Vatican Looks into the State of American Nuns

Rome to Investigate Dropping Numbers of Religious Females in the United States

Jul 9, 2009

The Vatican, under Pope Benedict XVI, is concerned about both the number and the possibly the behavior and lifestyle of American nuns.

For the last thirty years, the numbers of religious Catholic females in the Untied States have been declining – from more than 180,000 in 1965 to just 60,000 in 2009. Rome, under Pope Benedict XVI, is clearly concerned about the decreasing numbers of nuns.

The question is, why exactly are numbers dropping so precipitously? Is it a general move away from religious life, or is it the current make up of the various religious orders?

Now comes word that the Vatican is initiating two sweeping investigations of American nuns; investigations that are worrying to many nuns, who fear they are the targets of a modern-day inquisition of sorts.

The investigations are seen by many as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the fact that Rome is paying attention to a group that is clearly in need of assistance, is comforting. While, on the other hand, some fear that this is an orthodox crack down on some American nuns who have adapted to the modern world in ways that Rome may not entirely support.

The Modern Nun

Gone are the days when one could identify a Catholic nun by her habit or her convent residence. Many modern religious now live independently and have found homes in academia and social advocacy groups among other professions. Some are even open in their opposing views about the modern church and want to see the reforms of Vatican II expanded to include such controversial changes as female and married clergy.

The question is whether these more modern thinking religious are ultimately in the best interests of the church and what Rome is going to do about them.

The largest of the two investigations is called an “Apostolic Visitation,’’ and the Vatican is being coy in its rationalization for it: to “look into the quality of the life’’ of women’s religious institutes is the stated purpose. What is unclear at this time is whether a distinction is being made between proper nuns and the more worldly religious sisters.

Nun or Religious Sister?

Commonly, the word "nun" is used for all religious women, however, in the Catholic Church, the terms "nun" and "religious sister" have different meanings. These differences are quite pertinent to the Vatican investigations. Nuns and sisters are distinguished by their type of vows and the focus of their work. The religious community of a nun is referred to as a "religious order" while the community of a sister is referred to as an "institute" or "congregation."

Therefore, all nuns are religious sisters, but not all religious sisters are nuns. Technically a nun must live in a cloistered environment, recite the liturgy of the hours and, in effect, live a life that is associated with a monastic brother. A religious sister is typically found in a school, hospital or other such good works. American nuns have seemingly chosen to remold themselves more as religious sisters and this could be the basis for the Vatican investigations.

The copyright of the article Vatican Looks into the State of American Nuns in Catholicism is owned by Steve Brady. Permission to republish Vatican Looks into the State of American Nuns in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.