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

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Old Testament (Crosby, 2005; Metz, 1978; O‘Murchu, 1991; Schneiders, 2000, 2011). All religious are constantly reminded that their prophetic character is expressed in the radical nature of following Christ and of subsequent dedication to the charism of their founders (PC # 2; VC #84–95). The core identity of all religious is that they should be concerned with the reign of God as Jesus was. The Religious are to live this prophetic identity in their own lives being constant signs and a reminder to the Church that God‘s reign should be the ideal in all forms of relationships. The prophetic identity of religious life is a dialogical process, an inter- subjective exchange between God, self and the congregation and others. In order to achieve this every religious would need the supportive context of a religious community in order to be attentive to and motivated by the presence of God in their inner relationships with self and others. In conclusion the theological foundation of religious life is not a given that is achieved once and for all. It is a process, an on-going conversion. This conversion and re-conversion of institutions and persons who form part of them is an arduous task which Vatican II emphasises is only going to be possible through on-going formation (PC #2, 4; ES #1). 2.2.2 Forms of Religious Life Religious life as lived in the Catholic Church has different forms and its two dominant forms are the Contemplative and the active Apostolic Congregations/Orders. The Contemplative Orders live an enclosed life focusing on prayer as a way of life (PC #16). The Apostolic Congregations are often referred to as the active contemplatives because they combine prayer and ministry (work) as a typical way of living (PC #8). There are some other forms like the Third Orders and the Secular institutes but the interest of this research centres on Apostolic Congregations as the participants whose narratives were used as the primary text for this study are drawn from this context. The contemporary religious life as lived by the 17
participants of this study has been described as an organic lifeform which marks it out as constantly growing; an entity with multiple coordinates (Schneiders, 2000). Religious life is not an entirely new phenomenon; it has existed throughout history although there are striking differences, whence it began until today, the core remains the same. In Schneiders‘ description the first coordinate that characterises contemporary religious life is that it is incarnated in the Catholic Christian faith which is monotheistic, Trinitarian, and Christocentric. Its norm of operation is scriptural; it is a visible, communal and ecclesial organisation. The understanding of contemporary religious life as lifeform recognises the changes that have taken place since the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). Post- Counciliar documents identify religious life as a stable lifeform, belonging to the laity and a sign-value for the Church modelled after the life example of Jesus as lived in the Gospel (PC #1). A striking awareness in our contemporary time are the concerns of women religious who are in a state of serious tension on many fronts with the Church as an institution (Okure, 2010; Schneiders, 2000, 2011). These tensions are focused on the Church‘s patriarchy which has defined women as inferior to men. The second coordinate of religious life is ―perpetual commitment in consecrated celibacy‖ Schneiders (2000, p.58). The ultimate goal of every temporary consecration in religious life is perpetual commitment which is religiously motivated as a free response to personal vocation, and individually discerned, although the community has to validate the individual discernment. Historically this coordinate has been lived out in a variety of ways, for example, in the lives of early virgins or hermits as in the case of St. Brigit and her colleagues. It is also lived out by the contemplatives, the order of virgins and the lay religious. Today perpetual commitment is an underlying value of contemporary religious life (O‘Murchu, 1998). 18
Page 1 and 2: Identity Construction of Roman Cath
Page 3 and 4: Dedication To the memory of my dad,
Page 5 and 6: Old Testament Exodus ..............
Page 7 and 8: MD: Dignity and Vocation of women:
Page 9 and 10: Consecrated Life: Refers to the rel
Page 11 and 12: Superior: A term from Canon Law whi
Page 13 and 14: 2.2 Basic Characteristics of Religi
Page 15 and 16: 3.7 Lack of Research on Religious S
Page 17 and 18: 5.13 Ethical Considerations .......
Page 19 and 20: 6.6 Question 4: What Are the Availa
Page 21 and 22: 7.3 The Participants‘ Oppressed I
Page 23 and 24: Abstract This study was designed ag
Page 25 and 26: formators and senior sisters) and o
Page 27 and 28: study were carried out among sister
Page 29 and 30: which mediate and impact on identit
Page 31 and 32: Catholic religious in the Church in
Page 33 and 34: 2.0 Introduction CHAPTER TWO HISTOR
Page 35 and 36: foundation of Catholic religious li
Page 37 and 38: were largely founded to build schoo
Page 39: which graces the candidates who are
Page 43 and 44: identity is negotiated. This is in
Page 45 and 46: In this way religious life can be s
Page 47 and 48: process is dialogical between the c
Page 49 and 50: person from within‖ (RC #6); for
Page 51 and 52: what God is truly asking of her. In
Page 53 and 54: perpetually bonded to God and to me
Page 55 and 56: Clearly community is a foundation f
Page 57 and 58: the three persons in one God, which
Page 59 and 60: ecognised that ―there is the tend
Page 61 and 62: Tertullian (c.160-c.220 AD), a prom
Page 63 and 64: 1991, 1998; Rakoczy, 2004). Such po
Page 65 and 66: women religious in the United State
Page 67 and 68: Women constitute about 55 to 66 per
Page 69 and 70: would be true ‗koinonia‘ - ―d
Page 71 and 72: Nigeria in the 1570s (Isichei, 1995
Page 73 and 74: oth the Christian expression of liv
Page 75 and 76: individual in the Western perspecti
Page 77 and 78: congregation in her end of year let
Page 79 and 80: context. The community in turn prov
Page 81 and 82: the chapter will discuss the salien
Page 83 and 84: participants‘ narratives express
Page 85 and 86: indicated that the introductory let
Page 87 and 88: In discussing the result Dunn argue
Page 89 and 90: (p.46). The experience she presente
Page 91 and 92:
imprisonment in the dungeon. Yet re
Page 93 and 94:
However, Meiring‘s method for inv
Page 95 and 96:
are often seen as biological and ps
Page 97 and 98:
the sisters to express anger emerge
Page 99 and 100:
Similarly Mangion (2005) describes
Page 101 and 102:
other hand involves the demand of o
Page 103 and 104:
Okure (2010) criticises the Church
Page 105 and 106:
differently to the gender-based dis
Page 107 and 108:
understand it more deeply, and to e
Page 109 and 110:
above individualism in Africa. In t
Page 111 and 112:
participants from Africa or Nigeria
Page 113 and 114:
how sisters interpret and negotiate
Page 115 and 116:
the participants‘ stories which s
Page 117 and 118:
having no relationship with its con
Page 119 and 120:
4.2 The Self: Dialogical Relationsh
Page 121 and 122:
Self-consultation Self-consultation
Page 123 and 124:
and all these provide the self with
Page 125 and 126:
dialogical relations is likely to o
Page 127 and 128:
as owned) (James, 1890) as well as
Page 129 and 130:
murderer was in relation to his agg
Page 131 and 132:
A meta-position could be taken alon
Page 133 and 134:
conflict between being Catholic and
Page 135 and 136:
Social languages not only shape wha
Page 137 and 138:
never had face-to-face contact, but
Page 139 and 140:
positioning in which institutions g
Page 141 and 142:
parts of Africa they can be conside
Page 143 and 144:
struggles that he encountered with
Page 145 and 146:
implication is that the self in con
Page 147 and 148:
The idea that religion influences i
Page 149 and 150:
that identify the two as different
Page 151 and 152:
where the dominant gendered discour
Page 153 and 154:
portrays that ―self-discrepancies
Page 155 and 156:
which was discussed extensively in
Page 157 and 158:
Esgalhado, 2002; Hermans & Hermans-
Page 159 and 160:
this world structures their ongoing
Page 161 and 162:
congregation for five years or more
Page 163 and 164:
Hence the stories we tell about our
Page 165 and 166:
was given permission to conduct thi
Page 167 and 168:
analysis which was interfaced with
Page 169 and 170:
vivid reports which aimed to answer
Page 171 and 172:
the report and in each case attenti
Page 173 and 174:
the information contained in the tr
Page 175 and 176:
observation notes, participants‘
Page 177 and 178:
their own doubts about the study; s
Page 179 and 180:
shredded after the study is complet
Page 181 and 182:
completed and approved by the colle
Page 183 and 184:
eligious life. On the other hand, t
Page 185 and 186:
primary source of meaning and direc
Page 187 and 188:
can sell my pride in order to buy c
Page 189 and 190:
Some participants observed that the
Page 191 and 192:
humanity.‖ In line with this, som
Page 193 and 194:
―oppressive‖ or ―irresponsibl
Page 195 and 196:
eing forced to - I am being compell
Page 197 and 198:
Bible reading or spiritual reading
Page 199 and 200:
experiences where they have not bee
Page 201 and 202:
presented in moments of sickness wi
Page 203 and 204:
different ways the participants def
Page 205 and 206:
that they (priests) are clerics and
Page 207 and 208:
the community. On the whole, the fi
Page 209 and 210:
people they encounter both within t
Page 211 and 212:
significant other through whom thei
Page 213 and 214:
When ... my prayer life is shaking
Page 215 and 216:
not recognise us and it is because
Page 217 and 218:
have experienced love in relation t
Page 219 and 220:
However, there is another side to t
Page 221 and 222:
obedience to God as a discernment p
Page 223 and 224:
way obedience is presented as a dou
Page 225 and 226:
experiences of religious life, and
Page 227 and 228:
participants uphold that post-moder
Page 229 and 230:
At times it is not too easy to work
Page 231 and 232:
The only thing is that the people (
Page 233 and 234:
cooperates in remaining a worker be
Page 235 and 236:
In this extract this participant ex
Page 237 and 238:
… unfortunately some religious pa
Page 239 and 240:
I believe that, you know, in Africa
Page 241 and 242:
Our community life is changing, peo
Page 243 and 244:
6.6.2 The African Cultural Worldvie
Page 245 and 246:
Nigerian gendered cultural construc
Page 247 and 248:
directors, and members of their fam
Page 249 and 250:
self as a way of exploring availabl
Page 251 and 252:
who construct themselves as having
Page 253 and 254:
needs to be controlled and directed
Page 255 and 256:
us (SHCJ spirit)‘) to legitimatis
Page 257 and 258:
6.7.3.2 Temporary Professed Partici
Page 259 and 260:
preserve her vocation to religious
Page 261 and 262:
conglomeration (Hermans & Hermans-K
Page 263 and 264:
others. One participant from the di
Page 265 and 266:
This participant presents herself a
Page 267 and 268:
school the coordinator said ⁰to m
Page 269 and 270:
discourse of religious obedience to
Page 271 and 272:
superior/formator or senior/older s
Page 273 and 274:
Her action attracted the priest‘s
Page 275 and 276:
of religious life, rather than have
Page 277 and 278:
another-we are here to bear one ano
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
Page 285 and 286:
are sick, causing them to construct
Page 287 and 288:
section; in this section the discus
Page 289 and 290:
In one sense they have been sociali
Page 291 and 292:
(O‘Murchu 1991; Pitts, 2009; Schn
Page 293 and 294:
this way they express that based on
Page 295 and 296:
someone who wants to dedicate her e
Page 297 and 298:
participants‘ identity as a multi
Page 299 and 300:
dominance are evident in the partic
Page 301 and 302:
anger. These strategies can be unde
Page 303 and 304:
they encounter (Ewing, 1990; Herman
Page 305 and 306:
eligious life have hindered their o
Page 307 and 308:
themselves as obedient to God in op
Page 309 and 310:
group of participants maintains tha
Page 311 and 312:
7.4 Participants‘ Work Identity L
Page 313 and 314:
Van Deusen argues that work was a s
Page 315 and 316:
themselves as workers who are happi
Page 317 and 318:
performance of identity. Within thi
Page 319 and 320:
This identity of background workers
Page 321 and 322:
them; they are driven by personal m
Page 323 and 324:
of religious as family and power re
Page 325 and 326:
faith in familiar ways (CMW #58) an
Page 327 and 328:
performance of identity. The partic
Page 329 and 330:
involves multiple positions and rel
Page 331 and 332:
quality of love and care they recei
Page 333 and 334:
as societal authority figures to ma
Page 335 and 336:
Another important finding that emer
Page 337 and 338:
compatible and in conformity with t
Page 339 and 340:
particularly to examine how they de
Page 341 and 342:
Arnaiz, J. M., Garcia Parades, J. C
Page 343 and 344:
Bhatia, S. (2007). Rethinking cultu
Page 345 and 346:
Fraternal life in community: Congre
Page 347 and 348:
Ekandem. Retrieved from www.catholi
Page 349 and 350:
Hermans, H. J. M. (1988). On the in
Page 351 and 352:
James, W. (1890). The principles of
Page 353 and 354:
Hermans and T. Gieser (Eds.), Handb
Page 355 and 356:
Meiring, T. E. (1985). Stress among
Page 357 and 358:
www.Usccb.org/pcmrt/Nigeria.shtml-
Page 359 and 360:
Raggatt, P. T. F. (2000). Mapping t
Page 361 and 362:
(Eds.), Rethinking Psychology. Lond
Page 363 and 364:
Presentation at the First Internati
Page 365 and 366:
Interview Questionnaire Key things
Page 367 and 368:
School of Psychology P/Bag X01 Scot
Page 369 and 370:
Name of participant: ______________
Page 371 and 372:
APPENDIX D: PROVINCIAL LETTER 348
Page 373 and 374:
APPENDIX F: METHODOLOGICAL REFLECTI
Page 375 and 376:
participants could make contact if
Page 377 and 378:
the answers. For instance, one part
Page 379 and 380:
lives as religious, and I hope the
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