By Sister Katie Eiffe, CSJ
Vicar for Religious, Diocese of Syracuse
When you read this, we will be in the midst of National Catholic Sisters Week, sponsored by Communicators for Women Religious, a collaboration of those who serve religious communities as Communications Personnel. It is an annual celebration intended to “shine a light on the spirituality, mission, and community building of women religious.” This year’s theme is Celebrating Traditions, Changing the World. The Catholic Sisters website states:
“For generations, Catholic Sisters have been breaking barriers, advocating for justice, leading in education and healthcare, and fostering spiritual growth. Their presence in communities — both past and present — has been a source of strength, hope, and transformation.”
Prior to the Second Vatican Council, religious sisters in the United States were easily recognizable by their religious habit, which was considered a sign of their consecration to God, and generally fell into two categories. “Contemplative” religious sisters ordinarily lived in monasteries, and their focus was primarily prayer (though some did establish schools, colleges and universities, and hospitals, for example.) “Active” religious lived in convents and served in institutional ministries such as schools and hospitals. Generally, both groups of sisters professed vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and both groups had little contact with “the world” outside their convents and monasteries. Both groups lived a strictly regulated schedule of prayer and community life.
On Oct. 28, 1965, the Council released a document entitled Perfectae Caritatis (the Decree on the Up-to-Date Renewal of Religious Life). Within that document, religious were asked to study the original inspiration of their founders, and to “adapt their ministry to what the locality and the times require.” (#20) It can be said that religious communities were among the first in the Church to engage the vision and spirit of Vatican II, in obedience to the council fathers.
In my own life as a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet, we learned that our founder, a Jesuit priest named Fr. Jean-Pierre Medaille, gathered a group of six women in LePuy, France, in 1650, and exhorted them to “divide the city” to discern and respond to the needs of the times. In a radical (for the times) move, he instructed them NOT to wear a religious habit, but to dress in the clothing of widows, and the sisters responded to whatever needs they found among the people of God. After the French Revolution, Mother St. John Fontbonne re-established the congregation in Lyon, and in 1836, sent the first sisters to the United States, establishing a convent at Carondelet, Missouri, where our motherhouse remains today.
Since Vatican II, sisters in the US gradually began to establish many and varied ministries, discerning how individual gifts given by the Holy Spirit to each person could best be used to meet the many and varied needs of the people of God. Today, sisters serve in many different ministries … some institutional, and many others that may meet a specific need in a specific area. A particular gift of religious women, as ministries expanded, was to ensure that religious women received the education and professional training necessary for their ministries. No longer were they “assigned” to fill a particular need in a particular place, but with the community leaders, sisters discerned their individual gifts and responded to ministries where those gifts could best be used. “Active” religious life became “ministerial” religious life.
As Vicar for Religious, it is my privilege to serve all of the religious communities who serve our diocese in all kinds of ministries, some contemplative, and others ministerial: Education, healthcare, pastoral care, as parish life directors or pastoral associates, in care for the earth, advocacy for justice, nourishing spirituality, as artists and writers and musicians …and dozens more too numerous to mention. We “walk together” with the people of God, striving to share the good news of the Gospel.
During this Catholic Sisters Week, take a moment to recall how your life has been touched by religious women, and give thanks! Perhaps you might give a call or write a note to a sister who has “walked with you,” who has shared faith and life with you, who has revealed God to you — and God within you. And let us pray for each other as we each live our own personal journey of faith.
