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Retreat Lets Women See Religious Path: Event Offers Look at Nuns' Order

Posted on: Monday, 27 February 2006, 15:00 CST

By Zlati Meyer, Detroit Free Press

Feb. 27--Amid a flurry of white habits and black veils, Candice Kassab's Chanel earrings sparkled in Sunday's mid-morning sun. The Birmingham Groves junior's jeans and long ponytail fit in among the dozens of mini-tees and thumb rings worn by the teens and young women who surged through the narrow halls of Spiritus Sanctus Academy in Ann Arbor.

Kassab was one of an estimated 200 teens and women at a retreat, hosted by the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist over the weekend. Part opportunity for spiritual awakening, part recruitment drive, the 24-hour gathering drew girls as young as 13 and women as old as a mother of 12. They came from 26 states and Canada.

"It's all in God's hands; it's to make His will known," said Kassab, 17, of Southfield. "I want to understand what God really wants for me. I came here to strengthen our relationship."

Like the other attendees, Kassab seeks direction. Does God want them to marry or become nuns? For those destined to join religious communities, which one? For the girls and women who do not, how might they serve in other ways?

"There's a lot of prayer; it's intensive for 24 hours," explained the community's vocations director Sister Joseph Andrew, who had a waiting list of 45 girls waiting to speak with her one-on-one for 15 minutes. "God does a lot of talking."

She knows a majority will opt to stay in the lives they know and will marry, but this retreat also offers spiritual guidance and increased appreciation for strong families. Nor will every woman be a good fit for the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist community.

After a night of staying up in shifts to pray in the school chapel and a morning mass and rosary recitation, Faria Sookdeo, 34, concluded that the sisterhood was not the path for her.

"I want to serve in a community. I don't need to be a sister," said Sookdeo, who teaches speech communications at York College in New York City. "It's not about me; it's about Him and the community of mankind."

The average age of the sisters of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist is 24. The order does not accept women older than 35. Two of the nuns involved in the retreat are themselves alumnae of the event.

"You think you're the only one thinking about religious life, but 150 people are, too," recalled Sister Thomas Aquinas, 23, who attended in 2000 as a high-school senior from Houston.

Recruiting young women is controversial within the Catholic Church. Most religious orders don't talk to high-school age girls about becoming nuns.

"We feel they need to be at least 25 years old, because youth mature later and normally they have college degrees," explained Sister Carol Quigley, Immaculate Heart of Mary, herself a straight-out-of-high-school novice 40 years ago.

With 530 members, the Immaculate Heart of Mary community's average age is 65-70. She estimated there are 2,000 nuns in Michigan.

Founded in 1997 and supported by former Domino's Pizza magnate Tom Monaghan, the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist includes 60 members. That first May, Sister Joseph Andrew organized the first such retreat and 13 showed. Over the years, attendance has grown for the event held three times a year.

The retreat costs $25 per person, and guests must bring sleeping bags.

According to Sister Joseph Andrew -- who spreads the word during trips to college campuses and via e-mail -- she's been fielding requests from as far away as Germany and New Zealand.

Contact ZLATI MEYER at 248-351-3291 or meyer@freepress.com.

photo

Charlotte Elfering, 16, of Wausaukee, Wis., waits to receive communion during Sunday mass at Spiritus Sanctus Academy. The Dominican Sisters of Mary is recruiting young women. (REGINA H. BOONE/Detroit Free Press)

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Copyright (c) 2006, Detroit Free Press

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Source: Detroit Free Press

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