Carmels With 6 - 12 Month Postulancy & 1 Year Novitiate

[emmaberry101]

[quote name='Laudem Gloriae' timestamp='1349034266' post='2488493']
The posts about the younger people being too inundated with electronics and such is right and is where this ill advised notion to think it's great for cloistered orders to spend their time on websites and blogs, surfing the forums, etc. One Carmelite prioress and a PCC Abbess who I told about some orders doing this said how it is a breach their vow of Enclosure (PCC) and showed no concern for the heremtic life (Carmel) and for both, leaving the world behind them. It's sad to see so many want to bring the world into the cloister to where there is less of the cloister in the cloister! and to where so many orders/communities having movie night, watching lots of DVDs, internet surfing, etc.
[/quote]

Your post had a lot of substance, and I feel bad for not giving it a deserving reply!

I only wanted to mention, pertaining to the quote above, this from the 'Portrait' Section (of Mother Francs) on the PCC Roswell site:

[size=4]"[b][font="Times New Roman"][color="#0F0B52"]A true mother, she was possessed of a tremendous love for the young, and a belief in the young people of today, knowing that they were equal to the challenge of the traditional Poor Clare life and in need of no “watering down” to suit their imagined weakness.[/color][/font][/b]"[/size]

[size=4]I think many of the blossoming clositered communities today (even just those staying happily afloat!) recognize this. After Vatican II, many communities really began to 'insult' young people, as Mother Abbess called it, by thinking them too weak to take up the genuine contemplative life, or apostolic in the active communities, and so watering them down. This was not Vatican II's fault, of course, but the fault of those who took the Council's teaching to extremes. [/size]

[size=4]I think this is the saddest thing about the communities who are not receiving enough vocations. Many of these groups are filled with warm-hearted, caring Sisters...the problem is that they have watered down the life so much that young people are going to the Orders where they can actually give of themselves in the measure they feel God is calling them too. It is such a strange paradox, and I feel very badly for the Sisters in aging communities who must be wondering what went wrong when all they were trying to do was [i]help[/i] young people.... But young discerning people today are making a distinct impression that we don't need to be helped along, though the well-intentioned kindness this help springs from is very much appreciated. We are quite ready to live the religious life in a full, sacrificial, vibrant manner.[/size]

[size=4][img]http://www.passionistnuns.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/SRMfppeaceblog.jpg[/img][/size]

[TIWW]

I recently attended an alumni event for my HS Academy ( and the motherhouse of the active community I entered after High School) We had a 3 month candidature, 6 month Postulancy, 1 year strict canonical novitiate and 3 year simple vows. Another friend from my class went with me. She had been in the order for several years. It was just so very sad for us. There were all these little old ladies with their white hair and colorful polyesters. They have perhaps had 2 vocations in the past 10 years. I sat in the reception lounge talking with one of the nuns, about how very different it is now. She commented that there were not any vocations any more. I asked her if she was familiar with the Dominicans, or Sisters of St Francis of Perpetual Adoration, or other communities who had many, many vocations. I said they had a regular prayer schedule, emphasized importance of community, wore a habit and wanted a life where they could really commit to something. She said the sisters here don't think those things are important anymore, and just couldn't understand it, ( or something to that effect) Both my friend and I drove home with heavy hearts, asking why anyone would ever want to join a community like this?

[maximillion]

I remember the reason given for why we no longer begged (asked) each month for our shampoo, soap etc, was that this was considered 'infantile'.
I began to believe that somehow our poverty, our humility, were no longer of importance to the Religious life....and here I am in the world as a result.

I am also certain there are communities who have modernised, who have changed for the better, who are more true to their roots and founders, who have given up the habit for very good reasons and who have vocations.
I think the Religious life today is more varied than it ever was, so many new apostolates, so many different forms of living out ones Vows, I praise God for these manifestations of His Being and the opportunity to find the perfect means for each of us as individuals to come to perfection.

[Gemma]

[quote name='mantellata' timestamp='1349037902' post='2488516']
I wonder if perhaps... the abbess who is raising her eyebrow... is perhaps a friend of Gemma's and was only informed of the thread through Gemma....

... It could be simply a discussion Gemma had personally with the abbess - who then decided to post here. [/quote]

Precisely.

I told her that since the phorum was made up mostly of college students, the poster was likely doing something for school. Her concern was that someone was looking for the fast track to profession. The 1991 Carmels have a longer formation program because they actually have a Ratio. The 1990s don't have a formal Ratio among themselves, and each Carmel has to develop their own. This can cause inconsistencies and weaknesses in instruction.

BTW--Carmels have prioresses.

Blessings,
Gemma