Female vocation age limit?

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Felloutofmycradle

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I had been thinking of looking into a vocation and had check out couple different websites to find out about their come and visit retreats. I noticed that they say things like candidates should be between 18 and 30 or 18 and 35. Can someone please explain to me why you do not qualify to be called after a certain age?
 
Religious orders are responsible for not just housing, feeding, and clothing their members, but also health care and old age care. As you can imagine, the costs and responsibilities of caring for older members is a huge issue for the orders.
 
I guess but it just never occurred to me that 34 was too old to be a nun.
 
That was very kind of you to post that. You also helped me…A friend who has a disability had asked me if I knew of any order where she could look into…Thank you and God Bless 🦋🦋🦋
 
My advice is to check in with your diocesan vocations director. See if there are any local support groups. I offer a private online support group, should you be interested.

Older and special needs vocations have to discern just like any other discerner. The Holy Ghost works on attraction. Look locally first. You might be very surprised at what you find.

Older vocations are usually very set in their ways, and find adapting to a new form of life very distressing, unless they are exceptionally graced. Older vocations are being called, though, so don’t give up. Make a novena to St. Rita of Cascia. She’s not only the patron of impossible cases, but was a late vocation herself. She was miraculously admitted into the cloister as her future sisters slept.

Blessings,
Mrs Cloisters OP
Lay Dominican
http://cloisters.tripod.com/
http://cloisters.tripod.com/charity/
 
If there is an order you’re interested in, don’t limit yourself by what they say on their website. Get to know them and let them get to know you. Talk with them. Explore all the possibilities. If you’re a good fit they may be willing to accept you even if you’re older than their ideal candidate.

I have a friend who completely loved the Poor Clares. While some of their monasteries accept slightly older women, the one she was interested in had a younger cut off age. She and the nuns got to know each other and in the end, the fact that she was 15 or 20 years too old wasnt a barrier.

I think the difference was that she wasn’t looking for any order that would take her given her age. She very explicitly was called to be a Poor Clare and everyone recognized it.
 
Edith Stein became a Discalced Carmelite Carmelite at 42. They are very austere. It was a difficult transition for her.
 
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