wfn.org | BRITAIN: Religious orders advertise for novices

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Title; BRITAIN: Religious orders advertise for novices
May 30, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Offices
London, England

[97.5.4.4]

BRITAIN: Religious orders advertise for novices

(from ENI) Contemplative nuns in Britain have launched a campaign to
arrest their falling numbers and to prevent the "hidden life" becoming
the "lost life".

Since the launch last month of an ecumenical campaign by the Association
of British Contemplatives, more than 5000 posters have been distributed
to universities and colleges, and through churches. The association
includes Anglican and Roman Catholic convents.

The poster declares: "Contemplative Life for Women: Alive and Well".

Women who inquire about the contemplative life are given a leaflet which
includes a list of 60 Roman Catholic and eight Anglican convents in
Britain. Nuns in the "contemplative life" devote themselves to prayer
and study, while those in the "active life" engage more directly with
the world through work like teaching and nursing.

According to those in the campaign contacted by ENI, the first problem
the campaign faces is widespread ignorance in Britain about nuns,
especially Anglicans. "I didn't know people like you still existed. I
thought you were wiped out at the Reformation," is a not uncommon
reaction.

Numbers, however, are tiny. In 1994 (the latest figures available) there
were 1174 Roman Catholic and Anglican contemplative nuns in England,
Scotland and Wales, out of a total population of more than 55 million.
In the same year there were an estimated 10 000 nuns in the active life.
The contemplatives had 20 recruits in 1995, but only 13 in 1996.

But Sister Mary Bernadette, superior of the Roman Catholic
Redemptoristine Convent, Liverpool, who is heading the campaign, remains
optimistic. "The sisterhood is a gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church,
and He won't take it away," she told ENI. "It may change its form,
however."

Both Sister Bernadette and her Anglican counterpart in the campaign,
Sister
Margaret Mary, in charge of the Society of the Precious Blood's
community at Burnham, Buckinghamshire, agree that in a world saturated
with sex it is harder than it was to sell the idea of lifelong chastity
and virginity.

"People now are less open to the calling to give everything up," Sister
Margaret told ENI. Sister Bernadette said that some recruits to the
sisterhood "tell you quite openly they've had sex".

She added: "Eventually the pendulum will swing back. People will get
tired of all this sex thing. Meantime, recruiting older women may be a
way of keeping up numbers." She said she was encouraged by the 10
inquiries, mostly from older women, to her convent alone since the
launch of the poster campaign.

Both she and Sister Margaret told ENI that it was not more difficult -
in a world committed to frantic activity - to sell the contemplative
life than the active life. "It's a paradox," said Sister Margaret.
"Contemplatives are getting more vocations in relation to our numbers
than the activists. And certainly the church needs people who pray."

According to Sister Bernadette, the qualities most needed in a nun are
an ability to mix and a sense of faith: "You don't see much result.
People ask you to pray for them or their loved ones, but they rarely
ring up to tell you the results."

Potential recruits are invited to spend a weekend at a convent. "They
often express surprise at how normal it is," Sister Bernadette said.
"One was even surprised that we have tables and chairs! And dormitories
have long gone. Nuns have individual bedrooms now."

Both Roman Catholic and Anglican nuns insist that there are good
relations between nuns in the two churches, and the joint campaign is
proof of their co-operation. None of those interviewed by ENI identified
great differences in the lives of the two communities. Referring to
Roman Catholic nuns, Sister Margaret said: "We are absolutely at one
with them. It is as though we have found the unity in Christ which our
Churches are seeking."