dying religious orders

[Sixtina87]

okay peeps,
i dont remember if you had this one one before or simliar to it, but i have been seeing the phorums on oders that make one giddy.....growing orders...and so on. So i'm curious on what orders are dying out....there has to be alot of them!!!!! Know of any..i do!!!!


the Sisters of Nazareth in Los Angles, CA

The 3rd Order of St. Francis in East Peoria,IL

a community that i dont know the name of that died yrs ago and colaborated with the 3rd order above, but this one that died is from rock island, IL (my area)


state name of community and location

[shortnun]

I have a very hard time labeling communities as "dying." As Christians, we are called to look upon death as the start of a new life with Christ. Unfortunately I do not think we view religious orders and other such institutions in such a way. Instead we "judge" them by how many men and women are in their novitiates, by what apostolates they're involved in; by how many of their schools have closed in recent history; by how they live their spirituality and charisms.

Lest we forget all of the hard, dedicated men and women of such orders, who have without a doubt been key in spreading the Gospel to all peoples, I ask you to pray...

[i]Oh merciful and powerful Creator,
today we remember the men and women of all religious communities throughout time. We recall the founders and foundresses, the martyrs, the missionaries, the educators, the healthcare workers, the parish workers, and all those who helped in their apostolate to serving the greater good. We remember the hardships they enduring in doing so--physical and spiritual disease, torture, mockery, hopelessness.

We pray for blessings upon all those men and women who live and work with religious communities today. May they be strengthened by words from Scripture, and by the sacraments of the Church. May we never see an end to a desire to bring about the common good.

We ask this in your name, AMEN.[/i]

Edited December 20, 2005 by shortnun

[OLAM Dad]

While I share in shortnun's prayer and in most cases her appreciation of some of the less vibrant orders, I also think that Sixtina's question is an interesting one.

I'm interested more in why rather than who however and so as not to hijack the thread I won't go there.

I'm not as familiar with many of the orders as most of you are. I do know that the PCPA community that Mother Angelica's community agreed to support in Portsmouth, Ohio was quite literally dying. They were down to two elderly sisters, but now there is youth and life.

There story is [url="http://www.olamshrine.com/olam/portsmouth.htm"]HERE.[/url]

[Sixtina87]

[quote name='OLAM Dad' date='Dec 20 2005, 01:31 PM']While I share in shortnun's prayer and in most cases her appreciation of some of the less vibrant orders, I also think that Sixtina's question is an interesting one. 

I'm interested more in why rather than who however and so as not to hijack the thread I won't go there.  

I'm not as familiar with many of the orders as most of you are.  I do know that the PCPA community that Mother Angelica's community agreed to support in Portsmouth, Ohio was quite literally dying.  They were down to two elderly sisters, but now there is youth and life.

There story is [url="http://www.olamshrine.com/olam/portsmouth.htm"]HERE.[/url]
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Interesting story dad (you can add your ideas to this thread as well!!), i often wodner how communities that hardly get a vocaiton in a yr often come out...meaning whether or not they remain a communty or not!!!! i know several communities that are dying out and dont seemt o be getting any vocaitons in at all!!!! i wonder what we can do that would help them out besided telling about them!!!! i have a vocaiton boook in my room that i look at once in awhile, there are tons and otns of communities listed!!! But alot i notice have about 10 or less sisters total in them, and some are cloistered!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited December 21, 2005 by Sixtina87

[jgirl]

In some ways, it's good to let them die out, mostly in the case of the orders that are fading because of a lack of orthodoxy.

They serve a particular mission, and when that mission is done, then they aren't necessarily needed. Orders have died out throughout history. I heard that back in the 50s when the other orders had the huge surge in vocations, the Nashville Dominicans never had the number of postulants that other orders received. Now they consistently get tons of postulants each year!

Edited December 21, 2005 by jgirl

[Sixtina87]

[quote name='jgirl' date='Dec 20 2005, 11:55 PM']In some ways, it's good to let them die out, mostly in the case of the orders that are fading because of a lack of orthodoxy.

They serve a particular mission, and when that mission is done, then they aren't necessarily needed. Orders have died out throughout history. I heard that back in the 50s when the other orders had the huge surge in vocations, the Nashville Dominicans never had the number of postulants that other orders received. Now they consistently get tons of postulants each year!
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thats tru!!!!

[the_rev]

Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross, Green Bay Wisconsin

There an order dedicated to Social Justice, and have nuns who are pastoral associates.

[Birgitta Noel]

[quote name='Sixtina87' date='Dec 20 2005, 11:31 AM']

The 3rd Order of St. Francis in East Peoria,IL
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It's sad to see this order loosing ground! They are a wonderful group of sisters dedicated to serving Christ via health care. It's a great way to combine a vocation and a career in health care. I worked in one of their hospitals and in their corporate office this summer and from what I observed they are orthodox.

Check em out [url="http://www.osfhealthcare.org/mission_services/come1.html"]OSF Sisters of St. Francis[/url]

[Sixtina87]

[quote name='Birgitta Noel' date='Dec 22 2005, 10:49 PM']It's sad to see this order loosing ground!  They are a wonderful group of sisters dedicated to serving Christ via health care.  It's a great way to combine a vocation and a career in health care.  I worked in one of their hospitals and in their corporate office this summer and from what I observed they are orthodox.

Check em out  [url="http://www.osfhealthcare.org/mission_services/come1.html"]OSF Sisters of St. Francis[/url]
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they are a great group of sisters...i visit them every yr and made friends with alot of them....even though they are small they are very friendly.....but for some reason i keep getting weird looks from one sister whom i've never talked to....i know she isnt the mother general but i think she could be her right hand person....IDK!!!

[jgirl]

[quote name='the_rev' date='Dec 21 2005, 08:36 PM']Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross,  Green Bay Wisconsin

There an order dedicated to Social Justice, and have nuns who are pastoral associates.
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Sisters dedicating themselves to social justice isn't necessarily a bad thing. Some of Christ's favorite people were the people despised by everybody else, and all Christians are called to treat the poor with compassion.

One could argue that the Missionaries of Charity work toward social justice because of their work with the poor.

The problem is when the people within the orders (or even everyday lay people) start equating social justice with absolute gender equality and a right to abortion. Just like how pastoral associates aren't necessarily bad unless the women (or men...because they can be pastoral associates, too) start claiming power that isn't theirs. We have a non-habited pastoral assistant nun who doesn't overstep the boundaries of her role. She's in charge of the parish's ministry to the sick, and she visits with people who need spiritual guidance, but not necessarily from a priest. My mom called her the other day to make sure she was right in not giving money to my protestant cousin who is a "missionary" in Florida. She said that my mom was right, that it would be inappropriate to give her money, which was very sound advice. Our last pastoral assistant nun was a little too into the touchy feely feminine sensitive Church. That's when they're bad.

I'm betting you could find orthodox Sisters within those orders that are dying out. For every wacky pastoral assistant who thinks she's a quasi-priest, there's probably one who is faithful to the Church.

We only hear about the extreme cases. History's always been like that. We don't have any records of the normal, Catholic women in the early Church--for the most part all we know about are the mystics/extreme ascetics. It's the same today. We don't hear about the Sisters in the middle of the road. You hear about Nashville and the SMME and then you hear about the ones who have lost their heads. Those OSF Sisters that Nicole mentioned are pretty good, and I hope they will be fine. Their hospitals are pretty good in Central Illinois, and their Sisters are sweethearts.

[brendan1104]

"Discalced Carmelite" Nuns.... www.praythenews.com

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Edited December 25, 2005 by brendan1104

[be_thou_my_vision]

[quote name='brendan1104' date='Dec 25 2005, 10:02 AM']"Discalced Carmelite" Nuns.... www.praythenews.com

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These sisters live very close to me and they have like 11 elderly sisters. But the monastery is absolutley breathtaking, and the sister's spirits are alive and very young! I am a secular Carmelite and we have meetings at their monastery. They are wonderful.

[Marieteresa]

[quote name='be_thou_my_vision' date='Dec 28 2005, 02:29 PM']These sisters live very close to me and they have like 11 elderly sisters. But the monastery is absolutley breathtaking, and the sister's spirits are alive and very young! I am a secular Carmelite and we have meetings at their monastery. They are wonderful.
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Your right the monastery is absolutely beautiful...It looks like a Castle! I think (I may not be sure) That theTerra Heute Carmel originally came from them.

[Sixtina87]

[quote name='be_thou_my_vision' date='Dec 28 2005, 03:29 PM']These sisters live very close to me and they have like 11 elderly sisters. But the monastery is absolutley breathtaking, and the sister's spirits are alive and very young! I am a secular Carmelite and we have meetings at their monastery. They are wonderful.
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that sounds wonderful, is there anyway you can pics of the monastery and post it that way we can see what it looks like???

[be_thou_my_vision]

Ya I think they did come from there. The sisters in Indianapolis don't wear a habit, so that may be why they are not having many vocations. Young people today want to wear the habit... I asked one of the sisters why they did not wear the habit and she said because it is not what the area needs right now... The people that come and visit them need to be embraced with God's love and all that good stuff... believe me I love the habits though. Sister also said that when the pope asked them to return to the spirit of the founders, they discovered that St. Teresa of Avila was radical and she changed what needed to be changed according to the times and what the area and world needed.
I would like them to wear the habit, but I respect them for answering the pope with such devotion.
When did you go to the Indianapolis Carmel?