Reply #18: Nuns who take vows of poverty end up ... poor. No pension.

[Hekate]

A few years ago I went to an interfaith women's conference/retreat where I had some wonderful conversations with nuns around the age of 60. They'd had careers of service -- teaching, social work, nursing, and the like. But everything they earned went to their order, and was then ultimately controlled by the all-male hierarchy of the Church. Traditionally, the oldest nuns have relied on younger nuns to care for them -- literally, they are sisters to one another. This worked well enough for centuries. But now there is a shortage of young nuns, and the oldest are staring a rather bleak future in the face.

Mother Church is not taking care of its old nuns very well.

They also take vows of obedience. Male hierarchy again.

Here in Santa Barbara we had a mini-scandal in the community when three elderly nuns had their house sold out from under them to partially satisfy the debt incurred by the Los Angeles Archdiocese -- that is, Cardinal Mahoney has a court judgement from the lawsuits stemming from the priest molestations, so he is selling off some of the property owned by the Roman Catholic Church. Poof. Thank you for your decades of service in this poor neighborhood, now trot along. I don't know where they finally ended up, but for awhile the nuns in the Episcopalian convent took them in.

I think a consecrated virgin living in the world may be in better financial shape in the long run. It's not my choice of a life, but their prayers are supposed to benefit the world, so I'm inclined to say thanks for the effort.

Hekate