Nuns And Swimming

[nikita92]

I wonder if any of them have taken CPR ??

[John Paul]

The /Order of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary swim in full habit but they do take off their rosary beads.When they visit family on vacation when no other community members are around they will go to the store and buy a T-Shirt and Swimming Trunks.

[He is Risen!]

The community I was in would swim every once in a blue moon.  We would change into our work habits, exchange our veils for  bandanas, and leave off the rosary.  It was always done in relative private (rural lakes etc.) I remember also taking on a slip and slide once and occasionally running through the sprinklers at a nearby cemetery (when no "civilians" were around, haha)

[NadaTeTurbe]

I don't want to sound harsh to the communities who do it, but swiming in full habit seems both unnecessary dangerous and disrespectful. 

I nearly die by drowning years ago. I was swimming in a dress in a lake. An unexpected flow took me by surprise and I could not resist with the weight of my (little !) dress. Fortunately, there was a boat not far from me, but when they save me, I have passed out and I still have consequences from it. Swimming is fun, it's not safe. 

[MarysLittleFlower]

Personally I don't feel comfortable with swim suits and I believe beaches should not be mixed gender- if I were a nun I'd think that way even more strongly... I don't mind giving up swimming though.. I don't swim anyway. If I were swimming in a habit I'd want it to be a private beach and I'd probably just go in to my knees so its safe... Maybe this seems extreme to many but its what I've come to think and I don't really feel attached to swimming... I like looking at lakes / sea though very much

[veritasluxmea]

I think I've heard that the Nashville Dominicans that they might swim in a private lake or something, they just do what He Is Risen! did. Keep their hair covered and wear modest clothing. 

I grew up swimming and even did swim team in middle school, but around age 14 I just stopped liking it. Never had a bad experience, I still swim occasionally (although I prefer to just wade) and I love skurfing, paddleboarding and all that, but I just don't like the actual swimming part. I do it cause I need to, kind of like walking across the yard to get something. 

So if I was a sister I just wouldn't swim, period, unless I really had to. Wouldn't bother me. 

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

Swimming can be dangerous, especially in the ocean, but it can also be both relaxing and very good exercise. And, for older Sisters, exercising in a warm pool could be good for their joints and overall health.

Still, a separate swimming pool for the Monastery would not fit with the vow of poverty for many/most? Communities. And, the question of modesty is an important one. Yet, wwimming in the habit, even in a pool, can be dangerous (as Nada pointed out) because of weight of most fabrics in water.

One innovation in recent years is new fabrics that are light enough for swimming, but yet don't cling. For example, on the Lands' end Web site, there are a number of styles of swim tees for women that can be worn both in and out of the water. (There are also several styles of swim skirts that are both stylish and much more modest than most swimsuits.)

So, if a Community wished to swim (for example, there was a lake near the Monastery or they had access to the private pool of a benefactor) a Community would now have the option of creating "swimming habits" that are as modest as normal habits, but much safer because of the light fabric. (Many Communities already have "alternate habits" for special purposes, for example, special work habits and veils.) And, as others have mentioned, the Sisters could wear swimming caps in place of the veil.

I doubt that the invention of new fabrics for swimming is going to make any big changes in whether Communities swim or not, but it's nice that these fabrics now exist, so that swimming could be a possibility for Communities who might wish to swim while wearing their habit.

 

[truthfinder]

 

Still, a separate swimming pool for the Monastery would not fit with the vow of poverty for many/most? Communities. And, the question of modesty is an important one. Yet, wwimming in the habit, even in a pool, can be dangerous (as Nada pointed out) because of weight of most fabrics in water.

 

There have been several communities to have swimming pools. Sometimes the money is donated for that express reason. Some public pools will have women's hours which they could also take advantage. And if they were still concerned about modesty, they could always try and adapt a burkini (maybe add a cross for clarification  ). 

[Graciela]

When i was a teenager, I visited a community of teaching sisters in their convent on the ocean in R.I.  I had not considered the issue of  swimming. When the Superior asked if I wanted to go for a swim, I was surprised. (The community wore a modified habit and veil.)  Soon she appeared in sneakers, robe and a black great-grandmotherly one-piece swimdress and off we went to the beach for a delightful dip and conversation.  Very matter of fact- it was a private area of beach on their property.

IMHO there is a lot of scrupulosity in this dangerous custom of swimming in a full habit- and a complete lack of basic common sense.  Do these sisters/nuns who wear the full habit to swim also try to bathe or shower in clothing out of their over-scrupulosity. In fact this was an old custom in Carmelite monateries-one took a bath in one's chemise (undertunic).

I think that St. Teresa of Avila might laugh- didn't she say about potential candidates "we can teach them to pray, but if they have no common sense, we cannot give it to them." 

[emma8201986]

I think swimming habits is silly as well.  You can buy many nice bathing suits that don't leave everything on display.  There was an episode of the Sisterhood where one of the nuns went swimming with the discerners in a very nice one piece with a skirt and a swimming cap.Just for fun, I started to google "modest" and before I got any further "swimwear" came up.  Here's one website http://hydrochic.com/modest-swimsuits.html

Personally, I enjoy swimming and hope that I will be able to continue if I am accepted to the community I plan to apply to.  I haven't asked this question yet - too many others that are more serious.  I wonder if sisters swim on home visits - you wouldn't even need a swim suit, just a tee shirt and running shorts!

Funny coincidence, Graciela, my mom is from CT and used to go to Westerly, RI in the summer.  She remembers very clearly in the 1960s walking up the beach from Misquamicut and seeing a group of women in one piece swimsuits and bathing caps.  They were sisters from a house owned by a community (she doesn't remember which) who used the house in the summer.  Clearly, they went swimming.  It wasn't even private as anyone can walk below the high tide mark.

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

Just to clarify, I am neither for or against "swim habits." I am in no position to give advice or even have an educated opinion on this particular subject for ANY female religious Community.

I do think that swimming in traditional habits could be dangerous under certain conditions due to the heavy weight of most wet fabrics, particularly in the open ocean. However, I also know that wearing of the habit all the time (except perhaps in the shower or exceptional circumstances, such as in surgery) is a very important value and practice in certain Communities. I know that every Order and Community is different in this regard, and I am certainly not going to make  value judgements as to what a particular Community decides is best for them with regard in swimming at all, and if they decide to go swimming, what the Community wears when they swim.

It was in that context that I brought up the fact that in the past few years there have been new fabrics created that are both very light and non-clinging (helping to preserve modesty) so that Communities who do wish to wear the habit when swimming now have an option to do so that is less dangerous and yet still preserves both their modesty and the rules/practices of the Community.

Whether a "swimming habit" is necessary or important, or whether it reflects "scrupulosity", versus wearing a modest swimming outfit that is not a habit, is not my decision to make--it is the decision solely of the specific Community/Order. I try to do my best to refrain from judgements on Community practices which I only know about secondhand, certainly in subjects such as swimming. For a serious discerner to a particular Community (versus someone who is simply "interested" in varying practices among Communities), a Community's decision about whether to swim at all, and if so, what the Sisters wear when swimming, is one factor among hundreds of factors in considering a Community. A Community's decision about swimming, and swimming apparel, may be an indication of wider beliefs and practices, including a possible indication of scrupulosity, or, it could just as easily be an unimportant detail.

[Antigonos]

Modest swimwear is a big concern for two groups of women that probably haven't occurred to you all: devout Muslim women and haredi [ultra-Orthodox] Jewish women.  In fact, in Israel, many swimming pools have special hours during the week for women only.  It is certainly an excellent form of exercise, and if there are enough sisters in a community who want to swim, and there is a pool in the vicinity, it might be possible to arrange an hour or so occasionally when no men will be permitted in the pool area. [On a kibbutz I know, many non-religious older women choose to go swimming when it's "women only" -- living with sons and grandsons in a community, no older woman really wants to show off her varicose veins and/or flab to everyone]