Stength in community October 16, 2007
Posted by Zack in Missouri , trackbackWe’ve been hearing about and running into “new monastic” communities around the country—like Erik’s. But it’s got to be noted that intentional communities with social missions have been a central part of Christianity for a long time.
Last night, we visited with three members of a community of nuns in rural, Southeastern Missouri—Sisters Cynthia, Rita and Anne, of the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Five years ago, Elizabeth worked with two of the rural health programs they run here. They were a huge influence on her. I’ve heard so much about them, so it was really wonderful to finally meet them in person.
Sister Cynthia is famous, actually, as one of the nuns who went to jail for “crossing the line” at protests against the School of the Americas. Her community of sisters—local and international—supported her practically and spiritually though the whole process. She served six months in a federal prison, a transforming experience in itself where, for example, she got to know women serving decades sometimes for crimes they didn’t commit.
Sister Rita and Cynthia went to Central America in the 1970’s, as part of a broader movement in solidarity with the people of the region. In the 70’s and 80’s, the U.S. government backed violent regimes and private death squad armies all over Central America. A generation of North American activists were transformed by visiting El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras, building close friendships in struggle with everyone from national political leaders to rural village farmers, and then enduring the feeling of helplessness as they watched those friends be killed, tortured and “disappeared” by U.S.-funded and U.S.-trained terrorists. Part of that movement was made possible by Catholic orders that supported their members in joining the struggle.
Just as with the new Christian communities we’ve been meeting, this community strives to ground itself in local, daily service to the poor and oppressed. We’ve see the new communities wrestling with what that means, but these nuns, of course, have been at this for a very long time. The School Sisters of Notre Dame began in the 1830’s with educating girls in poor areas of Germany. Today, Sister Anne runs a health program called Whole Kids that serves hundreds of families in this rural area who have been left behind by society, virtually unreached by any kind of government social service. Sister Rita runs Whole Health, that serves adults and seniors across the area. The local community also runs a shelter for battered women.
It’s worth stepping back for a minute to think about the community these women belong to in a fresh context. For a second, forget they’re nuns. Just imagine if you heard one day about an international community of women that’s been operating continuously and supporting itself for more than 170 years. Imagine that you heard that these women vow to serve others as their primary vocation for the rest of their lives, and that they choose to live together in spiritual as well as practical community for the whole span of their lives. Wouldn’t that be an amazing thing to hear about? Well, that’s what this community is.
We talked about how, because of broader changes in the Catholic world, that fewer and fewer people are entering Catholic “religious life”—i.e. becoming priests or nuns. As I was going to sleep, thinking about that, I felt terrified of a world without these beautiful and powerful international communities.
Comments»
Tell It, Zack
Zack Exley, on religious women in rural Missouri: Just imagine if you heard one day about an international community of women that’s been operating continuously and supporting itself for more than 170 years. Imagine that you heard that these wome…
Tell It, Zack
Zack Exley , on religious women in rural Missouri: Just imagine if you heard one day about an international