PHILADELPHIA – I couldn't resist asking Sister Anne Myers, who once upon a century would have been called Mother Superior, but is now a more prosaic Congregational President, about the harsh depiction of mother superiors in the movies. We were standing in the back of the beautiful chapel in the mother house for the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Philadelphia at Chestnut Hill College when I asked her about the vow of obedience nuns make.
Q: This vow of obedience, who are you being obedient to?
A: That's where you've heard me say about praying and discerning. Ultimately, we all want to be obedient to God and God's will.
Q: So how does that play out practically?
A: Years ago obedience meant you got told that you were going to teach third grade at Saint Bartholomew. Period. And you went. Now, it's more of, 'All right, so I feel love to teach third grade at Saint Bartholomew.' I make an appointment and I come to see my ministry coordinator, one of the sisters in our leadership. Then she shares either what the needs of the congregation are or what she thinks in light of what you shared. There's what we would call a mutual discernment, where you try to discern what you think God's saying to you.
Q: So that's how it works?
A: It's not like the command. It's not a military obedience anymore
Q: Was it like that when you started out? You were 18 at the time, right?