Anyone have family members who are Relgious?

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bluerose

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I don’t recall seeing this topic (forgive me if I’ve missed it!) but I’d like to know how many of you have this blessing in your own families?

For myself, in my marriage, I was fortunate to gain a true “Sister”-in-law, a Carmelite nun and a “Brother”-in-law who is now my “Father”-in-law, a Legionary of Christ priest! (Sorry about the dumb puns, you should hear how bad they get at family reunions!)

Anyhow, Sr. Marie Bernadette and Fr. Thomas are not only my siblings-in-law (oh, heck, just drop the in-law part!) but are also two of my very best friends, next to their little brother who is my wonderful husband. My son received his First Holy Communion from his uncle, served his first Mass with his uncle as he offered the Mass for my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary. Most of my nieces and nephews have received at least one of their Sacraments from their uncle (and my husband’s oldest brother was married by his younger brother!) And visiting their aunt at the Carmelite monastery has given them many fond memories and experiences with the sisters. What better way to foster vocations in the next generation?

People wonder how anyone can have fun with a nun and a priest present at family gatherings. Well, real fun is born of love of family and we have plenty of that. The only part we dislike about our reunions is that they have to end sometime. Father goes back to his assignment (Rome now, used to be Brazil) and Sister must remain in the cloister until our next visit. But God keeps us close in heart.

Please, share your stories! I think we’d love to hear them!

Blue"little sister"Rose
 
Our aunt is a Benedictin nun - just celebrated her 96th birthday. Our cousin is a Benedictin priest - I think he is in his 60’s. Father Vincent is a great dancer! My husband had four aunts that were religous…

Father Vincent officiated at our wedding and has baptized all three of our children. I don’t have any fun stories, just that I love both of these Godly family members.
 
I have two nieces who are Dominican nuns. Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. They’re in Ann Arbor, Mich. And these sisters are truly sisters. The oldest daughters of my brother. One of them, ( my God-daughter) just made her first profession of vows on Aug. 6th. Sr. Mary Margaret. Last year her older sister, Sr. Mary Catherine, made her first profession. I asked my God-daughter how she had come to this decision and wasn’t she nervous about making her vows. She said, “Well, actually, I get more chances to back out of being a nun than I would if I was getting married.”
These two sisters have an uncle who is a priest, and I have an uncle who is a priest. And I had a cousin who married a priest, but that’s another story.http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon7.gif
 
My great Uncle is a Priest and I have two great Aunts that are Nuns. They were from a family of 13. My Grandfather, their brother, was one of the first Deacons ordained in Denver, CO, years ago. I would love to see some vocations to the religious life in the current generation of kids, but we’ll see…

God Bless, Nicole
 
My husband and I were married by his uncle, Father Bob. He is retired but has also baptized our 3 children. My parents (originally married by a justice of the peace) had their marriage blessed by Father Bob also.

My husband comes from a large family with lots of nieces and nephews, but for some reason, the others don’t call on him to perform the baptisms. He has married just about the whole family, so I don’t understand why they don’t have him do the baptisms. I think it is so neat to have a priest in the family.

I am homeschooling my children and whenever the topic of careers comes up, I never fail to mention to my 7 1/2 year old that he could become a priest. I think it would be a wonderful thing for my son to do that. I know being prideful is wrong, but I can’t imagine how proud I would feel that I taught my son well enough that God called on him and he answered!

:angel1:
 
I have two Aunts who are Poor Clare nuns… Sr. Bernadette and Sr. Francis down in Aptos, CA…St. Joseph Monestary if anyone happens to be familiar with the area…

It is so wonderful to know that I always have these two wonderful women in my life who pray for me everyday… We keep in touch through letters, and once in a great while I get to see Sr. Bernadette… Sr. Francis is a cloister (sp)… she can’t leave the monestary…

Tanya
 
Our Sr. Marie Bernadette is at the Carmel in Santa Fe, NM. She’s the extern, so she’d be the one you’d see taking care of things for the sisters.

Pray for more vocations!

BlueRose
 
I come from a large(13) child family and each of my parents came from larger families.

I have uncle priest, two aunt sisters and 4 cousins that are sisters, several cousins that are deacons as well. We lost count actually. I think I will go visit my mom and get her brain cells active to recount. Most of my relatives are religious in a layman’s way if not actually in an order.

We also have friends that have a priest for thier son and have priests frequently in thier home exspecially when they throw a party. Thier daughter is starting in an order.

I doctor( for my son), in a town with lots of sisters(retirement and such) and set my son’s stuff up with a couple of nuns for that day. They seem to enjoy my son and he seems to be calmer around them. I consider them family as well.
 
At first, I didn’t see the capital R in Religious. I was going to answer, “No, I’m the only one in my family who goes to Mass.” The answer is still ‘no’. No vocations that I know of. —KCT
 
Well my grandpa’s brother, Father Anthony Jansen is a priest whose been in Zambia for about 30 years. He’s a very holy man and we are all blessed when he comes back to visit every 3-4 years. DH and I were fortunate enough that he was visiting when we got married and he married us. He is a very gifted speaker and his homilies will send shivers down your spine. His last homily at our family reunion in July was very clear about Church teaching regarding contraception. 🙂 (he didn’t mince words one bit!). My grandpa was in the seminary when he met my grandma. Hhhmmm…I wouldn’t have been here! His cousin is also a Brother, but he’s very, very old. I know there is a whole line of priests on his side, but I don’t know much about them.

On Grandma’s side, her brother is a priest, Father Fran Frey. He has said Mass every year at our reunions since I can remember. What a blessing to celebrate Mass together as a family every year! I’m convinced that’s why we’re still so close. (Very big family also, grandma came from family of 13, there’s hundreds of us Frey’s now!) One of her other brothers was a priest, Father Lawrence, but he died when I was young, and another brother was a priest, but he left the priesthood to marry. She also has a sister and niece who are nuns.

That’s all I can think of. I know there’s more!

Unfortunately there aren’t younger vocations in our family. My cousin (who’s my age) was going to go into the seminary, but changed his mind. Another cousin (who’s still a teen) expressed interest in becoming a priest, but he still needs quite a bit of prayer and grace from God. I’ve got hope for my son! I’ve been praying since he was a wee one in my belly for God to call him to the priesthood. We’ve got quite a tradition in my family that hopefully he will continue!
 
My husband’s side has several. My family was protestant, I’m the freak the became a Cat-licker :rolleyes: . He has several aunts who are nuns, and at least one uncle a priest. Sr. Assumpta is Benedictine, Sr. Macrena is an Adorer of the Precious Blood, and Sr. Dolora is a Sister of St. Joseph. Fr. Jim is a diocesan priest. Love them all! The best family parties are when they are there 😉
 
Well lets see, I have a brother who is currently in Rome studying for the priesthood. I also have a 1st Cousin in England who I believe is a cloistered Carmelite Nun (I know she is cloistered, just not 100% sure on the order). Since I have never been to England, I have never had a chance to meet her. I also have more distant (3rd and greater cousins) who are religious.

–
Bill
 
My aunt’s a Canossian sister in India. I think that definitely makes it a little easier for me to discern (in an unbiased manner) whether or not I am called to religious life; I think because it makes the vocation even more real and plausible and possible, not because she’s a nun but because it makes religious life seem not so bad…if I make any sense.
-Alison
 
My dad WAS a priest… until he met my mom and was laicized by Rome!
One of dad’s brothers is a Greek Orthodox monk…
 
I have a cousin who’s a nun, but I wouldn’t necessarily call her religious:p
 
I’m from a protestant family, so no. My boyfriend had an aunt who was a nun though. We visited her convent and saw her grave last year. She died a few years ago.
 
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