By Sister Genevieve Sarber, OSB

Years ago when I first joined the annual migration of religious to summer schools around the country, I was duly impressed by the hordes of habited nuns of every genus and species.

I didn’t know the names of every congregation represented and some of us frequently resorted to nicknames based on the unique feature of each habit.

For example, we Benedictines were variously referred to as the “crumb sisters” or those with the “crunched up collars” because of the multi-pleated coif which formed a catch-all plate under our chins.

However, we also engaged in a far more important form of comparison than that of external habit styles – that of comparing community spirit and lifestyles. If anything gave witness to me of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the church, it was (and is) that mysterious phenomenon by which we merged with many different communities during each summer, and then, with few exceptions, each sister returned to her community when summer school was over, reaffirmed and recommitted to that particular order or congregation to which she had been called by God. Her community was the best for her.

From the time of the founding of the ancient orders to the beginning of the most recent congregation, each community has come to be what it is because of a specific need or situation within the church. Just as each person is individualized by the unique experiences of her life, so each religious group has taken on a specific character and spirit because of the roles it has performed within the church’s history.

These differences are often not perceptible to the laity, especially today since the external differences frequently no longer exist. For example, at Our Lady of the Assumption parish where I work, there are four different communities represented; that means four different residences are involved. It is that fact which seems to cause the most confusion.

Because I live in an apartment with another Benedictine who works in another parish (there is no Benedictine “convent” as such in Atlanta where we could live), even though there are spare rooms at Assumption, I have been asked in all sincerity if I have something against the Sisters of Mercy. “After all, you’re all sisters aren’t you?” I live with my own community because that is the source of my religious “family life.”

In an attempt to clarify some of this confusion and to show not only the differences found among the many communities serving in the archdiocese but also the richness and varieties of service they perform, each community will be asked to contribute a guest writer for this column.

Hopefully these future columns which will necessarily extend into the next year, will provide not only an insight into the contributions of the communities in the archdiocese but also some background about the foundation, the particular spirit, and the changes which have taken place within them in recent years.

The most recent statistics available to me show 200 religious women serving the Archdiocese of Atlanta from 17 different religious communities. Some have come to work here only in recent years, having answered calls to expand the traditional apostolates of their community.

Other congregations have served with the archdiocese since its early history, expanding their work along with the growing mission of the church. They each have their story to tell.

If you have any questions about any of the communities or about religious life, do not hesitate to write me in care of the Georgia Bulletin.