How people decide what order to join?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Oren
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Sisters:
cmswr.org/

Sisters and Brothers:
religiouslife.com/

Please everyone spread the word about these wonderful organizations for religious life in the U.S. All communities listed are faithful to the Church and all wear the religious habit.
40.png
JCPhoenix:
I can give you phone numbers for convents in New York and Georgia, but ask me about Minnesota and I’ll only shrug.
Click to expand...
Dear JC,
Religious women in Minnesota

Hope that helps!
Lily628
 
Dear JC,

There are two additional communities of sisters in Minnesota that are not mentioned on the Institute of Religious Life page for your state.

Dominican Sisters Congregation of St. Rose of Lima

Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist

Another option is to view the short video of life with the Dominican Sisters of St. Celia. Even if you aren’t discerning to their community or to any Dominicans, the video is lovely and very encouraging. Sometimes I watch it when I am longing for the future when I can join the sisterhood.

Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia

Blessings in Christ,
Lily628
 
well, i live in West Virginia, and as you can imagine there’s not much here in the way of anything Catholic hardly at all. There’s one parish in my town, one the next over. Both are charismatic. Not that I’m totally against charismatic parishes, i just don’t want to go to one, i would much rather go somewhere else. but obviously i can’t since there’s nowhere to go that wouldn’t take a long time to get to. i’m trying to get to a church about an hour away, but i don’t know yet what type of church it is, charismatic or not. so i’m not that comfortable with talking to the priests around here, there are two. and obviously i don’t think they would even know that much about being a nun as other people have said in this thread. i do now about praying about your vocation of course, but i was just wondering how people decide because there doesn’t seem any real world way, since one can’t say that contemplative is better than charity or mission work or vice versa. and i also don’t see any reason why i would be more fitted for one or the other. i guess im just wondering what people think of it. how people really finally decide. i’ve never really found an answer for that. i’ve felt close to Saint Francis, but again like almost all orders, that it’s much more orientated toward friars or brothers or monks or priests, and not nuns. It seems like a lot of times the women’s part of the order is more of an afterthought to the men’s part. I don’t know if that’s fair completely, but that’s how it seems to me sometimes.
 
Dear Oren,

If you have a degree in something or a career interest you could start there. Where is an order that would have need of my skills?

I am very interested in the Sisters of Life, and one of the things that I love is that they combine comtemplative/active. I think both aspects are vital to my calling.

My suggestion is to check out numerous communities such as the ones at the websites I linked above or in my signature. For me, I looked at countless ones. When I found the SOL, it just kind of hit me and I was overwhelmed with a sense of a good “fit”. I think that in a way it’s like trying to find a spouse. There is no easy formula, but you just have to find one that’s right and then it will all make sense.

Hope that helps
Lily628
 
I have a bachelors in English Literature…I write. I don’t see where that go to helping any particular order or fits any specific order?
 
If you are interested in teaching there are many Dominican orders that teach such as the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecila.

The Daughters of St. Paul work in the communications media including book publishing for the cause of evangelization.

Then there are more contemplative orders in which you would have a lot of time for reading and prayer (eg. some Carmelite or Dominican, such as the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist), which someone who studied English literature might enjoy. Also, these Carmelites have a lovely site: Hearts Awake.

Another thing I would recommend is visiting this site: Society of Our Lady of the Cloister. The site owner (Gemma) is very knowledgeable about numerous communities (not just cloistered) and she gave me some directional advice when I told her what I was interested in. Perhaps she could help some more.

Finally, there are some communities that help their new members work toward a college degree in something relevant to their ministry. I think the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecelia do that, and for example, an order in medical work might help you toward a nursing degree.
 
‘All I can say is that this is your experience. I do not think anyone, other than a spiritual director, should be telling anyone discerning a vocation what they should be doing.’

that’s your opinion. obviously this person is asking us to find out what we think on the matter, so rebuking someone who suggests eucharistic adoration is, in my opinion, unwise.
 
40.png
Oren:
i guess im just wondering what people think of it. how people really finally decide. i’ve never really found an answer for that. i’ve felt close to Saint Francis, but again like almost all orders, that it’s much more orientated toward friars or brothers or monks or priests, and not nuns. It seems like a lot of times the women’s part of the order is more of an afterthought to the men’s part. I don’t know if that’s fair completely, but that’s how it seems to me sometimes.
Click to expand...
Hi Oren,

Like many others here, I will stress the importance of a good Spiritual Director to help in your discernment. I will also echo the previous advice that when investigating the various orders that seem like they might be a good fit, the best thing you can do is to try to arrange a visit or retreat with each, in order to see if your gifts fit their charisms. You will probably “just know” when you find the order that feels like home to you.

As for your affinity to St. Francis, have you looked into the Poor Clares? They were founded by St Francis and St. Clare of Assisi (this is also the order the Mother Angelica of EWTN belongs to). You can find some good information here (the first entry is their official site).

My prayers are with you in your discernment, and I humbly ask that you pray for mine as well 🙂
 
Dear Oren,

As others have said, you will need to do some investigating. That will require time and money for travel (since you’ll need to visit the community(ies) at some point). I think you said earlier that you don’t have any great interest in one order or community over another. As you learn more, that will most likely change and you will develop an interest…that’s how it went with me, anyway. And, i believe that our desires to serve God in a particular way (in a particular community/order) are themselves from God and should be heeded.

Here’s a site for cloistered OCD nuns in New Jersey: flemingtoncarmel.org/

God bless you.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top