Within the Roman Catholic Church, the title of sister is given to women who belong to religious communities and who take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience and devote their lives to God. Overtime most people have been asking certain questions regarding who they are, and their duties in the Church. Let me state that I do not belong to a religious community hence may not be able to give insufficient explanation concerning the religious life of sisters. The desire here is to explain some of the most frequently asked questions regarding sisterhood in the Catholic Church.
Who are Sisters?
Sisters and nuns are women who belong to the Catholic Church and who give their lives entirely to God in imitation of Jesus Christ. They have experienced a call from God to live in this way and have responded by giving their whole lives to God. They take vows to God, live in community, live as simply as possible, pray, study and do charity works.
Origin and History
According to The New Advent Catholic Encyclopaedia, The institution of nuns and sisters, who devote themselves in various religious orders to the practice of a life of perfection, dates to the first ages of the Church. The encyclopaedia states that women may claim with certain pride that they were the first to embrace the religious state for its own sake, without regard to missionary work and ecclesiastical functions proper to men. St. Paul speaks of widows, who were called to certain kinds of church work (1 Timothy 5:9), and of virgins (1 Corinthians 7), whom he praises for their continence and their devotion to the things of the Lord (www.newadvent.com)
Sisters or Nuns: Any Difference?
The terms “nun” and “sister” are often used interchangeably. However, within Roman Catholicism, there is a difference between the two. Here’s a simple summary of the differences.
A Catholic Nun is a woman who lives a contemplative life in a monastery which is usually cloistered (or enclosed) or semi-cloistered. Her ministry and prayer life is centered within and around the monastery for the good of the world. She professes the perpetual solemn vows living a life according to the evangelical counsels of poverty, celibacy, and obedience. An example is the Carmelite Nuns.
A Catholic Sister is a woman who lives, ministers, and prays within the world. Her life is often described as “active” or “apostolic” because she is engaged in the works of mercy and other ministries that take the Gospel to others where they are. She professes perpetual simple vows living a life according to the evangelical counsels of poverty, celibacy, and obedience. An example is the sisters of the Daughters of Divine Love (DDL).
Because both nuns and sisters belong to the church life form of Religious Life, they can also be called “women religious.”
As you might have noticed, there is a difference in the type of vows, solemn vs. simple. The chief juridical difference between the two is that religious who profess a solemn vow of poverty renounce ownership of all their temporal goods, whereas religious who profess a simple vow of poverty have a right to retain ownership of their goods but must give up its use and any revenue accruing from it (New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law).
However, in ordinary conversation, the terms “nun” and “sister” are used interchangeably. Both nuns and sisters are addressed as “sisters”. In popular culture, the term “nun” is often more widely accessible and immediately understood to refer to women who have professed the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
Levels of Formation/Training
Aspirancy: The aspirancy period is the come-and-see state when the young woman makes the initial contact with the religious congregation. This period can last for a year or more depending on the readiness of the candidate and the assessment of the vocation committee (sistersofthenativity.com)
Postulancy: Postulant years are basically for deepening of the Christian faith and further nurturing of the young woman, the movements of the spirit in her heart and an introduction to the charism of the Congregation (sistersofthenativity.com)
Novitiate: Novitiate years are years when the young woman is introduced to the basic tenets of the religious life. When those responsible for the training of the candidate evaluate them as suitable and ready, the Congregation admits them to the First Profession where they make vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. The vows are lived after the example of Christ the master, as set out for us in the gospels (sistersofthenativity.com)
What do Sisters do in the Church?
The ministry choices for a woman religious arise from the founding purpose of her community, a prayerful discernment of her gifts, and an assessment within her community of the signs of the times. A woman religious and her community look together at the needs of the church and society in order to determine where best to direct their energies.
The way a particular sister spends her day depends, too, on the kind of community to which she belongs. Contemplative nuns often work to sustain their community in food and shelter – doing tasks such as gardening, baking, computer data entry or handiwork.
They may serve, in one or more of a variety of ministries such as education, work for social justice, ecology for the care of God’s Earth, professional ethics, science or law, or in social work, pastoral care, work with those who are poor or marginalized, parish, youth, the elderly care ministry, health care, retreat ministry and spiritual direction.
They may as well be asked to commit their lives as missionaries working with people of diverse cultures and faith traditions for the common good. Also, they may be called to the primarily contemplative life of prayer for the world and are open to the call of her religious community to serve wherever there is the greatest need to be met by the special charism of the community.
Ending
Women religious have totally dedicated their lives to God; taken the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience they serve the Church in a special way; work for the salvation of the world; and strive for the perfection of charity in their own lives. They are an outstanding sign of the Church’s mission as the universal sacrament of salvation, and a witness to Jesus Christ. The sisterhood is a precious gift of God to humanity.
