Like a Virgin?

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The international media – including The Guardian, The Telegraph, and Catholic outlets – have recently covered an interview with a formerly famous nun with a charming voice, the 2014 winner of The Voice of Italy, a competition sponsored by the Italian TV show Verisimo. Dressed in a bright red suit, stylish makeup, and a right-side-pierced nose, former Sister Cristina Scuccia, now a waitress in Spain, presented her new self to the world.

After fifteen years as an Ursuline Sister of the Holy Family, a sabbatical, and the death of her father, Sister Cristina decided to abandon her religious vows and has been dismissed from her order. “I jumped into the void, and I was worried about ending up under a bridge, I always repeated this to my psychologist. Today, however, I live in Spain and work as a waitress,” she stated in the interview.

After several refusals to give interviews, the Mother Superior of the Ursulines, a branch of the spiritual family of St. Angela Merici (1474-1540), Carmela Distefano, issued the following statement:

I regret that the media has interpreted our difficulty of giving answers on the telephone, as a detachment or indifference to the choice made by Cristina. Certainly, we are sorry not to have her among us, but we understand and respect her decision and wish her well in her journey. We will always feel her as our sister, and we will accompany her with affection and prayer.

Cristina Scuccia’s is neither the first nor the last case of a religious abandoning the habit, even with final vows already professed. The tragic case of the Singing Nun, Jeanne-Paule Marie, comes to mind. (She committed suicide.) There are two crises that go hand in hand in the troubled case of Cristina: a crisis in the Ursuline religious order, a crisis in religious vocations, a lack of an authentic commitment to consecrated life, and the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

That lack was already present during the competition eight years ago. “Like a virgin touched for the very first time,” Sister Cristina Scuccia sang, one of the lyrics in a song first made popular by “Madonna.” Even Madonna was told that “Like a Virgin” would not make her, but break her, given the controversial nature of the lyrics. So, why did a consecrated religious sister, who had professed her vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, sing the same lyrics? Anyone familiar with the song would ask: Who made the consecrated sister “shiny and new”? Whose heart was beating next to hers? Why was a religious sister who has taken the perpetual vows of virginal chastity singing “Like a Virgin” at all?

Cristina’s comments about her musical success and her religious family (the Ursuline Sisters of the Holy Family), whom she describes as a shield, are striking. As she says, “criticism never reached her, because the sisters hid the newspapers from her.” Cristina seems to be critical of her sisters being “too protective” or showing “an excessive protection which became almost a limitation for [her].”

What did this protection limit? What did Cristina want to do that the superiors did not allow after they had granted her permission to participate in the competition? There is a diversion from the expectations of the rule which calls the Mother Superior to “be solicitous and watchful toward the members.” Is “too protective” another way for Cristina to say that her superiors were possessive or controlling to the point of robbing her of her freedoms?

Photo: The Telegraph

Obviously, there is a line between protective and possessive. If the sisters were overbearing and possessive, there might be other reasons why Cristina decided to leave the order. Probably, the sisters were late to realize the implications of their decision to give Cristina the green light to pursue musical ambitions and sing “Like a Virgin,” in imitation of Madonna.

Cristina also commented on her and the order’s unpreparedness to handle success, which is not surprising since religious orders are not expected to be involved in the music industry or to handle musical contracts, tours, and album productions. The Ursulines have their mission and charisma, and the intricacies of the music business are not part of their commitments to the Church and the world.

The Ursuline mission lies in education, formation, and social activities, respecting life in all its aspects and building a more just and fraternal society through educational and pastoral activities. Part of the Ursulines’ vocation is the spiritual pastoral care of university students, who following in the footsteps of their founders, St. Angela Merici and others, by offering university students housing in their convents – “a serene, hospitable environment where they can live the Christian values and culturally prepare themselves to become protagonists of a society based on Christian joy and hope.”

Why did the Ursuline superiors support Cristina’s musical detour from her perpetual vows, and liturgical, sacramental, educational, and pastoral commitments? Given Sister Cristina’s age, she would have been perfect for the Ursulines’ apostolate among the young people. John Paul II called on the Ursulines to this work:

An urgent mission and vast missionary horizons are unfolding for you too, dear Ursulines of the Holy Family. Like your foundress, be ready to live your lives in service to the poor, develop a real passion for educating the young and spend yourselves generously for others, especially those who are sick and suffering. So many people are still waiting to know Jesus and his Gospel! So many need to experience God’s love!

The case of Cristina, a bright, talented, and passionate young woman, illustrates the crisis and the lost identity of the Ursuline sisters of the Holy Family, who failed to provide a family, to be guardians and mothers, and to support her religious-consecrated vocation. The superiors should not have allowed Cristina to enter the jungle of the contemporary music industry.

The Order’s rule specifies the proper manner of interacting in the world: “not to attend weddings, and even less dances and jousts and other similar displays of worldly pleasures.” In the prologue of the rule, the Ursuline sister is reminded: “God has granted you the grace of setting you apart. . .having been chosen to be the true and virginal spouses of the Son of God.”

Cristina could have used her God-given musical abilities to sing a different repertoire, which would have been an effective means of evangelizing the youth she was serving. With her beautiful voice and under the guidance of her spiritual superiors, Cristina could have lived her mission on a trajectory similar to that of Brother Alessandro Brustenghi, OFM, a musical sensation, who considers his musical contributions as a gift of the love of God, transmitting the Christian message; or to that of the Peruvian sisters Siervas (Servants) group, who with their musical talent are serving God and His people, conveying a strong pro-life message.

Cristina’s case is a tragic failure – her Ursuline superiors failed her, which led to her failed religious vocation, and the Ursulines are not the only ones failing. Various religious orders in the Church are failing precisely because they’ve abandoned their charisms for – what? If those orders, especially the orders of women, are to flourish again, it will only be because they’ve decided to be strong in vocation and not in pursuing worldly illusions like “The Voice.”

You may also enjoy some of our most popular columns from the last dozen years:

Howard Kainz’s Jesus’ “Brothers”

Anthony Esolen’s Enough Already

Ines Angeli Murzaku is Professor of Church History at Seton Hall University. Her extensive research on the history of Christianity, Catholicism, Religious Orders, and Ecumenism has been published in multiple scholarly articles and five books. She edited and translated with Raymond L. Capra and Douglas J. Milewski, The Life of Saint Neilos of Rossano, part of the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library. Dr. Murzaku has been featured frequently in national and international media, newspapers, radio and TV interviews, and blogs. Her latest book is Mother Teresa: Saint of the Peripheries.

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