Academic-oriented Orders?

[Sister Marie]

I agree with you Anselm!! Besides.. I wasn't a good student in the 70's and higher education never held a great attraction for me. Iv always associated Dominicans with teaching.. Because that was what my town had back in the day. Catholic schools- Dominican nuns. I wouldn't enter a community only to become a teacher in it!! That is just my perspective.

 

If you aren't called to an academically inclined community than you have narrowed down your search well but for some being a teacher is part of their call to religious life and one of the gifts with which God has blessed them.

 

It's all about each individual finding how God is calling them to holiness.

[OnlySunshine]

I was really hoping, when I visited the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, that I would be able to enter there because I loved how they valued education and that their apostolate was largely in the healthcare field.  They believe that the Sisters should be professionals in their field and even send Sisters to Rome to study Canon Law.  They have many doctors, including a psychiatrist who does the psych exams for the SSFPA Sisters' candidates.  They have their own clinic named after the Sacred Heart, as well.  That's not all they do.  Many of the Sisters are teachers all the way up to college.  They had at least one Sister teaching in a seminary.  They also have Sisters who serve in diocesan administrative positions, financial accountants, etc.  But, I realized that, although my desire to be a student was great, that was not a good enough reason to enter somewhere.  Especially when I had reservations about talking to the Vocation Director.  For some reason, she and I never saw eye to eye.  She was nice but a little too demanding and she was adamant, along with the Assistant Postulant Director, that I have a job and I was finished with school.  I never got to speak to the Postulant Director and I never really understood why she pushed so hard but I think it was for the best.  I'm studying to earn a Bachelor's in Health Administration with a concentration in Aging Services so it worked out.  Plus, I honestly don't think I would have been truly happy there since I didn't feel as though I "fit in."  Part of me wished I did (while I was there and a while afterward) though because a friend paid my airfare so I thought it MUST be God's will that I enter the RSMs.  Now, I understand that's not true.  :)

[Lilllabettt]

  She was nice but a little too demanding and she was adamant, along with the Assistant Postulant Director, that I have a job and I was finished with school.

 

you mean she wanted you to quit going to school right away and find a job instead? And after working that for awhile apply? Or she wanted you to finish school, then work a job, and then apply?
 

[OnlySunshine]

you mean she wanted you to quit going to school right away and find a job instead? And after working that for awhile apply? Or she wanted you to finish school, then work a job, and then apply?
 

 

She didn't like that I was simply going to school.  At the time, since it was so close to finals and I really wanted to study HARD since I was in College Algebra and had problems with that course previously, I didn't want to mess it up.  I promised that I would try to find a job after the semester was over but I felt I really needed concentrate on my schoolwork.  Plus, the unemployment rate in my state is HORRIBLE.  We have over 9% unemployment.  She didn't understand that and thought that it was necessary that I was working.  She wouldn't even talk to me about future opportunities and when I emailed her to ask if the Postulant Director was available to speak, she told me that I wasn't following her directions thus I didn't have a vocation to their order.  I think she thought I was going over her head.  She completely blew me off after that.  I was really angry with the way it was handled but I think it was for the best.  I understand personality clashes happen in religious life but this was completely unnecessary.  She sent me an email instead of calling like I asked her to.  And when I sent a follow up a few weeks later asking for more clarification so that I could fix whatever I could, she never answered.  It's like she just didn't care anymore, which was rough.

 

The only thing I can gather from what happened is maybe they wanted to see if I could juggle a demanding schedule so I could be prepared for the rigors of religious life? 

Edited July 21, 2013 by MaterMisericordiae

[Sister Marie]

She didn't like that I was simply going to school.  At the time, since it was so close to finals and I really wanted to study HARD since I was in College Algebra and had problems with that course previously, I didn't want to mess it up.  I promised that I would try to find a job after the semester was over but I felt I really needed concentrate on my schoolwork.  Plus, the unemployment rate in my state is HORRIBLE.  We have over 9% unemployment.  She didn't understand that and thought that it was necessary that I was working.  She wouldn't even talk to me about future opportunities and when I emailed her to ask if the Postulant Director was available to speak, she told me that I wasn't following her directions thus I didn't have a vocation to their order.  She completely blew me off after that.  I was really angry with the way it was handled but I think it was for the best.  I understand personality clashes happen in religious life but this was completely unnecessary.  She sent me an email instead of calling like I asked her to.  And when I sent a follow up a few weeks later asking for more clarification so that I could fix whatever I could, she never answered.  It's like she just didn't care anymore, which was rough.

 

Could it have been requested because in that community sisters often study and work at the same time? I don't know anything about the Alma Mercy Sisters but I know in my own community the only time a sister simply studies without working at the same time is if they have to do a full time internship.  I'm getting my masters right now and working as a full-time teacher at the same time.  Other sisters I know are getting their PhD's while running a school.  She may have wanted you to try because if you weren't able to do both at the same time as a lay woman you wouldn't be able to fully enter into the life of the community if/when they asked you to study and minister at the same time.  

 

I don't mean that as a criticism towards you at all... we are all different.  I'm just suggesting that maybe she didn't want you to enter and then be unable to keep up with the way the community does things because that would have been much harder for you spiritually and emotionally.  

 

I'm not saying she did it the right way.  I'm just wondering if her intentions were more to protect you while still giving you an opportunity to discern.

[OnlySunshine]

Could it have been requested because in that community sisters often study and work at the same time? I don't know anything about the Alma Mercy Sisters but I know in my own community the only time a sister simply studies without working at the same time is if they have to do a full time internship.  I'm getting my masters right now and working as a full-time teacher at the same time.  Other sisters I know are getting their PhD's while running a school.  She may have wanted you to try because if you weren't able to do both at the same time as a lay woman you wouldn't be able to fully enter into the life of the community if/when they asked you to study and minister at the same time.  

 

I don't mean that as a criticism towards you at all... we are all different.  I'm just suggesting that maybe she didn't want you to enter and then be unable to keep up with the way the community does things because that would have been much harder for you spiritually and emotionally.  

 

I'm not saying she did it the right way.  I'm just wondering if her intentions were more to protect you while still giving you an opportunity to discern.

 

I definitely understand if that was her reasoning.  I just didn't like how she never explained why it was they wanted me to have a job.  The impression I got from them was perhaps, because I wasn't working, they believed I was still suffering from depression even though I was stable with medication.  Without explanation, my mind jumped to all sorts of conclusions and it wasn't healthy.  I still wonder why they withheld communication from the Postulant Mistress.  I understand the Assistant PM is there for a reason but, if someone requests to speak with the PD, it shouldn't be construed as "going over someone's head" or "not following orders."

 

I realize now, after more time discerning and being in the world - especially after this last order turned me down - that I understand why communities would not see me as being mature enough to handle religious life just yet.  I haven't had a job in 3 years that lasted and I don't have a Bachelor's degree even though I'm 30 years old (or will be this week).  That's why I've decided to work on my life skills before pursuing religious life again.  I'm not even sure I have the calling to enter.  But, at least, I will be more prepared and much more able to handle the rigors of such a demanding lifestyle.  :)

[nikita92]

Thank you Sister Marie. When I have instructed other co-workers in my job (I was a supervisor for pre-board security last year ) I was complimented by alot of them! Yet teaching academics etc is not the kind of ACTIVE that draws me to religious life. However, I am a people person.

[domenica_therese]

Well, my ideal order (though I don't think this is feasible) would be deeply contemplative but also very oriented toward academic formation among graduate students -- in fields such as philosophy and theology especially, but also literature, history, and psychology, and also serve as academically-minded sidekicks to, say, councils at the Vatican, doing research, writing, etc.; I feel as if there is a total lack of women, one, but definitely religious women, two, in those circles. I'm thinking here of Dominican friars who teach at pontifical institutes and at chaplaincies, etc., on a regular basis; the Nashville sisters are much more geo-centric and more rarely teach at universities. 

 

Edited to add: At this point I don't feel like there is an order in which I would feel as if I were using to total capacity the primary gifts the Lord has given me (and I've not discerned yet whether or not He wants to further employ those gifts in my vocation), but I'm deeply sure of my vocation to religious life (life in community, life bound by the vows, etc.), but yet my life really revolves around the academia, around reading, and around study, and the work I've done has been pretty extensive in those fields: and I don't necessarily feel called to stop doing it, to sacrifice the experience for a particular charism, or for personal use as a medium for sanctity (as among contemplative Dominicans, who are absolutely beautiful). A lot of this is totally hypothetical...

 

 

Are you sure you're not an active Dominican? :P I know a Nashie who teaches at the Angelicum in Rome. I definitely sympathize with the disinclination to "hide the light under the bushel basket" and use academically-minded contemplation merely as a path for personal growth towards sanctity/union with God. Although I have no actual suggestions (other than maybe look more closely at Nashville) you will be in my prayers.

 

 

If you aren't called to an academically inclined community than you have narrowed down your search well but for some being a teacher is part of their call to religious life and one of the gifts with which God has blessed them.

 

It's all about each individual finding how God is calling them to holiness.

 

Exactly.

 

The call to be a teacher is, in itself, very vocational, and many problems in the field of education today come from the fact that people become teachers as a last ditch thing. Like "Oh, I don't know what I'm going to do with this degree, I guess I'll be a teacher." I've had people telling me I would be wasted teaching elementary school -- as if it weren't one of the most necessary, worthwhile, and demanding professions there is.

 

Simply equating a vocation with what you will occupationally do in the order is a mistake; however, sometimes the reasons we're drawn to a profession are tied to the same fundamental reasons we're called to a charism. I have never really seriously considered any order that was not a teaching order simply because I knew I was called to teach long before I had that degree of certainty about religious life. Later I realized I didn't have to go around looking at EVERY existing teaching order in case it was the one, since the fact that I was called to teaching was actually, at its root, a deep desire to spread the flame of truth -- something very Dominican. The Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George teach as well, but there is a different fundamental why behind their apostolate, and the why is important. When I first had a sense of calling, I got freaked out because I thought that God was asking me to give up my desire to go to college, teach, etc. and go be cloistered somewhere. (I don't mean to snub cloistered life though; it is BEAUTIFUL and gives me hope for the Church.) I talked to a priest who reassured me that God works with our gifts and the deepest desires of our heart. He made some of us more academically minded for a reason. Sure you get people who are called to enter Carmel with a PhD, but study, and most importantly, the sharing of contemplation, is what sets me on fire for God. I love adoration, but some of my most profoundly spiritual moments have also happened during or as a direct result of philosophy class. If I were to deny that aspect of myself and force myself to cultivate a devotion to God primarily as a father or a shepherd instead of eternally-contagiously-burning-truth-fire-of-love I feel like I would be doing great damage to myself spiritually -- just like Fr. Dubay talks about how denying a vocation when you have one is like rending your soul because you aren't being who you were made to be.

[nikita92]

After my post about not being interested in teaching orders... Looky what was sent to me!! I thought it was very ironic!! Lol FROM THE PASTOR
July 21, 2013
by Fr. George W. Rutler


During the years I have been pastor here, I have written books on various subjects. Had I enjoyed the luxury of an academic position with ample time to think and write, I suppose what I wrote could have been better. The time I did have available had to be squeaked out of a normal parish life, which is not unlike that of a busy family. I recall how I wrote one book in the office of another parish, in between filling out Mass cards for parishioners at the front desk.

I am grateful that I had to find time, because it made time more precious. I am glad that all of my priesthood has been as a parish priest and not as a professor, for parishes are far more stimulating to creative thought than classrooms are, because the real challenges of life are more frequent and insistent in a normal neighborhood than on a leafy college campus.

I am not against intellectuals, unless they think of themselves as such, and I have spent perhaps too much time in schools myself, but I find that people who do not make a career of school are generally brighter than those who do. Some of the brightest people I have known dropped out of school early on. I do not mean to diminish those who have dedicated their fine minds to noble teaching, and many of them are as intelligent as the ordinary people I meet on the street every day. It is just that teaching in a university is like fishing in an aquarium, and teaching in a parish is like fishing in the ocean.

My newest book would have been bigger had I not had to baptize, marry and bury people. But if the book is small, its theme is big because it is an account of a year, 1942 to 1943, in the world’s biggest war. The Second World War was a struggle against blatant evil. That is why I called the book “Principalities and Powers” — for that is how St. Paul described the constant struggle between Christ and the Anti-Christ. That time of war paraded some of history’s worst villains, and also some of its best heroes.

The Church struggled against the same moral threats that menace our society today. In 1943, Cardinal Michael Faulhaber of Munich held up the Holy Cross of Christ against the Twisted Cross of the National Socialists and said what it behooves everyone to say against anyone who misuses civil power: “The State, as an institution built by God, can establish its laws, and its subjects are under the obligation to obey them, for the sake of their conscience. The State has the right to levy taxes and to demand sacrifices of property and life in the defense of the Fatherland. The State, however, has no right to make laws which are incompatible with Divine Law and the Natural Law.”

[Lilllabettt]

Nikita if you don't want to join an academically-focused community, that's wonderful. But some people have that gift and want to offer it to God and that's equally wonderful.

[nikita92]

It is!! I just thought this was ironic..(i didnt go looking for for it..it was sent to me. This priest is very well known and had a speaking series on EWTN at one time)