Nuns Ran Out In "Droves"
Had much more to do with changes in society and Vatican II than anything else. Starting around the 1970's women simply had more options than to either become a wife, enter a convent or end up in some horrible "pink collar" job where they were under-paid, over worked and under appreciated. Indeed most of the problems many areas of employment are facing (teaching (especially chemistry), nursing, etc are due to the fact women have more employment choices than before.
Vatican II actually encouraged religous persons to become "part of the community" and go out amoung the people, rather than stay walled up and away. Habits were dispensed with along with so many other things, that many nuns and those who considered a vocation began to think " why bother?", I can serve God in other ways.
The lack of persons entering the religous life, especially nuns/sisters has had far reaching effects. Many if not all Catholic hospitals and schools were founded and mainly staffed by sisters and brothers, who were in a sense "free" labour. That is all over and Catholic schools and hospitals find themselves having to pay the going wages to attract and keep staff, all this at a time when most parishes have seen their membership levels fall off the cliff.
Back to "Sister Luke":
Sister Luke's problem is her inability to submit her own self will to that of her vocation and God. She wished to be a nurse first instead of a nun, and as Reverend Mother pointed out, Sister Luke did not enter the convent to become a nurse. Sister Luke also had a problem "obeying" authority and rules, and unlike "The Flying Nun" or other Hollywood creations of religous life, obeying is a huge part of religous life. If you as a postulant was told to read and memorise a chapter of religous text by say the mistress of novices, and you piped up that you already knew said text, that was neither her or there. You were expected to do as you were told, and that was that.
Self will is said to die about 15 minutes after we do, or is it 15 minutes before? Either way the hardest thing to do is surpress one's own desires to do what someone else wishes us to do. Even more difficult when that "someone" is God and his will is coming through his wordly instruments. What would you do if your mother or teacher told you to fail your exams on purpose as an act of humility? Happily for Sister Luke she went on to another convent where another RM told her that the previous request was wrong, but there was lots of that sort of thing in religous life. Do good and leave, in one form or another was part of many religous orders, even Saint Bernardette was given the same instructions during her religous life.
Read the book in high school, and it gives a rather grim picture of convent/religous life. At the time the Vatican was NOT happy with either the book or film. It was felt that it painted a poor picture of nuns and the Church in general, at a time when many, especially in the United States viewed the Church as a bunch of Latin babbling followers of the Pope, who in turn was viewed as living very well off other persons work.
The Nun's Story Trivia:
The book was not written by "Sister Luke", but a woman who met and took up with the ex-sister.
