If this is about clothing, then I think you might want to consider a few things. I dont know her personally, but - while Franciscan - Sr Ilia worked for quite awhile at Georgetown University amongst the Jesuits long after the post-V2 reforms, when the Jesuits themselves would wear regular, non-clerical clothes.
As far as the Franciscans are concerned, I have a very good friend, who is a Franciscan Third Order Regular friar, a nurse, a healer and so on; and he used to volunteer at nursing homes to help care for people. He would wear his conventual habit when he went. Someone (I dont know who) took issue with the fact that he was wearing the habit while doing the charity work, and the TOR’s eventually had to tell him to stop wearing it. He refused, and (getting older himself) he actually asked for a dispensation, so he could retire back to more mainstream life, although he is still a TOR (in retirement). Personally, I saw no reason why the complaint against his habit was worth considering at all, but let’s not digress into a discussion about him. We’re talking about Sr Ilia.
I dont know why she would opt not to wear a habit, but it may or may not have been completely her own deciding. She’s obviously a very independent, progressive-minded woman, but she could also have had any number of influences (or lack of influences) acting (or not) upon her. For instance, if she were trying to remain incognito in her spirituality, like an undercover cop, she could have been under orders not to wear the habit, or perhaps she simply wanted to blend in to better relate to people. Or, if she was working at Georgetown hospital, it’s possible someone - ranging from a hospital patient even up to a clergy - could have complained wearing a habit was somehow indicative of cultural bias. Or, perhaps, her fraternity simply didn’t require her to wear it, as happens a lot today - so she simply didnt think much of it, or maybe somehow the regular clothing was more conducive to her work. I do know from talking with certain older nuns in the Sisters of Charity - the old “flying nun” habit was actually hard to wear, so the garment changed over time.
