religious life
SISTERS in
their 20s and
30s enjoy
the beach
at Ellenton,
Florida during
a national
gathering for
young sisters
sponsored
by the Giving
Voice organi-
zation.
Thriving among the
generations
Younger members of religious communities talk about living out their call
in multigenerational settings.
TBYCAROL SCHUCK
SCHEIBER
Hey LiKe eACH o THeR” is how
sister Maria Cimperman, o.s.U.,
44, sees the two extremes of the
age continuum in her religious com-
munities, where she and many other
younger members of communities in
the U.s. find themselves outnumbered
by their elders (though a
few U.s. communities are
predominantly young).
Cimperman belongs to
Carol Schuck Scheiber is content editor for VISION.
the Ursuline sisters in Cleveland, ohio
and teaches at the oblate school of Theology in san Antonio, Texas. Most young
religious articulate love for their elders
and a desire to learn from their wisdom.
Many older religious have great affection
for the newbies.
Cimperman gives this example from
an Ursuline region she’s familiar with:
“A candidate, in her 20s, spent time over
Christmas break with sisters in the infirmary and created an online video which
held greetings from many of the infirmary sisters and which then was sent all
