Can a religious sister be an actor?

[Erulastiel]

Recently I have been discerning whether I am called to a religious life. However, I am very involved in acting and I have seriously thought about making it a career, wanting to take the acting program at a Catholic arts school after I graduate high school. I came across an article that said that “Within the ranks of religious life are doctors, lawyers, economists, writers, administrators, architects, engineers, scientists, artists, and actors.” Is this true? Can people in the religious life serve God by being actors? If so, what religious orders allow this?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Without having read the article myself, I’d guess the writer is saying that people in these various careers have given up these careers to become a consecrated religious. And yes, there are actors who have given up acting for the religious life. Off the top of my head, two of them would be Pope John Paul II and Mother Dolores Hart. To enter the religious life means to be willing to entirely devote oneself to God and to give up all worldly pursuits to live a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Sometimes within the religious life certain members are permitted to take on certain activities that those in the world may choose as a career. St. Therese of Lisieux, for example, wrote and acted in plays as an entertainment for her sisters in the convent. She also wrote down her spiritual testament. But this acting and writing was done only within the framework of religious life and with the permission or by the order of her superiors.