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Pcpa Desert Nuns Get New Postulant


Feankie

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http://desertnuns.com/blog/nun-news-blog

 

Read the blog entry (I think it's the second one down from the top) and then read the comments by readers and the nuns' responses.  I was quite surprised that the PCPA's in Phoenix no longer call the postulant Sister Susie (or whatever her given name is) and they no longer give her a postulant veil ( the PCPA's in Hanceville still do as do those in Charlotte).  I thought it was interesting that they've changed things up a bit.  If you look at the previous postulants in Phoenix, they have all be given the postulant veil and have been called Sister .....

Thoughts?

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My best guess - they're developing their own way of life that works in their circumstances? Maybe they found that having a less 'habity, nunny' postulancy was better for the women entering? I guess someone could write and ask if they're really curious?

 

This is the third time I've been on VS today - it's not like me but things have been so upside down in the last week or so! Someone tell me to log off!

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truthfinder

I was wondering too if it perhaps was a modification to the habit because of the climate (desert). Maybe they've decided to ease newbies into them rather than heat shock.

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Mary's Margaret

The Sisters' response to blog questions about the lack of veil:

Jennifer is a postulant. The Church does not consider a postulant to be a religious. She is simply in the first stage of preparation for the later profession of religious vows, at which time she becomes a religious, according to Church law. Since she is not yet a religious, she does not wear a veil or use the title “Sister."

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My point was this......for past postulants at Our Lady of Solitude, and at all other PCPA monasteries , the postulants ALWAYS got the cap and the veil and were called Sister Newbie (whatever their given name is).  I just found it odd that the nuns in Phoenix changed their way of doing things mid-stream.

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That's true, FC, it is a change from the PCPAs in the past, but it is pretty consistent with  the stand many communities take.  It was the rationale in the community where I was a postulant (different Mendicant family).  They made a point of addressing us as a GROUP as 'sisters' but individualy, it was the baptismal names.  We had the dreaded mantilla things for 'dress' and little round chapel veils in pockets for when we were in chapel at other times.

 

I will admit it was a CONSTANT hassle to have to pull out the little chapel veil every time we went in the chapel... and to keep it on while cleaning the chapel and choir! -- but it made one long for the Holy Habit that much more....

 

And I was surprised to read in a biography of a 19th into 20th century Trappistine that they had the postulants BACK THEN wearing lay clothes for exactly the same reason.  Interesting.....  What we think of as old fashioned 'postulant dresses' probably were more like wearing mourning clothes or 'old style' lay clothes than anything else.   I have sometimes wondered if the reason that some postulant outfits look so strange to US is because they would have been 'modern' 40 or 50 years before when the Novice Mistress was a young woman.... heheheh

Edited by AnneLine
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veritasluxmea

 

This is the third time I've been on VS today - it's not like me but things have been so upside down in the last week or so! Someone tell me to log off!

We should rename the Vocation Station to the Procrastination Station. 

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maximillion

I like the changes, fits in more with what I have been saying recently re entry.

 

Like AL we didn't have a veil, just the ridiculous little one for chapel and mantilla for services.

 

I do think hair should be covered in Chapel though.......

Being given the veil at Clothing was a big deal for me and I think that's the way it should be. I didn't become a Sister till then so that was appropriate. 

 

I was called 'little Sister Max' on an individual basis but just plain Max would do as well.

 

Praise God for the new Postulant!

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That's true, FC, it is a change from the PCPAs in the past, but it is pretty consistent with  the stand many communities take.  It was the rationale in the community where I was a postulant (different Mendicant family).  They made a point of addressing us as a GROUP as 'sisters' but individualy, it was the baptismal names.  We had the dreaded mantilla things for 'dress' and little round chapel veils in pockets for when we were in chapel at other times.

 

I will admit it was a CONSTANT hassle to have to pull out the little chapel veil every time we went in the chapel... and to keep it on while cleaning the chapel and choir! -- but it made one long for the Holy Habit that much more....

 

And I was surprised to read in a biography of a 19th into 20th century Trappistine that they had the postulants BACK THEN wearing lay clothes for exactly the same reason.  Interesting.....  What we think of as old fashioned 'postulant dresses' probably were more like wearing mourning clothes or 'old style' lay clothes than anything else.   I have sometimes wondered if the reason that some postulant outfits look so strange to US is because they would have been 'modern' 40 or 50 years before when the Novice Mistress was a young woman.... heheheh

 

Right - and I've definitely read about women at that time (19-20C) being ridiculed by family & peers because of those old-fashioned clothes they had to wear. And now women wear things that are some sort of 1930s/schoolgirl hybrid. I wonder if they'll ever be ridiculed for wearing leggings and a snapback in postulancy...

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Credo in Deum

My point was this......for past postulants at Our Lady of Solitude, and at all other PCPA monasteries , the postulants ALWAYS got the cap and the veil and were called Sister Newbie (whatever their given name is).  I just found it odd that the nuns in Phoenix changed their way of doing things mid-stream.

 

Maybe they found that veiling postulants and calling them Sister Newbie, made it harder for the postulants who did not have a calling, to accept this fact? 

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Love the change! I think it more clearly expresses the mind of the Church regarding postulancy.

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