Are There Any Religious "Callings" Here?

[robertaf]

Greetings Church

I recently read there has been a slight increase in people answering the call to the Priesthood and Religious life. I am wondering how many there might be within this Catholic Answers group.

 

[redkim]

Yes, bertie. but we are all called to some sort of vocation, whether it be to the priesthood, brother, sister, married or single life. God calls each one of us to either of those vocations.

 

[robertaf]

Greetings

Yes, Redkim, I know but it is nice to know that Priests, Sisters and Brothers are still going to be around.
I vote for lots of teaching nuns and brothers!

:yup:

 

[lily628]

I am seriously considering the sisterhood, but it will be a few years yet since I’m still in college. Then I will need to pay off my loans.

God bless,
Lily628

 

[redkim]

Lily:

I still have college loans, but the congregation I will be joining will pay them off for me. I have to pay off any other debt I have. Don’t put off looking into communities just because of the money factor or the college factor. Perhaps you might go into a community that will send you to school.

 

[lily628]

redkim:

I still have college loans, but the congregation I will be joining will pay them off for me.

Can you send me a link to this order? Also, how would I find others that have this policy?

Also, I am not yet Catholic. I will hopefully be starting RCIA in the fall. I am converting from Evangelical.

Thanks!

 

[redkim]

amityvilleop.org/

You’re welcome. I don’t know about other orders or other Dominican congregations. I went through a program in my Diocese called Women Exploring, where women from different orders (some who still wear habits and some who do not) came and discussed each of their charisms. Check out your diocese and see if they have something similar.

 

[redkim]

Also, just a quick note. Don’t choose an order based on who will help you financially. Choose one based on their charism.

 

[loyola_rambler]

There are so many dying orders that it’s almost painful to see what’s happened to them. But there are a few orders, especially the Dominicans, who have found themselves growing once again.

If anyone’s interested, there are a number exciting religious orders. Perhaps the most evangelical IMHO is the new Dominican group in Ann Arbor, MI…The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. They’re evangelical, apostolic, and extremely active in their communities. It’s also a much younger group than many orders and they are growing fast. Perhaps most important, they have the sponsorship of Tom Monahan and are not in the position of supporting crumbling buildings or elderly sisters in other countries.

If you’re interested, take a peek at their website: sistersofmary.org/sitefs.shtml

 

[redkim]

bud:

It looks like they still wear the habit. Although that doesn’t really reflect how Christ-centered a congregation is, it is still nice to see. I won’t be wearing a habit with the congregation I will be joining, but I could wear some sort of suit that would make me “distinctive” I suppose. And it wouldn’t bother me at all if my congregation decided to go back to a habit, albeit modified.

 

[loyola_rambler]

Honey, with the order you’re joining, blue jeans and a sweatshirt would be de rigeur. But when you take your final vows, I have this fabulous 1973 eucharistic cross to send to you. You’re going to be one of those liberal heretic nuns who chains herself to missile silos…I just know it!

 

[redkim]

you ain’t kiddin’ bud…blue jeans are de riguer, and they have a decent argument for it. But I won’t be any more socially liberal than the majority of them, but definitely will be more doctrinally orthodox than many.

So, I will be a standout probably…

despite the differences, I’m drawn to the congregation. My vocation director is aware that I am more “conservative” but has no problem with it at all.

Dominic valued disputatio and that is cool by me. Dominic himself was pretty cool and so was Catherine of Siena. I gotta find out about that Albigensian heresy he rooted out of Europe.

Ya know, we have Dominic to partially thank (or blame, as the case might be?) for the Inquisition…

 

[jmacclure]

A fairly recent thought about the Permanent Deconate has been brewing about. Please pray for me as I consider this (though it will be awhile). The harder part will be trying to expain it to my wife (non-Catholic) if the time comes.

I could use some more information if anyone knows where to direct me.

 

[loyola_rambler]

jmacclure:

A fairly recent thought about the Permanent Deconate has been brewing about. Please pray for me as I consider this (though it will be awhile). The harder part will be trying to expain it to my wife (non-Catholic) if the time comes.

I could use some more information if anyone knows where to direct me.

Jeremy, if you’re really ready to talk about it, check out the Beliefnet Refugee thread. Deacon777 is a phenomenal member of the diaconate and can help you with so many of the layers that you have to work through to get through it. Also, DanMan916 is a great guy from Chicago who is going through his own discernment right now. Maybe the two of you should chat, especially since he and his wife are reverts from a solid Christian group and might be able to help with your wife’s questions and issues as they arise.

 

[jmacclure]

loyola rambler:

Jeremy, if you’re really ready to talk about it, check out the Beliefnet Refugee thread. Deacon777 is a phenomenal member of the diaconate and can help you with so many of the layers that you have to work through to get through it. Also, DanMan916 is a great guy from Chicago who is going through his own discernment right now. Maybe the two of you should chat, especially since he and his wife are reverts from a solid Christian group and might be able to help with your wife’s questions and issues as they arise.

Thanks, I’ll head over there and scope it out.

 

[robertaf]

Hi Church,
Oh Man, I should have put the Deaconate in here. I forgot.
I do apologize for neglecting it.

I love the posts from you guys, though.

 

[loyola_rambler]

redkim:

you ain’t kiddin’ bud…blue jeans are de riguer, and they have a decent argument for it. But I won’t be any more socially liberal than the majority of them, but definitely will be more doctrinally orthodox than many.

So, I will be a standout probably…

despite the differences, I’m drawn to the congregation. My vocation director is aware that I am more “conservative” but has no problem with it at all.

Dominic valued disputatio and that is cool by me. Dominic himself was pretty cool and so was Catherine of Siena. I gotta find out about that Albigensian heresy he rooted out of Europe.

Ya know, we have Dominic to partially thank (or blame, as the case might be?) for the Inquisition…

Uh huh…please just promise not to get too close to Ardeth Platte and Carol Gilbert. It would pain us all to see you on the Nightly News…nightly. To say your order is “socially liberal” is the understatement of the century. But they’re also very feisty and do initiate significant change.

O.P.

Order of Preachers
Dominicans
Dominican Preachers–
Itinerants, Mendicants, Beggars.

Dominican Preachers
We preach where we stand–
War zones, inner cities, countries made poor,
refugee centers, gun shows, air shows,
stockholder meetings, military bases,
nuclear-weapons sites, executions,
courts, jails, prisons,
places of power.

http://hillconnections.org/images/ri9apspeak.jpg

Dominican Preachers
Speaking Truth
Not with words but with actions–
Vigils, demonstrations,
boycotts,
nonviolent civil resistance,
recycle, live simply,
plant gardens,
live in community, beat swords into plowshares.

Preachers
Dominican Preachers
We contemplate. We remember.
We preach with our lives.
We create a culture of peace,
We risk all in faith.

Carol Gilbert, OP – Lent, 1999
Kent County Detention Center – Chesterton, Maryland

 

[lily628]

redkim:

Also, just a quick note. Don’t choose an order based on who will help you financially. Choose one based on their charism.

Dear redkim,

Thank you for this advice. I wouldn’t make a choice on a financial basis like that anyway, but I was simply interested to know about orders who offer this service to students or those paying off loans.

I will definitely prefer a more orthodox order that remains faithful to the Catholic Church’s teachings. I fear for you joining a liberal order, as your work will be an uphill battle in that order. They are obviously working to bring down the Church.

I think it’s only right for me to tell you that, in addition to any doctrinal heresies that this order may promote, they are also disobeying Vatican II and Canon Law by not requiring that their members wear religious habits.

The following two quotes show this:

Vatican II
17. The religious habit, an outward mark of consecration to God, should be simple and modest, poor and at the same becoming. In addition it must meet the requirements of health and be suited to the circumstances of time and place and to the needs of the ministry involved. The habits of both men and women religious which do not conform to these norms must be changed.

216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:540vNQBwcGQJ:www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19651028_perfectae-caritatis_en.html+%22The+religious+habit,+an+outward+mark+of+consecration+to+God%22&hl=en

Canon Law
Can. 669 §1. Religious are to wear the habit of the institute, made according to the norm of proper law, as a sign of their consecration and as a witness of poverty.

vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P28.HTM

I am not trying to condemn you, but I tell you this out of concern. I do not want you to make a decision that you will regret, at least without being fully informed.

If you want more information comparing the work of liberal and conservative orders, see this link: vci.net/~inmanmj/catholic/lcwr01.htm. It has a telling story about the real mission of the LCWR, a liberal organization of religious sisters in the US, to which your order probably belongs.

For organizations of conservative religious orders in the US, visit:

Institute of Religious Life: religiouslife.org/
Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious: cmswr.org/

God bless,
Lily628

 

[EsclavoDeCristo]

lily628:

Dear redkim,

Thank you for this advice. I wouldn’t make a choice on a financial basis like that anyway, but I was simply interested to know about orders who offer this service to students or those paying off loans.

I will definitely prefer a more orthodox order that remains faithful to the Catholic Church’s teachings. I fear for you joining a liberal order, as your work will be an uphill battle in that order. They are obviously working to bring down the Church.

I think it’s only right for me to tell you that, in addition to any doctrinal heresies that this order may promote, they are also disobeying Vatican II and Canon Law by not requiring that their members wear religious habits.

The following two quotes show this:

I am not trying to condemn you, but I tell you this out of concern. I do not want you to make a decision that you will regret, at least without being fully informed.

If you want more information comparing the work of liberal and conservative orders, see this link: vci.net/~inmanmj/catholic/lcwr01.htm. It has a telling story about the real mission of the LCWR, a liberal organization of religious sisters in the US, to which your order probably belongs.

For organizations of conservative religious orders in the US, visit:

Institute of Religious Life: religiouslife.org/
Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious: cmswr.org/

God bless,
Lily628

Great advice! I have experienced first hand the more liberal side of the Church and it is definately not for me. I was very disturbed and even scandalized by things done within that group. Therefore, I think your advice is great and that it would be wise for anyone to heed it. God bless you! :getholy:

 

[fraggle]

i’m considering, discerning, and praying.

about the religious habit thing. it’s good to have a habit, or some sort of unified sign of being in the order. but of course, you have to consider what is the charism and vocation of a particular order. if they’re doing medical, bio lab, environmental work, etc…it’s good to keep to dress that meets sanitary and safety requirements. and it sometimes it may be a life or death matter for the entire order to wear clothing that allows them to “blend in”, especially in anti-Catholic areas and situations. the Vatican is aware of such possible necessities, and i think that’s why bishops must give an approval for the decided choice in dress. but yeah, if an order has no good reason not to wear a habit, they really should. demanding all religious to wear a habit just to meet the status quo or to not wear a habit just because it’s not the secular feminist thing to do or looks “outmoded” are not good reasons for either to be doing so. we have to consider what is necessary to be the leaven of Christ in the world, and if a habit will impair this work or cause unnecessary health risks, then we’re just making ourselves obsessed and self-righteous over the issue. prudence is necessary.

anyway, that’s just what i think. i did recently read this book called “Habit.” i returned it to my grandmother, so i’ve forgotten who had written it.