The Nashville Dominicans have recently updated the News section of their website. Check it out at

http://www.nashvilledominican.org/News/Com..._News/index.htm

~Carolyn

I love this order!!! And I love looking at pictures! Thanks!

I have to admit, I probably do a little more looking at pictures than actual reading sometimes!

as much as i feel drawn to their order... i dont think i'd be comfortable in their chapel........




wow

I've been there... and others here on PM have too.

I'll add my two cents that it's very lovely. It's quiet (but you can still hear people cough). The organ is nice and loud. Sometimes the mics have gone in and out at the podium. But the kneelers and pews are appropriately comfortable. (They're handmade by an Amish manufacturer.)

haha thanks... i mean, its GORGEOUS... its just so... wow

(im from a small country parish, if that clarifies things) i would just sit there in awe of the splendor... its so amazing

Hehe, me too.

Stunning, as always.

I love the Nashville Dominicans!!!!!!

(if i had a dollar for every time i've posted those words!! )

I love them too

lol

i'm joining you

I have a friend who is one of the novices there. Her name was Jennifer Flathers and her religious name is Sr Julia. She was a friend of mine that had discerned with a community that I'd been discerning with, but decided against entering that community. I did too, for that matter.
She's in one of the pictures and she looks soooo happy.

My community has the option of wearing a habit or not. I feel drawn to ask to do so, but I'm afraid that some might see it as I'm entering for the wrong reason...which I'm not. I think I'd better wait before I say anything about it. That way I'd more likely get a more favorable answer.

Peace,
Anne

I know very little about this community, and it does seem to attract young vocations. Just remember that externals don't really matter in the long run. A good public relations person can make glitzy websites/written material. Yes, the pictures are pretty. And the habits are old style, not that it means much. What is this community really about? I don't know any of these sisters, they are not in my area of the country. I am on their mailing list and receive a bunch of fancy brochures begging for more money so they can build more. So I am not seeing them from the vocation side, but merely on the business side. And I am not impressed. Sorry, but I call things like I see them. Anyone else on their mailing list for donations????

So beautimous

I understand your concern. But as one who lives a couple miles from their Motherhouse and knows several of the sisters, I can tell you that this is an incredible order. They have been around since 1860 and have teachers at schools all over the country in 17 different Diocese. I know several women who went to their schools and they've been raised with a fine Catholic education. And all that aside, merely being in the presence of these women can let you understand their humility and holiness. They are doing great things for the Church!!

I have a question about the nashville dominicans, does anyone know if they have any plans to make another foundation? They're 200+ sisters there.....

I love all things Dominican and am happy to hear they are a good group. Thanks for filling me in!!

I am not on their mailing list, but I am on several other ones and recieves pleas for money. I dont see anything wrong with it. They need more room for their sisters, I cant think of anywhere I would rather have my money go than to the future of religious life. At least when you send donations for these things you know that the money is going to a good order ( teachers, who are shaping the future of the Church ) and for a good cause. Sometimes when you send money through your parish it can go to things you dont really want it to go to. Everyone I know who has meet these sisters says how wonderful they are and how they would recommend them to anyone discerning a vocation.

God Bless!!

I think there have been some (healthy) rumors about their congregation making another foundation in the near future. But I've never heard anything directly from the sisters. Both the Sister Servants of the Eternal Word and the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist have Nashvillian foundresses (and the Sisters of Life too, to some extent).

I hope they do!!! The US could use more vibrant teachers, and the orders who have come from them have all been so wonderful thus far!!!

By the way, does anyone know how many schools and convents they own? Not just work in or stay in temporily, but accually own?? I have wondered this for a bit, as they are all over the US!!!

I believe that the congregation only owns the schools that reside on their Dominican Campus in Nashville: Overbrook School (elementary), St. Cecilia Academy (high school), and Thomas Aquinas College.

The rest of the schools the sisters teach and/or administrate in are private or diocesan, but not their own per se.

There are three Nashville Dominicans in my Catholic Studies class this summer. They're really cool!

hey Anne I wanted to ask you...Your community has the option of wearing the habit? Wowzers, I have never seen a sister of Notre dame in a habit before and I didnt know that they had an option. So Iam guessing that most sisters decide against wearing the habit there. Because just looking at the fotos I wouldn't think that they had that option.



Sorry to go off topic!

Yes, I was told that it is an option if it's what I really want...but the fact that most of the Sisters don't wear a habit means that many of them have chosen against it. It's a few of the older sisters and the sisters in other countries that wear the habit. As I said, I'm thinking about asking to do so, but I am sure that I'd better wait until I get a foot (or maybe my whole body) in the door before I go about asking to wear a habit. One of the Sisters that I live with (the oldest one) told me that she's glad that I'm thinking about it, but I did explain to her that I think some of the others might think I have other motives for asking...so I don't want to go there until I know for sure I'm being accepted... If you know what I mean.

What motives are they speaking about? Sorry if Iam in the dark here

I understand... it's like you don't want to overstep your territory because you are so new... I gotcha!

The motives that I am speaking about are: (these are NOT my beliefs, but I'm afraid that some of the Sisters might think they are based on if I ask to wear a habit)

1) that I am joining the community for my interest in the habit ... which is not true for me. I feel called to religious life reguardless if they wear a habit or not. I think it's a nice gesture that they'd let me choose this option, but I don't want to stick out like a sore thumb either.

2) that I think ALL sisters should wear habits... I don't think this. If I did, I'd be asking to join a community where it was required. I believe that God calls women to go to certain communities. I believe that I'd still be interested in this community reguardless of whether they offered this choice or not.

3) that my beliefs are that the church should go back to how it was before Vatican 2. I really don't believe this at all. I like the church how it is today. While it's nice to know that there has been change in the past, and may be change in the future, I don't feel it necessary to take a step backwards.

I'm afraid that the Sisters might think one or alot of those things if I ask right away. I want to be in the community for a little while and ask. For me, it would be nice not to have to think about what to wear every day. I also think it would be a nice witness to the church and for the community, but I understand that in some professions that the Sisters hold, it may not be practical anymore.

There's my 2 cents. I hope you understand where I'm coming from a little better now.

Peace,
Anne

Not to mention that you wouldn't have to worry about what your hair looked like. :-) Do they offer a habit, or would you have to 'design' one of your own?

Anne,
I think that you are entering a wonderful community, and you are entering because you feel called there. Today you might want to wear a habit, but who knows what you will find when you actually are there. I know nuns who are fully habited, and ones that are in lay clothes without even a veil. They are just awesome woman, and you know what, I hardly notice now what they are wearing. I see the person. People in the parish know they are sisters.
I say, don't plan your tommorow, just let it happen. And you best keep us informed of your journey!!!!

I assume that I'd just wear whatever habit they could find for me. I'm sure a little tailoring would have to be done, but I'm not worried about that now.

As the poster before me said, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. This is the way I feel today, but who knows what the future holds.

Peace,
Anne

PS. We're still trying to find volunteers to help out with our "Stretch Your Heart" summer service opportunity. It's a "vocation thing" that the Sisters do to attract women. It sort of defeats the purpose that I'm the only one signed up for it at the moment though... :-( Anyone interested?

Anne,

I think it is great that your Sisters are making it an option for you and that you are sensitive to the needs of the community as you consider it and how to approach it. From your posts it sounds like you belong to a very balanced community. I considered a community that wore lay clothes for a while and really liked their life, but in the end it was not for me.

I am also not joining my community because of the habit. I think it is great that they have it, but in the end it is the charism.

I second everything philo said. I notice how much balance these communities have. Especially Benedictines... isn't that one of their key things?

the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecelia are the kind of order that make you wish you were called, even if you're not. I'd run off and join them in a heartbeat if I knew God were calling me there. Although I'd prefer a community with the Traditional Latin Mass.