Nashville Dominicans And Fr. Reese

[Gemma]

[quote name='HollyDolly' post='1440630' date='Dec 31 2007, 05:08 PM']As someone who had a great aunt and a second cousin as life long nuns ,believe me,nuns dont live in co-ed communities.
While there maybe a few double monasteries around,even in St.Gilbert's time men and women were housed seperately. On line they have the story of the Nun of Watton Priory,whose ghost supposedly haunts the place.
As a young girl she was placed in the Gilbertine convent. Somehow she and one of the monks fell in love
and got invovled so to speak.Somehow the nuns found out and lured the monk into a trap and attacked him in front of her,the nuns having chained her up. It was quite a scandal at the time in England.
There would be too much temptation for men and women to be housed together in a co-ed situation.
So the writer,this doctor doesn't have her facts straight.[/quote]

There is a Carmelite Community in MA, I think, which is "co-ed."

Check out the nuns' photo thread. There are several "co-ed" communities represented there.

By "co-ed" are we talking about men and women sharing living quarters; a monastery; two distinct monasteries; or what?

Double monasteries were popular in the middle ages. The Gilbertine Nun of Watton is a true story. Their problem erupted from the fact that the dividing wall between the two choirs had not been built yet. Typically, the Gilbertines took extreme measures to keep the two monasteries--and their personnel--segregated.

A double monastery is possible in this day and age. How you approach the situation makes all the difference in the world as to the outcome. Nobody knew about pheremones back then. Today, some simple instruction to the gents; placing a post-menopausal nun in the turn room; and making sure that the restrictions dictated by the rule are in place will help avoid such incidents.

It all goes back to one's focus--what are they really thinking about; why are they really there?

Here's more on our Gilbertine Renewal of the Ancient Observance: [url="http://cloisters.tripod.com/gilbertinerenewal/"]http://cloisters.tripod.com/gilbertinerenewal/[/url]

Blessings,
Gemma

[st-annes]

[quote name='DameAgnes' post='1436824' date='Dec 20 2007, 08:43 PM']... are still having trouble filling their need, as are Orthodox (who may marry) and even Rabbinical seminaries.[/quote]


I'm not so sure about that. It may be true in the United States, but that's because church attendance overall is done by less than half the population on a regular basis, and you can see where that leads. I don't think the Orthodox, who have been letting clergy marry for centuries, are having trouble finding clergy in Greece, Russia and the rest of their traditional strongholds. They also have a lot of converts in recent years in Africa, where the monastic communities are growing.

It is standard practice for Jewish rabbis to get married, which has also been true since time out of mind. Orthodox Jews in the United States as well as elsewhere are having quite a population uptick, what with the Hasidic communities and the fact that they frown on birth control. Ask anybody in Brooklyn if it doesn't look like there are a lot of rabbis lately, because nobody wants to get married or talk to a married clergyman.

[cmaD2006]

[quote name='the lords sheep' post='1438454' date='Dec 26 2007, 12:02 AM']It didn't show the italics, sorry. My question was based on this quote: "Sisters in traditional orders may wear habits, but they often live in coed communities."

Do you know of any such sisters? The only one's I can think of are the intercessors of the Lamb. But this article makes it seem as if they are cohabitating...[/quote]

I read the same quote in the article (I didn't get very far with it) and I took it as an attempt of the author for scandal. I don't know of a single community where the women and the men live together (within the same quarters).

Anyone not familiar with religious life would take this to mean that the living quarters are together. Or worse.

Hmph. There goes the media again.