Tuesday 30 June 2015

Religious Life is not for girls



Sr Emanuela's Vocation Testimony

The Missionaries of Divine Revelation, whom I have posted about before (here, for example) have a number of testimonies on their site. Sr Emanuela is from Wigan and speaks very forthrightly about her vocation.  If you watch the video you will hear her say - at about three minutes in - that "Religious Life is not for girls... you have to be a strong woman."  Further advice to anyone contemplating a vocation is stop thinking about it and do something concrete about it. 

Now if only we could all recapture a little more of the joy and grace she is obviously brimming with...

3 comments:

David O'Neill said...

What a happy sister - and she even LOOKS like one!!!

Anonymous said...

She's technically dressed as a postulant, not a sister. After Vatican II many women's religious started dressing down, in fact, she's dressed the same way an eastern or southern European woman would dress in the 1960's (including the communists).

One of the reasons most women's religious order's got rid of their habits was because the original changes during the 1960's were just mimicking the dress of secular women of that time period. As secular European women stopped wearing head coverings and skirts, so did the nuns. The world now sees the business suit as the dignified dress of a successful woman (c.f. Hilary Clinton) so that's why most women's religious don't wear skirts and head covering anymore.

All that being said, she seems like a very happy and spiritual person, which is what matters most!

My only constructive criticism is that nuns either wear business suits or go back to dressing like they did before Vatican II. Why, you may ask? Because you wouldn't believe how many Traditional Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Jews, etc. accidentally flirt with young sisters who dress like postulants. The guilt and embarrassment you feel after flirting with someone whom you thought was just a "religious girl" is something else, you have to experience it to truly comprehend it. It's even worse if you live in a multicultural city where it's common to see women dress in modest "ethnic" clothing. A [young] nun in the posutlant's habit is like a married woman without a wedding ring, you're asking for trouble.

Fr Simon Henry said...

CARDINAL PIACENZA CAN TESTIFY THAT SHE IS IN PERPETUAL VOWS!
http://www.oslj.org.uk/2015/04/our-chaplain-in-rome-with-cardinal.html