A new generation of nuns begin to rebel against the fossilized church hierarchy. This is how it looks from the inside out

It is difficult for many people to understand why women choose to give up their previous life and join a convent. Why do they agree to let someone else decide what their whole day will look like, why do they agree to give up their free time, why do they agree to rules that do not have their own money and they have to ask for everything they need their own? superiors, and limit your family life to such an extent. Life in a religious order requires a lot of determination, so one wonders even more what must happen for someone who decides to take such a step – often against the wishes of his family – decides to leave the religious life and start from scratch.

We know very little about what life in the order is like: meanwhile, there are 105 active congregations in Poland, with 16 764 religious sisters. For comparison, let us add that in our country we have 221 cities with a population from 10,000 to 24,999 thousand inhabitants. So we have a whole separate city, the inhabitants of which we do not have too much information: we are not clear what religious lovers really relate to, and no one is sure how many stages the nuns have to go through in order to become fully “initiated” participants in such community.

We hear single stories written in interviews or church productions that aren’t quite as objective as movies and series made by outside filmmakers. Writer and director Krystyna Waajtys-onisk decided to introduce viewers to the life of women who, wrapped in habits, live among the monastery walls. Its aim was to thoroughly analyze and illuminate every aspect related to service in women’s religious orders – from the moment of entering the novitiate, through the daily religious order, to the cases of leaving the clergy.

To this end, he talks to nuns who are active in their congregations and share stories about what their calling is, what is the most important and at the same time the most difficult for them. At the same time, he also confronts their families, asking what was and is the most painful from their point of view. And mothers say that it is “difficult to give up your child”, that I feel “tremendous regret” because they could not even say hello to their daughters while they made their love. Parents often feel pain that they cannot even call their daughters to verify what they have heard from the monastic superiors: they can only know as much as anyone lets them know.

Mrs. Boena emphasizes in an interview with filmmakers:

The Kitten has no respect for women at all, only pretends to do so. And also the nuns – for me it’s getting into the lion’s mouth. They become servants, not even of the prince, but of the church. It is hard for me to understand that a woman is going to a monastery. Men, I would understand, women not.

She told her daughter Kinga that she could enter the order only after she had finished her studies, that she could not leave matters pending. Reyserk is especially interested in what the young nuns have to say: for see the reality of the Church from a slightly different perspective than that of their mentors.

30-year-old Ada entered the order at the age of less than 19 and it was against her parents, who also wanted her to wait with such a decision. He spent nine years in the congregation – it’s hard to believe that a woman with such a strong and determined personality made up her mind somehow to give up on her. We already know her after she left the order.

Every year, there are less than one percent of religious orders in Poland, who decide to take this step at various stages of their religious life – also after their deposition or perpetual. Moreover, the number of nuns has decreased significantly over the last 20 years: there are now four times fewer vocations than in 2000.

The premiere of the first episode of the captivating series takes place on Sunday, November 21 at 22:20 at CANAL + PREMIUM, it is also available from that day on