“Old-Fashioned” Sisters – And Glad of It!

What a sense of humor God must have! This is, of course, to speak about God in only a human way. Yet we talk of God’s kindness, love, mercy, and justice; things that are really meaningful to us because we are aware of them in other human beings. Why not then talk of God’s “sense of humor,” or of what must be the divine equivalent for it? If all that is best in man – his immortality, his reason, his capacity for love and joy – are but reflections of his perfect Creator, how fitting it is that man’s sense of humor should be rooted in the eternal Wisdom, in whose image and likeness man is made, the Wisdom that sees with an infinite understanding the incongruities, the follies, and the fads of everyday human life.

This divine sense of humor, which is nothing other than a sense of proportion in dealing with reality, must have been in St. Paul’s mind to some extent, when he wrote to the Church at Corinth: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men…but the foolish things of the world has God chosen to put to shame the wise, and the weak things of the world has God chosen to put to shame the strong.” (I Cor. 1:25, 27) And so has God dealt with the human race in all times and places. He delights to choose the little things, and from a human standpoint, the most unlikely people to accomplish His greatest works, to astonish the chic intelligentsia of modernity, and to confound the wispy “wisdom” that happens to be in fashion at any given moment. So fragile a thing as a wafer of bread becomes the true Body of Christ in the Holy Mass; and unknown Hebrew virgin becomes the Mother of the Son of God; a handful of rough fishermen become the first bishops of the Roman Catholic Church; a thin little beggar called Francis of Assisi launches a new springtime into the jaded heart of medieval Europe; a dutiful husband and father named Thomas More gives his life as the conscience of a whole nation drifting into schism and heresy.

Little things and ordinary people seem always to be God’s preferred instruments, emerging in age after rolling age as glowing witnesses to His truth and glory. It is as true in today’s world as it ever has been. It is as true in contemporary Catholicism as it ever has been. Yet, untold numbers of Catholics, both young and old, in the Church today have the feeling that instead of being the blessed legatees and continuators of a rich and noble past, they have inherited a religious whirlwind. The bold, sometimes startling, changes brought about in the external aspects of the Church by Vatican Council II are partly, though not entirely, responsible for this feeling. It seems that the chief cause of the inner anguish, the aching doubt, the agonizing crises of faith that are sweeping through the ranks of the Church’s faithful today can be found in an ever-growing group of heavily publicized men and women, allegedly within the Church, who ar not satisfied with being humble, “ordinary” instruments of God’s work; but, as self-appointed experts on the interpreters of the “spirit of Vatican II,” they appear to have discovered their real forte, if not their true vocation in tactics of incredibly vulgar sensationalism designed to weaken and eventually to obliterate the faith of others. This pernicious crowd – including “avant-garde” priests, “go-go” sisters, and “questioning” laymen – have several characteristics in common. First, not being at peace with God and the faith themselves, they are adamantly determined that no one else shall be; they have substituted grimness and griping for our rightful legacy of joy. Second, they have an insatiable appetite to strut before the world as wounded heroes against the antiquated tyranny of Rome (an appetite that must be quite remunerative, if one peruse their unending litany of sob stories appearing in popular magazines). Third, they harbor an obsessive hatred for any and all practices of the Church, especially in the liturgy and the religious life, that are usually called “traditional” and have not been percolated in the mind of one of the “name-brand” members of the “new breed”.

In the long history of Christianity, the Church has weathered many storms. Schisms and heresies, armies of dictators and king, barbarian invasions and civilized cynicism have all been faced by the Church. She has never accommodated herself to them, groveled before them, or compromised her divine authority by expedient appeasement policies. She confronted them with the unflinching courage and charity of her Founder. They have passed away like the grass of the field; the Church remains. Whatever tempests threaten the Church today, with their modern addition of vulgarity, will likewise be endured, even though with pain, by the People of God, and as always the Church will emerge stronger and more beautiful. But knowing this, having this confidence, is not enough. It must be a motive for positive action.

There is a group of Sisters in the United States that is dedicated to the principle that nothing is too much to ask or to give to bear living witness to the value of a healthy traditionalism in American Catholicism. These Sisters are known as the Daughters of the Immaculate heart of Mary. Significantly, they are a small community; they work in a small diocese that is engaged in a great deal of grassroots missionary activity, and like the diocese itself, they are not embarrassed or hesitant about performing their work of service, mainly educational, under the auspices of the Virgin Mother of God (a sign that would be considered by some latter-day luminaries as a slowly dying vestige of pre-Vatican II naivete). The Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary are “traditionalists” in the most meaningful sense of the term. They realize that the only way in which the great goals envisioned by Vatican II can be achieved for the benefit of all God’s children lies in preserving and cherishing the roots of our Catholic life: in an unswerving loyalty to the See of Rome; in a respect and a love for the hallowed spiritual practices of time-tested worth, such as a fervent devotion to the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, a recognition of the crucial place of Our Lady in a truly Christian life, an oddly un-modern concept of obedience and penance as virtues that enable one to grow in love of God and man; and in living the liturgy in a life of sacrificial service. They also hold, incidentally, that a Sister is supposed to be “different” in the sight of God and of the World, and believe that their traditional type habit of blue, enhanced with our Lady’s Rosary, is an invaluable outward sign to themselves and to all men of their full commitment to the Lord’s vineyard.

The Catholic Church has often been compared to a large garden in which many kinds of flowers (and weeds) can grow. Only time will tell whether many of the novel ideas in the Church today will prove to be of value for the furtherance of Christ’s redemptive work. “By their fruits you shall know them” (Matt. 7:16). In this widespread garden of Mother Church there certainly is a pressing need for someone to bear the kind of witness that the Daughters are consecrated to, the kind of witness that even Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Protestant minister and one of the idols of the “new breed”, called for in a sermon delivered during World War II in which he chastised modern society for allowing its young to be torn from their roots. For as long as the good God pleases to use them for His work, the Daughters, “ordinary” people sharing in the divine sense of humor, offer themselves in a spirit of sacrifice and joy.

(Author: Sister Maria, I.H.M., 1967, Steubenville, Ohio)

What do you mean by cloistered, semi-cloistered and active religious communities?

A cloistered order (for example, the Carmelites) cuts themselves off as much as possible from the world. Their members never or seldom leave their house. In some communities when visitors come the nun will receive them from behind a grill or heavy veil that covers her face. These orders are the strictest and hardest but because they have cut themselves off from the world they can concentrate more on God and prayer. Their life is one of manual labor and prayer.

The semi-cloistered community separates themselves partially from the world, in that their members do not go out into the world to work, but bring those in need into their houses. They will have schools or orphanages, etc. but inside their communities. Whatever apostate they have takes place inside their community with the people coming to them and leaving. An example of this type of community would be the Dominicans, the Visitations, etc.

An active religious community goes out into the world to accomplish their apostolate. Nursing sisters, religious who teach in parishes, social workers visiting the poor or caring for elderly in their own homes or in a public institution are members of active religious communities. The Sisters of Charity, the Sisters of St. Joseph, etc. are examples of this type of religious. My own community is as well.

In the early ages of the church most all communities were monastic and therefore strictly cloistered. About the time of the protestant reformation semi-cloistered communities began because the need for education and that was something that could be done inside a religious house.

About the time of the French Revolution active communities began. St. Vincent de Paul saw the need for religious to go about and help the poor and needy. His sister, “the angels of the battlefield” cared for the wounded and dying, started hospitals, and went anywhere that they needed. Other religious orders followed each with its own apostolate: orphanages, hospitals, home visitation, education, parochial schools, social service, etc. Today the majority of religious communities are active lay religious institutes.

What is the difference between a solemn vow and a simple vow?

A solemn vow is one that the Church recognizes as solemn, otherwise it is simple. Temporary vows are always simple. Solemn vows are always permanent. However permanent vows can be either solemn or simple depending upon the religious community. All monastic and mendicant orders take solemn vows. These are strictly cloistered communities and most semi-cloistered communities. Active communities of religious orders take simple vows. The difference between the vows is in how much it bind the bearer. Those under solemn vows can only be released by the pope, while those under simple vows can be released from them by the bishop.

What do you mean by form and type of order?

Religious institutes are divided primarily into two groups: clerical (those founded for priests and their formation only) and lay (all others). These communities are then divided again depending upon the type of vows their members take: orders (solemn vows), and religious congregations (simple vows).

For example, there are priestly orders of men who take solemn vows. They would be in a clerical order, while a man in a community that took solemn vows but whose members could be brothers or priests would be in a lay order. If the community took simple vows it would be a lay congregation.

Of course there are no clerical orders of women religious, but there are communities that take solemn vows (a religious order) and those that take simple vows (a religious congregation). Women who take solemn vows are called nuns. Women who take simple vows are called sisters.

What is the “rule”?

A rule is a set of precepts that govern a religious community. A large number of men or women can’t live together in peace without some sort of rule to govern them. The Catholic church has accepted four different rules and all religious orders use one of those rules as a basis for their own government. The rules are those of St. Benedict, St. Augustine, St. Basil, and St. Francis.

How do these rules differ?
St. Basil’s rule influenced all religious orders of eastern rite. St. Augustine’s rule is probably the most general, giving guidelines for structure and duties. St. Benedict gave very complete rule to guide his followers in monastic life. St. Francis’ rule was based on gospel passages for his mendicant order. He over time made three variations of his original rule for the three different orders he founded, but the basis is the same for all. The three different rules vary in how the community will be set up, the government of the house, the duties of the members, the prayer life, and the how this effects the work that they do.

There are so many different types of religious out there, how can I know the difference?

The Catholic Church has three types of religious institutes and societies: Religious institute, Secular institute, and Societies of apostolic life.

“A institute is every society, approved by legitimate ecclesiastical authority, the members of which tend to evangelical perfection, according to the laws proper to their society, by the profession of public vows, whether perpetual or temporary, the latter renewable after the lapse of a fixed time.” As you can see this is a very broad definition which covers all types of religious communities. The thing that all have in common is that they are recognized by ecclesiastical authority, they live a life in common in a community, they take vows, and practice poverty, chastity and obedience.

A secular institute has members who also take vows, try to perfect themselves in the evangelical councils, are also recognized by ecclesiastical authority, but they don’t live in community. (Hermits and anchorites, however, do not belong to this group but to religious institutes.)

A Society of apostolic life is one whose members live privately (no community life), nor do they take vows, but they do try to practice poverty, chastity and obedience more perfectly.

When one talks about religious and religious life you are usually referring to a religious institute.

What is the difference in these religious institutes?

Religious orders vary in 3 ways: rule, form, type, and apostolate. It is the mixture of these elements that make each order unique and give the church such diversity.