When we look backwards at the pre-Vatican II Church and religious life in such desperate need of reform and renewal we so longed for Vatican II that would bring a new springtime for the Church and religious life. In this pre-Vatican II photo we see the corruption of religious life in this 17th century Ursuline convent in Quebec:
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| Before Vatican II But then, in the nick of time, Vatican II happened and the corrupt pre-Vatican II religious life of the Ursulines was updated and here is the wonderful result as we look forward to the new springtime, the Ursulines no longer have any sisters, so the youthful nuns that are left are leaving and will turn the lights off and lock the door. We can only imagine the horrors if Vatican II had not happened!
Ursuline Sister Cecile Dionne speaks to Sister Pauline Duchesne and Sister Celine Bergeron inside Quebec City's Ursuline monastery chapel June 1. (Credit: CNS photo/Philippe Vaillancourt.)
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6 comments:
I had the good fortune to attend a Catholic elementary school staffed by nuns. After about 1968, they went modern, lost the habits and took on an increasingly troubling appearance. Their numbers plunged and lay teachers gradually took over the entire enterprise.
There actually ARE orders of nuns that are growing. The traditional orders. The orders with habits. Sounds too simple? Maybe, but the "renewal" of the established orders speaks for itself. A sterile practice of the faith breeds sterility in vocations. We're just witnessing the results of vocational birth control: A barren Church.
I will vote suicide, and I can understand why traditional orders are beginning to flourish. At this point in time those traditional orders become counterculture. People that join them are (I think) disenchanted with liberal secularism and want to distance themselves from it. I wonder if you can really call them traditional orders as I suspect they are more correctly new traditional. Many might not be the continuation of an older order, but new orders following much of the design of tradition. It’s a subtle difference.
I attended Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School in Columbus, GA from 1963 to 1967. The school was staffed by Ursuline Sisters from Cork, Ireland. In my four years of schooling there, I had one sister and two lay women as teachers. All of the sisters wore the full habit and were addressed as ‘Mother’ rather than ‘Sister’. The sisters were faithful to the Church’s teaching, fair, strict, and excellent teachers. After I left Columbus, I often wondered what happened to the sisters at the school. I had heard in the late 60s that they modified their habit and dropped the Mother title for just plain old sister. I had occasion to communicate with the sisters in Ireland about ten years ago. It was not a very pleasant experience, as they didn’t want to talk at all about any of the pre-Vatican II sisters or the school in Columbus. I was curious about what really became of the Ursuline Sisters of Cork, so I did an internet search. It seems their numbers had dwindled down to a very small number, they had given up teaching for social work and political activism. I found a group photo of the sisters in Ireland. There was not a habit to be found on anyone and they all were sloppily dressed. What a paradigm shift from my youth and the grand sisters who helped form my faith and love for Christ and His Church.
Look at the bright side, now the Church is "with it" and loved by all.... oh wait, never mind. It was suicide.
So sad. Thank God we have the Nashville Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia. Fully in habit and always have been. 300+ strong teaching across the USA and in missions over seas. Average age.....30 years old. No crisis with them thanks be to God. Meanwhile, in other post Vatican II news, the Religious Sisters of Mercy (RSM) that oversee Salve Regina University in Newport, RI just told the Passionist Priest who is in residence to stop wearing his Collar on campus so as to be more inclusive.....unbelievable, if not true. He refused and has now been asked to leave.
Same here in Ohio, The Sisters of the Precious blood, slow suicide, sold off their retreat house, claimed they couldn't afford it anymore, now run by lay group, now highly profitable and they just bought another location and growing exponentially, turning over management and eventual ownership of their relic shrine and gift shop to another lay led organization
https://www.mariasteinshrine.org/
the second largest collection of relics in the USA, not interested in letting a new order take it over or buy it, claims no order would be interested. But they are active on social justice and anti nuclear work, all of the dozen or so left, all retirement age. all polyester nightmares. You should see how they ruined their chapel, disgusting but very Vat2
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