I just did a Google images search and found several photos of different types of habits worn by Grey Nuns. I don’t know if any are helpful to you. http://images.google.com/images?q=grey%20nuns%20of%20the%20sacred%20heart&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi

Perhaps you want to contact the order, and they have the answer: http://www.greynun.org/

Best of luck, regards and prayers-

Since you are a nun, your opinion, Sr.Judy is probably more important than any of ours, since you are living the life which we are discussing.

I like the stunning black and white habits of old. As a child who grew up in Catholic grade schools with nuns in full habit, I have always had a fascination with the nuns habit. Perhaps it is most effective in schools.

One can see and feel the simple, yet dramatic affect that the color black has on clothing. Nuns wearing this powerful and relatively flattering color commanded great respect from their students. The clothing and the lifestyles represented by that clothing, held great fascination and admiration for those wearing it.

I had always wanted to be a missionary nun when I was young. My life took a different direction. We all instantly recognize the look of the habit of a nun.

If you are more comfortable in slacks, then so be it. However, the frock of a monk or a nun looks so comfortable and, at the same time, respectable and recognizable. I would think you would enjoy wearing some form of a long black dress at some point in time. There is nothing wrong with admiring the outfit.

It is up to each individual nun to decide if they can handle wearing a long black dress, modified to look sleek and modest. It need not be the exact old fashioned outfit, not at all. However, a long black robe, or dress, what ever you would like to call it. It is an admirable look.

If you do decide to wear a long lovely and modest black dress, it is slenderizing, as you know. It is also
a highly respectable look, one that you might continue to consider among the others in your present wardrobe. A long black dress, somewhat fitted, will do. Don’t dismiss this clean cut and respectable outfit. Why not try one on and see how you feel and how others react to you while wearing it? This might be a revelation. I would be interested in what you experience when you wear something like this.

With hopes for your good fortune, good health, and happiness,
Laurie

I’m a senior in college in Chicago and I’m thinking very seriously about entering a religious order in the next 2 years. I think that the veil is a very useful aspect of the habit because it is recognizable. I don’t think that all sisters need to wear the habit or that all habits need to look the same – in the end, it’s just clothing! – but the veil is really useful for identification and solidarity.

I had never met a sister or considered religious life before coming to college and meeting them at my university’s Newman Center when I was 17. One of the campus ministers wore a veil, black longsleeved shirt, and calf-length black skirt – this struck me as a little odd at first since I’d never seen anybody wear such an outfit, but I was intrigued and went up to talk to her, and she turned out to be really nice so now we work together on a lot of campus ministry stuff. I’ve gotten to know her congregation pretty well and I volunteer in some of their ministries in the area. On the other hand, I didn’t realize that one of the other great campus ministers was also a sister for a really long time because she wears normal clothes and she usually just goes by her first name without the “Sr” in front. In fact, it was actually very awkward because I happened to mentioned to her that I was discerning and thinking of entering the first sister’s order, and she seemed hurt that I hadn’t looked at hers as well. Whoops – I had no clue that she was a sister too. Very awkward. How was I supposed to know? I guess I was supposed to notice that she wears a cross pin, but, for heaven sakes, my grandmothers wear pins too! Or I was supposed to deduce she was a nun because she’s really kind? Indeed she is, but there are a lot of wonderful lay Christians, so a beautiful witness doesn’t necessarily index vowed life.

I know that religious life isn’t about being seen – of course, the life and the intentionality are so much more important than the clothes! But something unambiguous helps a lot. If I do become a sister, I would at least like to wear the modified veil with whatever else I was wearing (habit, polo shirt, whatever) so people could immediately know what my life was about and not have to wonder.

Besides, for my sake, I want to feel part of something, and I think the veil is a reminder of solidarity within a group. I know that everyone experiences loneliness from time to time, so if I give my whole life to a community instead of having a family, I would like that togetherness to be visible to me on the days when I inevitably wonder if it was such a good decision to be a sister instead of having children. (I’m not planning to have doubts, I’m just trying to be honest with myself about the complexity of such a decision). Wearing something distinctive in common with my sisters would be a constant reminder of my identity within a community. It somehow makes the community seem more substantial – I’d be less afraid that the community would cease to exist, or that I’d be the only one left in 50 or 60 years when I’m old. The veil is distinctive enough to bind individuals together in the collectivity of consecrated life, but not so weird that it off-puts other people or gets in the way of ministry. I know this sounds very sociological, but I think God works through symbols – why can’t the collectivity of the habit communicate something of the cohesiveness of God’s love in the world?