Questions to ask a Community

[Nunsuch]

3 hours ago, gloriana35 said:

I cannot recall if I mentioned this. Many communities will not allow anyone outside the community to see their constitutions (unless there is a special reason, such as review by a canon lawyer, or application for a society of religious communities.) Asking if one may read the constitutions could be interpreted as not 'cooperating' with their form of imparting information. Many communities don't let anyone see the constitution until it is taught to them in novitiate.

But many others make their constitutions publicly available on their websites, and are happy to have others see them. Again, it is always important to ask the community you are interested in. And, if they do not share their constitutions, it is also legitimate, without pressing the point, to inquire why. 

[Lilllabettt]

18 hours ago, gloriana35 said:

I cannot recall if I mentioned this. Many communities will not allow anyone outside the community to see their constitutions (unless there is a special reason, such as review by a canon lawyer, or application for a society of religious communities.) Asking if one may read the constitutions could be interpreted as not 'cooperating' with their form of imparting information. Many communities don't let anyone see the constitution until it is taught to them in novitiate.

Yeah... I was a novice in a community like that, which did not show the constitutions to discerners until novitiate. I can't remember what the reason was, although in general that group was very concerned about privacy. But my main thing is with the last part of what you said. Frankly if a religious community interprets an earnest question from a discerner as an effort to resist their way of life - that should raise a major red flag about the health of that community. The constitutions are a major part of community identity and many make them publicly available on demand.  It's a perfectly reasonable question.  There are communities where the culture toward newcomers is such that every minute thing is interpreted as an act of disrespect or insolence towards established community authority and tradition... my advice would be to leave a wide berth. 

[gloriana35]

I agree that this sort of attitude is unhealthy - but it was very common once upon a time (and something I myself, and others I knew, experienced.) I dearly hope those attitudes are no longer in existence, but one never knows. (When I entered the convent, someone who went to the chapel early, to spend time in private prayer before the Offices, would be in trouble for 'singularisation.') Though my experience began over forty years ago, I've noticed that some communities to which people on this forum have linked seem quite strict - very extensive schedules of common life, going back to the 'old habit,' and so forth. It is not unthinkable that ways one might think were outdated may still exist. 

[Nunsuch]

I agree with Gloriana35. The vast majority of communities today have changed considerably in the past 50 years (since Vatican II); even many which are relatively traditional (as opposed to Traditionalist) are more open and flexible than communities used to be. I think there is a difference between long-standing communities that have remained conservative/traditional and those founded in recent years. The former tend to have taken the adjustments called for in Perfectae Caritatis (and even earlier Vatican documents) quite seriously, even if their interpretations differ from those who are more progressive.