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S1: Ep Bonus - Bride of Christ

September 15, 2021·28 min·2 clips

Jenna Cooper reveals how being a 'bride of Christ' involves a real, intimate presence of God in her daily life.

1. This bonus episode of The Turning: The Sisters Who Left features host Erika Lantz interviewing Jenna Cooper, a 36-year-old consecrated virgin and canon lawyer from Winona, Minnesota. 2. Jenna Cooper is the subject; Erika Lantz is the host; Cooper writes the blog Sponsa Christi and has been a consecrated virgin since 2009. 3. The episode's core question is: what is a consecrated virgin, and why would a woman in the 21st century choose this vocation? 4. Consecrated virgins are part of what the Church calls 'consecrated life,' the same broad category as nuns and sisters, but they are not members of a religious order and do not take vows of poverty or obedience. 5. The vocation centers on a spousal theology — being a 'bride of Christ' — which Jenna acknowledges sounds 'antiquated' but describes as a real felt presence: 'you really do open your heart to the Lord, and he makes himself present to you.' 6. The practice existed in the early church, where consecrated virgins performed charitable works and had a role similar to modern nuns; it declined in the Middle Ages when women seeking religious life increasingly entered cloistered monasteries. 7. The vocation had a resurgence in the late 20th century after Canon 604 was updated to formally include it in the same category as religious sisters and nuns; today there are an estimated 5,000 consecrated virgins worldwide. 8. Jenna first felt called at age 12, drawing pictures of angels and placing them in the collection basket at church because she thought they 'went straight to God'; she believed this meant she was called to be a nun. 9. At 19, she visited several religious communities and found none that matched the way she felt called, until a priest gave her a copy of Canon law and she stumbled upon Canon 604 and the Rite of Consecration on November 1st, 2004 — and 'just knew.' 10. The diocese told her she was too young — there was a (non-binding) opinion that the minimum age was 35 — and she spent two more years visiting communities before returning at 22, when a vicar told her she had a vocation. 11. She was consecrated on January 3rd, 2009, at a church near where she grew up north of New York City, wearing her mother's wedding dress — her parents' anniversary is January 7th and her mother was 21 when she married. 12. During the ceremony, consecrated virgins lie prostrate face-down at the front of the church, are accompanied by two 'bridesmaids' called attendants, and enter the sanctuary near the altar when called, signifying belonging exclusively to God. 13. When Jenna said 'I do' and heard it echo in the church, she described feeling that she was closing a door irrevocably, having wanted to give her life to God for almost half her life — and feeling genuinely happy to do so. 14. Jenna warns women discerning this vocation that if they feel no sense of sacrifice, she would 'really discourage' them from proceeding; joy and sacrifice are, in her words, 'two sides of the same coin.' 15. Practically, Jenna's daily life includes attending Mass every day, praying the Liturgy of the Hours (morning, daytime, evening, night), cycling through all 150 psalms each month, and working as a canon lawyer at the marriage tribunal of her diocese. 16. One challenge she names is avoiding filling the emotional space left by not having a spouse and children with 'stupid things' — she jokes about the risk of becoming 'a lady with 50 cats,' and identifies binge-watching television as her own version. 17. Jenna argues that consecrated virginity in the ancient world was 'the exact opposite of patriarchy': women were valued only as wives or slaves, and choosing a direct relationship with God meant claiming human dignity and self-determination that no man had the right to override. 18. She also notes that consecrated virginity is the only state of life in the Catholic Church formally reserved to women — men can become monks, the rough equivalent of nuns, but not consecrated virgins — and she finds theological meaning in this exclusivity. 19. The episode is conducted as a relaxed one-on-one interview with a conversational tone; Erika Lantz asks open questions and lets Jenna narrate at length, with minimal editing around the subject matter. 20. Listeners curious about unusual or lesser-known religious vocations, particularly those interested in how ancient Christian practices survive in modern life, will find the episode substantive; those with no interest in Catholicism or religion are unlikely to engage.

As heard by us

A measured look at vocation, delay, and church recognition.

This episode follows a woman's move toward consecrated virginity and keeps the story grounded in ordinary uncertainty. The strongest stretch is the run from teenage conviction to the discovery of canon law, along with the long-held mistake that she had to wait until 35.

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Why you'd press play

For a patient, intimate account of a vocation that arrived early, met resistance, and kept its clarity.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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