Faced with aging nuns and few new vocations, the 175-year-old Sisters of Mercy religious order – with six communities in California -- has decided to undergo a major reorganization
Yes, this is a problem. But if you look at the picture on this page, the top 5 pictures are from the leadership of the Sisters of Mercy, while the bottom picture is of the founding sisters of the Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist.
The contrast is striking. On the top there is not a habit in sight. On the bottom, full habits. On the top, a shrinking base of sisters with an average age of 73 on the bottom, a veritable tsunami of vocations with the average age of the sisters being in the 20's.
We have a portrait of two vocational crises. On the one hand, we have sisters going to meet our Lord with nobody desiring to take their place, and on the other hand we numbers swelling so quickly that the order is running out of room to house them.
Sisters of Mercy are women who commit their lives to serving God's people, especially those who are sick, poor and uneducated. In the spirit of the Gospel, our mission is to help people to overcome the obstacles that keep them from living full and dignified lives. A life of prayer and community animates and supports us in our mission.
The focus seems not to be serving God, but serving God's people. This, to me, is bass-ackward. You are prompted to serve God's people by loving and serving God, Himself.
However, this is the mission statement of The Dominican Sisters of Mary:
"We are consecrated women first, and so our foremost model is Mary, the Mother of God. Inspired by the charism of St. Dominic, our prayer life comes first so that our apostolate overflows from a contemplation nourished before the Eucharist."
- Mother Assumpta Long, O.P.
Their apostolate overflows from their prayer life. This, in my opinion, is the proper ordering of the priorities.
The California Catholic article continues:
“The whole question of changes in religious life is huge, and there don’t seem to be any easy solutions," Dossa told the archdiocesan newspaper. "I think the Mercy community will be a smaller community targeted to needs that aren't being met in other ways."
This seems like a classic case of "lookin' for luv in all the wrong places". I'm not a sister. I'm not even a woman, but I would think that if I were concecrated as a bride of Christ, my first and foremost responsibility would be nurturing the relationship with my husband. This would mean talking to Him a lot, and receiving Him often physically into my body. The rest of the volunteer work would spring from those conversations.
The Sisters of Mercy seem to be spending so much time with the volunteer work, they rarely see their husband (at least from the text of the mission statement).
On the other hand the Dominican Sisters of Mary appear to have it ordered correctly. The results are easy to see.
And here is the money quote:
A "progressive" Catholic community, the Burlingame sisters were listed in Call to Action's 1999 "Church Renewal Directory," as among groups that "support the spirit of Call To Action's 1990 'Call for Reform in the Catholic Church.'" Call to Action, which calls for women's ordination and for Church acceptance of artificial birth control and the normalcy of homosexuality, has five regional chapters in Northern and Southern California. [ed.- Emphesis, mine]
Well, they appear to have tossed the vow of obedience and chastity (at least how it applies to others). They don't appear to be embracing poverty, so how again are these sisters considered professed religious? Ohhh... Because they say they are.
However, there is some good news:
In mid-August, 2007, Sr. Mary Michael, Sr. Ave Maria and Sr. Maximilian Marie set out as "homesteaders" on the community's first mission to the West Coast, staking their claim at our newly established Regina Caeli Convent in the Diocese of Sacramento, California.
These sisters have my (and I'm sure many other's) prayers for the success of their missionary work, and it is indeed missionary work. They are going to bring Christ to the pagans.
