why i answered the call of convent life | world news | the guardian

Why I answered the call of convent lifeIncreasing numbers of women in England and Wales are joining religious orders, butthe reality of being a nun is not all habits and silent prayer

Rachel WilliamsFriday 24 April 2015 19.07BST

Sister Gemma Simmonds was being interviewed on radio about her life with theCongregation of Jesus when she was asked, in rather solemn tones, if she and herfellow nuns ever laughed. Laugh? We never stop laughing in this house, hoots theorders director of vocation in the UK. The night before, wed had a particularlyhysterical supper. Theres obviously this image of us sitting looking terribly serious.

Drinking our gruel, adds 29-year-old Theodora Hawksley, the convents newestrecuit, to more guaws.

The unusual level of interest in the sisters existence has been prompted by news thatcommunities of Catholic nuns in England and Wales are expanding. The number ofwomen entering convents in 2014 reached a 25-year high. At 45, it was a signicantincrease 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 inJanuary, attributes this increased commitment to godliness among women to asnowball eect. God always calls people to religious life, but various things canmake it harder to hear that, and one of the things that makes it easier is lots of peopleopenly 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 frominconsequential lifelong vow of poverty, chastity and obedience, is no longer alwaysthe controlled, cloistered and silent experience of lore.

Of last years recruits, 27 joined as active or apostolic nuns such as those of theCongregation of Jesus out and about, as opposed to indoor penguins, explainsHawksley. Younger women made up signicant proportion of those recruits: 11 wereaged 19-30, six were 31-40 and 10 were 41 or over. But 18 chose to be enclosedrecruits: four in the 30 and under age group, seven aged between 31 and 40 andanother seven over 41.

Some apostolic nuns wear habits, but members of the Congregation of Jesus dresssimply and casually. A cross around their neck is the only outward sign of theirvocation.

In the kitchen of the calm, comfortably furnished Victorian villa that the London

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branch occupies near Willesden Green, Hawksley and 54-year-old Sister NaomiHamilton, a former archaeologist and self-professed feminist who became a nun fouryears 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 oftheir praying alone, and they work apart during the day.

Hawksley, who prays in her light and airy attic room between 6am and 7am, isnishing a book on peacebuilding and Catholic social teaching. Simmonds is atheology lecturer, and another sister is a part-time child and adolescentpsychotherapist working for the NHS. (Her colleagues know she is also a nun, but herpatients dont.) They also volunteer, helping all kinds of people in need. They dontwatch a lot of TV, but they loved Call the Midwife.

Hawksley came to the convent after three years of post-doctorate study. It wasnt adecision 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 yourlife 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 onepretty big relationship just after my undergraduate degree, for about a year. I washugely happy and thought that we might get married in the end. Though they didnt,the relationship was immensely important. Maybe I wouldnt have enteredreligious life without that. Its not that it broke my heart, but it showed me how greatmy 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 anotherhuman being again? Of course youre aware of what youre giving up, Hawksleysays. But, in the same way, as when youre getting married, youre not dwelling onthe 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 thingon your mind.

Community life does bring sacrices, she admits. I live with three people roughly theage of my mother, and three people the age of my grandmother, she says. (Thecommunitys oldest member is 89.) One of the things I love doing is cooking formyself, and quite adventurously. I miss chilli. I cracked last week and made a jar ofwhat Ive labelled nuclear hot sauce.

The nuns take it in turn to cook, sharing a meal at 7pm each evening. Older memberstend to cook the kind of food my grandparents eat, Hawksley says (withoutcomplaint), while the younger women serve up more pasta dishes. The kitchenshelves reveal a mix of styles that includes slow cooking for yourself and DeliaSmiths 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 ofexperimenting on them theyre tremendously game), keeps her Marcella Hazan,Thomasina Miers and Allegra McEvedy upstairs.


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There are signs elsewhere of young peoples desire to try out a religious life. InSeptember, 16 men and women aged 20-35 will begin a year living the lives of monksand 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 applicationsopened in February, 420 have registered an interest, with more than 20 applicants perresidential place. Weve been overwhelmed, says tthe Rev Anders Litzell, thecommunitys prior. Hopefuls give the same reason over and over again: They want tobe 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 theCatholic Church in England and Wales national oce for vocation. Otherwise, heroce can help. You would start spending time with a congregation, perhaps buildingto 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 vowsand, even then, they are only for three years at rst.

Jones attributes the increase in new nuns to the growth in opportunities for youngpeople to consider their call to religious life over the past decade from weekendgroups to festivals. Things like that raise the prole of dierent ways of living outvocations and help normalise what it is to be a nun or religious sister in the Catholicchurch. Its not something extreme or bizarre, its something that always has beenand always will be. Particularly in the last ve years or so, religious congregationshave grown in condence in making their way of life known.

Misconceptions about nuns abound, say Hawksley and Hamilton: you have to haveshort hair, youre not allowed to see your friends. Yet despite lingering negative viewsof nuns, people often express pleasure on hearing what they do. Quite often theysay, 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 maybethey think is beyond their capabilities.


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