TIME notices that some religious orders are, indeed, growing…

The main article is a look at some women who are entering religious life. It’s not exactly a piece on religious orders that are growing. The focus is definitely individual rather than institutional, and makes no mention of the liberalization and, some would argue, external secularization of many women’s religious orders, no contrast of the dying orders with those that are growing, chalking the increase to a search for meaning and increased tech savvy on the part of the religious orders. The piece, while certainly very welcome because it is entirely positive and doesn’t second-guess these women’s decisions at all or condescend to them, lacks the big picture.

One young woman’s discernment process. And note – she’s a student at the U. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign:

The thought of becoming a nun is nothing new for Johnson, an attractive young woman who dresses like a typical college student. She started discerning religious life as a college freshman in 2004 and credits her discernment largely to the St. John’s Catholic Newman Center, which is a student center and residence hall at the University of Illinois. “It’s not unusual at Newman to talk about religious vocations at the lunch table or to find people sitting in the Chapel in their pajamas at 3 am,” says Johnson, who was rasied Catholic. St. John’s has a national reputation for turning out priests and nuns. Since 1997, it has sent 69 men and 14 women to the seminary or convent.

We’ve talked about this Newman Center before – a real success story on every level.

Also from the TIME article, a brief profile of Sr.Sarah Roy, who is on staff at St. John’s.

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