{"id":9354,"date":"2017-06-13T02:12:19","date_gmt":"2017-06-13T02:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=9354"},"modified":"2017-06-14T02:14:50","modified_gmt":"2017-06-14T02:14:50","slug":"before-the-digital-age-how-religious-groups-increased-the-numbers-in-their-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/before-the-digital-age-how-religious-groups-increased-the-numbers-in-their-order\/","title":{"rendered":"Before the digital age, how religious groups increased the numbers in their order"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bruce T. Morrill<\/a>, Vanderbilt University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

A monastery of 10 nuns on the Italian island of Sardinia is using social media<\/a> to share their community\u2019s work and ensure its very survival. This might appear surprising considering these nuns chose a life of quiet work and prayer separated from the world.<\/p>\n

But as a Catholic theologian focusing on liturgical and religious life, my research shows the nuns\u2019 turn to cyberspace is only the latest chapter in a long history of religious orders\u2019 using the best means of communication.<\/p>\n

The story of how the Jesuits grew their order back in the 16th century provides an interesting case study. <\/p>\n

Communicating for cloistered sustainability<\/h2>\n

Nearly all Roman Catholic men\u2019s and women\u2019s orders in Europe and North America have in recent decades undergone steep declines in membership<\/a>. Among those hard hit<\/a> have been many cloistered women\u2019s communities, who practice their lives of prayer and work behind walls separating them from the wider world.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"
\n A nun in the Monastery of Saint Clare.<\/span>
\n Gabriele Calvisi<\/a>, CC BY<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One such struggling cloister is the Monastery of Saint Clare<\/a>, which was founded in the 14th century in the western Mediterranean Sardinian city of Oristano. Today, this community has dwindled to 10 sisters, most of whom are elderly, some in their 90\u2019s. While all the sisters join as best they can in the eight daily sessions of prayer<\/a>, only a few can work at the gardening, sewing and care of children, as well as listening to people who come to talk or ask for prayers. The elderly nuns, of course, need care themselves. In order to survive today, wider support and new members need to be found. <\/p>\n

Back in the Middle Ages, as monasteries proliferated<\/a> in Western Europe, they often situated themselves in cities or towns. Withdrawn from the surrounding society, the monks and nuns nonetheless would offer instruction or guidance to visitors. People could sit in designated edges of the monastic chapels to listen and pray silently as the community chanted in the choir stalls<\/a>. It was through such interaction between the monastery and \u201cworld\u201d that the call for co-workers<\/a> to join the community would quietly go out. Men and women were exposed to the monastery\u2019s existence and way of life through physical proximity and personal visits. <\/p>\n

Today, however, the appeal to vocations needs to go out through the World Wide Web. Joining the ranks of numerous convents<\/a> and monasteries<\/a> around the globe, the sisters of St. Clare have recognized the need to communicate better who they are and what they have to offer. Their youngest member, 42-year-old Sister Maria Caterina, has launched the community\u2019s website<\/a> and Facebook<\/a> page.<\/p>\n