Communities that Accept Belated Vocations

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Cloisters

Cloisters

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I know there are both older men and women discerners on these forums. We pray for you daily because you have a harder time finding your “True Home.” That being said, look locally first, which includes dioceses next door to yours, and always look at the ones with whom you are most familiar. The Holy Ghost works on attraction. Even if a community says they won’t accept over age 35 – or whatever their cutoff age is – should you still have an attraction to them, they may give a hearing.

Older vocations can also be accepted as extern sisters or claustral oblates in monasteries.

LCWR communities are often more open to delayed vocations. Communities in the UK often are, as well.

Here is the link to the search engine on the Institute on Religious Life’s website:

http://religiouslife.com/resources/vocation-search

Active Communities:

Daughters of Divine Hope, TX:
http://www.daughtersofdivinehope.org/

Family of Jacopa Association, OH:
https://www.familyofjacopa.com/

Daughters of Mary, Mother of Israel’s Hope:
https://motherofisraelshope.org/

Semi-eremitical:
Children of Mary, OH:
http://www.childrenofmary.net/

Cloistered:

Visitation Nuns:
http://cloisters.tripod.com/us_vhm_first_fed/

Nuns of Perpetual Adoration:
Anchorage, AK: https://www.archdioceseofanchorage.org/parishes/monastery-sisters-of-perpetual-adoration/
Sioux Falls, SD: http://www.perpetualadorationsisters.org/
San Francisco, CA (opens with video): Welcome to Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (has page listing other monasteries)

Capuchin Poor Clares:
http://www.capuch(name removed by moderator)oorclares.org/

The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration may accept those over 35. The Hanceville, AL, house has a cutoff age of 35. Other monasteries may not.

Blessings,
Mrs Cloisters OP
Lay Dominican
http://cloisters.tripod.com/
http://cloisters.tripod.com/charity/
(Our emerging charism – the second link – doesn’t have an age limit)
 
Cloisters said:
I know there are both older men and women discerners on these forums. We pray for you daily because you have a harder time finding your “True Home.” That being said, look locally first, which includes dioceses next door to yours, and always look at the ones with whom you are most familiar. The Holy Ghost works on attraction. Even if a community says they won’t accept over age 35 – or whatever their cutoff age is – should you still have an attraction to them, they may give a hearing.

Older vocations can also be accepted as extern sisters or claustral oblates in monasteries.

LCWR communities are often more open to delayed vocations. Communities in the UK often are, as well.

Here is the link to the search engine on the Institute on Religious Life’s website:

http://religiouslife.com/resources/vocation-search

Blessings,
Mrs Cloisters OP
Lay Dominican
http://cloisters.tripod.com/
http://cloisters.tripod.com/charity/
(Our emerging charism – the second link – doesn’t have an age limit)
Click to expand...
I’ve noticed this question has been asked several times on this site and the old site.

If there is a site that lists this information, I don’t know where it is.

Would it be possible to start one divided between men and women and break it down by age into 35, 45, and 45+. I think it would help a lot of people.

I believe that Catholic Answers is a site that attracts a significant number of delayed vocations. It would also be a way for dioceses and religious orders to find great people with necessary real-world experience. It would introduce discerners to communities that are interested and curtail investigation into communities that really have no interest in anyone with a single grey hair.

It is just a thought.

Your wonderful ministry already helps a great many people. I’m confident that I speak for many who believe that you are a rock star in the world of vocations.
 
May God be praised if any good comes from this keyboard! I just need to sit down and create a new page on my main website with such information. We have a page for new communities. Speaking of which, many new communities don’t have an age limit. The main bugaboo is healthcare for those who enter then have health issues arise. The UK has national healthcare, hence the reason delayed vocations are often accepted.
 
Cloisters said:
I know there are both older men and women discerners on these forums. We pray for you daily because you have a harder time finding your “True Home.” That being said, look locally first, which includes dioceses next door to yours, and always look at the ones with whom you are most familiar. The Holy Ghost works on attraction. Even if a community says they won’t accept over age 35 – or whatever their cutoff age is – should you still have an attraction to them, they may give a hearing.

Older vocations can also be accepted as extern sisters or claustral oblates in monasteries.

LCWR communities are often more open to delayed vocations. Communities in the UK often are, as well.

Here is the link to the search engine on the Institute on Religious Life’s website:

http://religiouslife.com/resources/vocation-search

Active Communities:

Daughters of Divine Hope, TX:

http://www.daughtersofdivinehope.org/

Family of Jacopa Association, OH:
Code: 
  The Family of Jacopa Association
The Family of Jacopa Association

Catholic religious community women

Daughters of Mary, Mother of Israel’s Hope:

https://motherofisraelshope.org/

Semi-eremitical:

Children of Mary, OH:
Code: 
  Children of Mary
Children of Mary

Visit the post for more.

Cloistered:

Visitation Nuns:

First Federation of Visitation Nuns in the U.S.

Nuns of Perpetual Adoration:

Anchorage, AK: https://www.archdioceseofanchorage.org/parishes/monastery-sisters-of-perpetual-adoration/

Sioux Falls, SD: http://www.perpetualadorationsisters.org/

San Francisco, CA (opens with video): Welcome to Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (has page listing other monasteries)

Capuchin Poor Clares:

http://www.capuch(name removed by moderator)oorclares.org/

The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration may accept those over 35. The Hanceville, AL, house has a cutoff age of 35. Other monasteries may not.

Blessings,

Mrs Cloisters OP

Lay Dominican

http://cloisters.tripod.com/

http://cloisters.tripod.com/charity/

(Our emerging charism – the second link – doesn’t have an age limit)
Click to expand...
Thanks SO MUCH!
 
Sisters of Divine Grace (Idaho):

Sisters of Divine Grace | Missionaries of the Heart of God

Sisters of Divine Grace (SDG), founded in 2013, is a Catholic women's religious order; we are women who are consecrated to God in service to the Roman Catholic Church and the world. We live in community in Tennessee. We welcome vocation inquires from women of varied ages and backgrounds.
www.sistersofdivinegrace.com www.sistersofdivinegrace.com

All Saints Sisters of the Poor (Maryland):
http://allsaintssisters.org/
 
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HolySpirit said:
Would it be possible to start one divided between men and women and break it down by age into 35, 45, and 45+. I think it would help a lot of people.
Click to expand...
There had been a guidance counselor in Louisiana who had done just that – actually contacted the communities to see what their top age limit was (for women). She had everything arranged from youngest to oldest. I can’t find her blog, however. I think she deleted it because she couldn’t keep it current.

Marmion Abbey in Illinois accepted one of our Safe Harbor list members. He had originally been accepted as a claustral oblate, but they went ahead and admitted him to the novitiate.

We’ve been supporting a thirty-something from across the pond for as long as we’ve been online (2002). Many rejections, even after live-ins. She may have found her “True Home” with the one she is visiting now.

Hint: if applying for an active community, take interest in the sisters/brothers the minute you get there. Don’t think you’ll have a chance to communicate with them after you’re accepted. Active communities are a complete 180 from cloistered communities. The latter requires silence and submission. The former does too, but in a different way.
 
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Another bit of advice: be sure to contact the diocesan vocations director. Apparently, so many did so in the UK that someone sponsored a vocations fair for belated vocations.
 
The contemplative Sisters of the Visitation in Ohio accept belated vocations (45 is their standard cutoff, but they’re willing to consider older applicants in exceptional cases). I don’t think they’ve been mentioned here previously

http://www.toledovisitation.org/
 
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