Elite women Find N0 better Man than the Creator

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Office of Media Relations




USCCB News Release

11-023
February 2, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
En Español




Women Entering Religious Orders Today Highly Educated, Experienced in Church Activities, Survey Finds

Newly professed class more diverse than past classes
One-quarter enter with graduate degrees
Half attended Catholic elementary school

WASHINGTON (February 2, 2011) — Women entering religious orders today are highly educated and experienced in numerous church activities, according to a national survey.

The survey report The Profession Class of 2010: Survey of Women Religious Professing Perpetual Vows was released February 2, the Church’s World Day for Consecrated Life. It was conducted by the Georgetown University-based Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) and commissioned by the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations. The survey was sent to sisters represented by the two conferences of religious women, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, as well as contemplative communities. Respondents represented 52 religious orders. A total of 68 out of 79 sisters contacted completed the survey.

Major findings note:

In general, women religious of the Class of 2010 are more diverse than previously perpetually professed women religious in terms of racial and ethnic identity. Six in ten identify as white, one in five identifies as Asian, and one in ten identifies as Hispanic/Latina.


Nearly nine in ten sisters and nuns were born Catholic and eight in ten came from families in which both parents are Catholic.


Half of responding women religious (51 percent) attended a Catholic elementary school. Women religious are about as likely as other U.S. Catholics to have attended a Catholic high school and much more likely to have attended a Catholic college.


The responding women religious are highly educated. A quarter earned a graduate degree before entering their religious institute. Six in ten entered their religious institute with at least a bachelor’s degree or more.


Many women religious were active in parish life before entering their religious institute. Four in ten participated in a youth group and three in ten participated in a young adult group. Eighty-five percent had ministry experience before entering their religious institute, most commonly in liturgical ministry, faith formation, or social service ministry.


Three-quarters of responding sisters and nuns regularly participated in retreats before they entered their religious institute. Two-thirds regularly prayed the Rosary and/or participated in Eucharistic Adoration. Six in ten regularly participated in a faith sharing or Bible study group and/or in regular spiritual direction.


Nine in ten women religious (87 percent) say they were encouraged to consider religious life by someone in their life. Of those who reported that they were encouraged to consider a vocation, more than half (52 percent) say they were encouraged by a religious sister. A third were introduced to their institute through the recommendation of a priest or advisor.


Most women religious of the Profession Class of 2010 (84 percent) participated in some type of vocation program or experience prior to entering their religious institute. Most commonly this was a “Come and See” experience or a vocation retreat.
“We are proud of the vocation, sacred commitment and service that women religious have made in the Church,” said Archbishop Robert J. Carlson of St. Louis, chairman of the Committee for Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations. “Making the profession of poverty, chastity and obedience is counter-cultural. It requires courage and fidelity to remain faithful to a religious vocation. The bishops of the United States promise their prayers and support for these and future women religious in our country.”

“The report demonstrates that family life and education are significant in forming children in the spiritual life. Many women, before entering, were active in Church and participated in spiritual exercises — especially Eucharistic Adoration, praying the Rosary and retreats. This is a tremendous witness to the power of Christ and prayer in the Church,” said Sister Mary Joanna Ruhland, RSM, associate director of the Secretariat. “It also points to the witness of answering God’s call that religious women and priests give to young people. The personal relationship each has with Christ is fostered by the role models they see in, and encouragement they receive from, women religious and priests.”

The entire survey can be found at: http://www.usccb.org/cl/profession-class-2010.shtml

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Keywords: World Day for Consecrated Life, sisters, nuns, perpetual vows, profession of vows, Archbishop Robert Carlson, Sister Mary Joanna Ruhland, CARA, Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Council for Major Superiors of Women Religious, Catholic Bishops, USCCB

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A PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

Dear OCM, I would like to share with you a prayer which I was given by Sr Elisha-Mary MC during the commemoration of the centenary birthday of Mother Teresa of Calcuta. Please say it as many times as possible it's real beautiful prayer.





Dear Holy Spirit,
Soul of my soul; I adore you¨
Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me and console me.
Please tell me what I should do, and command me to do it.

I promise to be faithful to whatever you permit me to do, only show me your WILL.
Amen.


All done in love,
Piccola- Marie of the Eucharist!

THE RELUCTANT BRIDE

The Order of Carmelite Discalced is one of the religious orders in the Catholic Church which follow a radical way of life. If I to write about the nuns alone (excluding the Carmelite men religious), the first hard reality is that they are cloisterd. If I borrow the definition of Wikpedia, "A cloister (from Latin claustrum, "enclosure") is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a warm southern flank, usually indicates that it is (or once was) part of a monastic foundation, "forming a continuous and solid architectural barrier... that effectively separates the world of the monks from that of the serfs and workmen, whose lives and works went on outside and around the cloister". Kindly don't be scared by the word "Radical"above, but, it's important to keep that in mind. I would like to to quote one if the sayings of their reformer, St Teresa de Jesus (St Teresa of Avila) and probably you might get the gist of what I'm talking about. St Teresa was writing about how a person (A Carmelite nun for that matter) should renounce the World's standards of wisdom in order to attain to true wisdom. St Teresa de Jesus says

" Do you think that it was right for our good Jesus to have to suffer so many insults, and those who heaped them on Him were right, and that they had any right todo Him those wrongs? I do not know why anyone is in a convent who is willing to bear only the crosses that she has a perfect right to expect: such a person should return to the world, though even there such rights will not be safeguarded."- The Way of Perfection pg.83


Just writing about Cloisters, an anecdote pops in my mind which pushes me back in mid 1990s when I was in a secondary school. I can't just ignore how we used to run around the Benedictine's monastery seeing only "Clausura, Clausura posts everywhere.( Clausura is kinder a "No entry" area). When I saw the Poor Clares for the first time ; say twenty years a go, begging for food at the market in Songea, I had very vague ideas about who were they, and it never occurred to me that one day I would even "consider" this kind of life.

Back to the point, it is important to note that for quiet sometime now, I have been thinking about the Order of the Carmelite Discalced. O Carmel! I never thought that I will dare to even write an email enquiring about you! O Carmel, how I'm falling in love with you bit by bit! Still, I don't know where our Good Lord is leading me (I truly TRUST in him and his timings). If I look back in my life, I can't deny the fact that I feel like "A Reluctant Bride"

Dear OCMs, I have been invited to visit the nuns (OCD) in Finland and If God Wills, my Spiritual Director might join me. I will keep you updated. By the way, I'm still waiting for a reply from other Carmelite nun in Tanzania.


Please pray for a Reluctant Bride!

Best n' Peace,

Piccola- Marie of the Eucharist!(I have fallen in love with the Nazarene Carpenter)

Vocations Retreat at the Birgitta Sisters in Djursholm - Stockholm

On 29th through 31, I attended a retreat for people who are discerning religious life and priesthood which was organised by Mosgn Göran Degen Seminary Rector and Leader of the Vocations Team. Along with, were Sr Elisabeth Bunning and Michelle Mope Anderson. Approximately, we were around twelve; four women and eight men. It was such a wonderful retreat.




Infront of the Birgitta sisters cloister

Personally, the retreat was well organised in the sense that it gave the participants an opportunity to not only learn how to hear God's voice, but also how to respond. As a matter of fact, the silence and even the walk with the vocation directress were one of the aspects which opened my eyes to even little details which I usually consider as being of no significance.









"The joy of service" was the theme of the retreat entailing how one should respond the call with the joy of serving and serving in joy (So cool). Often times, many think that a call to religious life for instance, is the call to be miserable, boring and sad. On contrary, one should focus on the essence of the calling; the purpose, who calls and why. If there is a missing link between the "the call" and "service", the religious life becomes rather a myth. Yes "service" and "joy" is the magic behind a religious life. Joy is not necessary happiness, but Joy; enjoying to serve God and souls amidst pains, crosses, etc, etc, JOY,JOY such a beautiful word.(This reminds me of a song which a Benedictine nun taught us in class when I was in Secondary school. The song goes like this;


Joy, joy my heart is full of joy*2
My saviour dear, is ever near
that's the reason why my heart is full of Joy.




One of the things that struck me was the whole issue of listening to God's voice. How do we Listen? This is one of the big questions in discerning religious life. How do God speak? Does he come like a fire same as he did to Moses, or in soft voice as it happened to Prophet Elijah? Adrienne Von Speyr ( From the book; THEY FOLLOWED HIS CALL: Vocation and Asceticism, revised edition of 1986) writes that "God Calls and a man has only to listen. The ear which God the father has given man is capable of receiving the call that goes out from God.




But it seems that it is always a long road from the ear to the will and to love. God calls in in scripture, God calls in Sermons God calls also in every prayer"(page 13-14). The problem with most of us who are discerning the voice of God; especially me,tend to talk more than listening, as a result, our constant struggle has been wondering here and there searching for His audible voice.






Any way, we were told to spend our precious times in listening the voice of God and as Michelle puts it "You listen with all your body; does it burn, any fear? anxiety, inner peace and so on. She added that "If God calls you to do any of his works,He will as well give you all the resources you need such as health etc, so one needs to open oneself to feel how God is speaking to him or her." So in essence, we have to try being attentive and listen, as God speaks to us.





We also got an opportunity to view a film "The Call" about the religious community; Family of Jesus the Healer which added another special spicy in the programme. After the Retreat, My friend Ieva and I walked around Stockholm just to enjoy God's creation and also talk about vocations. At the end we came up with 8 ways to hear God's voice for we believe that vocation is like a seed so it needs pruning, water, manure etc. I added few things and 've come up with ten tenets which are;


1. Attending daily mass
2. Receiving the holy Eucharist daily
3. Frequent confession
4.A daily prayer to the Holy Spirit
5.Devotion to our Lady and Daily recitation of the Holy Rosary
6.Daily scripture reading
7.Holy Hour
8.Reading the lives of the saints
9.Deepen your prayer life, Please get a spiritual directorate
10. Solitude; Set time of silence just for you and for Him, get to know the one who's calling you.








By the way, it happened that in Sweden they have Halloween a week later than the usual Halloween which we all know (a day before all saints day so I couldn't fulfil my promise, Soooooooory) we all know. So, basically I did nothing!

























All done in love,
Piccola - Marie of the Eucharist.