A Neighbourly Nun

I have never followed Australia's most famous soap-opera, Neigbours. In fact I could count the number of episodes I have watched from start to finish on one hand. However what has caught my attention is that one of its characters is a nun. Not just any nun, mind you. It seems that (Sr) Carmella was caught in the sauna with her boyfriend, prompting her protective father to send her to Italy and somewhere along the way she decided to enter the religious life. Anyway she has returned to Australia, where the aforementioned boyfriend has reignited her love interest and in tonight's episode the pair of them put themselves in temptation's way when they head out for a night on the town. (That's what it says on the online episode guide.)

My first thought was to recall an article on Zenit which referred to the decrease in the number of religious between 1976 and 2004. According to the Vatican, the number of male religious fell by 27% and of female religious by 22%. While there have been substantial increases in religious vocations throughout Africa and Asia, it has not been enough to offset losses in Europe, the Americas and Oceania. It is interesting to note that 1976-2004 covers nearly the entire pontificate of Pope John Paul II and coincides with the expansion of so-called New Movements and Communities.

Could it be that in the future there may be next to no religious in the Western world and their work will be done by laypeople instead? I would hate to imagine such a scenario because I firmly believe the religious life still has much to offer at both a personal and ecclesial level. As Pope Benedict would say, "Courageous choices are needed."