Why I answered the call of convent life | World news | The G...

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/24/nuns-increase...

Why I answered the call of convent life

Increasing numbers of women in England and Wales are joining religious orders, but
the reality of being a nun is not all habits and silent prayer
Rachel Williams
Friday 24 April 2015 19.07BST

Sister Gemma Simmonds was being interviewed on radio about her life with the
Congregation of Jesus when she was asked, in rather solemn tones, if she and her
fellow nuns ever laughed. Laugh? We never stop laughing in this house, hoots the
orders director of vocation in the UK. The night before, wed had a particularly
hysterical supper. Theres obviously this image of us sitting looking terribly serious.
Drinking our gruel, adds 29-year-old Theodora Hawksley, the convents newest
recuit, to more guaws.
The unusual level of interest in the sisters existence has been prompted by news that
communities of Catholic nuns in England and Wales are expanding. The number of
women entering convents in 2014 reached a 25-year high. At 45, it was a signicant
increase from 30 the year before. In 2004, only seven took up religious life.
Hawksley, who left academia to join the Congregation of Jesus as a postulant in
January, attributes this increased commitment to godliness among women to a
snowball eect. God always calls people to religious life, but various things can
make it harder to hear that, and one of the things that makes it easier is lots of people
openly talking and thinking about it, and giving it a go, she says.
It must help, too, that life as nun, while still requiring women to make a far from
inconsequential lifelong vow of poverty, chastity and obedience, is no longer always
the controlled, cloistered and silent experience of lore.
Of last years recruits, 27 joined as active or apostolic nuns such as those of the
Congregation of Jesus out and about, as opposed to indoor penguins, explains
Hawksley. Younger women made up signicant proportion of those recruits: 11 were
aged 19-30, six were 31-40 and 10 were 41 or over. But 18 chose to be enclosed
recruits: four in the 30 and under age group, seven aged between 31 and 40 and
another seven over 41.
Some apostolic nuns wear habits, but members of the Congregation of Jesus dress
simply and casually. A cross around their neck is the only outward sign of their
vocation.
In the kitchen of the calm, comfortably furnished Victorian villa that the London
1 of 3

25/04/2015 19:12

Why I answered the call of convent life | World news | The G...

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/24/nuns-increase...

branch occupies near Willesden Green, Hawksley and 54-year-old Sister Naomi
Hamilton, a former archaeologist and self-professed feminist who became a nun four
years ago, wear jeans and plain tops.
Life here is not particularly institutionalised. The seven members of the community
technically it is a convent, but the sisters tend not to refer to it as such do much of
their praying alone, and they work apart during the day.
Hawksley, who prays in her light and airy attic room between 6am and 7am, is
nishing a book on peacebuilding and Catholic social teaching. Simmonds is a
theology lecturer, and another sister is a part-time child and adolescent
psychotherapist working for the NHS. (Her colleagues know she is also a nun, but her
patients dont.) They also volunteer, helping all kinds of people in need. They dont
watch a lot of TV, but they loved Call the Midwife.
Hawksley came to the convent after three years of post-doctorate study. It wasnt a
decision that I made so much as one that was made in me that I discovered, she says.
Its like any other relationship, in that you suddenly realise youve rearranged your
life around someone else, that youve encountered this life-shaping love.
On the subject of relationships, yes, she says, she has had some. Ive dated. I had one
pretty big relationship just after my undergraduate degree, for about a year. I was
hugely happy and thought that we might get married in the end. Though they didnt,
the relationship was immensely important. Maybe I wouldnt have entered
religious life without that. Its not that it broke my heart, but it showed me how great
my heart is and therefore how great my capacity for God is.
Was it dicult to know that she wouldnt have that kind of relationship with another
human being again? Of course youre aware of what youre giving up, Hawksley
says. But, in the same way, as when youre getting married, youre not dwelling on
the fact that youre giving up all the men or women in the world apart from this one.
When you walk towards religious life, what it is youre giving up isnt the rst thing
on your mind.
Community life does bring sacrices, she admits. I live with three people roughly the
age of my mother, and three people the age of my grandmother, she says. (The
communitys oldest member is 89.) One of the things I love doing is cooking for
myself, and quite adventurously. I miss chilli. I cracked last week and made a jar of
what Ive labelled nuclear hot sauce.
The nuns take it in turn to cook, sharing a meal at 7pm each evening. Older members
tend to cook the kind of food my grandparents eat, Hawksley says (without
complaint), while the younger women serve up more pasta dishes. The kitchen
shelves reveal a mix of styles that includes slow cooking for yourself and Delia
Smiths 1976 classic Frugal Food, plus a Nigella Lawson and a Nigel Slater. Hawksley,
who has cooked rabbit pie, enchiladas and falafel for the group (Im kind of
experimenting on them theyre tremendously game), keeps her Marcella Hazan,
Thomasina Miers and Allegra McEvedy upstairs.

2 of 3

25/04/2015 19:12

Why I answered the call of convent life | World news | The G...

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/24/nuns-increase...

There are signs elsewhere of young peoples desire to try out a religious life. In
September, 16 men and women aged 20-35 will begin a year living the lives of monks
and nuns at Lambeth Palace, as part of the newly formed Community of St Anselm.
Another 40 who live and work in the capital will join part-time. Since applications
opened in February, 420 have registered an interest, with more than 20 applicants per
residential place. Weve been overwhelmed, says tthe Rev Anders Litzell, the
communitys prior. Hopefuls give the same reason over and over again: They want to
be all out for Jesus.
The journey towards becoming a nun is lengthy. If you have a congregation in mind,
you can approach it directly, explains Sister Cathy Jones, religious life promoter at the
Catholic Church in England and Wales national oce for vocation. Otherwise, her
oce can help. You would start spending time with a congregation, perhaps building
to periods of several months. After that, you live there as a postulant for a year or two,
then spend another two years as a novice. Only after that will you take your vows
and, even then, they are only for three years at rst.
Jones attributes the increase in new nuns to the growth in opportunities for young
people to consider their call to religious life over the past decade from weekend
groups to festivals. Things like that raise the prole of dierent ways of living out
vocations and help normalise what it is to be a nun or religious sister in the Catholic
church. Its not something extreme or bizarre, its something that always has been
and always will be. Particularly in the last ve years or so, religious congregations
have grown in condence in making their way of life known.
Misconceptions about nuns abound, say Hawksley and Hamilton: you have to have
short hair, youre not allowed to see your friends. Yet despite lingering negative views
of nuns, people often express pleasure on hearing what they do. Quite often they
say, Oh gosh, thats so nice to know people like you still exist, says Hamilton.
Theres a sense that were doing something which they recognise is good, but maybe
they think is beyond their capabilities.
More news

Topics
Catholicism
Christianity
Religion

3 of 3

25/04/2015 19:12