How Catholic Nuns Shaped America

Pat P - We were saying the exact same thing just this morning, talking about the dedicated sisters who taught us in the 50s-60s, and taught us well, suffering in those long black habits. It seemed the sisters did all the grunt work. Never got any praise or appreciation like the priests did. (No scandals either.) Think we'll ever see the Year of the Nun?. Doubt it. At my church we don't even pray for vocations to the religious life, only for priestly vocations.

Absolutely, the "brides of Christ" throughout the ages are to be commended for the hard work they did solely for love of Him Who created all of us, and for His people. This despite the fact that they were not always totally in command of the religion that they taught us, or that there were a few occasional members who were not fit for their assignments. I do want to take exception to the statement that "Catholic priests have committed ... criminal acts ... Every last one of them should be put on trial and, if found guilty, thrown in jail." As with the nuns, there were a few occasional members who were not fit for that vocation. Under no circumstances should anyone say that every last Catholic priest should be put on trial. That spoils this entire article for me.

Finally, someone gets it! The Sisters have always been the underdogs of the Church, yet have contributed enormously to society in general. The generosity of religious Sisters is unbelievable, in my view. Hurray for you!

Ms. MacDonald is oddly critical of a New York Times article which she never really contradicts and whose subject matter she never bothers to explore. Rather, she seems to be making a clumsy effort to change the subject from a serious doctrinal dispute to a list of praiseworthy accomplishments by American nuns. God forbid that Fox news would do serious reporting on an important religious controversy involving the relationship between nuns and the Vatican. Far easier to do a feel-good piece about "bravery and derringdo (sic)".

Too bad so many nuns were allowed to abuse children back in the fifties. Many people I know had trauma and fear as part of their daily education......kids bonded and used coping skills... as many were afraid to report abuse to their parents, for fear of further abuse. Yrs ago, corporal punishment was used alot more by the schools, and probrably at home too....Enlightened parents stood up to the Church.........but many did not. They were also raised to fear those representing the CHURCH. BUT there were likely many kindhearted nuns So sad, as Mother Theresa was a role model....but so many nuns were sick and punitive.. and not supervised. SO if you had some kind nuns in your life, give thanks.

I attended catholic school for the first three years of my schooling in the fifties. I had a very bad speech impediment. My first grade teacher a nun was a speech therapist also. This remember was in the early fifties. This had to be God's hand at work. She worked with me and except for a very slight impediment she got me to speak normally. I am know as a good speaker today and teach and sometimes preach at my church. While I attend a protestant church, I am most likely a jewel in some old nun's crown.

All of the history of nuns in America is truly amazing, full of hard work and courage, and uplifting of the Faith. However, many nuns of today have lost touch with that past courage when in the face of the secular world, have fallen into the modernism that is so dangerous. Some religious orders work tirelessly for the sick and dying in hospitals, but on the side have found more interest in so called social issues, including promoting the gay agenda, same sex marriage, supporting the feminist hope for women priests, and finding fulfillment in the "new age" realm. Our Church which has not at it's core wavered from the truth on the important "issues" is not held up by these women, but rather brought to confusion and contradiction.

May I share my own nun story - Nuns have moved from convents, and they make the best neighbors! When I was in my twenties, I moved to a lovely area in the city bordering the botanical garden. There were two apartments in the building, I was on the top floor, and the sisters were on the first floor. They were highly educated and interesting, one was a nurse, who is now a midwife in Central America. The other was a teacher in one of the Catholic High Schools in the city. I guess my parents were pretty protective of me (life in the big city!), when they asked about my neighbors - they were relieved to find two nuns living underneath me! Convents basically ran out of nuns to support keeping convents open. My dear neighbors enjoyed more independence, it didn't mean they weren't devoted to their faith and service. Cheers to the nuns!!!

I would love to see the exhibit, particularly for the presentation of religious life prior to the Second Vatican Council! It is so sad and tragic what we have lost since then (far sadder than the reality of yet one more uninformed and overly zealous reporter). Praise to God for the Vatican inquiry into religious life in America! Thanks to organizations like the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, religious life has been altered to the point of near destruction in our spiritually starved nation. The group has major doctrinal problems and is a major obstacle to restoration of the vibrant religious life that we once witnessed in this nation (which is why their exhibit is supremely ironic). One need only see that the members therein do not wear traditional habits, yet many nuns in America do to know that they do not represent religious life in America. The images in this story do not tell the whole truth. Go to their Web site and you will see - no habits, all about social justice, little about Christ, nothing about love for the teachings of the Catholic faith. Being Catholic presupposes a certain love for and obedience towards the structure of the Church, and even more so for religious who take vows of obedience. Yet this group often has a biting (and quite scandalous) hostility toward the structure of the Church. I am immensely grateful for the Vatican inquiry, I only wish it had happened about 25 years ago!

The Catholic Church is one, holy, universal, and apostolic. Every day the Catholic Church feeds more people, educates more people, takes care of more sick people, houses more people, clothes more people, and visits more imprisoned people than any organization on earth could ever hope to. The Church is the body of Christ. There is no salvation outside the Church because the Church is Christ, here among us, throughout the nations and the centuries.

Just Keeping it Real, thank you!! You sum it up beautifully. There is a reason the Church's doctrinal teachings (as opposed to disciplines) have remained unchanged for 2,000 years. Despite the fact that sisters have contributed immeasurably to the develpment of our country, that is simply not the issue at stake. The Church must investigate any heresy within Her ranks. Unfortunately, sisters in some orders, even teaching orders, have embraced a "design-it-yourself" theology. This is dishonest, at best. At worst, it is scandalous if those same sisters teaching in Catholic schools distort the teachings of the Church. It is very telling to see new, young, faithfully orthodox Catholic orders of nuns springing up. The Holy Spirit is at work in bringing about a New Springtime of Faith.

I am 73 years old, haven't been Catholic for 55 years. But my dad was the wisest, smartest, kindest, strongest dad there was and he was raised by the sisters at St Vincent de Paul. They were very strict, which made my dad obedient to laws, pushed the acasemics, which is why dad was a custodian at 16 and a stock broker at 50, and were loving, which enabled my dad to also be loving. He was, and I am, grateful to the wonderful nuns that raised my orphaned dad!

I spent 16 years in Catholic Schools, and yes, there were abusive cranky nuns who had their favorites. But they were different times, and there were many teachers in the public schools who were the same unfortunately. When I graduated from Catholic high school in the 60's, Catholics - men or women - were not really welcome at Ivy League schools unless you had a lot of money or political connections. Most of my class went to Catholic women's colleges where we were taught by brilliant nuns. Because of these colleges, we have a whole class of educated teachers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, politicians who have contributed to American society. These were second and third generation Americans. Bravo to these colleges, and the nuns who started them! It is a sign of our times that these women's colleges have closed or gone co-ed as we are now able to send our own children to the colleges that did not welcome us 50 years ago!

I have no doubt the nuns have done and incredible good for the United States. And I have not doubt that the Vatican inquiry will do good as well. The gradeschool I attended in Seattle had an attached convent. The school over the last 4 to 5 decades has gone from being fully staffed by nuns, to fully staffed by lay teachers. The convent is empty. There does appear to be a crisis in vocational formation which needs study and scrutiny. I wish the convent at my gradeschool to be once again staffed by nuns. With regards to the history of the nuns service to our country, this might make a great topic for a book. I know a book was written on the order of Franciscan nuns from Wisconsin that staffed by parent's school in Bozeman Montana. My parents have forever praised the education they received. At some point, it would be neat to have a history written of the world since the death of Jesus that focuses on the saints' lives and how they affected history. Which saints were living at the time of Charlemagne, and in which countries. How did history depend on them?

I have only bad memories of catholic school, grades 1-3. The nuns continually humiliated me in front of the other kids, as I was hyperactive, and to this day I think that was partially a major factor with my low confidence level that I have today. the nuns were completely inept in dealing with me in a humane way. my mother was forced to urinate in her pants after the nun would not allow her to go to the bathroom! my mother forgave the nun, and never lost her faith. i hope the nuns of today are more educated and less cruel.

I was taught by the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Rochester, NY. All the nuns were strict, but kind. I was never hit by a Sister, even though I probably needed it at times. They meant business when they taught, but when you got to know them personally they were kind and gentle women, who gave us good example of how to live. More kids need to be taught by those Sisters. No nonsense. We had to go to Mass ever morning at 8 a.m. (that is actually when school started) and then we went to school and the first class we had was religion for an hour. It was so important to the Sisters that we learn about God and how to get to heaven. I pray for them every day.

Keeping it real and Thomas says most of what I wanted to say. Interesting to me how this article shows pictures of nuns in habits. About 90% of nuns today refuse to follow the pope's request that they wear them. Where is the obedience they vowed? Alot of it was lost 40 years ago with the liberalism that was allowed by bishops to creep into the orders after VII. The vatican is right to make sure they are following church teaching. Obedient nuns contributions with their prayer and work will never be known on this earth. Thanks God for them. The damage that has been done by their members that stray outside church teaching by spreading heresy and contempt for church authority will also never be known.

Shame on all those crybabies who said they were now mentally tormented because of alleged nun abuse! I was blessed to have been allowed a wonderful Catholic school education! If a person was disciplined by a nun then you can be sure they deserved it but the crybabies conveniently "forget" what their crime of disobedience was and this is why it still torments them today! The problem with kids these days is they get away with murder! No one disciplines them when they need it! I knew as a child that if I misbehaved then I would be punished by the belt. I was never hit with the belt but the fear of it kept me in line until I was old enough to realize that good behavior is its own reward. I was so enamored with the nuns I wanted to be one. I really feel bad for kids of today who have to actually sit through hours of "sex education" - I recall how horrified I was when the subject came up in science class! And to all those crybabies- get over it! If you had behaved properly then you wouldn't have been punished. God bless

Many religious orders have, through "mission drift" lost their charism in the name of "modern relevance"; (e.g, the Religious of the Cenacle give courses in Yoga, Reccki, & Enneagrams; the latter two draw power from demons and astrology respectively). Orders which since 1995 have become UN NGOs (e.g., the Carmelites) have allowed themselves to be co-opted for PR purposes by the UN. How? These orders compromise their Gospel "pro life" comittment (The UN is pro "reproductive health" = contraception & abortion) because the condition to become a UN NGO is not to criticize ANY other UN program. So these nuns cheerlead for the UN's ecology, environment and social justice, wasting their valuable prayer and ministry time on endless committee meetings, press releases, and policy statements--forgetting that there is no social justice without the first justice, which is the fundamental right for a human being to be born. The ecology / environment cannot be saved unless the basic family --based on traditional marriage--is protected. When nuns forget that they are Brides of Christ and spiritual mothers to souls, they lose their witness as the face of the Mercy of Christ in the world, & become merely social workers. Nuns whose orders are UN NGOs are deceptive "window dressing" which persuade the unwary that the interests of the UN are those of Christ and his bride the Church. While the UN does much good, that cannot justify the UN's pro-contraceptive & pro-abortion activities.

The Church is just trying to censure those number of nuns who tend to be too progressive in their view of thinking that sometimes defy the church's right sense of propriety of being a religious. There are some nuns nowadays that don't anymore & completely value much observance to the church teachings & somebody in authority. Some overlook to follow the strict compliance of their congregations norms & by-laws which are gospel ideals & expedient of immitating the life of Jesus & Mary in Nazareth. Some may have amiss to practice the virtue of humility, simplicity & obedience which our Blessed Virgin Mary exudes in service to Jesus. I'll just pray for more religious vocations that young people nowadays look at this call as a conrete option to be considered in order to truly live happy on this earth.

Thanks to the sisters for providing a Catholic Education for me and my siblings. Tough? You bet? Demanding? Without a doubt? In my classrooms (in days before anyone heard of learning disabilities) there were always over fifty students. These women somehow were able to educate in circumstances that any teacher of today would find impossible. Thanks to the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis. God Bless You!

Strange that Ms. MacDonald doesn't mention sexual abuse by nuns. In my opinion there are countless nuns who sexually abused children who were afraid to report the abuse.

I was physically and sexually abused by nuns in grade school and in high school. Very different Orders involved here. I was sexually harrassed by a nun from yet a third Order while I was a young seminarian studying for the archdiocese in Philadelphia 1970-1972. Nuns are no more kind or good or Catholic or any thing else than any other Catholic. My experience with them was mixed. Some were saints, that is for sure. Some were demons, that is beyond doubt. Lets get all the sentimental rubbish out of our minds. Nuns are human beings like anyone else, and they are capable of incredible sacrifice for the Love of God. They are also capable of incredible cruelty and mental breakdown. I cannot pass a fat woman in the street today who is dressed in black without cringing. I knew many nuns who were good women. Sister Maureen Fasey of the Grey Nuns in Philadelphia immediately comes to mind. I knew many who were extremely unstable human beings and very , very cruel. I could name five right off the top of my head. The church does not need sentimentality. It needs answers to questions of horrible dimensions concerning child abuse.

I remember getting paddled on the backside at school, knuckle raps with rulers, my friends having to stand in humiliation with gum on their nose in front of the class, abusive teachers, rampant incompetence. Oh yeah, that was at the public schools that I attended. For everthing that can be said about the nuns applies to the publics schools - only more so!

I am sure, and defend, that most religious clergy start off with the best of intentions. I believe that for the most part they all carry it out without challenging or defacing the faith. But it's important that we continue to examine and determine that we all are walking down the same path. IMHO only those who don't think they can survive an audit are fearful; while those who are prepared will welcome the examination. And since incompetence, evil -- or just plain making mistakes -- doesn't recognize and prefer a particular gender, the fact that priests make mistakes is justification that statistically sisters probably are equally as prone to failings. As for the author, I believe that the Church has a clear position on the `a la carte` practice of the faith -- and if you disagree on a "host of issues," perhaps your faith journey should proceed elsewhere.