Re: OT The Convent

While spitting out some home-made cheese, I heard Kim Andrews
<somerat@xxxxxxxxxxx> say

On Fri, 30 Jun 2006 07:31:37 +0100, "Siderius Nuncius"
<matron.nuncius@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

And therein lies a fundamental problem of reality TV. I thought The
Monastery was riveting viewing, but I've given up on The Convent. In TM,

I didn't se the Monastery, but its good press was one of the reasons I
gave the Convent a look.

even though I really didn't like either the black guy or that Welsh poet, I
thought that they all at least made an effort to respect the monks' way of
life and to join in fully with monastic routine, including the bits that
made them uncomfortable, to try to find out how it would affect and possibly
help them.

Sounds like a much more adult approach. The childishness of some of
the women has been one of the things that has struck me, and seems to
have struck the nuns too.


The women in TC have been persistently disrespectful and sometimes downright
rude in their flouting of convent rules and routine and in their disregard
for the
needs and sensibilities of their hosts. They were told outright last week
that their behaviour (lateness for mass, for example) was disruptive to the

Appalling, isn't it? I wonder if they're that inconsiderate when
visiting friends?

nuns, but they continued. It made me very cross (and I just want to slap
that ghastly woman who's shagging two blokes and pretending that her husband
is happy with the situation). The sheer level of "Oh, I don't really feel

She's particularly strange, but does, at least seem to be starting to
think about her own selfishness, even if it's not improving her
behaviour yet. And I got the impression the two blokes were probably
quite happy shagging each other in her absence, no?

like doing that" as an excuse for not making an effort to join in with the
spirit of the project they signed up for, and for showing utter contempt for
their hosts' wishes and needs finally got to me, and I couldn't face another

Gives athiests a bad name. :o(

hour of it this week. They seem to think it's a health spa without the
beauty treatments - a nice place to go and relax and chat and maybe think
about things a bit if you feel like it - or not. Whatever. Perhaps it
improved - but not judging by the RT reviews.

I didn't see the start, so difficult to judge. Three of them do seem
bloody rude and unprepared to make an effort. The soul singer had some
sort of epiphany right at the end of the last show, and began turning
up for things on time and making more of an effort, so maybe she'll
improve. The blond Mum has always seemed to be making a reasonable
effort and taking things seriously to me, no complaints about her
behaviour.


Another difference seems to me to be the levels of rigour and discipline
expected by the monks and the nuns. I agree, the nuns are just lovely. But
I also think they've been rather too "There, there" and not sufficiently
"That's enough of that." The monks really pushed the men on their behaviour

It's probably a girl thing. :o) Frankly I'd have been slapping a few
legs by now, but then I was never likely to become a nun. ;o)

sometimes, and expected them to conform to monastic duty and routine from
the start. And personally, I really wouldn't want to mess with The Abbot,
delightful man though he was. With the nuns, it's all been about "settling
in periods" and gentle cajoling which has had little effect. I think the

The nuns appear to take the approach that it's up to the women to make
an effort willingly, and if they don't and miss out on the experience
that's their problem and all very sad, but they won't force anything.
With a less disturbed group of people that would probably work just
fine. With the two co-dependent brunettes it hasn't got anywhere yet,
and it remains to be seen if there's sufficient time in the programme
for it to work for them. I think it would do eventually, but the
timetable might require more rigour.

care, compassion and open-hearted welcoming is admirable, but there comes a
time when someone has to say (as The Abbott did to two of the blokes) "This
is wholly unacceptable" and then to insist that things change. I suspect
that this is the main reason why so many of the men really did seem to gain
a lot from the experience and so few of the women seem to be gaining much at
all.

Hmmm... there are only 4 women, 1 has already gained much, one might
be on her way to doing so. If so, that power/peer balance might just
sway the others a bit too -- I'm not giving up hope yet!


Matron wouldn't put up with their nonsense, I can tell you.

Well quite! Tough love. :o)

Er...sorry. Seem to have rambled on a bit there.

Jolly Interesting.

I agree with all of Kim's and Sid's comments.

What has struck me is that the women who have decided to follow the
prescribed regimen are gaining from it. In particular, Debbie, the
single mother, seems to be gaining a recognition of self-worth. The
jury is still out on whether the soul singer will gain anything, as
she's only just decided to conform, but I think there are hopeful
signs.

The two brunettes are like people who complain that their doctor is
useless - they've been seeing him for months and their condition has
not improved. Of course, they haven't actually been taking the
medecine, but even so...

Tony Gardner
N.B. Return E-mail address is spamtrapped.
Replace "spambin" with "tony" and "nospam" with "gardner"
.

Relevant Pages

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  • Re: OT The Convent
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