Semi-cloistered Communities

[FutureSister2009]

How different are they from fully cloistered communities? Do they get to go home for visits once in a while? I was looking at the Children of Mary and they say they are semi-cloistered. So I was wondering what exactly that meant.  I mean I kind of know but it sounds confusing.

[freedomreigns]

Why don't you e-mail the Children of Mary to find out?

[FutureSister2009]

I did but they haven't answered yet.

[petitpèlerin]

At the moment I live in a small village that is home to the Contemplative Sisters of St John who are semi-cloistered so I can just share my observations. They spend most of their time inside the cloister. They have no apostolate, although they welcome friends and visitors to join them at mass and prayer, except on their weekly desert day. They can leave the cloister to go for walks or bike rides (as they're all doing today because it's a) desert day and b) the warmest, most beautiful day yet this spring and everybody's outside). They sometimes leave the cloister to go to a store, pick up donations, go for a community outing such as a hike or local pilgrimmage, or go to a community event with their apostolic brothers and sisters. I don't know if or how often they are ever able to visit home.

[Luigi]

http://marythefont.org/

 

This group has options for cloistered, semi-cloistered, and active. Both men and women.

[Totally Franciscan]

The terms cloistered, semi-cloistered, active, etc. can mean different things to different communities depending on their constitutions.  You would need to contact the orders themselves to ask about these things.  More often than not you will find information about their life on their websites. 

[FutureSister2009]

Their website doesn't say a whole lot about it. It's pretty vague. I'm just waiting for them to get back to me

[Kayte Postle]

Every community is different on how they live out being semi-cloistered. I know that for Children of Mary they spend most of their time on their grounds, but they do leave for mass and work at a soup kitchen in Columbus several times a week, along with other community outings. They always welcome anyone to the land, with few exceptions (like hermitage days, community retreats. Oddly enough they do allow their volunteers to be there on their weekly silent days). They do not have home visits, but their family can come and visit them for a week (or 2? I don't remember).

 

If you don't hear anything via email soon, give them a call! All the sisters are very sweet, and would be happy to answer your questions.

 

[FutureSister2009]

Every community is different on how they live out being semi-cloistered. I know that for Children of Mary they spend most of their time on their grounds, but they do leave for mass and work at a soup kitchen in Columbus several times a week, along with other community outings. They always welcome anyone to the land, with few exceptions (like hermitage days, community retreats. Oddly enough they do allow their volunteers to be there on their weekly silent days). They do not have home visits, but their family can come and visit them for a week (or 2? I don't remember).

 

If you don't hear anything via email soon, give them a call! All the sisters are very sweet, and would be happy to answer your questions.

 

Thanks for your help! I am thinking of calling them if I don't hear anything soon

[FFI Griswold]

Ave Maria!

 

The terms cloistered, semi-cloistered, active, etc. can mean different things to different communities depending on their constitutions.  You would need to contact the orders themselves to ask about these things.  More often than not you will find information about their life on their websites. 

 

This does seem to be the case. Hearing common terms such as "active", "active-contemplative", "contemplative", "cloistered", etc. gives you a general idea, but in practice can vary greatly in the details. I have never even heard of the term "semi-cloistered" before.

 

The Franciscans of the Immaculate describe themselves not as "active-contemplative", but "contemplative-active", stressing the dominant role of prayer, and you can tell just by looking at the typical prayer schedule (some do the Extraordinary Form of the Divine Office and Mass, which is even longer).

 

 

At the moment I live in a small village that is home to the Contemplative Sisters of St John who are semi-cloistered so I can just share my observations. They spend most of their time inside the cloister. They have no apostolate, although they welcome friends and visitors to join them at mass and prayer, except on their weekly desert day. They can leave the cloister to go for walks or bike rides (as they're all doing today because it's a) desert day and b) the warmest, most beautiful day yet this spring and everybody's outside). They sometimes leave the cloister to go to a store, pick up donations, go for a community outing such as a hike or local pilgrimmage, or go to a community event with their apostolic brothers and sisters. I don't know if or how often they are ever able to visit home.

 

I know some cloistered monastic communities that also go for walks, runs, bike rides, go to the store, help parishes celebrate Mass, go to vocations events, etc. We, Franciscans of the Immaculate, sound pretty much like this but have the active apostolate, and yet when within the cloister you might consider it strict.

 

So it seems like the color depth of the religious-description-spectrum is not just 8-bit, but more like 24-bit true color! Ave Maria!

 

JMJ,

 

fra John Paul