Sisters of Life, which provides life-affirming counselling services and resources to women in crisis pregnancies, sued state officials in September 2022 over a law that allowed the Department of Health to investigate pro-life pregnancy centres by demanding internal documents and private information about the centres' policies.

The court order, which New York officials signed on Nov 8, states that officials are "ordered not to take any enforcement action of any kind against" Sisters of Life based on the religious order's refusal to comply with "any survey, document request, or information request" authorised by the new law.

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"I was a go-between between the underwriters and the customers," said Sister Virginia Joy, a former high school soccer star from South Carolina now wearing a habit of white and navy blue.

She was fighting Midtown Manhattan traffic, late for a lunch with some other nuns. "I was overwhelmed by the Lord's generosity in my life, and I wasn't fulfilled in this job," she said.

In 2009, at age 28 and then known as Virginia Cotter, she joined the Sisters of Life.

Young women joining religious orders have become increasingly rare over the years. The number of "women religious" in the United States is about 50,000, less than a third of that in 1966.

According to a Georgetown University study, "there are more Catholic sisters in the United States over age 90 than under age 60."

The younger nuns can be a surprising bunch. While many in the older generation moved to the left after the 1960s, in theology and politics — a trend that led in part to Pope Benedict XVI's investigation of American nuns in 2012 — younger nuns tend to be more conservative.

They want to wear the habit. While they work outside their communities, they have a strong focus on contemplative life, making time for hours of daily communal prayer. And they tend to have a strong sense of a particular mission.

Take, for example, the Sisters of Life, the religious order of Sister Virginia Joy.

Many of the nuns are in their 20s or 30s and have a commitment that can be divisive even in the Roman Catholic Church: "promoting life," which in practice includes an emphasis on discouraging abortions.

The members may hold to traditional teachings, but as they see it, there is nothing more countercultural in 2015 than a young woman's becoming a nun — eschewing careerism, material possessions, sex.

Two other traditionalist orders — a Dominican order in Nashville, and one in Ann Arbor, Mich., which has expanded to Austin, Tex. — have attracted national attention; in 2010, the Ann Arbor nuns even made it on "Oprah." Continue reading

Sources

• The New York Times
• Image: Tom Perna

In fact, according to Pew Research Centre data the numbers of religious in America has declined dramatically since the 1960's.

However, they are on the increase again in some places such as the United Kingdom, with the most attractive institutes interestingly being the more traditional orders, such as those who follow traditional prayer routines and still wear habits.

This week The Wall Street Journal published insights into the life of 30 year old Sister Bethany Madonna together with seven other Sisters of Life also in their 30s.

Based in New York, the Sisters of Life is a reasonably new order established in 1991 by New York Cardinal John O'Connor. Since then, it has thrived.

The impetus for the order came when Cardinal O'Connor visited Dachau, the site of a Nazi death camp. It moved him to start a religious community of women with a fourth vow to protect the sacredness of every human life, in addition to the traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Canonically speaking, they are sisters and not nuns, working in the community as they do, rather than living a contemplative life, though they do spend at least four hours in prayer every day.

Earlier this year, the New York Post expressed concern at the city's declining birth rate and the plight of New York families. A significant number of births are from the city's poorest neighborhoods — nearly 6 in 10 moms were on Medicaid or government-financed health insurance for the needy:

The city's birth rate is the lowest since 1936 — having steadily declined over the past decade, according to data obtained by The Post.

"This is a very troubling trend," said Conservative Party state chairman Mike Long. "The economy is hurting families and the development of families … If we don't produce enough young people, society won't be able to pay for Social Security and Medicaid," he warned. Continue reading

Sources

• MercatorNet article written by Shannon Roberts
• Image: Women Speak for Themselves