Simple Profession: Obstacle for Monastic Identity or Blessing for the Church

Author

• Michael J. Clinger Jr., College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University

Date of Award

10-13-2014

Document Type

Graduate Paper

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

School of Theology and Seminary

First Advisor

Shawn Colberg

Subject Categories

Religion

Abstract

In the history of the American Catholic Church, religious sisters have impacted the landscape greatly. This is equally true of the American Benedictine sisters, who have devoted their lives to ministering within the Church for the last century and a half. However, it could have been entirely different. In the medieval period, the women took solemn vows which compelled them to strict enclosure within the monastery. In America, however, simple vows became normative and allowed the women to go outside the monastery to work and minister. In this paper, three different apostolates of American Benedictine women will be analyzed in order to prove how the profession simple vows, while causing some monastic identity crisis, was a positive phenomenon for the American Church.

Recommended Citation

Clinger, Michael J. Jr., "Simple Profession: Obstacle for Monastic Identity or Blessing for the Church" (2014). School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses. 1977.
https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/sot_papers/1977