Identity Construction of Roman Catholic Religious Sisters in the ...

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The evidence of this shifting position is portrayed in the contradictory positioning which reflects ―I-as accepting religious life as my new family‖ versus ―I-as-not sure that religious life is my family‖. Directly or indirectly this portrays the participants‘ performance of identity as persons who may not be happy in religious life. Such performance of identity is thought provoking, bearing in mind that it emerges as a result of the participants‘ social interaction in religious life. This is at variance with the ideal discourse of religious life as Christ‘s family (cf. Jn. 13:34, 15:12). To a large extent these discrepancies between the discourses of supportive versus oppressive family to describe religious life prefigures the participants‘ report of power relations and dominance which will be discussed in the next section. In addition these discrepancies also reflect in the participants‘ identification with Africa‘s cultural characteristics of love, care and hospitality which they claim is often missing in the lived reality of religious life. 7.3 The Participants‘ Oppressed Identity Conveyed through Religious Obedience Used as Means of Power Relations/Dominance In this study most participants‘ major dilemma of identity construction is located within the context of religious obedience. According to the Church‘s discourse the religious who vows obedience sacrifices her entire will to God and by faith is expected to subject herself to those who hold God‘s place, the authority figures (including formators/superiors, senior/older sisters) (PC #14). The dilemma is that the discourse of religious obedience is ambiguous. On the one hand obedience is focused on doing God‘s will which involves collective listening and discernment of what God wills (Can. 509–601; CICLSAL, 2007; DDL const. Art.45–51; PC #4, 14; SHCJ const. #34–39). This collective discernment is interpreted by some participants to mean that each member of the community is consulted with and allowed to express her opinion in matters that concern her as an individual and the community 267
(O‘Murchu 1991; Pitts, 2009; Schneiders, 2011). On the other hand, the same Church documents and the constitutions of the congregations of sisters who participated in this study give the authority figures the veto power to have last word in all decision-making. In this way, authority figures are invested with power that supersedes every other voice. The implication has been that sometimes the majority of these authority figures are inclined to silence every other voice that is at variance with theirs (Okure, 2009, 2010; Schneiders, 2011). This introduces the dilemma presented by the participants in the interview data, as they position themselves as oppressed, particularly in the context of religious obedience used as a vehicle of oppression by authority figures who dominate and control them. In such situations the participants argue that the obedience demanded from them by these authority figures subjugates obedience to God. They reported that in most cases, what they are asked to do contradicts what they consider God‘s will; therefore, they are torn between doing God‘s will and obeying an authority figure. In addition they indicated that their own voices are not allowed to be spoken or heard. The participants of this study are drawn from the temporary professed, finally professed and formators/superiors representing the different categories of sisters who live religious life. Each one of the participants in these groups reported having across time and space of living religious life encountered oppression with authority figures, who using the discourse of religious obedience to unjustly manipulate them into obeying instructions that are sometimes irrational. They all used the discourse of control and oppression to describe how authority figures are privileged to have the last say in all matters (PC #14; VC #43) concerning the community and their individual lives. As a result, the participants reported that they feel dominated, and in this context some of the dominant I-positions the participants presented is ―I-as dominated‖, ―I-as oppressed‖ and ―I-as subservient‖ etc. In managing these I-positions, 268
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Identity Construction of Roman Cath
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Dedication To the memory of my dad,
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Old Testament Exodus ..............
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MD: Dignity and Vocation of women:
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Consecrated Life: Refers to the rel
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Superior: A term from Canon Law whi
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2.2 Basic Characteristics of Religi
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3.7 Lack of Research on Religious S
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5.13 Ethical Considerations .......
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6.6 Question 4: What Are the Availa
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7.3 The Participants‘ Oppressed I
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Abstract This study was designed ag
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formators and senior sisters) and o
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study were carried out among sister
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which mediate and impact on identit
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Catholic religious in the Church in
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2.0 Introduction CHAPTER TWO HISTOR
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foundation of Catholic religious li
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were largely founded to build schoo
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which graces the candidates who are
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participants of this study has been
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identity is negotiated. This is in
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In this way religious life can be s
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process is dialogical between the c
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person from within‖ (RC #6); for
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what God is truly asking of her. In
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perpetually bonded to God and to me
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Clearly community is a foundation f
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the three persons in one God, which
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ecognised that ―there is the tend
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Tertullian (c.160-c.220 AD), a prom
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1991, 1998; Rakoczy, 2004). Such po
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women religious in the United State
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Women constitute about 55 to 66 per
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would be true ‗koinonia‘ - ―d
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Nigeria in the 1570s (Isichei, 1995
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oth the Christian expression of liv
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individual in the Western perspecti
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congregation in her end of year let
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context. The community in turn prov
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the chapter will discuss the salien
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participants‘ narratives express
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indicated that the introductory let
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In discussing the result Dunn argue
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(p.46). The experience she presente
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imprisonment in the dungeon. Yet re
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However, Meiring‘s method for inv
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are often seen as biological and ps
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the sisters to express anger emerge
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Similarly Mangion (2005) describes
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other hand involves the demand of o
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Okure (2010) criticises the Church
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differently to the gender-based dis
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understand it more deeply, and to e
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above individualism in Africa. In t
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participants from Africa or Nigeria
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how sisters interpret and negotiate
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the participants‘ stories which s
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having no relationship with its con
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4.2 The Self: Dialogical Relationsh
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Self-consultation Self-consultation
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and all these provide the self with
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dialogical relations is likely to o
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as owned) (James, 1890) as well as
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murderer was in relation to his agg
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A meta-position could be taken alon
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conflict between being Catholic and
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Social languages not only shape wha
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never had face-to-face contact, but
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positioning in which institutions g
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parts of Africa they can be conside
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struggles that he encountered with
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implication is that the self in con
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The idea that religion influences i
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that identify the two as different
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where the dominant gendered discour
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portrays that ―self-discrepancies
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which was discussed extensively in
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Esgalhado, 2002; Hermans & Hermans-
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this world structures their ongoing
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congregation for five years or more
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Hence the stories we tell about our
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was given permission to conduct thi
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analysis which was interfaced with
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vivid reports which aimed to answer
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the report and in each case attenti
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the information contained in the tr
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observation notes, participants‘
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their own doubts about the study; s
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shredded after the study is complet
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completed and approved by the colle
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eligious life. On the other hand, t
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primary source of meaning and direc
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can sell my pride in order to buy c
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Some participants observed that the
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humanity.‖ In line with this, som
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―oppressive‖ or ―irresponsibl
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eing forced to - I am being compell
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Bible reading or spiritual reading
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experiences where they have not bee
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presented in moments of sickness wi
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different ways the participants def
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that they (priests) are clerics and
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the community. On the whole, the fi
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people they encounter both within t
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significant other through whom thei
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When ... my prayer life is shaking
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not recognise us and it is because
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have experienced love in relation t
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However, there is another side to t
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obedience to God as a discernment p
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way obedience is presented as a dou
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experiences of religious life, and
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participants uphold that post-moder
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At times it is not too easy to work
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The only thing is that the people (
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cooperates in remaining a worker be
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In this extract this participant ex
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… unfortunately some religious pa
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Page 243 and 244: 6.6.2 The African Cultural Worldvie
Page 245 and 246: Nigerian gendered cultural construc
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Page 255 and 256: us (SHCJ spirit)‘) to legitimatis
Page 257 and 258: 6.7.3.2 Temporary Professed Partici
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Page 263 and 264: others. One participant from the di
Page 265 and 266: This participant presents herself a
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Page 279 and 280: other hand they report that some of
Page 281 and 282: 7.1 Participants‘ Identity of Rel
Page 283 and 284: which they held upon entering relig
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Page 287 and 288: section; in this section the discus
Page 289: In one sense they have been sociali
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Page 311 and 312: 7.4 Participants‘ Work Identity L
Page 313 and 314: Van Deusen argues that work was a s
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Arnaiz, J. M., Garcia Parades, J. C
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Bhatia, S. (2007). Rethinking cultu
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Fraternal life in community: Congre
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Ekandem. Retrieved from www.catholi
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Hermans, H. J. M. (1988). On the in
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James, W. (1890). The principles of
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Hermans and T. Gieser (Eds.), Handb
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Meiring, T. E. (1985). Stress among
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www.Usccb.org/pcmrt/Nigeria.shtml-
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Raggatt, P. T. F. (2000). Mapping t
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(Eds.), Rethinking Psychology. Lond
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Presentation at the First Internati
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Interview Questionnaire Key things
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School of Psychology P/Bag X01 Scot
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Name of participant: ______________
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APPENDIX D: PROVINCIAL LETTER 348
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APPENDIX F: METHODOLOGICAL REFLECTI
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participants could make contact if
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the answers. For instance, one part
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lives as religious, and I hope the
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