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Saturday, August 17, 2013

RELIGIOUS LIFE WILL BE STRONG IN THE FUTURE WHEN MORE RELGIOUS ORDERS DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE NASHVILLE DOMINICANS

I was able to visit the Nashville Dominican's Mother House in Nashville in July. To say that I was impressed it an understatement. About 28 postulants had gathered there all in their early 20's to make their first profession and receive the habit of a novice. As an aside, you will see in the video the sister's chapel at their mother house in Nashville. It looks like it was built in the 1800's but actually it was completed around 2010. So it is possible to build classical looking Catholic Churches today. There simply has to be a will to do so and God will make the way!

This is another order of the Dominican Sisters based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist and they do it right too and give us hope for the future of religious life in America:

This is a blast from the past and as benign as this news report is, it is but the beginning of the unraveling of traditional religious orders of that day that were at their peak with new recruits. They actually thought that changing their habit to make it more practical would gain new recruits and they actually thought that the next step, not wearing the habit at all and living alone in apartments would do the same thing!

And the sisters who were young in the above video showing a change of habits in the 1960's and who spearheaded the deconstruction and iconoclasm of their orders, well, those who didn't leave the convent and stayed are pictured in the video below taken recently. Do you detect anything different about them compared to the Nashville Sisters above? Listen to the trite 1960's style folk song that they continue to sing and think is the wave of the future! Delusional to say the least:

12 comments:

Scotty Moore said...

Young, vibrant, feminine and happy v. a bunch of angry, bitter, belligerent old hags. What's to compare?

Anonymous said...

The third video suggests that a Vatican "mandate" somehow threatens the "works of justice" done by these nuns.

I'm sorry, but it's about time we start demanding that those who carelessly invoke terms like "justice" start telling us exactly what they mean. What kind of "justice" are these pantsuited bluehairthugs working toward? For the most part, it seems as if their idea of "justice" is stirring up resentment, ignoring the basic magisterium of the Church and working to increase voter registration for Democrats so we can keep electing pro-aborts. "Justice" is so badly misused and overused that it's become almost meaningless.

Readers, the next time someone uses the term justice, I challenge you to ask them specifically what they mean. And the next time one of these ladies in the bottom two videos introduces herself to you as a nun, ask her politely how you were supposed to be able to tell she is a nun.

Gene said...

"Social justice" has long been a code word for Leftist/progressive political ideology. It is such a loaded and jaded term that I wish the Church would stay away from it completely. I love to ask my liberal friends, "Do you really think that the "justice" passed down by the US Supreme Court and the other courts of the land is the same "justice" that Amos or Hosea were talking?"
They scratch their heads and act like I just spoke to them in Cree Indian or Eskimo...

Anonymous said...

"Young, vibrant, feminine and happy v. a bunch of angry, bitter, belligerent old hags."

"Post an intelligent and civil comment. Comments contrary to these two norms, regardless of point of view, will NOT BE POSTED, ESPECIALLY THE USE OF DEROGATORY LANGUAGE TOWARDS ANYONE."

The farce continues...

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

The Holy Father had astute observations too, perhaps his comments should not be posted, although the comments are true. I think the Italian word for old maids can also be translated into old hags. He also called some laity pickled pepper faces and for many a truism:

Pope Francis has told nuns from around the world that they must be spiritual mothers and not "old maids."

Francis also warned the sisters against using their vocations for personal ambition, saying priests and sisters who do so "do more harm to the church."

Francis has complained frequently about such "careerism" in the church.

The pope made the comments during an audience Wednesday with about 800 sisters attending an assembly of the International Union of Superiors General, which gathers the leaders of women's religious orders from some 75 countries.

Gene said...

Hey...it's Anonymous again! LOL! Hey, Anonymous, why don't you get that tattooed across your forehead. You could do it the same time you get your you-know-what-pierced...or have you already done that. LOL!

Marc said...

Anonymous,

Here's a straw.

John Nolan said...

JP II I think gave up on the traditional religious orders, which seemed to have collapsed completely in the wake of Vatican II, in particular the Jesuits. He preferred Opus Dei and some of the newer movements which I would be a bit suspicious of.

However, what we are seeing now is a revival of tradition among those orders which were quick to jettison it in the 1960s and 1970s.
This includes Benedictines such as those at Le Barroux; Franciscans such as those of the Immaculate, and Dominicans such as those shown above. I spoke to a (secular) priest who believed that the revival in the Church would, as so often in the past, be spearheaded by the religious orders. The Sinsinawa Dominicans, the LWCR and liberal dinosaurs like Timothy Radcliffe OP represent a failed experiment whose days are numbered. Laus Deo!

Hammer of Fascists said...

Anon at 8:54: what do you find derogatory? They're angry. They're bitter. They're belligerent. They're old.

Maybe "hag?"

The term is related to witch, specifically, the crone, the old woman, typically defined by her post-menopausal state, wise in the lore paganism because of her years. Given that these people are old and are embracing many pagan concepts, "hag" may in fact be an accurate descriptor.

Gene said...

"How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags! What is't you do...I conjure you by that which you profess,
Howe'er you come to know it, answer me. Though you untie the winds and let them fight against the Churches..." MacBeth Act IV, Scene 1. Hey, it's even Shakespeare...

Just asking said...

Any comment Sister Elizabeth? I know you are out there.

Sr Elizabeth said...

I am out here and found the last video difficult to watch. I did not finish it. I left a longer comment on the other post of Fr McDonald"s.
I found myself relating more with the Nashville Dominicans even though my community is different. We share many of the same daily practices and community traditions. I feel the same joy and enthusiam about my life and vocation.
Community is very important to me. It is more than just living together. It is also about seeing as the first place of belonging and giving oneself to it completely.
Picking my own work outside a Catholic or charism setting, choosing who I live with and writing my own vows just does not make sense to me.
I also value being sent by my community to serve as needed by the Church, my community and people who live in poverty.