D
DL82
Guest
Hi all,
Am thinking of going into religious life (have posted here before to that effect).
My initial thoughts had been towards the Carthusians. I wrote to them and they suggested I needed to wait a few years and ‘be more realistic’, those words immediately made me think about the real needs of the Church (rather than my own selfish needs) that I could satisfy through religious life. While the life of a Carthusian lay brother would be amazing for me, maybe the Church needs priests and scholars more than it needs someone with a PhD to spend the rest of his days cooking and cleaning in silence.
So, now I’m drowning in potential religious orders. The Salesians have a very active charism, and a focus on education (which is my PhD specialism), the Dominicans have a strong intellectual side, as do the conventual Franciscans. There are the Franciscans of the Immaculate, also the Franciscans of the Renewal, and a friend of mine is soon going to join the Cappuchins. I have thought of the Basilians, though the only ones in Britain are Ukrainian. There are the Augustinians, the Passionists, the Redemptorists, and the Transalpine Redemptorists (formerly affiliated to the SSPX, but now back in regular standing with the Church). There are the Carmelites, and the possibility of professing vows as a lay Carmelite. There are numerous less obvious orders, who have a charism in the world in some way, working with the poor, with children, the elderly, etc. There are societies of apostolic life, which I don’t really understand, and don’t have any connection to. There are institutes of pontifical rite, like the Institute of Christ the King. Basically, I’m drowning in orders.
At first, it seemed so simple, there was the Carthusians, and that was that. Before my conversion I spent some time discerning with the Anglican Franciscans, again that’s pretty simple because they’re the only Anglican religious order of any size. I suppose the Franciscan element is still part of my thought process, and I have that Franciscan spirit of being willing to be either priest or lay brother in whatever order I choose to submit to. That only makes it more complicated though, as it doesn’t rule out lay orders, nor does it rule out clerical ones. It seems no matter what I’d want to do, the opportunity is there through the many forms of Religious Life in the Church.
How do you make your way through this morass? Is something meant to jump out at you? I don’t have the time or money to go travelling all over, making retreats with all these different orders. Should I try different aspects of their different rules of life? I’d appreciate some help.
And then, to top it all, I don’t even know if I’m called to religious life. Maybe I’m getting tied up in all these different forms of Catholic religious spirituality as an escape from the responsibility to live faithfully the lay spirituality of the life where I find myself now, as a single lay person in academic life.
Am thinking of going into religious life (have posted here before to that effect).
My initial thoughts had been towards the Carthusians. I wrote to them and they suggested I needed to wait a few years and ‘be more realistic’, those words immediately made me think about the real needs of the Church (rather than my own selfish needs) that I could satisfy through religious life. While the life of a Carthusian lay brother would be amazing for me, maybe the Church needs priests and scholars more than it needs someone with a PhD to spend the rest of his days cooking and cleaning in silence.
So, now I’m drowning in potential religious orders. The Salesians have a very active charism, and a focus on education (which is my PhD specialism), the Dominicans have a strong intellectual side, as do the conventual Franciscans. There are the Franciscans of the Immaculate, also the Franciscans of the Renewal, and a friend of mine is soon going to join the Cappuchins. I have thought of the Basilians, though the only ones in Britain are Ukrainian. There are the Augustinians, the Passionists, the Redemptorists, and the Transalpine Redemptorists (formerly affiliated to the SSPX, but now back in regular standing with the Church). There are the Carmelites, and the possibility of professing vows as a lay Carmelite. There are numerous less obvious orders, who have a charism in the world in some way, working with the poor, with children, the elderly, etc. There are societies of apostolic life, which I don’t really understand, and don’t have any connection to. There are institutes of pontifical rite, like the Institute of Christ the King. Basically, I’m drowning in orders.
At first, it seemed so simple, there was the Carthusians, and that was that. Before my conversion I spent some time discerning with the Anglican Franciscans, again that’s pretty simple because they’re the only Anglican religious order of any size. I suppose the Franciscan element is still part of my thought process, and I have that Franciscan spirit of being willing to be either priest or lay brother in whatever order I choose to submit to. That only makes it more complicated though, as it doesn’t rule out lay orders, nor does it rule out clerical ones. It seems no matter what I’d want to do, the opportunity is there through the many forms of Religious Life in the Church.
How do you make your way through this morass? Is something meant to jump out at you? I don’t have the time or money to go travelling all over, making retreats with all these different orders. Should I try different aspects of their different rules of life? I’d appreciate some help.
And then, to top it all, I don’t even know if I’m called to religious life. Maybe I’m getting tied up in all these different forms of Catholic religious spirituality as an escape from the responsibility to live faithfully the lay spirituality of the life where I find myself now, as a single lay person in academic life.
1. Salesians, 2. Dominicans, 3. conventual Franciscans.
Worse comes to worse, you decide that you don’t really like any of those and then… you check out the other orders.
