Justyna Dżbik-Kluge is a reporter who wrote a book about life in a nun. The publication premiered in August 2023. From the perspective of an atheist, she looked at the everyday life of sisters from various congregations. “Vows of (dis)obedience. The real life of nuns” is a journalistic story about a nun, which from the point of view of many outsiders is a prison for the women, but for the book’s heroines – most often a conscious choice, often misunderstood by the rest of the world. The author also talked to former nuns.
The journalist talked about the effects of her work in numerous interviews after publication. On January 12, an interview with her was published in . The reporter revealed some details about how life begins in a nunnery. People applying must first go through several years of formation, which includes the following stages: novitiate, postulancy and juniorate. Then the women learn the most important rules prevailing in the congregation, and at the end they take perpetual vows.
While working on the reportage, Justyna Dżbik-Kluge came across, among others: to the opinion that for a novice nun the first days in the congregation are mainly “bucket, rag, water”.
There are reports in the media of former nuns who complain that their older sisters used them for hard physical work. I do not deny that such cases unfortunately do happen. Nevertheless, my interlocutors did not feel exploited. Many of them repeat: this stage was necessary, it was a lesson in humility for me
– said the journalist. From her book we can learn, among other things, that obedience, according to the sisters higher in the hierarchy, is a fundamental principle in the order. Not everyone finds it easy to adapt to it. This involves a whole range of different rules, e.g. that the nuns must ask the sister superior to let them go to the city or even go to their family home for the weekend. However, the journalist emphasized that although the life of nuns is based on dependence, it cannot be equated with incapacitation.
A nun has to ask for permission for everything? “It’s normal”
The same with a holiday trip – a nun can go on holiday if her superior consents. If a nun wants to complete her studies, she must also obtain permission. Justyna Dżbik-Kluge admitted that there are, of course, cases in which a woman experiences unpleasantness resulting from blocking the possibility of development. But many nuns still graduate and continue their education.
The sisters explained to me that if they decide to create a community, they decide all matters together. It’s normal – they speak with one voice, so they have to consult and communicate with each other
– she told Jacek Tomczuk, a journalist from “Newsweek”.
The life of nuns. “They sometimes mention that they once walked hand in hand with a boy”
Dżbik-Kluge also mentioned that the average age of women who join religious orders has recently increased. Previously, these were rather young candidates, today they are more and more often university graduates or even 30-year-old women. Among them, there are those who – as the reporter says – have so far led a “normal life”, maintained an apartment, worked professionally, had a partner, etc. – but, for example, they felt that “something was missing in their lives.”
In turn, in an interview with, she said that vows of chastity for nuns – contrary to stereotypical ideas – are not a big challenge:
They replace this physical closeness with man with spiritual closeness with God. I talked to young sisters who were over ’30’ and some of them said that sometimes they mention that they once walked hand in hand with a boy, but they quickly remember ‘why they are where they are and that God gives them something more’
– she said.
“The most common question is: How does a nun deal with her sex drive?”
At the very beginning of the conversation, the reporter was asked whether the nun “can do her makeup.”
I am annoyed by such questions, which also appear quite often in the Google search engine when people are looking for content about nuns. The most common ones are: ‘How does a nun deal with her sexual drive?’, ‘How do nuns earn money?’ My goal in writing this book was not to look for answers to such questions, because I consider them to be trivial and lose the meaning of the story about the essence of going to a monastery, which interested me. Reducing the lives of nuns to questions about whether they can wear make-up or how they handle sex is quite unfair. I wanted to take stories about them to a higher level
– Justyna Dżbik-Kluge replied.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
