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child_of_God85

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I’m looking into different religious communities for women, or trying to. I’m only considering communities that require the wearing of a traditional habit. I won’t even give the others a passing glance. My problem is that it seems every oder I come across doesn’t wear a habit, and the ones that do are contemplative.
I haven’t fully made up my mind on becoming a nun, I’ll wait to do that after I’m done with college, but I do want to know whats out there that would interest me. I’m looking for an active order that wears a traditional habit. None of this skirt, blouse, and semi hair covering, but the full thing. I just can’t stand how most communities don’t even look like nuns.
 
Why are you so concerned with what an order looks like? Is that really very fair to you or to them?

I’m sure you’re aware that religious congregations have varying degrees of uniform dress for many reasons usually associated with their spiritual charisms and ministry. Maybe you should pray more about the kinds of spirituality, lifestyle, and works that you are drawn to, and then worry about what they look like.

If you were looking to date men, would you search on image criteria alone, or would you select first from the people you’ve come across with common interests/abilities and good character, and then look for that attractive interpersonal chemistry?

I guess what I’m saying is be careful with your habit attraction. If it leads you to the right place, great! But it’s so easy to romanticize the habit (“the perfect nun”) just like fantasizing about “the perfect man,” and in a similar manner can harm a future relationship because you have expectations and roles that can never materialize.

To name a few, a habit is ultimately not:
  • a wedding gown (the princess bride)
  • a sacrificial penance (the suffering martyr)
  • a suit of armor (the soldier)
  • a sandwich board (the salesman)
  • a badge of honor (the elitist)
At the end of the day, all it is meant to be is a set of simple, unifying, distinctive clothing to make everybody in the congregation “equals” and to witness to a life of Christ’s service. Your habit should reflect, but not define, you or your vocation. The minute you are define yourself by your habit you have fallen into vanity and taken your eyes off Christ.

Yes, a side effect of wearing a habit in public is that it attracts attention. The question is, where do you want that attention focused - on you, or on Him?
 
I think that some of the Domincan teaching orders (Nashville, maybe the one in Michigan, also) wear traditional habits.

Try getting in touch with the Institute on Religious Life:

religiouslife.com/

Many of the orders associated with them tend more traditional. So they might be able to offer some assistance in direction.
 
I think that some of the Domincan teaching orders (Nashville, maybe the one in Michigan, also) wear traditional habits.

Try getting in touch with the Institute on Religious Life:

religiouslife.com/

Many of the orders associated with them tend more traditional. So they might be able to offer some assistance in direction.
 
I think that some of the Domincan teaching orders (Nashville, maybe the one in Michigan, also) wear traditional habits.

Try getting in touch with the Institute on Religious Life:

religiouslife.com/

Many of the orders associated with them tend more traditional. So they might be able to offer some assistance in direction.
 
I think that some of the Domincan teaching orders (Nashville, maybe the one in Michigan, also) wear traditional habits.

Try getting in touch with the Institute on Religious Life:

religiouslife.com/

Many of the orders associated with them tend more traditional. So they might be able to offer some assistance in direction.
 
WOW, I’ve never QUADRUPLE posted before! Please pardon my technical difficulties. (My screen kept showing that the reply page wasn’t going through, so I kept hitting the reply button!)
 
child_of_God85 said:
I’m looking into different religious communities for women, or trying to. I’m only considering communities that require the wearing of a traditional habit. I won’t even give the others a passing glance. .
Click to expand...
it sounds as if your discernment process is operating somewhat backwards. First discern your vocation in life, then discern where, how and in what circumstances that vocation should be lived out, then pursue the education and other preparation for that vocation. Also it is not for you to place limits and requirements on the order to which you are called, but for you to comply with their requirements. The fundamental necessity for a vocation to religious life is humility and obedience, and if you begin with an attitude that places conditions upon your obedience, you will surely fail in living out your vocation.

It might be more helpful to think about why you define “traditional habit” as a requirement for an order you are looking for. What would that discipline mean to you, what qualities of the order and its way of life would that represent, and rather than using “traditional habit” as a definition, look beyond it for the qualities themselves in the orders you examine.
 
ChemicalBean said:
Why are you so concerned with what an order looks like? Is that really very fair to you or to them?

I’m sure you’re aware that religious congregations have varying degrees of uniform dress for many reasons usually associated with their spiritual charisms and ministry. Maybe you should pray more about the kinds of spirituality, lifestyle, and works that you are drawn to, and then worry about what they look like.

If you were looking to date men, would you search on image criteria alone, or would you select first from the people you’ve come across with common interests/abilities and good character, and then look for that attractive interpersonal chemistry?

I guess what I’m saying is be careful with your habit attraction. If it leads you to the right place, great! But it’s so easy to romanticize the habit (“the perfect nun”) just like fantasizing about “the perfect man,” and in a similar manner can harm a future relationship because you have expectations and roles that can never materialize.

To name a few, a habit is ultimately not:
  • a wedding gown (the princess bride)
  • a sacrificial penance (the suffering martyr)
  • a suit of armor (the soldier)
  • a sandwich board (the salesman)
  • a badge of honor (the elitist)
At the end of the day, all it is meant to be is a set of simple, unifying, distinctive clothing to make everybody in the congregation “equals” and to witness to a life of Christ’s service. Your habit should reflect, but not define, you or your vocation. The minute you are define yourself by your habit you have fallen into vanity and taken your eyes off Christ.

Yes, a side effect of wearing a habit in public is that it attracts attention. The question is, where do you want that attention focused - on you, or on Him?
Click to expand...
I’m sorry to disagree with you, but I’ll have to. I look at the wearing of a habit as giving up every vanity in life for Christ. You don’t have to spend time everyday picking out which outfit to wear, like you would with a non habit community. Thats the whole point of being nun, giving up everything for christ. You take a vow of poverty. Of course I know it’s not a wedding gown or any of the others you mentioned.
The nuns that no longer wear a habit have to take money that would other wise go into the community to buy their wardrobe every year. Tha goes against the vow of poverty in my eyes.
With a habit, you don’t have to worry about how you look.
I’ve known that I want to give my whole being to Christ for a long time. I know I will either become a consecrated virgin or a nun. I am leaning more towards a nun. I have one community that I’m very interested in.
Don’t assume that the reason I want to wear a habit is for vanity. If I joined the orders that don’t wear a habit I would feel like I’m holding on to vanity. I want to give vanity up, and that would mean wearing a habit.
Besides, no where in Vatican II did they say for any religious community to get rid of the habit all together, most sisters have desided to ignore that.
Heres an interesting article on the wearing of a habit: geocities.com/peterpaulmin/NunsandWearingtheHabit.html
 
puzzleannie said:
it sounds as if your discernment process is operating somewhat backwards. First discern your vocation in life, then discern where, how and in what circumstances that vocation should be lived out, then pursue the education and other preparation for that vocation. Also it is not for you to place limits and requirements on the order to which you are called, but for you to comply with their requirements. The fundamental necessity for a vocation to religious life is humility and obedience, and if you begin with an attitude that places conditions upon your obedience, you will surely fail in living out your vocation.

It might be more helpful to think about why you define “traditional habit” as a requirement for an order you are looking for. What would that discipline mean to you, what qualities of the order and its way of life would that represent, and rather than using “traditional habit” as a definition, look beyond it for the qualities themselves in the orders you examine.
Click to expand...
I do not have my dicernment backwards, nor do I need someone to tell me such. I do know I am giving myself fully and commpletely to Christ, be it as a consecrated virgin or a nun. I just know that if I become a nun, Jesus wants me to sacrifice every vanity, including secular clothing.
 
puzzleannie said:
it sounds as if your discernment process is operating somewhat backwards. First discern your vocation in life, then discern where, how and in what circumstances that vocation should be lived out, then pursue the education and other preparation for that vocation. Also it is not for you to place limits and requirements on the order to which you are called, but for you to comply with their requirements. The fundamental necessity for a vocation to religious life is humility and obedience, and if you begin with an attitude that places conditions upon your obedience, you will surely fail in living out your vocation.

It might be more helpful to think about why you define “traditional habit” as a requirement for an order you are looking for. What would that discipline mean to you, what qualities of the order and its way of life would that represent, and rather than using “traditional habit” as a definition, look beyond it for the qualities themselves in the orders you examine.
Click to expand...
I have to say that I’ve been learning a lot from many of your posts - so much wisdom. You could be my great spiritual director. 🙂
 
Father Groeschel’s group the Franciscans of the Renewal have sisters that wear a very traditional Franciscan habit.

Fr. Groeschel is great! Any his order shows such reverence and piety!

God Bless you in your discernment!
 
child_of_God85 said:
I’m sorry to disagree with you, but I’ll have to. I look at the wearing of a habit as giving up every vanity in life for Christ. You don’t have to spend time everyday picking out which outfit to wear, like you would with a non habit community. Thats the whole point of being nun, giving up everything for christ. You take a vow of poverty. Of course I know it’s not a wedding gown or any of the others you mentioned.
The nuns that no longer wear a habit have to take money that would other wise go into the community to buy their wardrobe every year. Tha goes against the vow of poverty in my eyes.
With a habit, you don’t have to worry about how you look.
I’ve known that I want to give my whole being to Christ for a long time. I know I will either become a consecrated virgin or a nun. I am leaning more towards a nun. I have one community that I’m very interested in.
Don’t assume that the reason I want to wear a habit is for vanity. If I joined the orders that don’t wear a habit I would feel like I’m holding on to vanity. I want to give vanity up, and that would mean wearing a habit.
Besides, no where in Vatican II did they say for any religious community to get rid of the habit all together, most sisters have desided to ignore that.
Heres an interesting article on the wearing of a habit: geocities.com/peterpaulmin/NunsandWearingtheHabit.html
Click to expand...
Well I’m sorry if I misread you earlier when you said, “None of this skirt, blouse, and semi hair covering, but the full thing. I just can’t stand how most communities don’t even look like nuns.” That certainly sounds like vanity to me! It would be like working so hard on all your faults to achieve humility, and then wanting to advertise your pride in the fact that you conquered pride!

I don’t think it’s wrong to wear a habit. I do think it’s wrong to make the habit the focal point of your vocation. If you’re serious about living poverty, then you should think about this: Most traditional religious habits/cassocks/etc. probably average about $200 or better a pop. A person would usually need 2-3 at a time, depending on how they were worn (winter/summer, or work/formal, or if it’s sweaty/dirty work maybe 2 to alternate) It’s not simple: there’s a lot of material to be washed and cared for and you can’t just throw it in the washing machine like a t-shirt, so they probably don’t get cleaned that often!

On the other hand, congregations that wear no habit or a modified habit and/or veil (simple 1-2 tone approved clothing like black/white, navy/blue, brown/cream, gray) can probably sew their own clothing if skilled, or parouse their local thrift shop or discount store for suitable pieces. Depending on their needs, they could easily clothe themselves for less than $50 a year and it would be a lot easier to launder. For active ministry in the US (a highly materialistic culture), that’s living pretty simply.
 
Since Vatican II did not call for the abandonment of the habit, it is a sure indicator that any religious congregations that do not wear the habit are disobedient.
(everyone knows that it is disobedient, they are just too scared to say it)
Usually you can tell them by their focus on social justice (which isn’t bad) and participation in things like conferences for women leaders.
They just focus on social justice because it a good thing that can be taken to the extreme as a mission instead of evangelization.

We are all called to be militant, on fire Catholics, to not want to outwardly display and explicitly express the faith is to be lukewarm, this is wrong and against the will of God. We should all be willing to wear our religion on our sleeve and be proud of being followers of Christ.

In Christ
Scylla
 
Dear child_of_God85,

May God bless you and lead you to discern your vocation according to His Will.

As for the wearing of a habit, I can relate to your wanting to join an order where a habit is worn. To my mind, nuns who wear habits signal that they belong to a community which is solidly loyal to the Pope. With nuns who do not wear habits, they may very well follow the Pope, only it’s harder to tell, due to the fact that so many liberal orders have opted for regular clothing instead of habits … so that nuns in regular clothing tend to send me, personally, a confusing signal.

Wearing a habit gives witness to modesty in a culture which seems to be the one spoken of by Jacinta the seer of Fatima who stated that fashions would appear which would not please Our Lord.

Wearing a habit allows for opportunities for ministry … A lay person seeing a sister in a habit may approach with a question or prayer request, whereas if the nun were not wearing a habit and because of this she was assumed to be not a nun, the lay person might walk right on past and an act of charity that the nun’s appearance might have occasioned would go undone.

Wearing a habit might not always be the most physically comfortable thing in the world, but is a small inconvenience indeed if it is worn as an expression of love for Christ.

With prayers for you,

~~ the phoenix
 
scylla said:
We are all called to be militant, on fire Catholics, to not want to outwardly display and explicitly express the faith is to be lukewarm, this is wrong and against the will of God. We should all be willing to wear our religion on our sleeve and be proud of being followers of Christ.
Click to expand...
I like what you say here, as long as wearing religion on our sleeves is the result of love of God, and not other temptations. I no longer regularly wear a crucifix except for certain reasons. I don’t want my faith to be assumed based on what I wear. I’d rather my words and actions lead others to suspect that I try to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, and am humbled by the mercy and forgiveness of God…

Michael
 
ChemicalBean said:
Well I’m sorry if I misread you earlier when you said, “None of this skirt, blouse, and semi hair covering, but the full thing. I just can’t stand how most communities don’t even look like nuns.” That certainly sounds like vanity to me! It would be like working so hard on all your faults to achieve humility, and then wanting to advertise your pride in the fact that you conquered pride!

I don’t think it’s wrong to wear a habit. I do think it’s wrong to make the habit the focal point of your vocation. If you’re serious about living poverty, then you should think about this: Most traditional religious habits/cassocks/etc. probably average about $200 or better a pop. A person would usually need 2-3 at a time, depending on how they were worn (winter/summer, or work/formal, or if it’s sweaty/dirty work maybe 2 to alternate) It’s not simple: there’s a lot of material to be washed and cared for and you can’t just throw it in the washing machine like a t-shirt, so they probably don’t get cleaned that often!

On the other hand, congregations that wear no habit or a modified habit and/or veil (simple 1-2 tone approved clothing like black/white, navy/blue, brown/cream, gray) can probably sew their own clothing if skilled, or parouse their local thrift shop or discount store for suitable pieces. Depending on their needs, they could easily clothe themselves for less than $50 a year and it would be a lot easier to launder. For active ministry in the US (a highly materialistic culture), that’s living pretty simply.
Click to expand...
The communities that no longer wear the habit are disobeying the Pope. Like I stated before, Vatican II did not give permission to abandon the habit all together.
Look, part of my vocation to becoming a Nun is wearing a traditional habit. It has NOTHING to do with vanity, and I just dare someone to say otherwise. It’s no ones right to say I’m being vain. How would you feel if your Priest said mass in jeans and a t-shirt?
Whenever I see a nun in the store, it makes me stop and think if my relationship with God is a good one, like that nuns. It’s like a silent ministry.
Theres a nun that works at my parish, a non habit wearing nun. She’s the most feminist person I’ve ever met. She bosses the Priests around and thinks wearing a habit is medievil. I asked her about the fact that Vatican II stated clearly that religious should wear habits, and she said she doesn’t care about what Vatican II said about habits.
 
Well, St. Padre Pio wanted to pursue an order which had beards, so if that was good enough for him I don’t see why looking for an order which wears a habit ought to be any less of an incentive!
 
child_of_God85 said:
The communities that no longer wear the habit are disobeying the Pope. Like I stated before, Vatican II did not give permission to abandon the habit all together.
Look, part of my vocation to becoming a Nun is wearing a traditional habit. It has NOTHING to do with vanity, and I just dare someone to say otherwise. It’s no ones right to say I’m being vain. How would you feel if your Priest said mass in jeans and a t-shirt?
Whenever I see a nun in the store, it makes me stop and think if my relationship with God is a good one, like that nuns. It’s like a silent ministry.
Theres a nun that works at my parish, a non habit wearing nun. She’s the most feminist person I’ve ever met. She bosses the Priests around and thinks wearing a habit is medievil. I asked her about the fact that Vatican II stated clearly that religious should wear habits, and she said she doesn’t care about what Vatican II said about habits.
Click to expand...
Look, I’m only posting like this to get you to consider that you may be going about your vocation discernment in a backwards fashion, like an earlier poster observed. That’s not all bad; if you don’t know how to solve a math problem you can work it backwards from a range of good guesses until you’ve found a solution(s) that satisfy the initial constraints. But that tends to be a long and frustrating process, and while you may find ONE solution you can possibly miss an INFINITE number of other possibilities (like in trigonometry). And again, like in math, it’s also quite possible that your initial constraints set you up to find NO rational solutions.

This last point seems to be very relevant. I’m assuming that you’re in the USA. I know of no “active” orders of sisters that wear a full traditional-style habit, and I really don’t expect to come across one. Those types of habits are not compatible with the demands of active ministry in the 21st century; they are expensive, high maintenance, physically restraining (possibly dangerous), and unhygenic by today’s standards. One does find those types of habits in strictly cloistered and contempletive orders because they are more suited for a life of prayer in community.

Good luck with your search. Don’t put people in a box. Feminism is not all good; neither is it all bad. Wearing a habit does not automatically make someone loyal to the Pope, and not wearing one (or at least a modified one) does not automatically make one disloyal. In either case, what is most important is that YOU remain loyal to Christ and open to the nuances of his call.

P.S. - I’ve been to a mass where all the priest wore was jeans and a sweatshirt, because it was a private mass and we were in a pinch. The mass was probably irregular (because he was not vested with at least an alb and stole) but it was most certainly valid - he was validly ordained, had the proper faculties, had the correct matter and formula, and intended to do what the Church intends.
 
I don’t know why I keep having to repeat myself on this point, but my discernment IS NOT backwards. I’ve never been more aware of what I want to do in life. I have had this vocation sinse I was 16, I am now 22. In the past year and a half is when I finaly knew I wanted to give my complete self to God.
I have found quite a few communities wearing a full habit, that are active, in the last few days. I’ve also read where the non habit wearing communities are dying off because most young girls are like myself where part of their call is wearing a habit.
My call is from God, I know that beyond any shadow of a doubt. I also know that God is the one that wants me to wear a habit and show my full commitment. I know it would be more compfortable to wear secular clothes, but I don’t see a problem in suffering a little for God. Jesus suffered for us.
Now please, don’t say my discernment is backwards, it’s not anyones right to make judgements on my discernment, except for God. It’s just rude.
 
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