Women Religious communities face a crisis as more young people dismiss such vocations as “irrelevant,” an Indian sister told a meeting of nuns here recently.

Some nuns are also “not happy in their own mission,” said Assumption Sister Rekka M. Chennattu. “This is calling us to redefine our identity and our mission, to … make our identity and mission relevant to the world today.”

More than 100 nuns from 18 countries in the Asia and Oceania regions met just west of Bangkok for the 15th Asia and Oceania Meeting of Women Religious (AMOR XV) from Oct. 13-21.

AMOR women Religious leaders gather every few years to share ideas with one another, give encouragement, and set goals for the future. The organization has no official Church status.

During the meeting, AMOR XV chairwoman Sister Sompong Thabping said that one way to find contemporary relevance was to become “more aware of injustices in society” and to respond to that. “We must dare to stand by the poor and marginalized,” she added.

The final message of the meeting pledged a program of collaboration and networking among congregations, and with the Church and society.

Sister Maria Rosa Medina, head of the secretariat of AMOR XV, said the meeting helped nuns reflect and on current realities and decide how to act on them. Women Religious today need to work more closely with governments and NGOs, she said.

Japanese Mercedarian Sister Filo Hirota agreed that AMOR encourages engagement with the modern world.

“AMOR has formed young women to be responsible citizens, living in dialogue with poor and marginalized people to create new ways of being Church in Asia,” she said.

During the conference, the Catholic women Religious heard of the struggle of female Buddhist monks to be accepted in Thai society.

A female monk, Bhikkhuni Poonsirivara, said that in the past they had been looked down on. “But nowadays the situation is better” as the women take a more active role in society and male monks and laypersons become more familiar with them and their work. “Acceptance has followed,” she said.

“The important thing is to build up more women role models and invite greater participation of women.”

There are only 18 female Buddhist monks and 40 female novice monks in Thailand, says Bhikkhuni Poonsirivara . In contrast to the small number of female monks, there were around 45,000 Buddhist nuns in 2007, according to Bangkok’s Maha Mongkut Buddhist University. Buddhist nuns, however, are not accorded much respect in Thai society.

The next AMOR meeting is scheduled for 2013 in the Philippines.

Source:  UCAN

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