MANILA, Philippines – Since most young women prefer to seek lucrative jobs abroad, a mother superior of a congregation is asking the permission of an official of the Catholic church if they could accept widows to offset the shortage of nuns in their community.
For Sr. Ma. Violeta Navarro, founder and superior of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Triumph of the Cross (MSOTC), widows may just be the answer to increasing the number of sisters.
“I believe widows may be able to address the decline in vocations from young, single women,” Sr. Navarro said.
She told CBCPNews that the economic crunch being experienced by many families may have forced the parents of many young women to encourage their children to seek high-paying employment abroad.
“With the advancement in technology, it gets more difficult to convince them to enter the religious life,” she said.
She said she would be submitting her proposal to accept widows into their congregation to Ozamis Archbishop Jesus Diosado, CM, for his consideration.
The MSOTC is a community of 49 nuns who have dedicated their lives to God and God’s people through the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.
Their organization leads the Catholic charismatic and renewal movements of the ecclesiastical province of Dipolog, Ozamis, Pagadian, Iligan, and Marawi (DOPIM). Some of them serve as family counselors and pastoral assistants. – Evelyn Macairan, Irene Amador