# Former nun? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 25, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-nun/184326 "2003-06-25T17:34:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-nun/184326/1 "2003-06-25T17:34:22Z")
[Former Nun’s Prayers Answered in Casino](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=583&ncid=583&e=6&u=/nm/20030625/od_nm/odd_nun_dc) I’m not so much interested in the story as I am in the woman’s status as a “former nun.” Are the vows that a nun takes for life? Or is there an option out? Of course, there is nothing stopping a nun from just “picking up and leaving” the convent, but I’m curious if, in the eyes of the church, this woman is living in violation of her vows. Or is this something that varies on an order-by-order basis? Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-nun/184326/2 "2003-06-25T17:42:48Z")
I’m speaking only of Roman Catholics here. Other religions do have sisterhoods but I don’t know much about them. Members of religious orders (sisters, brothers, priests, moks, etc.) go through various levels of training to ensure their suitability to a religious life. During that time, they take “temporary” vows. If they decide/are asked to leave, obviously those vows are excused. So it’s possible this former nun never professed what are called “final vows.” I’ve known several women who did that. Even if she did, however, she could still ask for a dispensation from her vows to go back and live a secular life. There’d be a lot of hearings and red tape, but the bottom line is, yes you can be excused from your vows. I’ve known a couple of “former nuns” who remained active in the Church, only they were now “civilians.” ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-nun/184326/3 "2003-06-25T17:45:03Z")
An old teacher of mine was a former nun. She fell in love with some guy and left the church (and still continued to teach at the catholic school). Altogether I found it quite odd… ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-nun/184326/4 "2003-06-25T19:37:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Members of religious orders (sisters, brothers, priests, moks, etc.) go through various levels of training to ensure their suitability to a religious life. During that time, they take “temporary” vows. This is basically correct, but I would quibble about including priests in the list in this context. There are two sets of entrance steps. When one first asks to enter the order[sup]1[/sup]\*, one enters the novitiate (is accepted as a novice). (Some groups had a pre-novitiate in in which the applicant was called a postulant.) Depending on the hierarchy of the order[sup]1[/sup], there might be several different levels of application or training during this period, but one did not profess any vows. At this level, a man seeking to be a priest and a man seeking to be a brother would be treated the same. However, someone who wished to be a priest would then go on to additional training and enter holy orders[sup]2[/sup]. (In the old days, there were twelve of them, although by the 1960s, most were little more than a formality thrown into the curriculum every few months.) Each order[sup]2[/sup] is permanent, but it might have little bearing on a man’s life if he withdrew, except that he might be expected to recite certain prayers, daily, as fit his station. Once one had attained the order[sup]2[/sup] of deacon (just below priest), one needed to get special dispensation to withdraw. Women never had the opportunity to enter holy orders[sup]2[/sup], of course. To become a sister, a woman professed her vows, raising her out of the novitiate. Depending on the age and structure of the order[sup]1[/sup] to which she belonged, she might have anywhere from one to four sets of “temporary” vows, each lasting one, three, or seven years. (The orders[sup]1[/sup] got to set their own rules, so there is no set rule I can state that covers all conditions.) Eventually, however, if she did not withdraw, she was expected to profess her final or permanent vows. I am not actually sure whether brothers were given the same “temporary vow” escape, or not. I had rather little contact with orders[sup]1[/sup] of brothers growing up and never knew anyone who withdrew. - This is confusing because the “order” of holy orders uses the same word as the “order” meaning a religious community. I have labeled religious orders with the superscript **[sup]1[/sup]** and holy orders with the superscript **[sup]2[/sup]**. (Holy orders could also be confusing as a term: it most frequently is used in reference to the priesthood, but, technically, it refers to all the twelve steps culminating in the priesthood as well as to the episcopacy and to the papacy.) ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-nun/184326/5 "2003-06-25T19:44:54Z")
Zev, haven’t you seen _The Sound of Music_? ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-nun/184326/6 "2003-06-25T19:52:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MC Master of Ceremonies \* > \*\*Zev, haven’t you seen _The Sound of Music_? \*\* Yes, but I thought it pretty clear that Maria was only a novice. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-nun/184326/7 "2003-06-25T19:56:46Z")
I was being tongue in cheek, but I have seen former novices (i.e. one UK Big Brother contestant) described as former nuns, though ythis is probably incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-nun/184326/8 "2003-06-25T19:59:17Z")
Well, friends of my parents were a former nun and a former priest. Yes, they were both “confirmed.” (Practicing?) I don’t know if they attended church or not, but I could find out. Interestingly, she vacumed her driveway, and would remove light bulbs from lamps to dust them - really, she had a serious “cleanliness is next to Godliness” thing going on. No, I am not making this up. ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-nun/184326/9 "2003-06-25T21:09:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by clayton\_e \* > \*\*An old teacher of mine was a former nun. She fell in love with some guy and left the church (and still continued to teach at the catholic school). > > Altogether I found it quite odd… \*\* Same here, except she was the vice principal and her husband was a former seminarian. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-nun/184326/10 "2003-06-25T22:54:46Z")
Well, seriously-if you leave the church, what can they do to stop you? Also, the movie _The Nun’s Story_ with Audrey Hepburn is based on a true story-and the women left her vows. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-nun/184326/11 "2003-06-25T22:54:59Z")
HOORAY! I GET TO SAY IT!!! She kicked the habit. 😃 😃 😃 😃