I complimented a nun on her habit the other day, a flowing elegant sari in a creamsicle shade of soft orange. She told me that I could have one just like it and it would only cost me six years. Even nuns have a sense of humor.
It’s easy to see how a young village girl would be attracted to the vocations here. Safety, security, education, identity, community and purpose await those who enter the convent here. If her family can not afford to send her to school, a lifetime of labor may await her in the fields or in the brickyards. Their options are few and religious life may look like an easy way out of poverty. The cynics will tell you that this is why India turns out so many professed sisters and priests.
This may be true. But then, why do they stay in the vocations? Their lives are far from easy from what I can see. Sister Rosemin manages a 20 patient sanitarium for TB patients in an isolated, rural outpost and provides all the medical help to anyone who asks for miles around. She has been there by herself for three years. Three Sisters from St. Anne’s convent take care of all the needs of 80 disabled children. Many others are teachers. No one has more than minimal resources. They can be reassigned to anywhere at anytime. Six years of training plus a lifetime of work plus vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, doesn’t sound like an easy life to me.
Yet, I am warmly welcomed. I hear no complaints, no requests for money. They all laugh easily and smile often. If there is tension below the surface, I can not see it. The children flock to them and hunger for their attention. They appear to be happy, dedicated, hardworking women who have made a tough choice and are making a difference in their world. I, for one, am grateful to them for making this "career choice".
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