Some 300 Roman Catholic convents and monasteries in Germany now accept visitors – from the 8th-century Benedictine abbey of Tholey to the four-year-old convent of the Sisters of St. Bridget in Bremen.
All are welcome, regardless of religious denomination or belief – even nonbelievers.
About a quarter of a million guests were counted last year. They came to meditate, to fast, or simply to live briefly alongside people who have consecrated themselves to God.
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While visitors’ ranks swell, the orders are having difficulty attracting new members. The number of novitiates has been declining for decades; many religious communities are dying out and more and more monasteries are closing their gates forever.
Some 5,000 men who have taken holy orders, i.e. made a lifelong commitment, make up the entire monastic community in Germany, a decrease of nearly 9,000 from 30 years ago. While there are about 25,000 nuns in religious communities, their ranks are thinning even faster than those of the men. Ten years ago there were nearly 40,000 women in the orders; experts fear there may only be 2,000 or 3,000 left within the next decade. Today, around three-quarters of all nuns are over 65 – and there are few replacements on the horizon.
A paradox. Greater numbers of temporary visitors are flocking to the monasteries but there are hardly any permanent takers, begging numerous questions: How far should religious communities go to accommodate the secular world? How much worldliness can a cloistered community sustain? How much of the profane is compatible with Christian spirituality? And will the orders be endangered by too much or too little exposure to the outside world?
The article goes on to describe on convent’s makeover into an all-purpose "Vitality Center" aimed at helping guests relax and find their centers, etc.
The Arenberg makeover was a bone of contention in the order. For many older sisters, this holistic blend of religion and relaxation was a travesty of the mission prescribed by their founder Cherubine, namely ministering to the poor and the sick. Yet Sister Scholastika, one of the project’s most committed proponents, stresses: "The unity of body and soul is an ancient Christian concept, and what we do here is to address both body and soul." And, of course, balance the books and hence survive.
Well, I think that – aside from the many other issues involved – is part of your problem. Who would be moved to vow to poverty, chastity and obedience for the sake of running a Vitality Center? Serving the poor and the sick is inherently sacrificial and calls out, touches that part of ourselves, concretizes it. Staff person for a Vitality Center that serves the paying upper middle class? Not so much.
These orders owe their elderly members support – and more than minimal support. There is no reason, though, sad as it may sound, and painful as it truly is, to continue to exist just for the sake of existence. As we’ve often heard over the past few decades, religious life changes all the time, and the average life span of most religious orders is far closer to 200 years than 500.
h/t Jimmy Mac
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