The Ppc

[laetitia crucis]

This thread is EPIC.

[Hilde]

We should totally make this reality!

Brewing beer, living in a tree house, hanging out with you guys all the time and devoting my life to God seems like a good deal to me!

What food shall we eat. Maybe the carmel peeps want to eat vegetarian but should we serve different to different people?

[vee]

[quote name='Mary Veronica' date='07 July 2010 - 08:15 PM' timestamp='1278551719' post='2139126']
What is the age range? I'm 14, and I want to be a Ppc right away.
[/quote]

Go ask the pope there Therese

[vee]

[quote name='Hilde' date='07 July 2010 - 09:20 PM' timestamp='1278555658' post='2139152']
We should totally make this reality!

Brewing beer, living in a tree house, hanging out with you guys all the time and devoting my life to God seems like a good deal to me!

What food shall we eat. Maybe the carmel peeps want to eat vegetarian but should we serve different to different people?
[/quote]

Sushi is not a vegetable.

[Mary Veronica]

[quote name='vee8' date='08 July 2010 - 12:10 AM' timestamp='1278556846' post='2139161']
Go ask the pope there Therese
[/quote]


don't think I won't mother superior

[Mary Veronica]

[quote name='vee8' date='08 July 2010 - 12:12 AM' timestamp='1278556963' post='2139163']
Sushi is not a vegetable.
[/quote]

wasabi

[Hilde]

I like sushi.

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='Mary Veronica' date='07 July 2010 - 08:15 PM' timestamp='1278551719' post='2139126']
What is the age range? I'm 14, and I want to be a Ppc right away.
[/quote]

It's an imaginary Order--all of us are between the ages of 18 and 35, whether or not that is true in real life.
So, you're good. No one will be turned down because of age.

[Mary Veronica]

[quote name='Hilde' date='07 July 2010 - 11:50 PM' timestamp='1278555658' post='2139152']
We should totally make this reality!

Brewing beer, living in a tree house, hanging out with you guys all the time and devoting my life to God seems like a good deal to me!

What food shall we eat. Maybe the carmel peeps want to eat vegetarian but should we serve different to different people?
[/quote]

not all Carmel peeps eat only vegeys, the Carmelite hermit peeps obstain from meat in general but eat donated meat. at my 2 wk live-in, we were given Chinese food. we actually opened our fortune cookies, and mine said "devotion is necessary for commitment." THAT was the coolest secular message I've ever gotten from a cookie ....shall we say Bless the Lord!

Edited July 8, 2010 by Mary Veronica

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='vee8' date='07 July 2010 - 09:42 PM' timestamp='1278556963' post='2139163']
Sushi is not a vegetable.
[/quote]

Well, there is such a thing as vegetarian sushi.

Vegetarian diets will be available to those who wish them--whether that is the rule of your Order or your personal preference. But meat (including red meat) will be on the menu, as well. Sister Cook, as well as being an excellent cook, is also very flexible. Ideally, though, we'd eat our meals together.

If we want to follow a stricter diet on Fridays, and perhaps during Lent and maybe even Advent, is something we will have to decide. But, I know I'd be very unhappy with some of the penitential practices of the Passionists, for example, who give up fruit and vegetables during the summer. Those who want to follow stricter practices with regard to what they eat, are free to do so. Then it would serve as an even greater penance for Sisters who chose to limit what they ate, if they were sitting among Sisters who are eating more than they do. (Again, I'm not talking lavish meals--when I say meat, I mean beef stew, or chicken casserole, tacos, so very tasty and good for you, and yes, Hilde, meatloaf, with special meals on feast days and to a lesser extent on Sundays.)

My preference would be that serving liver and all other organ meats would be against the rule of the community, because it would cause grave offense to certain Sisters (namely me). However, as a compromise, if some Sisters LOVE on a few days of the year, those sisters could have have organ meats in the refectory, while the rest of us hade a take-out pizza party (including coagulated milk pizza for the vegetarians) and banana splits at my hermitage.

We'll have to discuss whether meals are taken in silence with someone doing a reading of some author other than Saint Therese ,or whether talking would be allowed, perhaps at dinner and on Sundays.

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='krissylou' date='07 July 2010 - 09:01 PM' timestamp='1278554461' post='2139147']
Benedictines should be in charge of the guest house, and setting out prayer books (with bookmarks! Those things are confusing!) for guests in the chapel.

The Poor Clares and Carmelites can hide behind the cloister if they want. [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif[/img]

I wanna be an oblate.
[/quote]

I wondered about oblates, because there are certain PM pholks I certainly would like to have in the Community such as Catherine M, and CherieMadame, and I doubt either of them would give up their husbands, not to mention the little one coming soon. But, normally oblates don't live in the community, and it would be nice if as many of us as possible could live together. So, maybe we can come up with some sort of "in-between" status, such as a "permanent discerner." And, we haven't even dealt with what to do with people like Hilde and me, who aren't even Catholics, because it would be a HUGE loss to the community if we weren't members. [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/cool.gif[/img] Plus, I WANT to belong, so I'll find a way. Imaginary communities are good that way. If we decide to make it a contemplative or semi enclosed community, we will want extern sisters.

And, that could be another reason to have some hermitages, so married members could live in their own cottage. BTW Cherie Madame--when your new son arrived, he will be the most loved child anywhere.

Edited July 8, 2010 by IgnatiusofLoyola

[krissylou]

I like Benedict's rule that there should be two (substantial) dishes at each meal -- that way if you don't like one you can just eat the other, no problem. But not more -- if you don't like EITHER you're just being overly picky.

(Not EXACTLY Benedict's phrasing, but it's the idea.)

And also, the definition of being late for office is to show up after the first psalm is completely chanted. Being late is Bad. So, the monks are instructed to be sure to chant that first psalm slowly and thus give stragglers as much time as possible to scamper in.

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='CatherineM' date='07 July 2010 - 06:42 PM' timestamp='1278546175' post='2139096']
Every time we do one of these, the boys invade.

This is my idea of a great treehouse.

[img]http://www.maldives-holiday-direct.co.uk/Images/diva-beach-hammock.jpg[/img]
[/quote]

I don't see any reason why the boys would invade. CatherineM--I picture you sending away boys who want to invade with simply a glare--no words required.

Some men WILL be required, and even nice to have around. We'll need at least a priest or two. And, having some men around to take care of chores, construction jobs, etc. would not be a bad thing. Other Orders manage to keep the men from trying to run things, so we should be able to succeed. I like men, in their proper place.

As for your photo, I started drooling immediately, even if it is hot outside. I do miss swimming in the Caribbean. One possibility is to pick an area where we would have lots of land that includes both forest and warm seashore and beaches. The closest I can come to that in the U.S. are the barrier islands off of North and South Carolina (like Hilton Head), that have beautiful beaches, with warm water, AND forests nearby. We can certainly let our imaginations create a new one.

Off the top of my head, there are two options I can think of for where "necessary men" would live. (The rest of you can probably come up with others.) Either men (including priests--but not including spouses) would live offshore, and could come by boat or helicopter. (Spouses would live in hermitages with their wives and children.) Or else, we could wall off the majority of the island, with the rest of the island available to related "seculars." That would be more convenient for the men who come to visit, but we'd have to assume that we owned the whole island so we'd wouldn't have to worry about development encroaching on our peace. That part of the U.S. has lovely weather 9 months of the year, but summer IS hot. However, I strongly vote that the major areas of the monastery be air conditioned. Perhaps the monastery could be designed so that Sisters living in cells or hermitages could set their own temperatures for their living quarters, so if they want to go without air conditioning, that is their choice.

Edited July 8, 2010 by IgnatiusofLoyola

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='JTheresa' date='07 July 2010 - 07:44 PM' timestamp='1278549862' post='2139118']
Finally!! I found a decent picture of a cell:

[img]http://www.carmelslc.org/pk3bu.jpg[/img]

It's just missing a desk.
[/quote]

I've seen some other pictures of cells--I just have to try to remember where I saw them. The cells I've seen are essentially the same size and as simple as this one is, but they have desks. A desk is a necessity, especially for Dominicans.

Edited July 8, 2010 by IgnatiusofLoyola

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='Mary Veronica' date='07 July 2010 - 08:25 PM' timestamp='1278552305' post='2139129']
Also do aspirants have to take a psychological test? and should it be a PMer that gives that test?

Any particular perequisites? like do we have to know how to dance [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/twist.gif[/img] to be a Franciscan? or have a future potential for fatal-illnesses to be a Carmelite [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/sick.gif[/img]?
[/quote]

I vote for no psychological tests. I have a sneaking suspicion that we're all a little crazy, and some of us might not pass. [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/whistle.gif[/img] Obviously we don't want serial killers, but some eccentricities make for a more interesting community.

Also, there will be no health requirements (or alternatively, since this is a fantasy, we can decide to assume that we are all perfectly healthy, mentally and physically, just as we are all between 18 and 35). [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/cool.gif[/img]

I suspect I may not be the only one who will need some accomodations. As much as I'd love a treehouse, I find stairs very difficult, and I'd be worried about emergencies. (But, I have seen pictures of striking buildings on the ground, that have been built around a tree.) The monastery itself would need at least one elevator. And, although I kid about needing 9-10 hours of sleep, in truth, it is a physical necessity for me--hence my interest in a hermitage, and maybe some extra soundproofing for my cell, which I'd ask to be in the quietest part of the cloister. I may not be able to make it to all the prayers (or even all the meals), and any "work" I did couldn't be physical. I'd need an assistant librarian to help me in the library with shelving books, etc. I also might have to be excused from some activities, such as the "rosary walk" because I'm not able to walk that far. I might have to do a "Rosary sit."

I'd be genuinely afraid that the other Sisters would get resentful that I was not doing "my fair share" of contributing to the community, but unfortunately that is my "reality" right now. So, while I would thoroughly enjoy the cloister gardens, I couldn't help plant them. I might need to be excused on a regular basis from some early morning prayers because I literally cannot get out of bed that early. If I push myself too hard physically, I am bedridden and in pain for a couple of days, so "extra efforts" backfire. I'm always looking at the "portion" of energy my body has each day, and each day figure out the most important things I need to do that day with the energy I have.

Because of the pain I'm in, I wouldn't be able to sleep on a thin Carmelite mattress, as much as I respect those who do so without complaint. Something as seemingly simple as a softer bed, for me can mean the difference between been in pain, and possibly bedridden, and being able to accomplish some tasks. Sorry to be such a downer, but if you know this, then it won't seem like I'm being a princess if I need a cushion in my choir stall, or need air conditioning and heat in my cell because my body doesn't regulate its temperate well. (For example, if I get too physically hot, I develop a fever.)

As for the requirements above for various orders, tuberculosis is treatable now, and relatively rare in the U.S. anyway, so the St. Therese "wannabes" will have to emulate her in other ways. And, I don't see why the Franciscans should be the only ones who get to dance if they want.

Beer and coffee sound great, but we'll also have plenty of other fluids for those of us who are tea and lemonade drinkers.

Edited July 8, 2010 by IgnatiusofLoyola