Drowning in potential Orders

[Auntie_M]

To Ora Pro Nobis IHM and DL82

Thank you both for answering my questions.

 

[Poor_Clare_tobe]

How can you be sure one is called by God. I know one girl who is very easily led by people she trusts. The fact that she has trouble deciding on her own worries me. She “feels” led but her “Spiritual director” has also “led” her in that direction.

She is from a broken family (abusive household) and I sincerely think she is trying to “get away from the world”. She was “led” into the SSPX and is very faithful to them. Her SSPX priest is her spiritual director. I hope he isn’t just trying to add to their numbers. I have met this priest and my assessment is not far from the truth.

She has visited a convent in Mass. called the Fransican Sisters of the Immaculate. She says they are not SSPX but are of a “pontifical right” I really don’t know that much about convents as “pontifical right”. Can anyone help me understand “Pontifical right”. or lead me to where I can find out if this convent is one of the SSPX’s.

*Auntie,

You might ask JReducation ( a Franciscan brother active here on forums) or Sr Judith Ann ( A Poor Clare Nun active here on the forums) might be able to answer more thoroughly what Pontifical Right is. Hope this helps a bit? blessings!*

 

[Auntie_M]

*Auntie,

You might ask JReducation ( a Franciscan brother active here on forums) or Sr Judith Ann ( A Poor Clare Nun active here on the forums) might be able to answer more thoroughly what Pontifical Right is. Hope this helps a bit? blessings!*

I’m so ashamed. I should have thought of JR education myself, (too many senior moments). He is very knowledgable, I have talked with him quite alot on other forums. Don’t think I have ever talked with Sr Judith
Ann but she sounds like a good one too.

Thanks alot.

 

[Poor_Clare_tobe]

I’m so ashamed. I should have thought of JR education myself, (too many senior moments). He is very knowledgable, I have talked with him quite alot on other forums. Don’t think I have ever talked with Sr Judith
Ann but she sounds like a good one too.

Thanks alot.

*No worries with the senior moments. If its any help I am trying to find a reply where a poster actually asked me a question… … getting lost in the vocations threads.

Sr Judith Ann is a fairly new poster and is a Poor Clare Nun.

Blessings*

 

[The_Preacher]

Don’t get discouraged. I was ordained a priest in the irregular Brazilian Succession ten years ago and successfully served a scizmatic Western Rite Catholic Church. I swan the Tiber five years ago when I could no longer adhear to a doctrine that increasingly departed from the teachings of the Magesterium. My cause went to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (known before Vatican II as the Holy Inquisition) in Rome, then under some Cardinal named Ratzinger, and was found valid. I’ve been trying to have the irregularity removed ever since. I am bound to the priesthood, but cannot function as a priest as I am irregular, a fact that I have been in process of removing ever since. Personally I would love to simply live out my life as a simple monastic brother, but trying to find an order that will take me has turned out to be harder than the quest for the Holy Grail, even with an Mdiv, STM and CPE certification (I also have seven years experience as a teacher, you have my condolances). :banghead:So I sit in poverty, unable and without any desire to build any other life, waiting and looking. Not that I mind poverty at all, but I’d like it to be a little more formally structured and productive thank you. Such is the Church. You’ve seen that famious painting of Jesus standing at the door and knocking? Why is He knocking? Look closer: There’s no door knob! Keep at it. Keep laughing! Keep faith. That is abundantly given for the asking. Time is another matter, but who am I to question. At least I will be able to say that I was faithful to my last breth.
As to discerning a call: If you heart will let you do anything else; do it. You don’t have what it takes if you can, and that’s no sin. There are other ways to serve the Lord. Good luck.
As to my spelling: I’m an educated man, I spell equally poorly in five different languages, three scripts, one sub script, left to right and right to left. Sorry about that.:harp:

 

[Poor_Clare_tobe]

Don’t get discouraged. I was ordained a priest in the irregular Brazilian Succession ten years ago and successfully served a scizmatic Western Rite Catholic Church. I swan the Tiber five years ago when I could no longer adhear to a doctrine that increasingly departed from the teachings of the Magesterium. My cause went to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (known before Vatican II as the Holy Inquisition) in Rome, then under some Cardinal named Ratzinger, and was found valid. I’ve been trying to have the irregularity removed ever since. I am bound to the priesthood, but cannot function as a priest as I am irregular, a fact that I have been in process of removing ever since. Personally I would love to simply live out my life as a simple monastic brother, but trying to find an order that will take me has turned out to be harder than the quest for the Holy Grail, even with an Mdiv, STM and CPE certification (I also have seven years experience as a teacher, you have my condolances). :banghead:So I sit in poverty, unable and without any desire to build any other life, waiting and looking. Not that I mind poverty at all, but I’d like it to be a little more formally structured and productive thank you. Such is the Church. You’ve seen that famious painting of Jesus standing at the door and knocking? Why is He knocking? Look closer: There’s no door knob! Keep at it. Keep laughing! Keep faith. That is abundantly given for the asking. Time is another matter, but who am I to question. At least I will be able to say that I was faithful to my last breth.
As to discerning a call: If you heart will let you do anything else; do it. You don’t have what it takes if you can, and that’s no sin. There are other ways to serve the Lord. Good luck.
As to my spelling: I’m an educated man, I spell equally poorly in five different languages, three scripts, one sub script, left to right and right to left. Sorry about that.:harp:

“The Preacher”

 Bless you for your faithfulness. I do hope and pray that whatever it is that needs to be done to allow you to return to full usage of your ministry happens.

Thank you also for your lighthearted reference to spelling… English grammar is the bane of my existence… sometimes its nice to run into some other educated person who has a small difficulty in that regard.

In the event you are any where near the Spokane Washington area… there is a group of sisters who recently returned to the church. Perhaps their journey and story will help you as you wait for your own to journey to be completed??? [for lack of any other term to describe it?]
sistersofmarymotherofthechurch.org/*

The Poor Clare community I shall be joining prays daily for vocations to the priesthood and religious life… I know of course most do ] I shall add your name in a general way to their prayers, if you wish for specific prayers with your permission of course I would gladly add you by name (Please let me know how your journey goes)

 

[The_Preacher]

“The Preacher”

 Bless you for your faithfulness. I do hope and pray that whatever it is that needs to be done to allow you to return to full usage of your ministry happens.

Thank you also for your lighthearted reference to spelling… English grammar is the bane of my existence… sometimes its nice to run into some other educated person who has a small difficulty in that regard.

In the event you are any where near the Spokane Washington area… there is a group of sisters who recently returned to the church. Perhaps their journey and story will help you as you wait for your own to journey to be completed??? [for lack of any other term to describe it?]
sistersofmarymotherofthechurch.org/*

The Poor Clare community I shall be joining prays daily for vocations to the priesthood and religious life… I know of course most do ] I shall add your name in a general way to their prayers, if you wish for specific prayers with your permission of course I would gladly add you by name (Please let me know how your journey goes)

Thank you sister. It means a lot to me. Please do pray for me. I had an interview today at the monestary at Holy Hill, sight of the National Shrine of Mary Help of Sinners. I didn’t quite get the answer I would have liked, but I did receive hope. As my parents didn’t specify which John they named me for, I’ve taken John Diego, servent of Our Lady of Guatalupe as mine. As to being light hearted: You can endure anything you can laugh at and our Lord not only came drinking and eating with sinners, but his first miricle was at a party! And as to English; a language which is French, written over German, written over Celtic, codified in grammer and spelling by the King James Bible, following Greek and Hebrew constructs, which compulsively borrows words, what can I say. :hypno: You and your sisters are in my prayers also.

 

[Poor_Clare_tobe]

Thank you sister. It means a lot to me. Please do pray for me. I had an interview today at the monestary at Holy Hill, sight of the National Shrine of Mary Help of Sinners. I didn’t quite get the answer I would have liked, but I did receive hope. As my parents didn’t specify which John they named me for, I’ve taken John Diego, servent of Our Lady of Guatalupe as mine. As to being light hearted: You can endure anything you can laugh at and our Lord not only came drinking and eating with sinners, but his first miricle was at a party! And as to English; a language which is French, written over German, written over Celtic, codified in grammer and spelling by the King James Bible, following Greek and Hebrew constructs, which compulsively borrows words, what can I say. :hypno: You and your sisters are in my prayers also.

Thank You so very much for your prayers … a return to religious life is a process… and I myself have only a bit over 3 weeks left. [finally]

The sisters and I shall continue to pray for you on your journey… blessings…

Again… if you have not had the opportunity to get to know these wonderful sisters yet [listed below] ( They are a wonderful group not far from the Poor Clares where I shall be) Perhaps they might even be a sounding board as you journey towards the vocation God calls you to…I am sure they also would love to pray for you on your journey

In the event you are any where near the Spokane Washington area… there is a group of sisters who recently returned to the church. Perhaps their journey and story will help you as you wait for your own to journey to be completed??? [for lack of any other term to describe it?]
sistersofmarymotherofthechurch.org/

Blessings of Peace and All Good!!

 

[LilFranciscan25]

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.

I can solve all your problems right now!!! Join the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal!!! They are AWESOME!!!

(Just kidding! But they ARE awesome! )