I went to Parochial school 2nd thru 5th at St. Mary of the Palms in Mission San Jose, CA (Sister Celestine was an angel and I loved her); 6th thru 8th at St. John's in Headsburg, CA; high school at Ursuline (which is closing down, unfortunately). Some of the nuns at all of these places had PERSONALITY. According to this movie, the nuns were to become robots. No personality, no talking, no show of feelings of any kind, no touching, no humor - just work and prayer - very introspective. And yet when she went to the congo the nuns there had personality, they talked, they showed compassion and friendship, and humor! I'm confused.
And another thing, they wanted complete removal (even in their memory) of their family. And yet they took money from her family (a dowry) when she married God. I find that reprehensible. These women will work all their lives for the church. Why does the church need to take money from the family?
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EJverh
12 years ago
This used to be observed (the dowry) as a symbol. But it had started out of necessity. In the very beginning of cloistered orders for nuns, the convents were poor and extremely crowded. Also, there were no `apostolic` orders where the nuns were nurses and teachers with ability to earn money and feed all the nuns. They relied on their gardens for food and generosity of strangers for donations. Later, many young women were entering for the wrong reasons: to escape the world, forbidden marriage or inability to marry. Thus, to be able to take them in, the convent asked for the dowry, any amount the family could afford as if they were to marry. It was to truly be able just to feed and clothe them in the beginning in an already crowded and poor convents. But when the nuns started working outside (like S. Luke), it was largely symbolic. But, notice that the sum was returned to her when she left. Hope this helps to understand it a bit better.
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