ANOTHER WAY TO BEAUTIFY THE CHURCH or 10 REASONS NUNS SHOULD WEAR HABITS (Warning-graphic images)

EsposedApostasy.blogspot.com ^ | 2012 | Keyser Soze

[Salvation]

ANOTHER WAY TO BEAUTIFY THE CHURCH or 10 REASONS NUNS SHOULD WEAR HABITS

Behold the Dominican nuns pictured above.   We cannot see their faces, but we are instantly attracted to and fascinated by them.  And we all know why.  IT'S THE HABITS.

Nuns wearing habits are beautiful, enchanting and wonderful.  They are a bold rebuke to a corrupt society hypnotized by its own vanity.  They are a mystery.  Those habits are an invitation to God.  They preach to us.  They say, "I have something deeper that gives my life meaning and I don't need or want all that other stuff."

And nuns in habits almost always look happy.  Very happy. 

If you've ever moved to a new parish and been surprised to find that the older woman in the polyester pants suit sitting near the front every week was really Sister Pat, welcome to the club.

Why do nuns need to see hair stylists?  Why must they suffer the indignities of scanning the selections at Lane Bryant and Woman's World?  Does it bespeak their vows of poverty when they have to find just the right earrings or necklaces?  Do nuns really need makeup?  Does it show fidelity to the Church when their clothing is a product of the same modern world that has given us bikinis, breast implants and birth control pills?  

Does it convince the laity that a woman has renounced all personal vanity when she has to look "smart"?  Can the average layperson believe this is a woman "set apart" for God when she looks like everyone else?

Oh, we've all heard the arguments against habits:  

Many of these nuns work in the world, and habits just won't fit in.  Nuns in habits are not "approachable".  We need to make sure that the laity can see that nuns are real people just like you and me.

BULLCOOKIES!

Of course nuns are real people!  Do you think those are martians in those habits?  There is no more approachable person you will find than a Catholic nun.  And, for the record, nuns are not "just like you and me."  They are ladies set apart, spouses to Our Savior, immersed in love and service.

Are you still not convinced?

All right then.  Here are 10 reasons why nuns should wear habits:

REASON ONE

Sister Joan Chittester

REASON TWO

Sister Jeanine Gramick

REASON THREE

Sister Patricia Cruise

REASON FOUR 

Sister Margaret Mary McBride

(Excommunicated)

UPDATE:  Excommunication Lifted

REASON FIVE

Sister Donna Quinn, OP

REASON SIX

Sister Camille D'Arienzo

REASON SEVEN

Sister Elizabeth Johnson

REASON EIGHT

Sister Carol Keehan

REASON NINE

Sister Barbara Reid, OP

REASON TEN

Sister Mary Ann Hinsdale

And for all you "But what about Vatican II?" folks:

"The religious habit, an outward mark of consecration to God, should be simple and modest, poor and at the same becoming. In addition it must meet the requirements of health and be suited to the circumstances of time and place and to the needs of the ministry involved. The habits of both men and women religious which do not conform to these norms must be changed."

-Perfectae Caritatis 

 Vatican II Decree on the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life 

The key word here is "changed".  It doesn't say "eliminated".

Do you know of any religious orders without habits that are "renewed"?  

Finally, just in case you've missed the obvious, there's an eleventh reason nuns should wear habits:  They look more feminine.  Definitely.

[SuziQ]

I realize the desire of many Catholics for nuns to go back to habits; it's good for women who have consecrated their lives to the Lord to be 'set apart' from others so that they can be continual witnesses to the love they have for Him. But the habits in that last picture are just too over the top even for me. I'm afraid the wimple is way too Middle Ages for my taste. I always felt sorry for the nuns who had to wear them; they always looked so uncomfortable.

The Dominican sisters have a modified habit that looks both appropriate and comfortable.

[stpio]

All orders should go back to the old habits. Sisters and
nuns are set apart and people recognize the fact.

The sisters I knew growing up were the Presentation Sisters.
I remember before the awful downgrade, I was driving through
a little town in Iowa, the Church was on the main street and
driving past it, there stood a thin and fairly tall sister talking to a child, she was in the full habit, she was so beautiful.

Same for the priests, a young priest told me he wears his
cassock when he travels, in airports, etc. He felt people
were more at ease, drawn to speak him because of seeing him in the traditional cassock. The cassock is wonderful. And, no one likes when you see a priest without his collar.

[ObsamaOdumbo]

Sorry but they look too much like burkas and hijabs. There’s a reason this kind of dress is banned in France! I don’t want to be reminded of Muslimes all the time!

[ctdonath2]

What does washing men’s feet have to do with women wearing habits?

[PapaBear3625]

Wow...those Nuns for Choice are ALL DYKES!

Dykes tend to prefer environments where they are only around other women. A lesbian nun is not necessarily really Catholic, which is all the more reason to exclude them from being nuns.

[PapaBear3625]

Patriarchy is a Great thing, by the way-—most effective way to organize societies.

I tend to note that, if you want to see a social order where patriarchy has been eliminated, just look at any underclass neighborhood. Stripped of their patriarchal ("rule by fathers") roles and duties, men tend to fall apart and lose interest in holding society together.

[MomwithHope]

Hello, The Trinitarians of Lowell are just 4 miles from our house and their chapel is my choice for daily Mass. God bless their new vocation.

[Mach9]

The arguments for habits pretty much disappeared after Vatican II which unfortunately coincided with the feminist movement and ERA-pursuit in this country. The “awakening” of women not only ruined or eliminated the traditional habit, it also killed all the reasons for wearing it: Dying to the world, burial of self, humility, pursuit of grace, subordination to a rule, community of God, modesty, and the list could go on. It was the symbol of lifetime service to God and it affected nearly every aspect of their personalities. It changed their movements, guarded their speech, dictated their behavior. There was no “I” in nun—no fond memories of former lives related to each other or to students, no last names, no degree-letter appendages or the replacement of Sister with Doctor.

The habit’s loss is just the sign of greater losses.

[bboop]

We have a cloistered convent down the street, a retreat center next to our church, and a group of Mother Theresa’s nuns around the block. All of them wear habits; I love it when they are in church. Sometimes we see them, two by two (not the cloistered ones, of course) walking in the neighborhood. I think they are beautiful.

[Bigg Red]

Very well said.

I remember well the Franciscan sisters who taught me through 12 years of Catholic school. Dedicated, holy women. Sadly, their order these days seems to have gone the way of the Dominican “pro-choice” harpy pictured here.

[Biggirl]

Thank-you!

[savagesusie]

That is why the patriarchy has been attacked by all communist radicals—the feminist “movement” and the homosexual “movement”—to destroy the civil society. Without strong, intelligent, moral, independent thinking men—there would be no USA—no fortitude—no risk-takers. Women alone are pretty pathetic and hormonal. Extremely few are like Margaret Thatcher and those few need support from men-—just as men always needed strong moral women behind them to free them up, so they could do great things.

There would not have been a brilliant John Adams free to devote much of his life to the intellectual formation of this greatest nation, if his wife hadn’t taken charge of the kids and farm when he was absent for years. Great countries need women and men working together for a moral good. There is no moral good when women do not raise their own children....their traditions and morals do not get passed down and men have to worry about their kids when they can not trust their wives.

[tob2]

I saw that too! IMHO, being pro-choice does not necessarily mean pro-abortion. Maybe Ms. Quinn was pro-Catholic.

[tob2]

Is there a place for both habits and dressing like the rest of the world? Just a thought.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Do you pose that same question about many other topics that aren't mentioned explicitly in Scripture?

"But every woman praying or prophesying with her head not covered, disgraceth her head: for it is all one as if she were shaven." 1 Corinthians 11:5

[ctdonath2]

Yes. I question rules which are mis-attributed to scripture. If human extrapolations of scriptural rules are followed, fine, just acknowledge they’re human extrapolations.

[jacknhoo]

I’ve never considered a lady outside of a habit a nun...my vote is for habits.

[353FMG]

The cornette may have vanished in France but it was still seen aplenty at St. Catherine Hospital, Montgomery, AL in 1963.

It disappeared not much later, courtesy of Vatican II.

[A.A. Cunningham]

How do you feel about abortion since it isn't explicitly mentioned in Scripture?

You do realize that Scripture teaches us that Scripture isn't comprehensive don't you?

[ctdonath2]

1. Well yeah it is, it’s murder.
2. Sola Scriptura. ‘nuf said.