David Ancell / Sunday February 16, 2003
Kenneth Woodward writes this book review for the New York Times on religious sisters and what they have done in our country. While he has his own ideas as to what happened to cause us to have so few of them now, I could see a trend right in the writings.
The sisters of years past went where no one would go to help those who needed help. They wore their habits and shared their common life together. They established hospitals and schools. Their lives are lives of prayer and service.
Fast forward to our present day. Look at the orders who have survived. They have done so not by becoming political but by continuing the tradition. The Dominican order in Nashville has to build a new mother house because they are too big of an order now for their house. These women are still seen in their habits. They have a convent in the Memphis area where they live. They still spend their lives in service. I know one who is a school principal.
Perhaps one reason why fewer have responded to calls to priesthood and religious life is that the Church, perhaps even life itself, has become more politicized and more bureaucratic. People who just want to serve don’t want to do so as part of an institution for that very reason. I see this bureacratization in the field of health care in which I work with upcoming regulations (e.g. HIPPA) and insurance problems.
I know that I need to focus my life more on simple service. I want to do my job well. I want to participate in apostolates of the Church. Most of all, I want to spread the Catholic faith.
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