In February, the Sisters of the Servants of the Lord and two members of Our Lady of Matara Congregation spoke to religious education students at St. Jude the Apostle Parish in Lewes, Delaware, about their experiences as nuns. (Courtesy of St. Jude the Apostle Parish/OSV News)
Written by Michael Short
OSV News
LEWIS, Del. — For some students, it was their first time seeing a nun.
Earlier this year, two Sisters of the Servant of the Lord visited St. Jude the Apostle Church in Lewes to give Religious Education students a look at women’s customs. They talked about their call to vocation, their way of life, and what it is like to be a nun.
Students learned that nuns eat pizza, drive cars, and use cell phones.
“I had a normal upbringing,” the Sinners’ Refuge Sister laughed, saying she loved soccer, basketball, softball and music.
She usually calls her “Sister Refuge” and jokes, “I can’t really call her Sister Sinner.”
The two young nuns exuded joy as they spoke, often laughing as they answered the students’ questions. They explained their vows, their reasons for taking new names, and some of their customs. The students asked many questions and seemed to empathize with the two sisters.
The sisters also explained that vocation is not limited to living a religious life. Sister Refuge said answering the call to serve God is not like hearing a sudden voice from a cloud. “It usually comes from your heart.”
The Sisters of the Servants of the Lord and Mary of Matara are a young religious order founded in Argentina in 1988. There are about 1,500 Sisters around the world in Papua New Guinea, Alaska, Canada and even parts of the Arab world, but they cannot practice the practice openly. some countries.
The two sisters visiting Delaware are still studying at the order’s provincial hall in Washington.
I was a little disappointed to see that these sisters weren’t wearing makeup, and was met with a deafening silence when I heard they shared a cell phone with the other 30 sisters. Still, the kids bombarded the nuns with questions and learned that one of them even dated and was in a serious relationship before life took a different direction.
During her college years, Sister Refuge dated a young man. She said that she knew it was a good relationship and that she would be happy in her marriage. But she felt called in a different direction. So, she broke up with the man and then she enrolled in a seminary.
“I always believed in God,” she said. “Maybe he was asking me to give him my heart.”
“I wanted to be like Mary,” she added. “Has Mary ever said no to God?”
Their blue and gray custom is meant to symbolize that Christ is both fully human and fully divine, they said.
Michael McShane, the diocese’s director of religious education, organized the visit to introduce the students to parts of the Catholic faith that may be unfamiliar to them. St. Jude’s religious education program does not include religious sisters.
So he issued several orders to give students a glimpse of Catholic life. It was also an opportunity for a bit of gentle recruitment, as he encouraged the students to take a moment to think about what it would be like to live as a nun, a brother, or a priest.
“Just think about it,” he said.
“We know that our young people are asking us to be authentic, and truly, the Sister Right of the Confessor and the Sister of Sinners that we told our young people this weekend, There was nothing more authentic than Refuge’s career story,” McShane told Dialogue. News Agency of the Diocese of Wilmington. “My goal has been to bring as much of the atmosphere, environment, activities, practices, images and symbols of a traditional Catholic school to the families of the parish as possible within the constraints of the parish’s religious education program.”
He explained that he encouraged the students to consider the possibility of a religious life.
“When I’m not a priest, it’s hard for young men to take my message seriously. Beyond the outdated and often grotesque stereotypes in our media, young women who have never met or even seen a sister “It’s even more difficult for people,” he said.
McShane noted that the sisters, ages 25 and 31, went through some struggles before accepting their calling. That’s not unusual or even unexpected, he said.
The two spoke about what it means to live a consecrated life, explaining that they are dedicated to God like the chalice used at Mass, a consecrated vessel. According to Sister Refuge, they change their names to symbolize that they are no longer the same people they were before becoming nuns. “I don’t live the same (life). People from the past are not the same.”
Although she did not grow up in a religious household, she said she was taken to Mass by a Catholic friend and was baptized at age 19.
Sister Right took a different path, growing up in a religious household and later meeting many Christians at the University of Alabama. “They were on fire and loved Jesus,” she said.
However, she still felt hunger, which she felt was for the Eucharist. She thought about a profession, but she justified it by saying that she could help the poor, care for the sick and needy, and do all the things that nuns did without joining a religious order. did. Eventually, she decided it was more than just a job.
Sister Wright encouraged her students to fearlessly consider their calling. “Trust that God knows and loves you,” she said. “Don’t be afraid to take that leap.”
