Sisters who also are mothers bring new perspectives to religious life

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Dominican Sister Patricia Dual, holding a grandchild, poses with her family members in 2011 after celebrating her final profession of vows. Sister Patricia is part of a relatively small but significant segment of women entering religious life after having raised children. Like Sister Dual, some also have grandchildren.CNS photo/Sister Patricia

BY ELIZABETH EISENSTADT EVANS, CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
June 11, 2016

GLENMOORE, Pa. – The way Sister Rita Cameron sees it, her grandchildren didn't lose a grandmother when she became a sister. They gained 106 great-aunts.

"Everybody loves them," said Sister Cameron, who is vocations director for the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Dubuque, Iowa.

Sister Cameron is part of a relatively small but significant segment of women entering religious life having grown children and, occasionally, grandchildren.

Sister Mary Johnson, a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, who is a sociologist at Trinity Washington University, found in a 1999 study of sisters who had entered religious life since the end of the Second Vatican Council that of the 2,740 women who responded, 3 percent reported having been divorced (and their marriages annulled) before entrance, and 1 percent had been widowed. Four percent had children.

http://www.catholicregister.org/faith/item/22488-sisters-who-also-are-mothers-bring-new-perspectives-to-religious-life

[rpannier]

1. It's a group I never hear much about

Thanks so much for posting
I find this subject very interesting

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2. It's not the norm but there are some.

Sr. Elizabeth Ann Seton is probably the most well-known.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Ann_Seton


This may become more common as society changes and the nature of vocations changes.

http://triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_559795.html