Nuns

The top two on my list of the most terrible teachers I ever had were Sister Regina Reagan and (coincidentally—no relation) Sister Grace Reagan. Sister Regina was a poor transducer of information and was   psychologically unhealthy; Sister Grace was less than perfunctory in commuting knowledge and was most definitely wrought with personal issues.

But some of the best teachers (and persons) I have ever known have also been Catholic nuns. They educated. And some also were outstanding administrators and research scientists. They were inspirational-- bright, self-assured women. They had careers. They were professionals equal in caliber to any man. They were also of generations older than mine. I encountered very few young nuns.

Many, in and out of the church, found the dwindling population of female youths in religious orders quite disconcerting.

But I have a theory. I believe for generations before mine, the convent was an escape for women seeking an alternative lifestyle. By taking vows of chastity and poverty it freed them to have careers. They lived in a time when it was unheard of for women to aspire to anything other than being a devoted wife and mother. Women with careers were ostracized---deemed peculiar and selfish. So becoming a nun was a way around this—entering the convent allowed social acceptance. It was an excusable separation from societal expectations. And if a woman was not sexually attracted to men or wanted to remain childless---something completely taboo-- the convent offered a sisterhood—communal (albeit celibate) female living.

And while I intend in no way to suggest that the nuns of generations older than mine had no faith in God, I am suggesting that the possibility of becoming a career woman---the possibility of living an alternative lifestyle—often enough trumped true vocation. So when a woman’s role in society expanded, the convent lost its attraction---there were other options.

It explains why some of the best teachers I ever had were ex-nuns. And some of them were married to ex-priests.

 

And Sister Regina was forced into retirement---Sister Dillane saw to that. And Sister Grace was asked to leave the sisters of Mercy. There was much speculation and rumor about her departure. The whispers centered around inappropriateness. But unlike those in power in the priesthood, the mother superior at the convent was having none of it—and whether the cause of her expulsion was due to unbecoming behavior or not, Sister Grace found herself no longer a teacher or a sister of Mercy nun-the-less.