Women's communities no longer around

[Nunsuch]

On 7/4/2020 at 10:15 PM, HollyDolly said:

I know it,s sad but I guess such is life. However if one apostolate ends why not go for another one?I you country shuts orphanages down then why not teaching,home nursing, elder care work with prisoners etc?Communities like the Daughters of Charity are still around I think because of their willingness to expand their apostolate so.

Of course a community may continue, because what a community DOES (ministry) has little or nothing to do with what it IS (charism). The Daughters of Charity have a clear charism that has nothing to do with a specific work. One issue with many communities is that they were founded for purely instrumental reasons, rather than charismic ones. So when the ministry is no longer there, what is left?

You may be interested in an article from the now discontinued Review for Religious: 

 “‘Charism’ or ‘Deep Story’?  Towards Understanding Better the 19th-Century Origins of American Women’s Congregations.” Review for Religious, 58 (May-June1999): 230-50.

http://digitalcollections.slu.edu/digital/collection/rfr/id/368/rec/1