Some of the new orders are quite concerning. I’ve had bad personal contacts with Opus Dei in the past and there have been issues with some of the newer orders currently. I know that there is a huge kerfuffle among the traditionalists about the Franciscan Friars, who the Vatican is concerned enough about to put under Apostolic Visitation. So there are orders associated with the major traditions of the Church that may be out there.
And I also have read National Catholic Register and it is veering farther and farther to the right. I wonder if the comments by readers in the comment section disparaging Pope Francis would have been tolerated there in the past.
But the main gist that I was getting at is that conservative Catholic women are the only ones who are entering convents and they are entering convents where they are surrounded by women who are like-minded. So the women who do enter convents are losing the maturity process that comes with interacting with people who come from different backgrounds than they do and the Church is losing the talents of more liberal women who would have joined in the past. It is unhealthy to have religious life dominated by a small group of conservative Catholics whose lives don’t reflect a vast majority of Catholics.
Having had absolutely no contact with Opus Dei, I can’t speak to them, but they are not a significant number in the overall set of professed religious. And the Franciscan Friars are not much more than a teaspoonful in the ocean of Church.
As to the National Catholic Register, I pay far more attention to the articles than I do to letters to the editor. But just in case you have missed it, the Church started getting a bit more serious under John Paul 2 in terms of a return to reverence and a move way from a happy-clappy approach to worship and liturgy; and I don’t particularly see Pope Francis making any change in that direction.
As to women entering “traditional orders”, I guess we need to determine what your definition of “traditional” is. If that means a return to the LOTH said in community, then I would agree.
If it means that they wish to be known as professed religious by their dress, then perhaps we agree.
If it means a return to following the Magisterium, and a turn away from “Mother/Father God”, then we can agree.
If it means that the battles - real or perceived, that the 50/60/70/80 year old sisters have - feminism taken far beyond what the Church perceives, are of no interest to what has been termed the "John Paul 2 generation, then I think we could agree that they are “traditional”.
If it means young women who have actually read the documents of Vatican 2, and are serious about implementing them, rather than spinning their own take under the guise of “spirit of Vatican 2”, then we could agree they are traditional.
If we mean young women who grew up on the OF and believe that it should be said with reverence, and reject a spirituality that focuses on the enneagram, we could agree.
If we mean young women who are studying theology, and are not on the cutting edge of the edgiest theology out there, but are following the Magisterium, We could agree they are “traditional”.
If we mean young women who are out there working quietly with the poorest of the poor, and doing it in a habit, and living in community and are not hesitant to let the world know they are professed, then yes, we could agree they are “traditionalists”.
But if you mean that the new groups which are attracting so many young women that they are turning them away, are groups which are anti-Vatican 2, and wishing to return to the 50’s, then no, we cannot agree.
I was born in the late 40’s, and have had a whole bunch of “shirt-tail” relatives who were sisters. They were awesome women. The new ones I have met are also awesome. But what I feel you fail to see is that the world, and the /Church, is not simply yin and yang; liberal and conservative. The liberals and the conservatives pretty much follow the rest of creation in that they are the ends of a bell curve, and most of the people in "Church on Sunday regularly are moderates. And most of these young women are from that group - moderates.
The problem, as I see it, is that the liberals have tried to redefine Church. And they are dying off for a reason - people under a certain age (often defined by having grey hair) are no longer trying to redefine Church. The cutting edge of the liberal wonks is simply irrelevant to them, which is why the grey hairs are simply dying off. They fought their pyrrhic battles; they felt they won, and the final conclusion is that they were off on their own, and the world has found them irrelevant. Or rather, the Church has found them irrelevant; the secular world still thinks them heroes. The secular world, however, is far, far from the pews and from God.
