They return to chapel for Adoration and Compline at 8.15pm, after which, the nuns don’t speak unless absolutely necessary and bed is an early affair. There are leeks to be tended in the vegetable patch and the weekly Tesco Direct shop to order. Evening Prayer is before supper, usually eaten in silence, although one nun may do a reading (decided by rota) 6.45pm to 8.15pm is free for washing, habit ironing, gooseberry-jam making and, sometimes, watching Poirot or playing charades. In the afternoons they pray, study or visit schools. Noon marks Midday Prayers and Mass and lunch is at 1pm (chicken goujons or fish pie with chips and peas), when they discuss the news gleaned through a daily paper and the Catholic Herald. After Morning Prayer, breakfast is taken in silence (cereal, toast, tea and fruit) before two hours of private study in their cells. The sisters’ routine is as unwavering as their devotion. On my arrival, I’m shown to a simple guest room, usually reserved for retreats, confirmation groups or anyone who would like to dip their toe in ecclesiastical life before taking vows. There’s a newly-built cavernous chapel 30 paces from their door and each sister has a bedroom or “cell” which contains only a bed, chair, wardrobe, sink and desk. During my stay I see a Disney-worthy assortment of deer, rabbits, woodpeckers and wild horses. They are “apostolic”, which means dedicated to active preaching and teaching outside the priory, as well as to prayer and worship.Īll live in an enclosed (off-limits to anyone who hasn’t taken holy vows) part of a late-Victorian mansion surrounded by fields and forest. Ranging in age from 26 to 80, the sisters form a relatively new order, established in 1998. Last year, Martina Purdy, a BBC political reporter, gave up a 25-year career to join a convent of nuns called the Adoration Sisters, and, prior to that, David Cameron’s former girlfriend, Laura Adshead, made headlines when she took up the habit. It’s also possible that TV shows such as Call the Midwife and the US series The Sisterhood: Becoming Nuns (a reality show following young women as they consider joining a convent) have softened our views on piety, as has a string of high-profile conversions. And nuns are playing more visual, active roles in schools, healthcare and even with the police, caring for trafficked women rescued from brothels. Pope Benedict XVI’s 2010 visit – the second time a reigning Pope had visited this country – also helped fan the vocation flame, as Catholics rushed to reclaim their identity. In quite another context, forensic psychiatrists have found young people who join extremist groups are driven less by Islamic ideology than by a sense of futility and, in some parts of the Muslim world, hopelessness.” As people retreat into virtual worlds, some feel a lack of community values, and the close-knit communal life in a monastery or convent can seem very attractive. “A religious quest usually begins with the perception that something is wrong. Karen Armstrong, a religious scholar and former nun, agrees. Other vocation experts say that women are being drawn to convents because of “a gap in the market for meaning in our culture” – in today’s hyper-sexualised, materialistic, and technology-dependent society, you can see how a simple, closed-off life of thought, study and prayer might appeal to some.
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