# Get me to a nunnery? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 15, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-me-to-a-nunnery/521371 "2009-12-15T16:58:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-me-to-a-nunnery/521371/1 "2009-12-15T16:58:22Z")
My boss every once in a while has to do certain paperwork for health insurance, and one of the things involves coordination of care between Medicare and our insurance. For some reason, my name came up this year and she had to fill out some online forms. She had to make a note if for any reason she couldn’t complete filling out the forms, and there was a drop down list of reasons she could choose from. [Here](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/jsgoddess/vowofpoverty.jpg) is the screen shot of the choices. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-me-to-a-nunnery/521371/2 "2009-12-15T17:05:24Z")
Wow. Just … wow. I don’t know if that’s kind of cool, or really bizarre. Or both. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-me-to-a-nunnery/521371/3 "2009-12-15T17:07:20Z")
My vote is definitely for both. I expect that to become the new pleading of the 5th during testimony: “Mr. Smith, where were you on the night of the 15th?” “Vow of poverty, sir.” ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-me-to-a-nunnery/521371/4 "2009-12-15T18:02:37Z")
I’ve taken a vow if poverty but I am not a nun. Well, not so much a vow of poverty as a lifestyle choice. Actually, not so much a lifestyle choice as I really don’t have much money, but will that still get me out of having to fill out forms? ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-me-to-a-nunnery/521371/5 "2009-12-15T18:32:21Z")
What that means, of course, is that at one time, that actually came up! ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-me-to-a-nunnery/521371/6 "2009-12-16T03:55:06Z")
I remember our parish priest one time saying that he wasn’t required to pay into Social Security, but that it wouldn’t be available for him if he chose to opt out. He contributed, because his mother was receiving benefits and he only thought it fair. So apparently, vow of poverty is a justified excuse. StG ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-me-to-a-nunnery/521371/7 "2009-12-16T13:10:23Z")
Yes, members of religious orders who have taken a vow of poverty are exempt from paying Social Security taxes. I forget exactly what the regulations are regarding this, but I remember having to look it up a few times back when I worked for Social Security. ---
**Author:** ![MissMossie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@MissMossie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissMossie)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-me-to-a-nunnery/521371/8 "2009-12-16T13:49:23Z")
Makes sense to me…one of these days I should probably do an update to my life. (For those of you who don’t have my biography memorized, I’m a postulant in a religious community, a baby nun if you will.) ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-me-to-a-nunnery/521371/9 "2009-12-17T15:54:48Z")
Another one of the benefits of working for the Big Guy Upstairs; no social security taxes!! ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-me-to-a-nunnery/521371/10 "2009-12-17T16:05:29Z")
I would be more than willing to take a ‘vow’ like that as long as I could cheat on it as much has possible. Hey, nobody’s perfect. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-me-to-a-nunnery/521371/11 "2009-12-17T16:19:45Z")
I didn’t take a vow of poverty - it was thrust upon me. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-me-to-a-nunnery/521371/12 "2009-12-17T18:57:03Z")
In the Canadian income tax form, on line 256, “Additional deductions,” there is a similar space to account for one’s having taken a vow of perpetual poverty. > [@](#): > > If you have taken a vow of perpetual poverty as a member of a religious order, you can deduct the amount of earned income and pension benefits that you have given to the order. Attach to your paper return a letter from your order or your employer stating that you have taken a vow of perpetual poverty. For more information, see Interpretation Bulletin IT-86, Vow of perpetual poverty. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-me-to-a-nunnery/521371/13 "2009-12-17T19:06:05Z")
**Miss Mossie** - I’d like an update. The last I knew, you were still a student boarding there while you tried the life on for size. StG ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-me-to-a-nunnery/521371/14 "2009-12-17T19:08:30Z")
> [@MissMossie](#): > > Makes sense to me…one of these days I should probably do an update to my life. > > (For those of you who don’t have my biography memorized, I’m a postulant in a religious community, a baby nun if you will.) I think an “Ask the Postulant” thread would be very interesting, if you were willing to do one. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-me-to-a-nunnery/521371/15 "2009-12-17T19:31:07Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > I think an “Ask the Postulant” thread would be very interesting, if you were willing to do one. I was gonna say that too. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-me-to-a-nunnery/521371/16 "2009-12-18T12:46:42Z")
Some years ago, I worked for a radiology practice that had the contract for the local Catholic health system. Many of the people who worked there were nuns who were covered by the health system’s group Blue Cross policy. We had a policy of writing off whatever balance was left over because we had a copy of a letter on file that explained that the nuns had taken a vow of poverty. Or, as my boss put it, “Any friend of God’s is a friend of ours.”