If we had a habit...

Habit...hmmm....
I've avoided talking about the habit until now. Today, however, a conversation began to get us to the age-old question - Should we wear a habit or not wear a habit?

The conversation started with the idea of how the sisters used to wake up at night to say the Angelus and then go back to bed. "It was beautiful....we did a lot of beautiful things before the 'changes'" (insert Vatican II here). She continued...."Things used to be different back then. We used to have a lot of sisters...but things have changed, hopefully they'll start to change again." As she looked up at me, almost as if to say, "You (the next generation) will bring them back, ...right?" She said many priests tell me the reason we don't have vocations (the MSCs) is because we do not wear a habit. In that moment, I knew that, given her understanding...naturally, it'd make sense to return...

Given my understanding, which fortunately is different than those priests, I know that having vocations has, really, very little to do with whether or not we wear a habit. If a vocation is dependent on whether or not we wear a habit, it's not a vocation (at least not to our community). I do fully support, reverence, and sometimes even think I'd like to wear a habit....but it's about much more than that. A vocation to religious life, is a response to God's love,.... habited or unhabited.

As a Church...
In the United States, when you consider all of the external factors, it's OBVIOUS, why there are less vocations today:
-Catholic families are much smaller than they used to be
-Less contact/relationships with religious due to less of a presence...namely in Catholic institutions (schools, hospitals, etc)
-Now, women do not need to be sisters to assume ministries within the Church
-The Second Vatican Council, in finally recognizing the "universal call to holiness," reminded people that everyone is called to holiness, not only sisters, priets, etc. ...so came a disinclination to enter religious life (as it wasn't necessary to be holy), and an encouragement for many, who chose rightly, to leave.

The question then, isn't - are religious wearing a habit or not. There are much greater questions: "Are the people in Religious Life today truly called to that life? Are they living it with integrity and passion? And are they offering it clearly and compellingly to people who are genuinely called to it today, even though for many reasons, these will be fewer than in the past?" If the answer is, "YES!" then the rest works it self out, whether or not there's a habit (I can see both sides of why sisters would and wouldn't wear a habit today...)

As a Charism...
Mother Cabrini, like most foundresses, had her sisters in the "dress of the day." And from what I understand, she only had the sisters begin to wear a habit in the first place because it was mandated, not because the community itself decided to. So within in the community, it's hard (though there are many reasons why an MSC would still wear a 'modified habit') to make a case for us ALL to go back to wearing a habit.

As a people of Faith...
As Christians our faith in Jesus, should be recognizable in the way that we live the gift of life. Ever heard, "They will know we are Christians by our love"? If you have a habit, you have to be willing to work to live up to what it means to be a sister, which is quite humbling. If you do not have a habit, you have the task of acting in such a way that those who do not "see" you are a sister will still know you are a sister! :)
(James 2:14-26)

*Some of this information was taken from a talk by Sandra Schneiders, IHM, "That Was Then...This is Now: The Past, Present and Future of Women Religious in the United States." Interestingly enough, wearing a habit wasn't mentioned at all. I hope to share more of the great facts and insights into the future of religious life, and propose questions for what that means for us - the present and future of women religious in the United States.