What are the reasons for shortage of new Religious Sisters?

[anode]

(excerpt)

Whether American men and women feel that their talents and gifts over qualify them to be religious is really a sign of our culture. Our values are off.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

I don’t think that this is necessarily true. Most mothers/women cook, clean and do laundry regardless of their education. I think that most women don’t expect to be free of these tasks. But I suspect that those women/girls considering a vocation don’t feel called to serve the poorest of society; they would rather teach, give retreats or work in the health field as a therapist or nurse/clinician/PA/MD. I think that the days of arbitrary assignments to areas far afield from an order’s main apostolates as a test of obedience–are over.

 

[JReducation]

I don’t think that this is necessarily true. Most mothers/women cook, clean and do laundry regardless of their education. I think that most women don’t expect to be free of these tasks. But I suspect that those women/girls considering a vocation don’t feel called to serve the poorest of society; they would rather teach, give retreats or work in the health field as a therapist or nurse/clinician/PA/MD.

Up to here, I can understand it and believe that it is the case for many men and women, not just women.

I think that the days of arbitrary assignments to areas far afield from an order’s main apostolates as a test of obedience–are over.

This I completely disagree with, especially for men entering religious life. The communities of men that are thriving and the new ones that are emerging actually have very strong rules on obedience. I’ll give you an example. The Franciscan family is flourishing withe new branches of the order, 99% men, and around the world. There are two things that the renewal has been very firm about recovering: poverty and obedience.

There is a very interesting case of two young brothers from Boston who were reassigned to Costa Rica and were given $50.00 each. They each had a backpack, habit, and their prayer books. They were sent to Costa Rica on foot. It took them three weeks to hitch hike there.

The Conventual Franciscans rescently transfered a group of friars on a moments notice. They had to walk across three states to get to their new assignment.

In my own community, we are informed about transfers, but we are not asked if we want the assignment. You are always free to communicate anything that you feel will impair your work and the Minister must hear you out. But ultimately, the authority of the Minister is the voice of Christ and you obey. I remember being assigned to a friary where I did not want to go. After I got there it tooke me about three months to get over the culture shock. I was sent from a major metro area to another country, to a town at the top of a mountain. Once I got over the culture shock, I actually was very productive and became very close to brothers and the people. I now remember that assignment as the best assignment that I ever had.

So no, the days of absolute obedience and surprise assignments are far from over. Among Franciscans of all the branches, they are the norm and our number of men entering and the retention is very stable As I said, the larger Franciscan obediences are now carving out smaller communities that are even more strict on obedience and poverty. They are returning to the roots when Francis would send the brothers in different directions with very few provisons and no chices. The brothers of today are happy to do this. I guess that’s why I understand the Missionaries of Charity and the Missionaries of the Poor (a male congregation very similar to the Missionaries of Charity). They are not Franciscan, but we share a common belief in serving where we are called to serve, around the corner or around the world.

This spirit is far from over, especially among men, but women too, though in lesser numbers.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[likuske]

Someone on this forum posed the question of why we have a shortage of priests. I would like to pose the same question with regards religious women, specifically Religious Sisters.
Why do we have a crisis right now with religious vocations?
And what do you think are the steps which can be taken to address the issues?

There’s a book out there called Sisters in Crisis that talks about why religious sisters have almost disappeared from our parishes and why it is that religous orders have a vocation crisis in the U.S.

 

[anode]

Up to here, I can understand it and believe that it is the case for many men and women, not just women.

This I completely disagree with, especially for men entering religious life. The communities of men that are thriving and the new ones that are emerging actually have very strong rules on obedience. I’ll give you an example. The Franciscan family is flourishing withe new branches of the order, 99% men, and around the world. There are two things that the renewal has been very firm about recovering: poverty and obedience.

There is a very interesting case of two young brothers from Boston who were reassigned to Costa Rica and were given $50.00 each. They each had a backpack, habit, and their prayer books. They were sent to Costa Rica on foot. It took them three weeks to hitch hike there.

The Conventual Franciscans rescently transfered a group of friars on a moments notice. They had to walk across three states to get to their new assignment.

In my own community, we are informed about transfers, but we are not asked if we want the assignment. You are always free to communicate anything that you feel will impair your work and the Minister must hear you out. But ultimately, the authority of the Minister is the voice of Christ and you obey. I remember being assigned to a friary where I did not want to go. After I got there it tooke me about three months to get over the culture shock. I was sent from a major metro area to another country, to a town at the top of a mountain. Once I got over the culture shock, I actually was very productive and became very close to brothers and the people. I now remember that assignment as the best assignment that I ever had.

So no, the days of absolute obedience and surprise assignments are far from over. Among Franciscans of all the branches, they are the norm and our number of men entering and the retention is very stable As I said, the larger Franciscan obediences are now carving out smaller communities that are even more strict on obedience and poverty. They are returning to the roots when Francis would send the brothers in different directions with very few provisons and no choices. The brothers of today are happy to do this. I guess that’s why I understand the Missionaries of Charity and the Missionaries of the Poor (a male congregation very similar to the Missionaries of Charity). They are not Franciscan, but we share a common belief in serving where we are called to serve, around the corner or around the world.

This spirit is far from over, especially among men, but women too, though in lesser numbers.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

This spirit may be present in men’s orders, especially Franciscan mendicants, but I don’t see it in women’s orders in the US. I am simply observing what I see as far as recruitment-who enters, who stays. Women, for the most part, girls and young women, appear to be drawn to communities with a strong identity who perform a predictable, well defined sort of work, especially teaching. Working with youth also seems popular. Those that enter a few communities, Nashville especially, also Ann Arbor, all or mostly alll appear to be Caucasian and apparently are often home-schooled. Sometimes it’s hard to tell them apart. Other orders, Little Srs of the Poor and the Carmelites of LA , which are growing more slowly, and have Hispanic and Asian new members. The Vietnamese orders of women are growing rapidly both here and abroad. I am sure that obedience is stressed in these orders, as in all, but I doubt if it includes hitchhiking. I think that women are looking for some sort of predictability–one of the reasons that no one wanted to join the ‘experimenting’ orders after Vat II, and why few American girls and young women are joining the Missionaries of Charity (from what I’ve heard tho’ I have no info as they don’t have a website). This is not to say that one can’t be transferred from one school to another, or asked to teach one subject or grade instead of another–it’s just that women appear to be favoring orders in which life will assume a predictable and to some I suspect rather familiar pattern.

 

[JReducation]

This spirit may be present in men’s orders, especially Franciscan mendicants, but I don’t see it in women’s orders in the US. I am simply observing what I see as far as recruitment-who enters, who stays. Women, for the most part, girls and young women, appear to be drawn to communities with a strong identity who perform a predictable, well defined sort of work, especially teaching. Working with youth also seems popular. Those that enter a few communities, Nashville especially, also Ann Arbor, all or mostly alll appear to be Caucasian and apparently are often home-schooled. Sometimes it’s hard to tell them apart. Other orders, Little Srs of the Poor and the Carmelites of LA , which are growing more slowly, and have Hispanic and Asian new members. The Vietnamese orders of women are growing rapidly both here and abroad. I am sure that obedience is stressed in these orders, as in all, but I doubt if it includes hitchhiking. I think that women are looking for some sort of predictability–one of the reasons that no one wanted to join the ‘experimenting’ orders after Vat II, and why few American girls and young women are joining the Missionaries of Charity (from what I’ve heard tho’ I have no info as they don’t have a website). This is not to say that one can’t be transferred from one school to another, or asked to teach one subject or grade instead of another–it’s just that women appear to be favoring orders in which life will assume a predictable and to some I suspect rather familiar pattern.

What you’re presenting is an interesting concept. I’m not going to disagree with it, because I don’t know enough about it. But I am curious to understand why the difference. Let’s limit it to Americans, just for the moment.

American males are being rapidly attracted to the mendicant movement, not just Francsican, but other mendicant communities as well. They thrive in the unpredictability of life, other than the daily schedule which is the same in every house. They thrive in the ascetic form of obedience and material poverty, such as sleeping in a dorm instead of your own room and sometimes sleeping on the floor when there is no bed.

American females are being rapidly attracted to the apostolic movement, such as the Dominican Sisters, which are an apostolic community, not mendicant. They seem to thrive in the predictability of the daily schedule, but also the predictability for the future. For example, the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia are not going too far. They also seem to be attracted to a more professional ministry. I use professional for lack of a better term. I mean teaching, nursing, social services, religious education, those are all professional services or ministries.

Washing someone’s clothing, bathing a person in their home, childcare while mother’s go to work, walking the streets talking to people, just hanging out on the corner in a drug infested neighborhood is not what one would call a professional service. You don’t need a Master’s Degree for that. Though it is required for most religious, especially males.

I guess the question in my mind is, why such a big difference between the Americal male and female? It’s the same culture, the same background and the same level of education. Most friars were business men, lawyers, physicians, teachers, I was a neuropsychologist. It’s not like these men don’t know how to teach, run schools, run parishes, run hospitals. These men do not feel called to any of that. In fact, most don’t even feel called to Holy Orders. The number of friars being ordained has significantly dropped, while the number of friars is significantly increasing. Meaning that we have more friars today, but less who are ordained. Nationally, I believe it may have gone up by 2%. But the number of friars when up over 10% in the last 10 years.

There is no difference in the levels of education and the background between these men and these women. But they are moving in very different directions. I find it interesting.

For example, the women are bringing back what we once had, the Catholic school. The men are moving away from what we have always had, the parish. Most mendicant communities forbid parish ministry. The ordained friars are allowed to help out on Sundays with mass or on Saturdays with confessions, but they are not allowd to take on the admnistration of a parish.

The women are teaching mostly middle class students. The friars are saying, if the neighborhood rises to the middle class status, we must leave immediately. The minsitry must be surrendered to the bishop or if the bishop does not want it, it must be closed. But we must leave. We only work among the materially poor. The exception to this are the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word, who are mendicants, but their focus is on communications and contemplation. They emphasize the rule that Francis wrote for hermits. They do little with the outside world. But the other mendicants, Franciscans, Brothers of the Poor, Brother Missionaries of Charity, and the Society of Our Lady of the Trinity (Fr. Corapi’s congregation) work very much among the poor and do very unpredictable work. All of these groups of men shy away from what we who are younger than 100 would consider traditional ministry.

It would be interesting to figure out why. It’s only an academic question. It does not change the importance and value of the life and ministry of either group. Just interesting, that’s all.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[JReducation]

I would be interested in knowing why there is a renewed interest in religious brothers among men, especially outside the USA. Even in the USA, the brothers are growing in numbers. They are growing faster in developing nations.

My question is due to the fact that the brothers of today are required much more by way of formation and academic education than ever before. It takes about 6 to 9 years to become a perpetually professed religious brother. So the formation program is long.

Many communities require that brothers have a Master’s Degree in Theology or an advanced degree in some other academic field or advanced training in some technical field. Those who do not go for the M.Div, must still put in the hours in the classroom during their formation years. They just don’t write a thesis and defend it. But they take the courses and have to pass.

On top of the long formation program and the academic requirements, many of these religious men are assigned to be cooks, housekeepers, auto mechanics, spiritual directors, retreat masters, street ministry, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, home healthcare hospice, liturgists, theology professors, and even medical doctors. But notice that I left out teaching.

Today’s brother does not go back into the classroom, as did the Christian Brothers and other teaching congregations. These are not the congregations that are getting the brothers. The ones getting the brothers are the ones that place the greatest demand on asceticism, obedience, material poverty, monastic schedules and liturgical life.

You get up in the dark, spend your morning in prayer, spend the day working, come back to more prayer and community meals and recreation, spend more time in silence, back to work, back to prayer, back to another community meal, back to prayer, back to grand silence and the day is over.

You share your sleeping quarters. You have one habit that you can wash once a week and two pairs of work pants. You don’t have fixed income. Sometimes one of the brothers is paid for his work and other times no one in the house is paid. You don’t have a fixed place to live, because your community is transient. You move as the poor move.

If you have a computer, as we do, it is one for everyone. Some houses don’t even have a computer, unless someone donates it. There are no radios and no TV, no newspapers and no magazines. You find out about the world through word of mouth or by reading the newspaper that someone left on the subway or someone gave you. I always find one down that the Respect Life Office. It’s not that we’re not allowed to read it. It’s that we don’t spend money on it. If you’re lucky to live in a house that has a car, you have to share it.

You don’t have medical insurance, because almost all of the communities are mendicants. In the renewal of the mendicant movement, this is one of the changes that we’re making. We’re going back to depending on Providence. If you ever paid Social Security, you get that and the brothers can take care of you using that and Medicare. But there is not 401K.

In the USA alone we are up to about 200 solemn professions of brothers, maybe higher. The life of the religious brother has suddenly become attractive to many mean. Despite the effort of priests, sisters and laity to divert these young men to become priests, they come. I understand their reason for trying to divert these guys. They don’t understand what a brother is or contributes to the spiritual life of the Church. I’ve even spoken to sisters who don’t understand the vocation of the brother. One would think that a sister would understand it, since it is the exact same vocation as that of a sister. I think the whole “Bride of Christ” imagery that is applied to sisters, but not to brothers, throws some people off.

The question is what is attractive about this life?

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Cowfold]

I would be interested in knowing why there is a renewed interest in religious brothers among men, especially outside the USA. Even in the USA, the brothers are growing in numbers. They are growing faster in developing nations.

My question is due to the fact that the brothers of today are required much more by way of formation and academic education than ever before. It takes about 6 to 9 years to become a perpetually professed religious brother. So the formation program is long.

Many communities require that brothers have a Master’s Degree in Theology or an advanced degree in some other academic field or advanced training in some technical field. Those who do not go for the M.Div, must still put in the hours in the classroom during their formation years. They just don’t write a thesis and defend it. But they take the courses and have to pass.

On top of the long formation program and the academic requirements, many of these religious men are assigned to be cooks, housekeepers, auto mechanics, spiritual directors, retreat masters, street ministry, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, home healthcare hospice, liturgists, theology professors, and even medical doctors. But notice that I left out teaching.

Today’s brother does not go back into the classroom, as did the Christian Brothers and other teaching congregations. These are not the congregations that are getting the brothers. The ones getting the brothers are the ones that place the greatest demand on asceticism, obedience, material poverty, monastic schedules and liturgical life.

You get up in the dark, spend your morning in prayer, spend the day working, come back to more prayer and community meals and recreation, spend more time in silence, back to work, back to prayer, back to another community meal, back to prayer, back to grand silence and the day is over.

You share your sleeping quarters. You have one habit that you can wash once a week and two pairs of work pants. You don’t have fixed income. Sometimes one of the brothers is paid for his work and other times no one in the house is paid. You don’t have a fixed place to live, because your community is transient. You move as the poor move.

If you have a computer, as we do, it is one for everyone. Some houses don’t even have a computer, unless someone donates it. There are no radios and no TV, no newspapers and no magazines. You find out about the world through word of mouth or by reading the newspaper that someone left on the subway or someone gave you. I always find one down that the Respect Life Office. It’s not that we’re not allowed to read it. It’s that we don’t spend money on it. If you’re lucky to live in a house that has a car, you have to share it.

You don’t have medical insurance, because almost all of the communities are mendicants. In the renewal of the mendicant movement, this is one of the changes that we’re making. We’re going back to depending on Providence. If you ever paid Social Security, you get that and the brothers can take care of you using that and Medicare. But there is not 401K.

In the USA alone we are up to about 200 solemn professions of brothers, maybe higher. The life of the religious brother has suddenly become attractive to many mean. Despite the effort of priests, sisters and laity to divert these young men to become priests, they come. I understand their reason for trying to divert these guys. They don’t understand what a brother is or contributes to the spiritual life of the Church. I’ve even spoken to sisters who don’t understand the vocation of the brother. One would think that a sister would understand it, since it is the exact same vocation as that of a sister. I think the whole “Bride of Christ” imagery that is applied to sisters, but not to brothers, throws some people off.

The question is what is attractive about this life?

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

Brother JR,

I believe we have had this difference in the past. I do not recognise most of what you write and I can only assume that it applies to the USA.
The M.Divs or the UK equivalent are not found over here and little or no merit is placed on academic achievement. Brothers do not take anywhere near the length of time you say and is more like half.

 

[JReducation]

Brother JR,

I believe we have had this difference in the past. I do not recognise most of what you write and I can only assume that it applies to the USA.
The M.Divs or the UK equivalent are not found over here and little or no merit is placed on academic achievement. Brothers do not take anywhere near the length of time you say and is more like half.

You may want to check out the different religious orders. I can give you an example, the first order Franciscans have

6 mos apsirancy
1 year to 2 yrs postulancy
1 year to 18 mos novitiate
3 - 6 years temporary profession

If we look at the minimum number of years of formation, you’re looking at 5 1/2 years between the entrance as an aspirant and solemn profession.

I know that some countries do not have an M.Div or a Master’s program. I also said that the requirements are: a theology degree, an academic degree or a technical degree. On top of that there is the theology that is taught during the formation years. We’re talking about a lot of training.

The point of the post is why is there a resurgence of congregations of brothers and mendicants focussing on brothers, as well as some monasteries in the Benedictine tradition. Even though the numbers are greater in the developing countries, there is an increas in the USA. We have several new communities and some of the major orders are also seeing a larger number of brothers, especially the Franciscan family. In fairness, I have to add that the Franciscan family is trying to get away from ordaining large numbers of friars and desires to return to its origins when the ordained brothers were few because the ministry of the community did not require that many ordained brothers. As they move toward those ministries that do not require ordination, there is a growth in the number of non-clerical friars.

I wanted to say that, because it’s fair to mention this movement. But I still find it interesting that there is a larger number of men becoming brothers between 1995 and today than there was from 1970 to 1995.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF