Just as Catholic priests have declined in numbers, so have nuns.

“We started to see drastic declines around 1975-76,” said Susan Bernard, spokeswoman for the Maine Catholic diocese.

Thirty years ago lay teachers in Catholic schools were the minority, Bernard said. Now nuns are hard to find.

Sister Cecile Mondor, who teaches at Trinity Catholic School, is the only one left in Lewiston-Auburn.

The reasons why women aren’t becoming nuns are varied. “Families are having fewer children, so there are fewer people to make that choice.” Today women have wide career choices. Fifty years ago the choices were few: Women got married, lived as spinsters or became nuns, Bernard said.

For some, becoming a nun offered security and opportunity for an education that might otherwise not be available. When Vatican II came along in the 1960s, there were more chances for the laity to work in the church without becoming nuns or priests.

Women can contribute to the world, for instance by joining the Peace Corps, without making a lifelong commitment, Bernard said.

In Sister Cecile’s observation, women aren’t becoming nuns because they have too much to give up.

“They have their own car. They have a job. In our days, we gave up our family, but we didn’t have a car.” And fewer people go to church, she said. “Life is different.”

Catholic schools are fewer in number, but are still strong without nuns “because we have good leadership,” Sister Cecile said. “With good leadership, you just continue.”

The Lewiston convent that Sister Cecile has lived in for years will soon be turned into more space for Trinity Catholic School students.

Sister Cecile will move to a rented house on Webster Street and live in an apartment “like everybody else.”

– By Bonnie Washuk