Shattered Vows movie

[LukeDominican]

Some years ago I saw a beautiful movie about a young nun, I think the title is "Shattered vows". I have tried to find it, but without success. Someone knows this movie? And there is a way to find it on the Internet?

[Starets]

could you give us a plot synopsis?

[John Paul]

I was just going to ask about this.

At the age of 16 Mary becomes a nun. But she never gets used to the strict rules of her new life and when she falls in love with Father Tim, she wants to withdraw her vow.

(taken from imdb)

 

[clk]

I believe parts of it are on UTUBE.  The movie is based on the book Nun by Mary gilligan.

[Nunsuch]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088101/

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1554608.Nun

http://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/29/arts/tv-review-shattered-vows-with-bertinelli.html

 

[truthfinder]

I think I read the book and I wouldn't suggest anyone read it if they don't have to. But there certainly are examples of the sexual abuse/misconduct among nuns as well as the 'new age' phenomenons which swept after the Council - then it just gets prurient at the end. Just sad overall.  

[veritasluxmea]

I was reading some reviews on it. Doesn't sound like a good movie, but I found this comment interesting from a former nun: "I find the movie accurately depicts the transition time of the Catholic Church in the late 60's... We went from being cloistered to having regular jobs with lots of contact with outsiders." Now that I think of it, my mom did mention when she was a girl, around this time, she personally knew of a lot of cases of former priests and nuns marrying each other and still working in the Catholic schools or parishes in the diocese. 

[Nunsuch]

Mary Gilligan Wong was a member of the Sisters of Providence (Indiana). I met her a couple of years after the book came out, when I spoke at the community's sesquicentennial. She was very nice, and obviously has retained a good personal relationship with the community, including after the book's publication. But I do agree that getting extensive information about religious life from books by former members is sort of like learning about marriage from books by the divorced. 

 

[AccountDeleted]

Mary Gilligan Wong was a member of the Sisters of Providence (Indiana). I met her a couple of years after the book came out, when I spoke at the community's sesquicentennial. She was very nice, and obviously has retained a good personal relationship with the community, including after the book's publication. But I do agree that getting extensive information about religious life from books by former members is sort of like learning about marriage from books by the divorced. 

 

I down voted this post - not because you aren't entitled to your opinion, but because I feel it is a trap to assume that a person who has tried something and ceased doing that thing is somehow unable to give advice or give any good information about the topic.

I worked and lived with the MCs and read two books by former members of that community. Although each woman spoke from her own personal feelings, hurts, disappointments or whatever, there was a lot of really good stuff in both books, just as there was in Monica Baldwin's two books (I Leap Over the Wall and Through the Narrow Gate) about her time in the convent, or Louise Habet's book 'The Nun's Story' or any of a dozen other books by former religious. The thing to remember in reading such books is the time, place, culture and individuality of the person writing it. But I didn't feel that any of these women made up things out of whole cloth - they just perceived them through their own viewpoint based on their own understanding and experiences. No two people can witness the same event and always see or hear the same thing or draw the same conclusions. 

A person who has been divorced (or annulled) might not be able to tell you what a truly happy marriage is like (unless they had a fortunate second marriage  or a great example in their parents or other close relatives) but they could certainly offer information about the mistakes that occurred in their own situation and perhaps how to avoid such things in the future. Often, we idealise people, places or situations and then find their our expectations or 'dreams' do not match up to the reality. If we then talk about our experiences, we look for meaning and context to help us understand them. This can take many different forms. Hence, some books by former nuns will appear to bitter while others might seem to be nostalgic.

I would just say, don't discount the experience of those who have tried and decided not to pursue, or have been unable to pursue a vocation - to do that would be to discount half the population here on Phatmass! So many have tried and not persevered, but does that make their contribution to the whole discussion less than someone who has never even tried? I don't think so. Certainly, we value the wisdom and experience of those religious among us who are still persevering in religious life, but I know that I appreciate just as much hearing from those who have been tempered by adversity and still manage to have faith in God and who aren't weighed down by their apparent 'failure' to the point that they feel unable to come back here and post.

I know you didn't mean anything uncharitable, but I just wanted to suggest that even those out of date books, set in another time and place, might have some things to offer in terms of history, if not of relevant and up to date information. Although I wouldn't use a book written by a former nun as a handbook of religious life, I wouldn't entirely discount it either. It was true for at least one person. 

 

Edited July 27, 2015 by nunsense