Wasted Lives
The number of women entering convents to become nuns has increased from only seven in 2004 to 45 last year and is now at its highest level since 1990. According to the Roman Catholic authorities, these statistics show that there is “a gap in the market for meaning in our culture” and that “as a generation we have turned a corner”.
No doubt such women have a sense of the emptiness of materialism and of a worldly lifestyle and are trying to find something in their religion which will satisfy the needs of their souls. We feel sorry for such women, however, since they are looking in the wrong place for fulfilment in life. Taking entangling vows of obedience, chastity and poverty will not be for their own spiritual good or anyone else’s. Monastic orders have ever confounded devotion to the Church of Rome with true dedication to Christ. The two are, however, entirely opposite. Furthermore, biblical separation from worldliness certainly does not require withdrawal from normal family life. But as long as they are dedicating their lives to the practice and advancement of unbiblical Roman Catholic religion, these sadly deluded women – however well-intentioned they may be at the outset – are only wasting their lives serving the kingdom of darkness. AWM