I am a Catholic Dominican Sister and I watched this film with a mixture of horror and humor, thinking that yet again, a film, even in 2018, has depicted Catholic religious women as totally crazy in oh so many ways. My Sisters watched it and kept interrupting it with questions - "so-they make vows to become novices???? After six months?? And then, perpetual vows at the end of a year and a half of the novitiate? So, Cathleen is 19 and making a life commitment? You have got to be kidding me!!" I was a postulant for one year, a novice (white veil, no vows) for one year- then temporary vows for at least five years, then vowed for life. I was 30. No wonder these kids aren't sure - they are still teenagers!!!
No one broke mirrors, no one made us crawl in shame, no one would laugh at a sister with dementia - where do they get this stuff???? Reverend Mother's House of Horrors - was there absolutely no one happy in that Convent - except for the Novice Director, who, of course, left. And no one to replace her to help these young women????
And all of those Sisters left because of Vatican II? It had to be no more than a month, at most. They all jumped ship rather quickly! And they left because of Reverend Mother's three minute brutal summary of Vatican II, which actually lasted five years and produced volumes of documents. We studied the Vatican II documents for two years as Novices and Postulants. Mother's talk was enough for many to just pack up and leave??
Can no one write a realistic film about a convent that isn't either as silly as Whoopie or as sadomasochistic as this one? Lord, help us!
No one broke mirrors, no one made us crawl in shame, no one would laugh at a sister with dementia - where do they get this stuff???? Reverend Mother's House of Horrors - was there absolutely no one happy in that Convent - except for the Novice Director, who, of course, left. And no one to replace her to help these young women????
And all of those Sisters left because of Vatican II? It had to be no more than a month, at most. They all jumped ship rather quickly! And they left because of Reverend Mother's three minute brutal summary of Vatican II, which actually lasted five years and produced volumes of documents. We studied the Vatican II documents for two years as Novices and Postulants. Mother's talk was enough for many to just pack up and leave??
Can no one write a realistic film about a convent that isn't either as silly as Whoopie or as sadomasochistic as this one? Lord, help us!