Poverty, Chastity, And Change A Book Review Essays -

Poverty, Chastity, And Change : A Book Review Poverty, Chastity, and Change: A book review In her book Poverty, Chastity, and Change, the author Carole Garibaldi Rogers interviewed ninety-four nuns from forty different religious communities in North America. She gathered oral histories regarding the nuns academic, religious, and emotional difficulties that were encountered throughout their lives. Each interview lasted a couple of hours and three basic questions were asked. The three basic questions are: Why did you enter religious life? What were some of the crisis points or times of change in your religious life? Or, to put that another way, how have you become the person that you are today? And, finally why are you still a religious? (Rogers, xx). The book is divided into two parts. Part one, on changes from the past to the present and part two, on changes from the present to the future. The book contains the wonderful accomplishments of the nuns as well as the fears, hopes and struggles they faced throughout their lives. The life of a Roman Catholic nun still remains ambiguous to many people. The outside world has many perceptions of the female clergy. Nuns are typically associated with wearing a long black habit and a veil; living in a recluse and sheltered environment and praying all day amongst other nuns. The reality is far different from these stereotypes. While true that most Nuns join the convent because they are completely dedicated to God and wish to devote their lives serving him. Their servitude encompasses a multitude of different disciplines raging from renowned writers to traveling nurses. The main running theme throughout the book is change and most notably the transformation that took place in the womens religious movement after Vatican II. The Catholic Church has been historically under the management of a male clergy and hierarchy. Female clergy have not been given equal opportunities in obtaining leadership positions. Vatican II produced an emerging womens movement that captured attention worldwide. It challenged the patriarchal tradition of the church and started making serious headway toward its goal: restoring the equality in theory and practice that belongs to each Catholic. Vatican II embraced the sociological theory of civil rights and included the following written statement in its Pastoral Constitution: The Church in the Modern World stated, With respect to the fundamental rights of the person, every type of discrimination, whether social or cultural, whether based on sex, race, color, social condition, language or religion, is to be overcome and eradicate d as contrary to Gods intent (No.29). Throughout the course of the book the reader is presented with detailed examples of how life has changed for female clergy before and after Vatican II and their various responses to these changes. The impact that Vatican II produced shows that progression in the womens movement for social justice and civil rights is also found in the Roman Catholic Church. Reactions in the church to the changes of Vatican II vary from disillusionment to happy acceptance. Many times the reactions depended on the Nuns age, family upbringing, and her orders outlook. Many of the younger Nuns where more inclined to welcome the changes that Vatican II brought while the older Sisters where not as accepting of the new changes. The growing emphasis on Gospel spirituality that Vatican II emphasized pointed religious women toward further developments in social order and allowed them a greater part in decision making towards particular issues that motivated them. An example of this is found in Sister Carita Pend ergast oral history. Having always had an illusion to travel as a missionary worker to China. Sister Carita was able to fulfill her desire and committed eighteen years of her life to charitable work in very difficult circumstances. In her interview she comments on her experiences: They were very difficult years because China was in turmoil all the time. Warlords. War with Japan. The communist. That was the background (Rogers, 36). In another story Sister Margaret Traxler Sister Margaret, a strong willed feminist, describes how she spent many years advocating the Equal Rights Amendment, which in essence states that men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction. She