Hey Ladies!

[SenorSalsa]

I just want to thank all of you who either have joined communities or are discerning that choice.

You are a great example to me. It sometimes seems like you get the short end of the discernment stick. I see a priest minimum every Sunday, I went the first 16 years of my life without ever having seen a habit’ed sister that I can remember. To me it also seems like your choice is a heck of a lot harder too. It seems to me like women are far more family oriented than the average man. I never grew up with lists of how many kids I wanted and what their names would be, I don’t know if I ever met a girl who couldn’t produce one from memory.

So, from a Seminarian, Thanks for your inspiration.

 

[Spiritu]

Thanks for your friendly comment, SenorSalsa!

I don’t actually feel as if I have the short end of the discernment stick: if I were a man and wanted to be a priest, my family would probably still think I’d gone loopy, so in that sense it doesn’t make much of a difference. But - and this is a big BUT - because I’m a woman, Christ can call me to be His bride, and that is such a mind-blowing act of love that it overcomes the inconveniences and struggles involved in getting there.

“I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8).

PS: I remember you from the youthdiscernment.com forum before it closed: you were still preparing to take the plunge, then. It’s great to see that you’re now a seminarian! Congratulations!

PPS: And yes, I do have a list of children’s names, you mind-reader! I think eight is a good number, and the eldest girl would be Mary of course, and the next Therese, and then Perpetua, and for boys it would be Patrick then Felix then Francis… (by which stage my hypothetical husband would be taking his passport in the dead of night and fleeing to a country where he wouldn’t have to pay child support).

 

[Sr_Judith_Ann]

Thank you for your kind words!
Now you have met one person who did not grow up with a hypothetical husband and know all the kids names! I never did that, never felt inclined to. Now my sister on the other hand, knew exactly what she wanted by the time she was 7 or 8! She does have a husband and one son–not named what she chose then!

Have a graced filled day!
Sr. Judith Ann

 

[Appleby]

Our bulletin today has a generous and exciting invitation for Girls who are discerning — they have raised the age limit to 35 as there were no takers between 18-25, but that is still 26 years too young for me.

The Church is still mired in the 1960s when the average age in North America was 20, and they do not want, it seems, to consider that people are living 20 years longer now than they were back then.

So please pray for us ladies of mature years who do not think it Christ that only wants young girls.

 

[Poor_Clare_tobe]

Our bulletin today has a generous and exciting invitation for Girls who are discerning — they have raised the age limit to 35 as there were no takers between 18-25, but that is still 26 years too young for me.

The Church is still mired in the 1960s when the average age in North America was 20, and they do not want, it seems, to consider that people are living 20 years longer now than they were back then.

So please pray for us ladies of mature years who do not think it Christ that only wants young girls.

*Appleby,

Yes praying always for vocations and especially for those who may be more mature looking at religious life…
I am sorry that you are hitting a roadblock. I can surmise that you are slightly older than the so called norm. I believe that there are certain communities that are extending the age ranges for entering. Some are accepting candidates in their 40’s , I have heard of some who accept people in their 50’s if discernment begins earlier. Much depends on the type of community one feels drawn to, and what stage in the process one is. If you feel strongly that you have a calling. You have probably already tried this…however perhaps some others haven’t]

[Having worked in a small active community in the 80’s I know how much of a tightrope it is to walk the fine line between older religious and funding retirement… still a professional woman coming to a community with social security…hmmm]
Not sure of course how things are in Canada???

If I may suggest?

1. Visit some of the links provided in the threads entitled older vocations.
2. Try this link as this organization has many resources also:
   www.Vocationsplacement.org*
3. If you truly feel called to religious life do coordinate with a spiritual director, they can be a great resource not to mention an ally…
   Blessings of Peace and all Good!

 

[Poor_Clare_tobe]

I just want to thank all of you who either have joined communities or are discerning that choice.

You are a great example to me. It sometimes seems like you get the short end of the discernment stick. I see a priest minimum every Sunday, I went the first 16 years of my life without ever having seen a habit’ed sister that I can remember. To me it also seems like your choice is a heck of a lot harder too. It seems to me like women are far more family oriented than the average man. I never grew up with lists of how many kids I wanted and what their names would be, I don’t know if I ever met a girl who couldn’t produce one from memory.

So, from a Seminarian, Thanks for your inspiration.

Thank You Senor Salsa!
*
Congrats on your entering the seminary. How is your journey thus far?? perhaps you could also begin a thread sharing your experiences?

As for the short end of the discernment stick I will say this much… It can be a challenge for women looking at communities. There seem to be many programs for men entering the priesthood or diaconate or for those called to being a brother.
However for women it seems much more difficult to find communities or to find peer groups to help them during their discernment process. I myself am one of the lucky ones having been previously in religious life so therefore have a good network of [priests or sisters or contacts] friends, however I do think there is a not failing but that there could be more done to help woman connect to religious communities. I myself have noticed just on the forums here so many young or not so young woman with questions and not having an idea where to begin to get answers.

At any rate thank you for your prayers… You and all others responding or discerning are all most definitely in mine.

Blessings of Peace and All Good!*

 

[Appleby]

*Appleby,

Yes praying always for vocations and especially for those who may be more mature looking at religious life…
I am sorry that you are hitting a roadblock. I can surmise that you are slightly older than the so called norm. I believe that there are certain communities that are extending the age ranges for entering. Some are accepting candidates in their 40’s , I have heard of some who accept people in their 50’s if discernment begins earlier. Much depends on the type of community one feels drawn to, and what stage in the process one is. If you feel strongly that you have a calling. You have probably already tried this…however perhaps some others haven’t]

[Having worked in a small active community in the 80’s I know how much of a tightrope it is to walk the fine line between older religious and funding retirement… still a professional woman coming to a community with social security…hmmm]
Not sure of course how things are in Canada???

If I may suggest?

1. Visit some of the links provided in the threads entitled older vocations.
2. Try this link as this organization has many resources also:
   www.Vocationsplacement.org*
3. If you truly feel called to religious life do coordinate with a spiritual director, they can be a great resource not to mention an ally…
   Blessings of Peace and all Good!

Thank you very much for those thoughtful words. I am a whole lot older than 35; at that age I was immersed in earning ice skating medals – not for performance, but just for the basic figures and I did not get far, but I got as far as I could and that was a satisfaction. In my twenties I was riding motocross in California. Although I spent 3 years in Bible College and have a good grounding in scriptural things, I was over 40 before I came to a serious interest in things spiritual, and fifty before I began to feel pushed toward the religious life. (I was still deeply involved in motor racing, but not personally racing, worse luck.) I know very few women who have had any idea where they were going until they passed 40. Oh, they/we had grand ideas of where we were going, but most of us were not grounding those ideas in any sort of reality. (And of course I came of age just at the beginning of Womens Liberation, when the world began to open up beyond Kinder, Kirche, Kuche.) I except some women who settled happily into married life and stayed there, including my own mother who went straight from her fathers house to her husbands house and dwelt therin for 62 years in great comfort and satisfaction. I have known more women who married young and were left with a couple of kids and no husband by 35, wondering how in the world they were going to manage.

Canada still has de facto forced retirement at 65, although it becomes increasingly obvious that there is no one to replace us when they push us out. Fortunately with the good exchange rate and the outrageous taxes here, my pension will be almost the same as the money I am taking home now. I am in good health, have never been in the hospital except for an angiogram that showed I have the arteries of a 20 year old, never broken a bone, never had anything removed except wisdom teeth, and suffer only high blood pressure and poor eyesight (which I had when I was born). So I do not seek out a vocation in hopes someone will look after me in my feeble old age. I hope for the opposite – that I will be able to look after others in THEIR old age. My generation comprises 79 million, all of whom will retire pretty much together and many of whom will have no one. The younger generation is small and self centred; we will be the ones carrying those ahead of us as well as our peers.

Its a lot to think about. I think about it a lot.