How do I find a religious order that suits my outlook?

[Catholic113088]

I’m not sure whether to become a diocesan priest or a member of a religious order, but I’ve really been weighing in on this the last few days, and I’m leaning heavily towards the religious order route. Here are the things I’m looking for in a religious order:

1.) orthodoxy
2.) orthodoxy
3.) orthodoxy

I’m brutally conservative, and want to be in a religious environment that suits my outlook on life. I’ve just turned 23 and have a university degree, though not in theology or philosophy. The order doesn’t have to be traditional (Latin Mass and all that, but it could be), but if you could suggest a particular order I’d be very grateful indeed.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

May I gently suggest that rather than look for a religious order that conforms to your “outlook” that you search for an order you feel drawn to and are willing to be taught by? If you approach a religious order with a “brutal” attitude toward “orthodoxy” that is unteachable according to the order’s particular charism, you probably won’t be accepted, or, if you are, will not last long. A religious order priest told once of a brother friar he knew while both were novices who approached him and said, “Brother, please don’t be offended if I don’t talk with you anymore, but I intend to really live out the TRUE spirit of our order.” He lasted about a month before leaving.

In other words, if you have a calling to the religious life, you must be willing to set aside your own preconceived ideas and be teachable. That doesn’t mean that the order shouldn’t be orthodox, but that you should not be quick to assume that they are not if they challenge your understanding on principles of Catholic thought that are open to multiple interpretations (which, by the way, are more than you’d think). If you are willing to do that, then I recommend meeting with the vocations directors of your diocese and of orders that interest you and proceed from there. God bless.