I am like a child at Christmas I am so excited, I am bringing this blog to the top of the heap because I know now how to post videos and these videos are great! I thank Miss Ellen E. who left the very simple directions that I could actually follow on the comment site of a previous blog! I am most grateful and besides myself that I can do this. This is my second attempt at posting videos, but my first attempt at multiple choices! Below this blog, after the Pope's long arm, is my first attempt at posting a video! Unlike the four on this blog which are very heart warming and edifying, the one below is shocking, depressing and sad and unfortunately shows something that is all to common in our Masses today, so scroll down for that after you watch these at the end of my revised post on the subject.
The recent appearance of the Dominican Sisters on Oprah Winfrey is posted below! The appearance and interview are excellent. Kudos to Oprah, and to the Sisters! Do you think these sisters are on the right track of "renewal" that Vatican II actually encouraged? And to the dying breed, who chose a path of pseudo-renewal, actually a path of destruction that compromised their legacy, well, it is sad indeed. We need sisters and sisters have been and still are or can be the back bone of the Roman Catholic Church! The love and respect that generations of Catholics till this very day have for the hard work, dedication, faithfulness and obedience of sisters is marvelous to behold! We love our sisters! And evidently Oprah loves them, her assistant who produced the show loves them, Protestants love them, Jews love them, Pagans love them! We want them back like there were and can be today, the proof is in the pudding! These are sisters who love their life in the convent, have no apparent ax to grind against our Church and her leaders, i.e. pope, bishops and men in general. They are aware of the culture in which we live that conspires against chastity, poverty and obedience. They wear their "wedding garment" perpetually to show a skeptical world the "in breaking of the Kingdom which is to be completed at the Second Coming!" The garb and more importantly their lives as sisters which is a public witness on so many levels is quite frankly the "eschatological" dimension of the Woman and Men Religious when they take seriously their call the serve the Church, both clergy and laity, in humble obedience to Christ. Yes, we want our Sisters and we love them!
Part One
Part II
Part III
Part IV
4 comments:
Congratulations, Father! I'm so glad you were able to follow my instructions.
All you have to do now is learn how to add links to other blogs so that you can link to the blogs you mention in your posts - :-)
Great videos, by the way, well worth sharing.
Father, go ahead and call me superficial, but clerical and religious garb is important.
When the nuns who taught me gave up their habits, they lost a tremendous amount of respect. There was a noticeable difference in the way the students looked at them and treated them, because they looked like "just women" rather than women consecrated to God. (It didn't help that they suddenly began preaching the gospels of social work and victimization in religion class, either).
Superficial? Maybe. But think about it. Why is it that most people never get married wearing casual, everyday clothes? Would you expect marines to get rid of their dress blue uniforms and just wear "cammies" ALL the time?
What we wear sends a message. One of the principals I worked with when I taught high school wore blue jeans to work every day, but he also ALWAYS wore a tie. Some of the other teachers wore jeans and looked like just "regular guys", but the principal and those of us who followed his example at least had a modicum of professional decorum with the tie on.
Watch small children (or even adults) when they get dressed up. It changes the way they carry themselves.
Ronald Reagan NEVER sat down in the oval office without wearing a coat and tie. Why? Because of the respect he had for the OFFICE of POTUS.
There was much more to Oprah's show than just the visibility of habits on the nuns, but those habits preached a sermon without the nuns saying a word. More of us need to see this visible sermon of fellow humans set apart and consecrated to God--especially in today's world.
Whenever I see a nun wearing a habit, I always make it a point to thank her for wearing it. I wish all Catholics would.
I loved the clips and am greatful for these wonderful sisters and their openess to share their lives. I have a lot to say about my life as a sister and probably would need to set up my own blog for that. But simply let me share a bit of the life of the Daughters of Charity here in Macon. We live a very happy and productive community life. We have 30 minutes of meditation most mornings togeher followed by morning prayer followed by morning MAsss. Thenoff to work! We are involved in a variety of works in Macon so it would be hard to define us just by our "jobs". We eat together most evey evening followed by evening prayer. Unless of course we have a meeting or one of our ministries has an event to attend. We have a night for formal spiritual sharing...but really this kind of sharing is common. We don't wear a habit like the isiters in the Oprah piece, but we do wear simple clothes ie: blue shirt, white shirt. We occasionally wear "regular" clothes: sometimes it is hard to climg into the back of the SVDP pick-up in a skirt!
I am not sure when or where we would play hockey...but it might be fun sometime...of course we would need some other players...there's only four of here. There are 20,000 Daughters of Charity in 91 countries...
I can assure you that I do not have an issue with the Pope, our Bishops or our Priests,or men in general for that matter. I value and respect the priesthood and hope I am a help to the priest with whom I work and have worked
I do feel badly about those who feel this way or give that impression. I am a faithful daughter of the church and take all my vows quiet seriously. I am in Macon because I live a life of obedience...and usually when I have been "sent" someplace God helps me to see the beauty of the community and experience the blessing that serivce to his poor always gives.
In short, I am a happy sister...happy to serve God in the poor, happy to serve with the incredible people of Macon, and especially happy that GOd has called me to a community where I can grow in my faith and become the servant He has called me to be. Sr Elizabeth
Thank you Sister Elizabeth, you are an example, along with your sisters, of sisters being the backbone of the Church. This has been and still is true in Macon, GA. We just lament that the charism that the sisters bring to local churches is not as prevalent as it once was. Divine Providence, though, is at work in inscrutable ways, I am sure and on the other side of life, we'll know the reason for all the things, good and bad, that happen to the World, the Church, to humanity and to individuals. Thank you for being a public sign of what the video clips express!
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