There's a Reason for Everything

25 years ago you would never have convinced me that I'd become a "stay-at-home" mom with 3 children. When I was in high school, I was fairly sure that one day I'd enter the convent. As I completed my education, I attended retreats and corresponded with a vocation director or two.
Long story short, it just never felt "right" and I wound up working for a few years before getting married at 25 and starting my family right away. That's what felt right. Later I discovered and joined the Secular Franciscan Order, and that feels right too.
The other day I picked up a book called Unveiled: The Hidden Lives of Nuns. The fact that the dust jacket featured a glowing review by Father Andrew Greeley clued me in that this book wasn't going to go down a path I'd like--and the book did not disappoint in that respect.
Precious little mention, never mind attention, was given to orders like the Sisters of Life where young, enthusiastic women are lining up at the door to join.
Instead, the book is full of paragraphs like this one: While the McDonald sisters' belief may seem heretical, especially to conservative Catholics, the Catholic Church permits merging traditions from various religions, including Native American spirituality, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Burning sage and praying to "the Goddess" is accepted as long as it doesn't conflict with the basic precepts of the Catholic faith.
Developments such as these are described in the book as the result of "growth" or "maturing."
I seriously hope that this book is reflective of a very small minority of the Sisters in our country. If this is not the case, however, and what's described in the book is really what's going on with women Religous in America, then I'm glad that God took me down a different path.