First of all, I may not understand what you meant by “the same tradition”. Does this mean that you are all from monasteries run by the Poor Clares? If so, why would each have different habits and practices?
Finally, why have you all left these monasteries (if the answer is not too personal) to form yet another, different “rule” of your own making? That is, was this your individual decisions, or were you each charged by your superiors in the east to establish this new convent?
K C;5222380:
Thank you, K C, for your questions and I assume, your concern for my vocation! I will try to answer your questions as you asked them.
First, when we refer to “tradition” or the “same tradition” we are usually referring to the religious family to which we belong. I am a part of the Franciscan family/tradition, more specifically, the Poor Clare tradition and even more specifically to the Federation of Poor Clares that have sprung from the communities established by Mother Magdalene Bentivoglio when she and her sister, Mother Constance, were asked by Pope Pius IX to bring the Poor Clare life to the US. The sisters wanted to live the original Rule written by St. Clare. We can trace our “ancestry” back to Assisi and Sr. Clare’s original community. So I guess we could say that this is our “tradition”.
So the four of us are from Poor Clare communities in the Holy Name Federation of Poor Clares. We don’t say from monasteries “run” by Poor Clares but rather from Poor Clare monasteries or from monasteries of Poor Clares. The process of creating a new monastery is similar to a call to religious life. The Scripture says that Jesus call us to follow him and I think it is in St. John’s First Letter where he says that it is not that we love God, but rather that God first loved us-even when we were still in sin. Well, the Poor Clares can’t just go to a diocese and set up a monastery. First the Bishop has to invite the Clares to the diocese. In our case, Bishop Anthony Milone (now retired) felt that the diocese was not complete because it did not have a contemplative community. He wrote to our Federation leadership and invited them to make a foundation. The Federation leadership came out to Montana twice to talk to Bishop Milone. Once the leadership decided that a foundation was possible, they took it to the Abbesses of our 11 monasteries. Each of the communities of the Federation had to approve the foundation. Any one who discerned that they were called to this new foundation in Montana had to get the permission of the Abbess and the community of her monastery.
So you see it was not an easy thing to do. When all of these things had taken place and there were 4 sisters who felt called to this new “adventure”, everything was documented and sent to Rome for approval. With that approval came permission to have a novitate and our own formation program. We are still not “canonically erected” since we are only 4 and need 8 sisters in community before that can happen. (We live as if that had already happened! We live the Poor Clare life that has been handed down to us over the almost 800 years the Order has been in existence.)
Each of our communities are autonomous which means that each community makes decisions that need to be made without contacting a “motherhouse”. We do have the Federation but that is not a decision making body per se. Because we are a Federation foundation, we have a responsibility to the Federation leadership until we are “canonically erected”. In fact, this fall the Federation President and Council will come out here to be with us at the time of our elections.
At the time of our elections in all of our communities there is a “visitation” either with the Bishop or his delegate who can be another Poor Clare or a Friar of the First Order. This is to ensure that each sister has a way to voice concerns, if she has them. It is also a way for us to reexamine that way we are living and to see if we are being faithful to the Church, the Gospel way of living and according to the Rule of St. Clare and the international Constitutions.
So, yes, there are differences in the communities simply because they are guided by the Holy Spirit and are all made up of very different personalities. For instance the community I came from was a foundation made from another community. These two communities have some similarities but even more differences yet the core of the life is the same. I could visit any one of our monasteries and be very much at home. I would have to learn how they do things, but I would know I was in a Poor Clare monastery. There are differences because of climate, geography and the culture in which the monastery is situated. For instance, we are unable to have Mass in the monastery each day. There just are not enough priests in the area to have our “own” priest! So we have to go to the different parishes in town just as all the Catholics here who want to go to daily Mass. It means that we are members of a parish and this has been a tremendous gift to us as a community. Yes, sometimes it is difficult because we would rather keep silence and have Mass in our own chapel. This is a type of poverty and obedience to reality. If we accept it as being obedient to God’s will for us at this time, I believe that it is an acceptible sacrifice given to God out of love.
I am afraid that I am writing a book here. I need to stop and go to Night Prayer. I hope this has helped you understand a bit of what I said in my earlier post. God bless you and give you peace.
Sr. Judith Ann
I did want to help, but some fashion sense snuck in.
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(And what a lovely photo it is!)