It’s the question I am asking in today’s column on the homepage, and I think it’s worth asking, particularly in light of the recent growth in vocations in habited communities, this study, and our own obliviousness:
[The] habit was a reminder to the community of faith, and to everyone else as well, that we are all called to simplicity and sacrifice—that for all of our Martha-instincts to work ourselves to death and carve our identities from what we “do,” we must cultivate our inner Marys as well, and embrace the challenge to simply be. Sister might correctly say that she was “nobody special,” but her habit was a witness to “being,” and it confirmed Christ’s covenanted life among us with a reassuring immediacy.
I expect to be dodging bullets all day, for this one! Go read!
I think this is a moot issue — all of the new, young sisters already wear the habit and veil. So the question is whether the senior citizen nuns should re-veil.
The next step ought not to be simply the habit and veil, but the full garb of women religious as designed by their orders’ founders. This includes the wimple, which very few sisters and nuns wear anymore.
I don’t get a vote, as I’ll never be a sister (and am unlikely to be a brother, but I can never say never to that), but if I were, I’d probably say, “Wassamattayou? You want to be a Bride of Christ, and not wear a wedding dress?”
I’m a Boomer from the 60′s and I’ve always thought that Sisters should wear their garb. They are committed to God and should proclaim it by what they wear. It is a special life and needs special garments.
I grew up with and around nuns in traditional habits and there is no doubt that it identified them and their religious purpose as much as military uniforms distinguish an army from the civilian population. Beyond Catholics, nuns received a high level of respect and deferance from people of every faith and no faith. I thought it was a huge mistake to transition away from the habits of their orders for obvious spiritual reasons as well as practical considerations. Those habits hid all kinds of physical imperfections and neither the nun or observer got sidetracked with the whole physical appearance nitpicking and critique stuff. Not that we students didn’t find a lot of other great things to make fun of them about! I think that the secular clothing that the habit transitioned to helped sway some orders and nuns away from their primary spiritual vocations. Those nuns simply became social workers and activitists for any number of causes. I do not fault any sister for their choice away from tradition but have never seen either the wisdom or gain in doing so.
yes, absolutely. a nun should look like a nun for the same reason a priest should look like a priest.
Just another yes vote.
It would be interesting to hear from anyone who thinks otherwise and what their reasons are.
Yes! I wish they had never been given up. It is a visible sign of Christ’s presence.
I work near an order that wears the veil, but has chosen to wear plain skirts, blouses, and sweaters below. The veil looks lovely, but sometimes the plain clothes seem frumpy. I think they’d have done better to stick with a full habit (an updated, practical one), just for aesthetic reasons if nothing else.
I agree with Lori re the dowdiness of the secular dress. And I miss the proper habits, which my husband with a twinkle in his eye refers to as “nun suits”. A good number of years ago a man named John Fialka wrote a book called (if I remember correctly) “The Nuns”, about Catholic sisters in America and at the end he points out that the only orders really gaining new members were the ones which had never given up the habit or those whch had returned to the habit. Still, much as I love seeing the habits, I believe it should be up to the order/community.
I vote for the habit. I’m a big believer in uniforms, since I dress up for work every day in a “uniform” of a dress and sensible shoes. It makes a difference in how others perceive you.
It make me smile just thinking about our Bernadine teaching sisters. They wore brown in winter and white in summer. They did everything while wearing veils, scapulars, dresses, and sensible shoes. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a nun in her late 70s playing “Red Rover” with elementary students.
I vote for the habit. It is an important way to witness in an increasingly secular world. It is a way of reminding the rest of us of the option of the religious life. It is criminal to make it any more difficult than it already is for the young to see their possible vocation.
When Mother Angelica began wearing a more traditional habit..I believe their Alabama community took quite a bit of heat for that!
Compare the following websites:
It’s obvious where the new vocations are!
link
Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious
with
link
Leadership council of Women Religious
Hmmmh….let me see!
link
VS
link
Bet we know who gets more vocations!
Yes! One time while visiting the library I looked up to see two nuns sweeping down the center aisle. They were in full white from head to toe; they were beautiful like angels. My young children, who had never seen a nun in full religious dress, stared in awe. It was a powerful witness.
My wife and I recently attended a Mass/commemorative ceremony (the 445th anniversary of the first known Mass said on the American continent). Many clergy and religious were present, including a dozen or so sisters from a local convent. They were all dressed alike in what looked like white dinner jackets and dark slacks. My wife was mortified, and she said “They look like they’re going to break into Doo-Wop music at any moment.”
That sums it up for me.
I always liked what novelist Walker Percy wrote shortly after many order abandoned their habits. “What nuns don’t realize is that they look better in nun clothes than in J.C. Penney pantsuits.”
I’m a Protestant but I still vote for the habit. All the reasons in the original and in the comments ring true. The habit does speak of consecration in a woman in a way that it doesn’t for a man. It is about forsaking worldly adornment for a higher and more sacred beauty.