A history of 'the problem with nuns' has some surprising elements.
...Beginning on December 8, 1950, and continuing through December 12, 1957, Superiors General of women's institutes who had generalates in Rome were repeatedly ordered by Pius XII to "update" and "adapt" to the world by not only modifying their rules, constitutions, and customs, but also by modifying their traditional habits, and doing away with "outmoded" acts of devotion or penance.
The resistance to Pius XII's aggressive program of aggiornamento came from two sources — the Italian-dominated Curia which traditionally acted as the watchdog of the Faith, and the Superiors General themselves. Tensions ran high....
...One cannot express spirit of the great St. Teresa in slacks and Woolworth crockery, because that is not how she expressed it....
The contention is that it is no longer genuine poverty to have voluminous habits and old-fashioned brown ware when modern fashions in both would be so much cheaper. We are told that we are paying large sums in order to surround ourselves with an artificial atmosphere which simply annoys postulants who come in having seen real poverty in the world....--Sr. Imelda (a Carmelite) in the 1950's.
Her comment--especially in the context of the article--immediately calls to mind the "liturgy of Vatican II" fantasies and phantasms, does it not?
HT: BadgerCath
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Q.
Since most of the LCWR communities are going extinct, would it not be just as easy to wait a few decades years until the organization disappears?
We already have the CMSWR, which is very orthodox, and in 20-30 years it will probably the only nuns' organization in the US."
A.
You are overly optomistic about how long these liberal dissident Orders of nuns will last! Try 5-10 years at most, for most of them!
A few years ago, when I had alot of spare time,, I helped a priest in my Archdiocese compile a book on the disaster of Vatican II....one of the large chapters dealth with religious life.
THat was in 2005 when I was researching for him, and found that 99.9% of the femminist Orders of nuns had declined by as much as 80% from what they were in 1964.
For instance, before Vatican II, there were close to 100 USA Orders of sisters which had 1,000+ members.
Today, there is 1 ! The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondolet...barely at 1,225.
Before Vatican II, there were 181,000 nuns in the USA. Today, there are barely 50,000. The median age of sisters in 1962 was 34.
Today, it is 76. In some communities world wide, like the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, the average age approached 80!
So you can see, they won't last decades! Possibly 5 years as a viable community.
Most Orders of USA nuns are no longer viable communities at all. Most have such an aged commuity, that fully 75% of money and time is spent maintaining and caring for their elderly members who need specialized nursing care.
IN 1962, 97% of teaching staff in Catholic parochial schools were nuns. Today, it is less than 2% !!
Before Vatican II, it was not uncommon for the larger communities of sisters (those at or over 1,000 members, and some who had membership in the 8oo's to 900's) to attract 100+ novices and postulants per year.
Many Order back then still maintianed the European system of recieving postulants. The formation term for postulants was back then 6 months. So some Orders took in as many as 100 girls as postulants in September. They proceeded to become novices in March, and the Order recieved another 100 girls as postulants in March as well.
But by the early 1960's, most USA Orders had adopted the American system of recieving ONE group of postulants in September.
Nuns usted to staff over 250 Catholic hospitals in the USA and another 150 nursing homes and other works of charity.
Today, they still staff 5 hospitals!! That's all. And many have closed because the nuns pulled out....just like thousands of parochial schools.
These old embittered radical femminists have only about 5 years to whine for women priests and other liberal garbage.
They destroyed their own Orders after Vatican II. They deserve what they get.
BY the way, don;t fall for the sob stories of giving money to help support "our elderly sisters". These "elderly sisters" like Sister Joan Chittister,76 and teresa Kane,76 and Donna Quinn,78...are the radicals who helped start the revolution that destroyed their Orders 50 years ago.
All the nuns in their 80's and 90's now, are the administrators who in their early 50's as Mother Superiors ushered in the "reforms" that wrecked their Orders.
"They destroyed their own Orders after Vatican II. They deserve what they get."
How mighty Christian of you!
This is not news to me, of course. Pius did a number of equally foolish things during his pontificate (and, no, I'm not referring to the ridiculous accusations being made against him by the tiresome Jewish chorus). His upbringing was troubled and he mixed in liberal circles all his life.
He is not the staunch conservative many think he was. Indeed it was he, not fat, jolly Zohn XXIII who started the ball rolling on the Second Vatican Catastrophe.
The last "great" Pope we had was St Pius X. Most of the rest have been either mediocre, cowardly or disastrous. Perhaps one day God will have pity on His Church and send us a Pope with a backbone.
Post a Comment