Writing letters to religious

[chrysostom]

For those of you in religious communities, do you enjoy writing/receiving snail mail?  (who wouldn't?) 

Would it be polite to enclose stamps for a reply if I sent a letter?

My oldest Catholic friend (the only one I had growing up) has a sibling who's been cloistered for several years.  I thought I'd write her a letter for the fun of it, sharing the good news of her little brother's childhood friend's conversion to Catholicism, and perhaps asking for her own perspective on the religious life and on a particular charism which is quite similar to the one I'm interested in.  It would be completely out of the blue, but why not?

Aside from that though... I am interested to know how how much snail mail is a part of your communications and correspondence.  

Edited November 8, 2015 by chrysostom
typo

[Pia Jesu]

Catherine Field wrote in a New York Time's article titled "The Fading Act of Letter Writing" (2/15/11) that "a good handwritten letter is a creative act, and not just because it is a visual and tactile pleasure.  It is a deliberate act of exposure, a form of vulnerability, because handwriting opens a window on the soul in a way that cyber communication can never do.  You savor their arrival and later take care to place them in a box for safe keeping."  Holding, re-reading letters from loved ones and friends during a canonical novitiate year (quite cloistered!) with my former active community gave me support, joy--and a sense of "connectedness" during bouts of homesickness.  Months ago, I wrote a letter to a Carthusian monk (who certainly has minimal access to the outside world) asking--but not expecting answers to--some spiritual/philosophical questions.  His generous and beautifully handwritten response this week will be treasured forever.  I must say, however, that the level of excitement I felt upon seeing the envelope arrive in the mail almost gave me a heart attack!  Snail mail may be looked down upon by the tech crowd--but taking the time to write your cloistered friend, Chrysostom is an excellent thing.  After all, writing (in itself) is a catharsis.  Cursive is not being taught in our local schools anymore...so, let's campaign not to lose the "lost art" of penning a note!

[HopefulHeart]

I have a good friend who is a Dominican sister, and she corresponds with her family members and friends primarily through snail-mail letters. I send her letters as well, and I know she likes to receive them!

[Gabriela]

I think it's beautiful and can't see why anyone wouldn't like that.

Unless your handwriting is awful or something.  

[sr.christinaosf]

I agree.  Doesn't a personal letter just warm the heart?  

Actually, I started a little pen pal project where young women interested in religious life, or just wanting the contact, are welcome to sign up to be pen pals with a sister in our community. 

[NadaTeTurbe]

I write a lot of letters to my (non-religious friends). Mainly during summer, for christmas, et when I read a good book and want to send my advice to them. I don't have any social network, and most of my friends don't text, so if we want to keep in touch, letters are very important. 

[Sr Mary Catharine OP]

I love receiving "real" letters but if someone will write with email I'll take that, too! I do write letters as well but not as much as I did before. Also, I don't have as much personal time as when i was a young sister.

[Spem in alium]

I love letters. I do receive some from my family from time to time, and for the last three years have been corresponding with an inmate on death row in the US. For birthdays and name days (which we celebrate) we give cards to each other. And applications and formal correspondence between Sisters are always done in writing. So we actually do write a bit!

In my view, it's very polite and thoughtful to enclose stamps. Here we're often getting low, especially with the mail out of our Christmas greetings and our newsletter!

[chrysostom]

I realized she would not be able to use stamps from my country.  I tried to buy stamps from her country via its official mail website but it said that stamp sheets could not be delivered to addresses outside its borders.  Urgh.

Edited November 9, 2015 by chrysostom

[John Paul]

Catherine Field wrote in a New York Time's article titled "The Fading Act of Letter Writing" (2/15/11) that "a good handwritten letter is a creative act, and not just because it is a visual and tactile pleasure.  It is a deliberate act of exposure, a form of vulnerability, because handwriting opens a window on the soul in a way that cyber communication can never do.  You savor their arrival and later take care to place them in a box for safe keeping."  Holding, re-reading letters from loved ones and friends during a canonical novitiate year (quite cloistered!) with my former active community gave me support, joy--and a sense of "connectedness" during bouts of homesickness.  Months ago, I wrote a letter to a Carthusian monk (who certainly has minimal access to the outside world) asking--but not expecting answers to--some spiritual/philosophical questions.  His generous and beautifully handwritten response this week will be treasured forever.  I must say, however, that the level of excitement I felt upon seeing the envelope arrive in the mail almost gave me a heart attack!  Snail mail may be looked down upon by the tech crowd--but taking the time to write your cloistered friend, Chrysostom is an excellent thing.  After all, writing (in itself) is a catharsis.  Cursive is not being taught in our local schools anymore...so, let's campaign not to lose the "lost art" of penning a note!

Our school teaches cursive.Would being in a Catholic School change anything?

[Makarioi]

Our school teaches cursive.Would being in a Catholic School change anything?

My state isn't teaching Script anymore. I never heard of "cursive" until I moved South!! 

[Pia Jesu]

As a former teacher, I recall several handwriting "studies" concluding that cursive is faster than printing (insofar as you move from letter to letter without lifting the pen/pencil).  Perhaps this goes back to Sr. Catherine's comment that sometimes we simply don't have the personal time for handwritten letters (sigh...).  Receiving an e-mail from a friend is nice--and generally appreciated--but the sentimental value of a penned note tucked safely away in a drawer is great!

John Paul...there is a good article about Catholic schools still teaching cursive at http://www.arkansas-catholic.org/news/article/4165

And Chrysostom, thanks for letting us know that we can't purchase stamp sheets from outside the borders of certain countries!

[chrysostom]

I have nice handwriting, thanks to my mother.  But I never practiced it enough to be quick with it, so it's quite slow.

The country in question is the UK.  However, I realized they just won't ship outside UK borders. I could still purchase the stamps via the Royal Mail website, but have them delivered to her UK address.  It wouldn't be as personal as enclosing a couple stamps in a letter, but of course it would be nicer for the community.  Maybe I'll do that a tad after the letter gets there.

I also think it would be nice to start snail mail correspondence with friends for my own sake.  If perchance I enter a community at some point, those correspondences would be awfully comforting to maintain especially if I don't get things like e-mail. 

Edited November 10, 2015 by chrysostom

[NadaTeTurbe]

They don't teach you cursive, now ? But how do you write ??? In script ? But it's awfully slow ! How can kids write their lessons in script ? And what a lack of culture... 

I always write cursive and in italic (it's faster and prettier) I'm chocked by the number of people using a computer in class. We are 17 in my class. I use a computer because sadly I can't write a lot (I can't learn what I write on a computer. When I get home, I spend hours re-writing my lessons), but at least 5 or 6 students write on their computers ! In some other class, it's nearly half of the class !! It's sad that we are such a zombie with technology that some people can't even write their lessons. 

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

My school taught me cursive, but at least beginning in college (maybe earlier, I can't remember) I have just naturally printed, except for my signature. No one urged me for or against it--maybe my brain was just wired that way. I printed while everyone else wrote in cursive.

Nowadays I don't have enough hand strength to write a letter. I have a terrible time filling out forms. Thankfully, I can still type, and when I have gone to new doctors I have told them before my first appt that I wasn't physically able to fill out a form in the office, and they sent me a file that I could fill out online and then print out and bring in.

Thank God for the personal computer and the Internet! Yes, I know the Internet has porno etc., but off the top of my head I can't think of too many things in life that either don't have the possibility to be used for evil or at least overindulgence/misuse. I think the pros of the Internet outweigh the cons, at least for me. Of course, I am a librarian by nature and training, and the ability to learn about things without having to go to the library is a lifesaver for me, since I'm mostly housebound. I still LOVE libraries and books, though!

[NadaTeTurbe]

Ignatius, I lack of strength in the hand (more in the finger, in fact) , too, and a great help for me is to use these : 

(mines are bigger and I also use little thing on my phalanx)

It looks like nothing, but there's less pression in my fingers with this, and I need less effort to write  Then, I learned to incline piece of paper on a specific angle, to reduce the pression on the wrist. 

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

Ignatius, I lack of strength in the hand (more in the finger, in fact) , too, and a great help for me is to use these : 

(mines are bigger and I also use little thing on my phalanx)

It looks like nothing, but there's less pression in my fingers with this, and I need less effort to write  Then, I learned to incline piece of paper on a specific angle, to reduce the pression on the wrist. 

Thanks for the suggestion! These would be useful to have "just in case," although so far I've managed to find "workarounds" for not being able to hand write much more than a check. In the U.S. we have something called the "Americans with Disabilities Act" that requires doctors and most businesses, etc. to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. I hate playing the "disability" card and avoid it whenever possible, because there are people far more disabled than I am. But, for example, one time the receptionist for a new doctor did not want to send me the "new patient" forms ahead of time and I knew I would have problems filling them out, so I told her "I'm disabled." (I get disability payments from the U.S. government, and have a card to prove it.) Immediately the receptionist (who may have been new) asked someone what she could do for me, and it turned out that, although they don't like to do it (not sure why), they sent me the forms online. I was VERY glad they did because they were very detailed. I also have created templates for myself with my medical information that I just update for each new doctor, and bring them with me whether the doctor asks for them or not. Sometimes doctor's forms (or the doctor) forget (or don't know) to ask questions that are important for my particular circumstances. Plus, most medical forms in the U.S. leave a small line or two for medications--For me, that's a joke, I need at least half a page--longer if I include a short explanation of what symptom each medication is trying to treat.

[John Paul]

They don't teach you cursive, now ? But how do you write ??? In script ? But it's awfully slow ! How can kids write their lessons in script ? And what a lack of culture... 

I always write cursive and in italic (it's faster and prettier) I'm chocked by the number of people using a computer in class. We are 17 in my class. I use a computer because sadly I can't write a lot (I can't learn what I write on a computer. When I get home, I spend hours re-writing my lessons), but at least 5 or 6 students write on their computers ! In some other class, it's nearly half of the class !! It's sad that we are such a zombie with technology that some people can't even write their lessons. 

We use chromebooks

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

I think taking notes on a computer would be amesome. My handwriting has always been bad even when I was a young'n (they think I had undiagnosed polio as an infant/toddler). Sometimes after class I couldn't read my own class notes. Plus, I can type much faster than I can write by hand. In college, when I took exams that had essay questions I felt very bad for whomever was reading my exams.

[catholicamama]

I think as long as you realize you may not get letters back, i think any Sister or Nun would enjoy it.  That said, it also depends on the Order.  I know some Orders they are able to receive any amount of snail mail, but are only allowed to write to family and non-male friends; writing back to someone who isn't family may only be permitted a couple times of year.