FRIDAY POTPOURRI: PARISH HISTORY:

1951

On January 1st, 1951, the convent was completed.  The cost of the building and furnishings including the chapel, was $110,000.  Today that would be over a million dollars.  What a joy it must have been for the nuns to move out of the school with its communal lodging for 12 nuns and in to their own beautiful building for although the nuns would have been working during the hours the school was in session, living in a school building must have come with its own unique challenges

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IS YOUR EVIL PLAN ON SCHEDULE?

My evil plan is right on schedule.

 

While I was in the seminary, the priest shortage was in full swing.  It did not bother me because it was all part of plan that would serve me well and as we all know, this is all about me.

 

Here is the plan:  The shortage would continue causing a “buyer’s market” meaning that I will get THE assignment that I had always dreamed about.  THEN, there would be a huge influx seminarians so that there would be a surplus of priests to take care of me in my old age.

 

Well, I cannot think of a better assignment for me than the one that I have right now.  And, in general, vocations numbers are rising.  So now it is time to kick things into high gear.  I’m not getting any younger and I have to train my handlers now while I have the energy.

 

One of the reasons that things have been so hectic that I could not post recently is that I was busy implementing the next part of my evil plan yesterday.  A group of young men approached the parish and asked if they could take a trip to the seminary to see what this priesthood thing was all about.  So we loaded up a few cars and headed out to the seminary.

 

We spent the day talking to seminarians, taking tours, praying, eating (lots of eating) and meeting with the vocations director.  Fr. McCandless and the seminarians were very gracious hosts and I enjoyed myself until we came across our ordination pictures on the wall.  “That’s YOU?  So that’s what you look like with hair.”

 

One of the biggest surprises of the day was from our young ladies who want to have a similar trip.  I had no idea.  So plans are in the making.  Thanks heavens they overcame my lack of awareness.

 

God always works with us.  He doesn’t force anything upon us.  He tends not to work in spite of us.  Like a good Father, he assists His children in their endeavors – does not tell them to sit the couch while He does everything the right way – and gives us some ownership.  So do you want more vocations?  Don’t sit on your hands and simply wish that there will always be someone to say Mass, hear your confession, or anoint your loved one.  Don’t simply pray that there might a priest around when you want one.  Don’t just simply talk positively about the priesthood.  Tap a young man on the shoulder that you think might make a good priest and TELL HIM.  One of the TOP reasons men who thought about the priesthood as a young person never looked into it is because nobody every suggested it to them – said that the community thought that they might just be good enough – that they want him.

NUN FOR THE FUTURE?

Continuing yesterday’s post . . .

 

What about the women?  What is happening to the religious orders around us?  Though worldwide numbers are growing just as worldwide vocations to the priesthood are soaring, in the west the numbers are pretty abysmal.  The median age for the orders that served as the backbone of dioceses is skyrocketing.  The Los Angeles Times reported in 1994 that only 3% of nuns were under the age of 40.  But what is more astonishing about this number is that the vast majority of the nuns under 40 are in a limited number of orders.

 

In the same article was this, “Sister Eleace King, a research associate at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington, concurred.  "It tells me that the majority of religious congregations of women in this country will not survive. Most are dying," King said.”

 

A 2012 story in the NCR reported however, “One of the most striking findings regarding new entrants," say the writers," is that almost equal numbers of women have been attracted to institutes in both conferences of women religious in the U.S. in recent years. As of 2009, L.C.W.R. institutes reported 73 candidates/postulants, 117 novices and 317 sisters in temporary vows/commitment. C.M.S.W.R. institutes reported 73 candidates/postulants, 158 novices and 304 sisters in temporary vows/commitment." 

 

But this is a little misleading.  As Fr. John Larson wrote, “It seems that a recent article in America has used some statistics that appear to show that LCWR and CMSWR communities had about equal numbers of postulants, novices, and temporary professed according to the 2009 CARA survey, and thus things were somewhat equal in terms of vocations. However, the LCWR represents over 3 times as many communities as the CMSWR. This is definitely not a fair use of stats. The article wants to be “devoid of distortions.” I am not convinced.

 

“Another thing that the article points out is: “The vast majority of both L.C.W.R. and C.M.S.W.R. institutes do not have large numbers of new entrants.” This is true, but of the few that do have large numbers, it should be noted that they are all CMSWR communities. It may be “unfair” to put the media spotlight on them, but having lots of vocations attracts attention, does it not?”

 

So the issues are varied, confusing, and controversial.

 

Recently, there was an altar call at a local young adult retreat.  There are always at least a few young men who will step forward and declare that they are considering the priesthood.  It is particularly to see this down at the youth retreats at Steubenville.  But more exciting is seeing how many young women step forward to say that they are considering religious life.  At the local retreat mentioned above, TWENTY TWO young women stepped forward.

 

Twenty two.  At this one retreat.

 

It is a nasty little secret however that most of these that follow through leave our diocese.  Women from Cleveland have joined the Sisters of Life, Nashville Dominicans, TORs, and a host of other orders that seem to be supplying that for which these young women are looking.  Cleveland has women’s religious vocations.  The nuns in our area have such great institutions, amazing histories, outstanding achievements, monstrous support, huge hearts, great potential, and I wish we were feeding them.  We need them.  We love them. 

 

That being said all this comes together to make it more difficult for a woman to discern a religious vocation.  If you know of a woman in this position, offer her all the prayer and support you can muster.  It is going to be a long and arduous journey.

MONDAY DIARY: DIARY OF NUNS

This past weekend we had our inaugural “All Class School Reunion” at St. Sebastian. There was a nice turn out of people from classes extending back to the ‘30s. It was great listening to people reminisce about the goings on around here in years past.

Perhaps one of the most fascinating for me was hearing about the nuns, the Humility of Mary nuns that once staffed our school. It was to me what perhaps Monday Diary is to other about the life of priests. My favorite story of the night was the lady (then a girl) whose mother would send her to the basement of the school with “Pink Ladies.” Yeah, I didn’t know what one was either. According to Wikipedia it’s a “girlie drink.” Apparently as part of their recreation they would roller skate in the basement of the school having pinned up their great veils and enjoying a little libation.

Another lady told about how her mother used to lend one of the nuns her car so she could drive around. The nuns were not supposed to drive though whether this was a rule set by the order or by the state I do not know. I do know that some orders were not allowed to drive by order of the state due to the fact that their habits blocked their peripheral vision.

The original convent was on the top floor of the school until they needed the room for classrooms and the convent was built. That would never happen today. Not only would I not want to live in a school building (could you imagine!?) it probably would be frowned upon in our current wariness.

NUNSENSE

May you not find this post too inane.

When I was in high school and helping to restore a tiny silent movie theater in my home town, it seemed there was something terribly familiar about the thick wool carpeting going down the aisle. This same carpeting had been seen elsewhere but where? Then I remembered, there were still remnants of that carpeting at The West End Theater where I also worked. As time passed I found the same carpeting (strange person to notice such things) in some of the other old time theaters in town. Being single screen behemoths in a multiplex world the managers did much to cut costs. So if the end of the aisle carpeting from the 1950’s was fine, they would only replace the upper half leaving this same “Hollywood” carpeting at the bottom. Someone must have gone through at one time and sold THE carpeting for theaters.

A similar thing happened with slate pavers. Homes and businesses of a certain era had this blue, grey, and red pattern that must some seller must have gone through town selling at some point. As a matter of fact, there was something similar to this pattern at Borromeo Seminary in Cleveland.

So, we have the gorgeous table in the basement of the rectory. Fr. Jackson tells me that it was brought over from the convent when the convent was turned into the preschool. There is a beautiful sideboard, a dozen matching chairs, and one more impressive chair with a high solid back and arms that I gather must have been the superior’s chair. Interesting enough.

The other day I popped over to a neighboring parish for confessions and took a tour of their rectory. Well lo and behold in their dining room was the same table and chairs. Well, almost. It was if they were the same table and design carved by different carpenters. It turns out that the furniture did indeed come from the old convent (now offices.)

Last week I was invited to dinner at my classmate’s parish, we sit down in terribly familiar chairs, and after curiosity kills me I lift the table cloth. Yep – same table only slightly different – came from the old convent (now meeting space).

I wonder how many of these are around and where did they come from? It was not all the same order or the same era. Was there a “nun store” or a company that sold or donated directly to convents? It would be interesting if someone out there knew . . .

IN OTHER NEWS

Because of the way this post started out, I was thinking of some of the old theater names that used to be around: The West, The Park, The Lake, The Rondo, The Lynn, The Linda, The Civic, The Highland – so much more interesting than “The Route 34 20 screen multiplex.”