Apostolic till the very end: The contribution of older Roman Catholic sisters' experience of ageing to the evolving identity of women's religious life

Sexton, Catherine

Abstract

This chapter explores the experience of ministry among elderly Roman Catholic sisters for whom ministry is now home-based and focussed primarily on each other and those who care for them. It is based on interviews conducted with a group of elderly Catholic sisters who, despite no longer being engaged in active ministry outside of their own communities, find new ways of responding to Sweeney’s (2012) ‘apostolic impulse’, in their continuing journey of conversion towards total self-gift. How do these sisters understand and experience the call to express their love of God through a life orientated towards serving others in active ministry. What meaning do they make of ‘inactivity’ and how does that shape their identity? Sexton argues that the sisters re-create their understanding of their vocation by challenging two contextual factors which have shaped them: First is a formation in religious life which emphasised work, in the form of busy, active ministries, thus resulting in an identity defined by work or activity, and second is the diminishment, both institutional and personal, as the membership of religious orders declines, and as older women, in a society which assumes they will be no longer be active or relevant contributors. The sisters, in later life, have created a new post-institutional identity based on a move away from a work- or task-based identity towards one of ‘being’ apostolic. They embody their ‘apostolic impulse’ in a form of ministry as intentional presence through their converted selves, in an incarnational expression of the following of Christ.

Citation

Sexton, C. (2023). Apostolic till the very end: The contribution of older Roman Catholic sisters' experience of ageing to the evolving identity of women's religious life. In N. Slee, D. Llewellyn, K. Wasey, & L. Taylor-Guthartz (Eds.), Female Faith Practices: Qualitative Research Perspectives. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003228431-19

• Acceptance Date: Jan 14, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Aug 1, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023
• Deposit Date: Jan 20, 2021
• Publisher: Routledge
• Series Title: Explorations in Practical, Pastoral and Empirical Theology
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Book Title: Female Faith Practices: Qualitative Research Perspectives
• Chapter Number: 13
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003228431-19