it. If he/she says “no habit” by all means don’t wear one. A good religious is obedient to his or her spiritual father/mother.
If you’re a secular deacon or priest, follow your bishop’s guidelines.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
:byzsoc:
I totally agree.