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urN Catholic nuns Theyre fewer in number but still as strong By RICHARD DUNSTAN Examiner Staff Reporter Remember the days when you couldnt tell what color hair nun had because of her veil Sister Rita Dietrich does And so does Sister Zita OGrady But neither has any ta to shed for the old days when not only veils but floor length habits and strictly regimented convent life were inesca able for anyone who want tobea nun Over the past 15 years both have seen numerous changes as not only nuns but priests and Catholic lay people have moved Sister Rita Dietrich principal of Marie of the Incarnation School in Bradford looks at library book with Grade ti stu dent arlos Moniz 14 Sister Rita says separate school facilities have improved considerably in her 30 years of teaching Examiner Photoi Sister Zita OGrady has seen many changes since shejoined the ircy Sisters of the Immaculate onception in 1956 but she says teaching career she started before becoming nun is much the same as always Sister Zita is principal of St Theresas High School in Midland the only complete atholic high school inSimcoe ounty Examiner Ihotoi away from the customs of the past and begun enjoying or in some cases resenting the in creased freedom and informali ty brought into Catholic life by Poses John XXIII and Paul VI an the Second Vatican Council of the early 19605 Sister Rita now principal of St Theresas High School in Midland joined the Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Con ception in 1956 We had the traditional garb of our foundress which meant long skirts and big sleeves and flowing veils she recalls Sister Zita now principal at Marie of the Incarnation School in Bradford has been teaching as member of the Ursulines of Chatham for 30 years NOT CUT OFF In the past she recalls we were more cut off Our world was not as busy the media played very little part in our ivesthen And today We have grown busy with the world says Sister Rita We need to be informed about the world today Sister Zitas convent where she lives with six other sisters has lost its curfew and acquired car and one of the nuns is learning how to repair and maintain it Both sisters wear skirts and sleeves of normal dimensions with no veil or headcovering Only cross worn as pendant or lapel pin would identify them as nuns to the casual observer The changes arent popular with everyone they say but the opponents are in minority at least among the nuns themselves The personal responsibility of the individual is given more prominence says Sister Rita and think that when that kind of responsibility is given person its taken up and the person lives healthier more challenging type of existence WORK IMPORTANT The important thing says Sister Zita is not maintaining the dress of the foundress but carrying out her work In Sister Zitas case the foun dress is Marguerite dYouville FrenchCanadian woman who died in 1771 She was married and bore five children then founded the Grey Sisters after her husbands death Sister Zita describes Marguerite as super fantastic person for the nurs ing teaching and social work she began in Montreal But the foundress was not universally popular largely because her ate husband had sold liquor to the Indians and the reputation stuck to his widow after his death Even the name of the order comes frm an insult says Sister Zita One day the foundress and some of her greyclad co workers were mockineg hailed by passerby as the tipsy sisters Marguerite seized the French pun gris means both grey and tipsy 74 and Grey Sisters it has been ever Since However there arent as many Grey Sisters as there In Simcoe County schools Talk of Catholic schools and the average Canadian Catholic or not used to see mental pic ture Of nun in floorlengtb habit putting classroom full of pupils through their paces But nuns in Catholic schools are gettin almost as scarce as floorlengt habits which have been replaced by lesscon spicuous outfits since the liberalizing decrees of the Sc cond Vatican Council in the car No nuns are teaching at any If the Simcoe County Roman Catholic Separate SchOol Boards five Barrie schools this year The last Sister Mary Macoretta left St Monicas School at the end of June to teach in British Columbia Number of nuns decline And across Simcoe County there are only dozen nuns among the boards 280 teachers Only six of the boards 26 schools have nuns on staff decade ago sa Rill Bolger director 0f ucation for the board there were tw1ce that many nuns in the system and sisters made up about to per cent of the overall teaching staff And though board officials say they are sorry to see the decline they also say theres no point in worrying about it Wed always like to have more nuns says board chairman Vince Eagan but theres very limited supply We encourage them nuns to apply for any position says liolger but you can encourage all you want You cant have them anyway TWO IIANGES As is widel known fewer young Cathoic women are entering the vocation just as fewer young CathOIic men are choosing to become priests or brothers And the ones still on hand have in some cases found other things to do besides work in separate schools Sisters are involved in parish work and mission work to greater extent than before says Bolger like British Col umbia where there is no system of separate school tax support and Catholic schools are hard pressed to afford lay teachers In Ontario separate schools though not Catholic high schools are spared that ro blem and do not need the ow cost teaching nuns can supply as part of their vocation Nuns w0rking for the separate board now make the same money as lay teachers says Bolgcr CathOIic High Schools are in different osition because provincia law restricts separate school tax funds to Grade to and under St Theresas High School in Midland the Only complete Grades to 13 Catholic high school in the county has four sisters on its staff of 12 and the four collect total 0f two full salaries with the rest of their work donated to the school once were and Sister Zita herself has seen an acute decline in numbers since t956 Very few have actually walk ed out on the order she says but the annual influx of 20 new sisters at the orders Pembroke headquarters has dwindled to five or six NOT UPSET The Ursulines too are on the decline numerically However neither sister is too upset about theproblem Theres definitely been decline but it isnt discourag ing because its beautiful young people were getting as new nunsi says Sister Rita Theyre more inclined to be between 22 and 30 Theyve seen life and for that reason they usuallycomeandsta Sister Zita says 20 new nuns of former days were usually in their late teens and fewer than half would still be around few years later when it came time to take final vows Todays five or six new nuns are mostly in their late 20s and themajority stay YOUNG AFRAID What about the ones who no longer enter the convent in the first place Our society is giving rise to young people who are afraid to make longltterm commit ment says Sister Zita The imtability of family life makes one hesitate to make lifetime commitment not only in religious life but in marriage parallel the two Too she says religious orders may not have succeeded in convincing todays youth that convent is suitable place for their idealism Nuns in fact make major personal sacrifices for their ideals she says But the public too often sees nothing of this and concludes from what it does see the buildings owned by religious orders for example that nuns are just as materialistic as anybody else she said Some observers have blamed the decline on the fact that without the veils and long habits and curfews and regimented convents nuns life no longer appeals to those who might once have seen it as suitable refuge from the cares ofthe world Theres certinly no refuge says Sister Rita Were right outintheopen FAITH REMAINS Sister Rita says todays decline in new sisters does nothing to damage her faith in thefuture think there will always be sisters in teaching she says If theyre looking for religious life theyre looking for real dedication And if they look they will find it And looking back over her own career dont regret moment of it she says Im glad Ive come through the very struc tured life and the changes of Vatican II the Second Vatican COUIICIIt to live life as it is to day feel fortunate to have lived through that span of was xAd Lamb Hllil BOLGER encourage nuns An artists view of Marie of the Incarnation Officials say nuns ore asset but theyre not indispensable Nuns are an asset to any Catholic schOol but they arent indispensable say officials responsible for Catholic educa tion And the sisters themselves seem to agree certainly dont believe that we have monopol on the good things in the teac ing profes sion says Sister Rita Dietrich principal of Marie 0f the Incarnation School in Brad ford The vocation of Christian teacher whether he lives in community under vows or whether hes married and has children is the same says Sister Zita Grady principal of St Theresas High School in Midland When Christ gave the man date to go forth and teach that wasnt to some of us it was to all of us Bill Bolger director of educa tion for the Simcoe County Roman Catholic Separate School Board says there is no question that the board would like to have more nuns for its schools Their backgrounds are strong in religious sense and also strong in collegial group approach to educa tion he says The individual gains strength from association with the order thats real big plus for them But the dr0p0ff in new nuns which has helped cut into the number of available teaching sisters has had g00d effects too he says ARE SINCEIHC With the declining popularity of life as teaching nun he says the Ones who are at it really do want to be at it and theyre really fine teachers as result Nuns have dedicated their lives to teaching says Vincent Eagan semrate board chair man and itself is point in their favor as teachers In addition he says they have time for activities and VINCENT EGAN nuns have time my REV OMALIEY good examples commitments lay teachers cant handle because of family obligations But school full of nuns could be temptation to parents to leave religious education to the sisters and the priests he says and thats one danger that doesnt exist with lay teachers The ultimate responsibility for religious upbringing lies with the parents he says Both Sisters and lay teachers have had pr0found influence on students says Rev Leonard OMalley of St Marys Church in Barrie and hes reluctant to praise one ever the other GOOD EXAMPLE In some ways Father OMalley says lay Catholic teacher can accomplish more by way of good example than nun think there is definite ad vantage to students seeing their teacher lay teacher liv ing his faith he says With nun it doesnt have that impact they students expect it But the argumentworks the other way too hesa If lay person oesnt live his faith it can have negative effect says You dont get nun living outside her faith Father OMalley says the lack of nuns has not increased priests workload at Catholic schools Priests still visit class rooms as regularly as before he says but leave the actual teaching of Catholic ideals and practices to the teachers whether sisters or laymen Some Simcoe County nuns work for the public board Not all nuns teaching in Sim coe Count work for the SeparateSc 001 Board The four Holy Cross sisters at St Josephs School in Penetanguishene are em Eloyees of the Simcoe County Oard of Education The origins of the unusual situation lie well back in history Penetanguishenes pOpulation has long been predominantly Catholic and the local school board was formed in the 18605 as Catholic public board When local school boards acrOSs the county were amalgamated in 1969 the Catholic school officials in Penetanguishene decided to continue the tradition by join ing the countywide public boad instead of the separate board Sister Angeline Moreau prin cipal at St Jose hs says work ing for public school authorities has never caused her any pro blems must say theyve been more than gracious to me she says St Josephs one of three Catholic elementary schools operated by the public board in Penetanguishene has 30 to 40 nonCatholics among its 575 students but thats no problem either Sister Angeline says Theyre the nonCatholics iust lovely no problem whatever she says Most of the time the teachers dont even know whos Catholic and whOs not STUDY RELIGION Parents registering non Catholic children at the school are asked to have them take the entire program including religious education Those who do come are will ing to accept the System as it savs Sister Angeline Its Christian living really and thats what the patents who come here want for their children However she says non Catholics and their arents are not invited to re igious ac tivities held outside school hours such as meetings with priests concerning First Holy Communion or the first Com munion ceremony itself Sister Angeline has been teacher for 33 years and like other longtime teaching sisters she has seen fallingoff in the number of nuns teaching Catholic youngsters Part of it is decline in voca tions calls to life as nun she says but she expects that trend to reverse because of the increasing interest among young people in religion NOIWHOLE STORY However she says the decline in vocations isnt the whole story Teaching orders like the Ho ly Cross Sisters have broaden ed their concept of teaching to include such activities as social work parish work and even nursing As result even an in crease in vocations will not put as many nuns in Catholic schools as in former days We took it for granted that teaching was teaching in the classroom Sister Angeline says Now we dont see it that way