"categories" Of Communities

[krissylou]

I'm trying to come up with neutral phrasings here and failing miserably. Everybody add extra charity and stir. [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/saint.gif[/img]

So, for instance, I have heard people talking about considering the Port Tabacco Carmel but I haven't anyone talking about the Baltimore Carmel, which is geographically quite close and tends to be much more progressive (and does have new vocations entering).

For active orders, the use of an obvious habit is probably a good rule of thumb to identify the sort of thing I am trying (and failing!) to articulate.

One hears a lot that the most traditional orders are the ones that are attracting vocations while the others are dying out. Well, not entirely.

A friend of mine is preparing for her perpetual profession as a Benedictine Sister -- in her community some of the older sisters wear habits (for them this means a black suit -- much like I might wear to work -- plus a simple veil. The veil makes their status as nuns unmistakeable, but they're not going to be confused for Ingrid Bergman in Bells of St Mary's) but most do not. And her community has lots of young vocations -- well not lots like the Nashville Dominicans, but a steady stream. They can't be the ONLY not-habit-wearing community that has people entering.

So where do the people considering those communities chat and network and such? Are they all over on A Nun's Life?

Discuss.

[Thomist-in-Training]

I don't know where they hang out online cause I've never considered that kind of community. :shrug:

I have four categories myself for this issue: traditional[ist], conservative, liberal, and Regina Laudis. (That doesn't mean Regina Laudis is 'more liberal than liberal' on the scale it is just a [i]quartum quid[/i] that I still don't know where to put. )

Examples of the first are FSSP, ICK, SSPX, Carmelite nuns of Valparaiso and Elysburg. The second, Nashville Dominicans, Sisters of Life, and lots and lots of other things. The third, certain Sisters of St. Joseph, etc., although there are individual Sisters in liberal Orders who are still orthodox, I would say.

[krissylou]

[quote name='Thomist-in-Training' date='16 June 2010 - 05:32 PM' timestamp='1276723973' post='2130077']
I don't know where they hang out online cause I've never considered that kind of community. :shrug:

I have four categories myself for this issue: traditional[ist], conservative, liberal, and Regina Laudis. (That doesn't mean Regina Laudis is 'more liberal than liberal' on the scale [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/saint.gif[/img] it is just a [i]quartum quid[/i] that I still don't know where to put. [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif[/img] )

Examples of the first are FSSP, ICK, SSPX, Carmelite nuns of Valparaiso and Elysburg. The second, Nashville Dominicans, Sisters of Life, and lots and lots of other things. The third, certain Sisters of St. Joseph, etc., although there are individual Sisters in liberal Orders who are still orthodox, I would say.
[/quote]

For a period in between college and graduate school I was working in the research office at Great Big University's Medical School.

A WHOLE lot of Great Big Egos would come in and out. One day the chair of medical dietetics was dropping off a research proposal (she didn't often deal with our particular research office) and one of my colleagues was saying after she left "Oh what's different about her? She just doesn't seem like the others, she's so nice, you could just tell there's something different about her" etc etc etc. All after a less than five minute interaction!

Well I knew the answer, because I also knew her from church where she was addressed as Sister Rosita, not Dr. Such-and-so as she was addressed at work.

"She's a nun" I say. She has a few extra letters after her name. Ph.D., a few other professional certifications, and also RSM ...

(Religious Sister of Mercy, I think of Detroit. She wore a profession band, but no habit.)

I've always loved that story, and hope and pray that maybe someday I will have that effect on people too!

[zunshynn]

[quote name='Thomist-in-Training' date='16 June 2010 - 03:32 PM' timestamp='1276723973' post='2130077']
I don't know where they hang out online cause I've never considered that kind of community. :shrug:

I have four categories myself for this issue: traditional[ist], conservative, liberal, and Regina Laudis. (That doesn't mean Regina Laudis is 'more liberal than liberal' on the scale it is just a [i]quartum quid[/i] that I still don't know where to put. )

Examples of the first are FSSP, ICK, SSPX, Carmelite nuns of Valparaiso and Elysburg. The second, Nashville Dominicans, Sisters of Life, and lots and lots of other things. The third, certain Sisters of St. Joseph, etc., although there are individual Sisters in liberal Orders who are still orthodox, I would say.
[/quote]

Regina Laudis is not a "questionable" community, and I think it's completely out of line to cast them as such.

[cmaD2006]

[quote name='zunshynn' date='16 June 2010 - 07:15 PM' timestamp='1276726547' post='2130108']
Regina Laudis is not a "questionable" community, and I think it's completely out of line to cast them as such.
[/quote]

I didn't take Thomist-In-Training's statement to mean that its a questionable community; she just didn't know how to classify them.

[zunshynn]

[quote name='cmariadiaz' date='16 June 2010 - 04:28 PM' timestamp='1276727333' post='2130114']
I didn't take Thomist-In-Training's statement to mean that its a questionable community; she just didn't know how to classify them.
[/quote]

It's still unnecessarily singling out a community. If you [i]must[/i] "categorize" communities, and have one that you don't know how to classify, then, seriously, just don't mention them.

I'm sure none of us have tried, or are qualified, to categorize every community out there, so why mention only one out of all of the "unclassifiable" ones?

[cmaD2006]

[quote name='zunshynn' date='16 June 2010 - 07:33 PM' timestamp='1276727636' post='2130116']
It's still unnecessarily singling out a community. If you [i]must[/i] "categorize" communities, and have one that you don't know how to classify, then, seriously, just don't mention them.

I'm sure none of us have tried, or are qualified, to categorize every community out there, so why mention only one out of all of the "unclassifiable" ones?
[/quote]

Maybe because it is worth mentioning -- I did a quick search of them and they look to be an interesting community (one that I wouldn't consider only because if I reconsider religious life it would be to a semi-cloistered or an active community, and in all likelihood not Benedictine)

All I said before is that I didn't take the comment the way you took it ... and if you're concerned that the community is being shown in a possibly bad light -- maybe you can point out some of its goodness. (Again I don't know anything about the community other than what I've just read).

Blessings,

[osapientia]

[quote name='cmariadiaz' date='16 June 2010 - 07:39 PM' timestamp='1276727992' post='2130119']
Maybe because it is worth mentioning -- I did a quick search of them and they look to be an interesting community (one that I wouldn't consider only because if I reconsider religious life it would be to a semi-cloistered or an active community, and in all likelihood not Benedictine)

All I said before is that I didn't take the comment the way you took it ... and if you're concerned that the community is being shown in a possibly bad light -- maybe you can point out some of its goodness. (Again I don't know anything about the community other than what I've just read).

Blessings,
[/quote]
I know them very well. They are "different" but I don't think they are "different" in ways that take them outside the general categories of traditionalist, conservative and liberal. They are conservative. They are completely Benedictine and they are in good standing with The Church. I think they offer some things that other monastic communities do not offer...like internships in land management and monastic arts but I don't think that reflects on their "conservatism" or lack thereof.

Just my .02
Osap

[zunshynn]

[quote name='zunshynn' date='16 June 2010 - 04:33 PM' timestamp='1276727636' post='2130116']
It's still unnecessarily singling out a community. If you [i]must[/i] "categorize" communities, and have one that you don't know how to classify, then, seriously, just don't mention them.

I'm sure none of us have tried, or are qualified, to categorize every community out there, so why mention only one out of all of the "unclassifiable" ones?
[/quote]

Wow, two negatives for saying it's rude to single out a community without justification. Nice. I'd forgotten why I'd stopped posting in the vocation station. Now I remember.

I hope you all grow up a little bit before you enter religious life.

Have a nice day.

Edited June 16, 2010 by zunshynn

[morostheos]

[quote name='osapientia' date='16 June 2010 - 08:07 PM' timestamp='1276729662' post='2130126']
I know them very well. They are "different" but I don't think they are "different" in ways that take them outside the general categories of traditionalist, conservative and liberal. They are conservative. They are completely Benedictine and they are in good standing with The Church. I think they offer some things that other monastic communities do not offer...like internships in land management and monastic arts but I don't think that reflects on their "conservatism" or lack thereof.

Just my .02
Osap
[/quote]

Thanks for clarifying that - I had never heard of them before today, so I was wondering how it was they were different. Is there anything else?

[krissylou]

Goodness, look what I started.

Sorry about that.

... slinks off ...

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='krissylou' date='16 June 2010 - 08:06 PM' timestamp='1276736787' post='2130178']
Goodness, look what I started.

Sorry about that.

... slinks off ...
[/quote]

Don't apologize, and don't slink off. Please. I understood your question, but I couldn't help because I know so little about various religious communities. I think I understood what you were getting at, but I don't have any good ideas right now for putting the question a better way.

BTW--On Phatmass, we tend to concentrate on habited orders, but there are also excellent Orders who wear modified habits--and get vocations! For example, "my" Sisters wear a modified habit and veil, and although they aren't swamped with vocations like the Nashville Dominicans, four new postulants entered in the past year, which I think most Orders would consider a respectable showing. And, despite the modified habit, from everything I have seen and read, the Order is in line with the Magisterium and doesn't have any practices that I would consider "hinky." (That's a technical term. LOL) So, the length of the habit doesn't necessarily tell you all there is to tell about an Order--if only it were so easy. And, the charism of "my" Sisters" is love for others, inspired by the Eucharist. No wonder they're all so nice!

Zunshyn--If you look, all your -1's are gone (I think) and you even have a few +1's. You have friends (like me), who, even if we've never talked before, don't believe you should get an undeserved -1. By the fact that all your -1's are gone, you obviously have lots of friends in Vocation Station.

Edited June 17, 2010 by IgnatiusofLoyola

[Thomist-in-Training]

Ay yay yay. My phrasing probably came across as facetious, but it is literally true, as cmariadiaz said (thanks) that they did strike me as outside of the box in [i]several [/i]ways (active or contemplative? neither/both) which made me think and which I am still trying to process. If I visited more Benedictine communities maybe that part would also be clearer to me, or I would have more things that could not be neatly categorized. I certainly [b]didn't [/b]mean they are unfaithful. I don't think it's my job to categorize religious communities for everyone, but as a human being, I [i]do[/i] try to categorize things in my head, which most people do, I assume. So, when krissylou asked about it, I posted what I thought.
I don't believe that this is offensive to them, actually, I think that is probably the kind of thing they would be pleased about (not being able to be put into a slot).

I may, however, be wrong. This has been known to happen.

[morostheos]

I have to say that fourth category of "Regina Laudis" (and other "outside the box" orthodox communities) is the one I find most interesting. I really love so many of the things that they do in their monastic internship, reading that list of stuff makes me drool a bit. I can learn about beekeeping, weaving and spinning AND Gregorian chant all at the same place? That AMAZING! lol

[franciscanheart]

I'm so very confused.