Abbey-Roads2

What is the difference between a postulant and a senior professed?

I just read a lovely anecdote concerning a Swiss Cistercian nun welcoming a possible  new postulant to the monastery she co-founded in the United States many years ago.  The Mother’s command of English wasn’t perfect, although the aspirant understood what she wanted to hear…

When M. Bernarda came for her first visit to the monastery, M. Magdalene met her at the door and remarked in her heavy Swiss accent;  “Ya, ya here we make many mistakes!”  Yet the idealistic prospective postulant, eager for a life of mystical union, understood the nun as saying; ”Ya, ya, here we make many mystics.” - Newsletter of Valley of Our Lady Monastery

Did you know?

In 1952 Pope Pius XII granted permission for the modification of nuns’ habits. (To accomodate modern necessities - such as driving nuns, and nursing nuns.)  In America designer Hattie Carnegie came up with a simple black dress that also became a ready-to-wear success. Christian Dior followed suit and designed a habit for French nuns in 1960.  That “new look” was worn by the Sisters of Charity for awhile, and looked similar to what some sisters wear today - box pleats, very tailored tunic, tight veil with a white band to pull the hair back.  (I couldn’t find original photos, although I remember it in the news.)  Pius XII never envisioned nuns abandoning the habit all together - no one did.

Once there were two sisters…

Martha was the sister of Mary - the Mary people used to say had been a whore - but when morals plummeted in the 20th century and whores became commonplace, Mary became known as a feminist and an evangelist.  Both sisters lived with  their brother Lazarus - who was thought to be quite a stinker until Jesus raised him from the dead.  (Did you know when he was raised from the dead he was naked except for a winding cloth?!)

So anyway, Martha had panic attacks and would get very nervous while doing all the housework, while Mary usually sat calmly, sipping tea, twirling her hair, studying ”A Course In Miracles”.  This may explain why she (Martha) took a lot of valium, only it really wasn’t valium in those days, although she did grow poppies in the garden along with hemp - just to make rope and sandals of course.  (Martha knew the truth about Mary’s past and that is probably why she often became so indignant with her.)

Nevertheless - Martha loved to entertain (sounds like another Martha, doesn’t it?), and that is why she had the apostles over so often.  One day, while very busy on the set of her home-decorating-cooking show for the Bethanites, everyone showed up unexpectedly, hoping to eat and drink.  Mary, always the party girl, joined the guests and just sat on the window sill, with a goofy smile on her lips, listening to all the repartee.  After awhile, Martha complained about Mary being such a lay-about, although, when she was told she (Mary) had chosen the better part, Martha literally “threw in the towel” (which is how we got that saying today BTW), and told everyone to help themselves to the food (which is how buffets originated BTW), and Martha decided to do her own thing (which is what hippies did in the late ’60’s BTW).  Of course the family was always very fashionable, if not countercultural, and the story might have  ended there…

Yet few people knew Martha had been a portrait artist - that is why so many icons of Our Lady are mistakenly attributed to St. Luke instead - St. Luke was a doctor - a podiatrist in fact.  Some say that after rehab, Mary worked for a time as his nurse-receptionist, and she ordinarily washed the patients feet (with her hair!) before they could see the doctor - although that may have been a medieval invention.  (But you see how these stories can get all mixed up when you have an agenda.)  Anyway, that day Martha decided to paint her lay-about sister Mary’s portrait - as she sat on the window sill.  Yes, you guessed it - the painting became known throughout the world as the “Mona Lisa” and has been wrongly attributed to Leonardo Da Vinci ever since the 16th century. 

I know, I know - but the family name of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus was Winschki (’W’ pronounced like ‘V’), which Italianated became Vinci - the name of the town Leonardo was from in Italy.  (Leo’s mother’s maiden name was Winschki - his dad’s name was Nardino - so Leo took Leonardo as his nome de plume, if you will - and someone else attached Da Vinci - the “Da” meaning “of” or “from” Vinci in Italian - I forget which.)  Anyway, how the painting came into his possession is still a mystery, and another story entirely, although it could possibly make an interesting book and movie.

The End

(This story is totally fabricated, just like the Da Vinci Code and dissident interpretations of scripture.  You know - like the one about the centurion and his gay-slave-lover he asked Jesus to heal.  As if!) 

Elderly nuns chain themselves at protest.

I know!  Sisters, you have to go through the proper channels, don’t make a spectacle of yourselves!  Oh!  Those silly Italians.  Story here.

“Two elderly Italian nuns chained themselves to a lamp post outside the Vatican on Sunday claiming they had been wrongly expelled from their cloistered convent and wanted Pope Benedict to help them return.

The two women, Sister Albina Locantore, 73 and Teresa Izzi, 79, remained in locks and chains on the edge of St Peter’s Square for several hours, including the some 20 minutes while the pope delivered his weekly message and blessing.

The two women told reporters they had left their convent of Carmelite nuns in central Italy for several months for health reasons but when they returned the mother superior refused to let them back in the cloistered convent.

The mother superior accused them of disobedience and banished them, the nuns said.” - Source

One of the nuns held up a placard reading: “Your Holiness, we are neither prostitutes, nor violent, nor thieves, nor mentally infirm”.  All rightey then.

Imagine - at their age, trying to singularize themselves! 

Liturgical anarchy.

I never could figure that out - why after renovation of a parish church to look like a gym, parishioners chose to worship in the school gym anyway?  That is what they did at St. Stephen’s - they made up their own liturgy and held it in the gym.  The “spirits” guiding these folk discourage liturgical  rubrics, rules of order, and obedience to the Magisterium.  Naturally, to be Roman Catholic, a parish is obliged to follow the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), that isn’t too much to ask.  Unless elements within the worshipping community are not Roman Catholic, in that case, the honest thing to do would be to go elsewhere for worship.

In the Gospel, several followers left Jesus after our Lord revealed himself as the Bread of Life, proclaiming, “if you do not eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you.” (Jn. 6)  “From this time on, many of his disciples broke away and would not remain in his company any longer.”  (Jn. 6)  Just so, some of the parishioners at St. Stephens have found the integrity to move off Church grounds to celebrate worship services which accord with their personal piety elsewhere.

Some of the protestors chose to remain behind in the school gym to conduct their eucharistic celebration, an act of “holy resistance” - as the above photo demonstrates.  The woman performing the ‘elevation’  of the wine at the end is a Sister of St. Joseph.

Thankfully, the new pastor, Fr. Joseph Williams, is a very kind and holy priest, he will be an immense blessing for those in the parish who hunger for authentic worship, in spirit and truth.  He arrives on the Sunday after Easter, supported by the faithful of the archdiocese and much prayer.

(Topmost photo:  Laetare Sunday Procession of protestant Catholics leaving the school gym for their new “underground” church.)

Links:

Photos and story of the migration: The Wild Reed

All the background you need on the ruckus:  Stella Borealis

And other bull$#!@.

Eat, Pray, Love.  Oprah is promoting this book by Elizabeth Gilbert- in fact, yesterday she just did another show on the book.  It is a best seller which is apparently liberating women from whatever keeps them back from self-pleasuring themselves with the freedoms they are missing out on in life.  (Not a few end up leaving their husbands as the author had.)  You can read a review of the new age spiritual classic here. 

Anagrammatic coincidence.

The so-called war on Christmas is fought on many fronts.  One familiar enemy of Christmas has always been the Evangelical/Fundamentalist Christians, once known as Puritans.  For these folks, any tradition associated with Christmas that smacks of Roman-ism is deemed satanic.  (And Catholics are worried about “The Golden Compass” maligning the Church!)

Writing on his blog, author John Shore claims that Santa is Satan:  “And Santa being Satan certainly explains a lot. For one, it explains the red suit. It also explains the flying reindeer. Remember how scary the flying monkeys were in The Wizard of Oz? Clearly, making mammals fly is an earmark of the malevolent. And seriously, what would you rather have flying over you: a 50-pound monkey, or a 500-pound reindeer? That wide-brimmed hat the Wicked Witch of the West wears might protect her from monkey droppings, but is it really going to help against a team of reindeer flying overhead?” - Read more.

As every good Christian ought to know, Santa traces his origins to St. Nicholas   - and he is definitely not the anti-Christ.  I’m not saying the commercialized version of santa Shore describes has much to do with the Catholic saint, but he certainly is not a danger to children’s souls either.  Christian parents, especially Catholics, should have enough faith to be able to differentiate the reality from the myth for their kids - at an appropriate age.  All too often religious people imagine the devil in the wrong places and disguises… while he is busy fitting-in  elswhere.

Circumventing authority.

Gay activists in the Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis are making an issue over Archbishop Nienstedt’s authority  to defend faith and morals for Catholic faithful.  These unhappy people, otherwise known as dissident Catholics, are writing letters of resistance to the editors  of various newspapers, calling television news to document protests, while using their blogs to put pressure upon the Church to change Her traditional teaching regarding homosexual sexual activity. 

Many of these people are the same ones who insist there is no gay agenda to change culture, the Church, or the world.  Ah!  But there is an agenda.  On one “Catholic” blog site, which is against just about anything that is traditionally Roman Catholic (such as papalism- as the author refers to it), I found an offering suggesting ways dissidents may discreetly circumvent authority.  The presentation was given by a sister of the nearly extinct order of women religious known as the Sisters of St. Joseph.

How to dress up in sheep’s clothing - strategies for the wolf.

What follows is from a local gay activist’s weblog:  “Sponsored by the Homophobia and Heterosexism Working Group of the Justice Commission of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, Sister Jeannine’s talk was entitled “Transforming Hierarchical Structures,” and offered a number of “guiding principles” for such transformation within the Catholic Church, along with some concrete strategies by which this much needed transformation can and is being achieved.

1. Active compliance: when we work actively with those within the hierarchical system and abide by whatever decision comes about. We make our position known but nevertheless comply. In this way the hierarchy at least knows of an alternative position and seeds of change may well have been planted.

2. Creative circumvention: when we follow the letter of the hierarchical law but not its spirit. An example: Lay people, forbidden to preach during Mass, give a “talk” before or after Mass.

3. Prophetic obedience: when one follows in the tradition of Jesus and the prophets and publicly name and confront structures that are oppressive to people.” - The Wild Reed

“Homophobia and Heterosexism Working Group of the Justice Commission of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet” - HUH?

No earth-shaking revelation from Sr. Jeannine, to be sure.  However, the above excerpt from The Wild Reed helps to demonstrate that these people spend a great deal of time researching ways in which to circumvent Church teaching.  Through a more in-depth examination of the literature disseminated by a couple of the organizations associated with this local movement,  I couldn’t help but be impressed by the extent to which these people immerse themselves in gay studies programs and ongoing education, comprising questionable academic and scientific research as regards homosexuality.  The group seems to be very well equipped and organized in their assault upon Church teaching and discipline.  Riding the coat-tails of a well-established reputation, once enjoyed by the formerly vibrant order of the Sisters of St. Joseph, these false teachers have created a convenient platform from which to carry on their battle.  Yet hopefully, not for long.  

The Enclosure of Nuns. 

The above photo is a Visitation Monastery speakroom from the 1960’s.  Since the Second Vatican Council, several monasteries have taken down their enclosure grilles, while not a few have ceased to observe strict enclosure or wear traditional habits.  Although there remain many monasteries that continue to do so; one of these is the Discalced Carmelite Monastery of Our Lady of Divine Providence, at Lake Elmo,  Minnesota.

Since the Council, many of the cloistered orders that retain grilles, have modified them somewhat, while they remain more a decorative symbol of cloister, than a “protecting” fortification.  The Council of Trent had imposed severe reforms concerning woman religious, requiring strict norms of enclosure.  Grilles within most monasteries had to be double, and the openings small enough to prevent a woman’s hand extending through.  In addition, the nun had to be accompanied by another nun when meeting outsiders, except in confession, and she had to wear an enclosure veil covering her face, unless the grille itself was curtained.

Feminists like to cite the regulations imposed by the Council of Trent as an example of the patriarchal supression of women, although grilles and walls of separation have always been intended to foster the contemplative life.  (It should be noted that at the time, woman were considered the weaker sex, not only requiring protection from outsiders, but, as others have suggested, to prevent them from exercising their seductive, feminine wiles over men.)   Nevertheless, these barriers were decidedly practical fortifications for the protection and safety of the nuns.  Interestingly enough, the decrees and strictures of Tridentine Papal Enclosure eventually led to the formation of more “active” religious orders of women, known as semi-cloistered “sisters” - not “nuns” in the strict monastic sense.

Anyway - that’s about all I know about monastic grilles and veils.  If you have ever lived in a cloistered monastery, it is not at all as mysterious or exotic as it appears to outsiders.

For those desiring a deeper understanding of the true meaning of cloistered life, you may want to read Verbi Sponsa, the Apostolic Instruction on the Contemplative Life and the Enclosure of Nuns.