"My Question Is..."

[Cominghome89]

My question is: how many of you active in CAF are actually discerning a religious vocation, and if you are, have you actually done something about it, or just talking about it?

After nearly a year of discernment (the priesthood attracted me BEFORE I was a Catholic actually, but coming in during the Vigil of 2009, that is when I seriously began to discern), I have been accepted by the minor seminary formation program for the Diocese of Bridgeport.

This has been extremely difficult for me, because I still feel very drawn to religious life. However, at this point I am still open to the diocesan priesthood. I know God is calling me to the priesthood, but I do not feel ready to make a decision about secular or religious.

Thankfully, this seems to be God’s will for me at the moment. I can not enter an order without having been a Catholic for at least 2 years anyway, and most orders will not accept a candidate for the priesthood without a Bachelor anyway. I have been completely honest about this indecision with my spiritual director as well as the Diocese, and they believe that the minor seminary is the right place for me right now. If God calls me on to the religious life in a couple of years, they will understand, and it will certainly have been time well spent. If I feel drawn to major seminary as a secular priest, may God’s will be done either way.

It has been hard to accept that I can’t simply make a decision now, but God has been so good to me in this process. What a joy that I get to complete my degree in philosophy while living with a great bunch of brother seminarians and some wonderful priests. The alternative would be to spend the next two years living at home (something I think would somewhat hinder my spiritual life at age 21, given my situation) and going to an affordable, secular university (again, not desirable when studying philosophy).

Please pray for me and all those discerning. God is calling so many young men and women, yet in this atmosphere of anti-Catholic media and culture, as well as poorly catechized families and even religious educators, I feel many are not hearing the call.

In Christ and Our Blessed Mother,
Frank

 

[JReducation]

After nearly a year of discernment (the priesthood attracted me BEFORE I was a Catholic actually, but coming in during the Vigil of 2009, that is when I seriously began to discern), I have been accepted by the minor seminary formation program for the Diocese of Bridgeport.

This has been extremely difficult for me, because I still feel very drawn to religious life. However, at this point I am still open to the diocesan priesthood. I know God is calling me to the priesthood, but I do not feel ready to make a decision about secular or religious.

Thankfully, this seems to be God’s will for me at the moment. I can not enter an order without having been a Catholic for at least 2 years anyway, and most orders will not accept a candidate for the priesthood without a Bachelor anyway. I have been completely honest about this indecision with my spiritual director as well as the Diocese, and they believe that the minor seminary is the right place for me right now. If God calls me on to the religious life in a couple of years, they will understand, and it will certainly have been time well spent. If I feel drawn to major seminary as a secular priest, may God’s will be done either way.

It has been hard to accept that I can’t simply make a decision now, but God has been so good to me in this process. What a joy that I get to complete my degree in philosophy while living with a great bunch of brother seminarians and some wonderful priests. The alternative would be to spend the next two years living at home (something I think would somewhat hinder my spiritual life at age 21, given my situation) and going to an affordable, secular university (again, not desirable when studying philosophy).

Please pray for me and all those discerning. God is calling so many young men and women, yet in this atmosphere of anti-Catholic media and culture, as well as poorly catechized families and even religious educators, I feel many are not hearing the call.

In Christ and Our Blessed Mother,
Frank

It is much easier to go from being a secular priest to becoming a religious, if you later feel the call to the religious life than going from a religious community to a diocese. When going from a religious community to a diocese you have to ask for a dispensation from vows. The Church does not have to grant the dispensation or the superior general may recommend against it and the case will not proceed without his recocmmendation. Communities of men have some slight differences from communities of women, besides the gender, obviously. Some of the rules for entry and exit are different.

If you join an order of men, the superior general has all the authority to stop your request for a dispensation. If you join a congregation of men, they are like the sisters. The superior general must allow you to proceed with your request for a dispensation. In either case, there is no guarantee that Rome will see it your way and dispense you from vows.

The second glitch is that you are not given the dispensation for five years. You must find a bishop who is willing to take you in. Once that is done, you move into his diocese and are on leave of absence from your religious order or congregation for five years. But you are still bound by the vows, the rule and constitution and even by obedience to the religious superior.
The superior can recall you. It rarely happens. During those five years, the bishop does not incardinate you into his diocese, becaues you are still a religious, but living as a secular priest. He assigns you and observes. After the five years are over you must decide. If the bishop does not want to keep you, then you have no choice but to return to your religiuos community or ask to be laicisized. You cannot go shopping for another bishop.

However, if you enter as a secular and become a secular priest, either diocesan or in a society and you change your mind and decide to apply to a religious order or congregation, it’s very simple. You notify your bishop of your intent. But since he is not your superior, he cannot interfere. Then you apply to the religious community of your choice. Once accepted, you become a postulant. At that time, the bishop will grant you a leave of absence from the diocese. If and when you make perpetual vows or solemn vows if you’re in an order, then you are excardinated out of the diocese. That’s it. You are no longer a secular priest. You are a priest who is also a religious or what is canonically called a regular priest. The first priests in the Franciscan Order were all diocesans who became brothers. One of them wast St. Anthony of Padua. We still have some brothers who were diocesan priests. I recently had a good friend of mine move from the diocese to the Redemptorists. In fact, St. John Neuman was a diocesan priest who became a religious. He died as a Redemptorist.

I hope that helps.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[elizabeth_anne_1]

Thank you Monica and Sr. Helena for your answers to my question! Happy Easter!

 

[Sister_Helena]

My question is: What is your own reason for wanting to be a religious or priest?

 

[Cominghome89]

It is much easier to go from being a secular priest to becoming a religious, if you later feel the call to the religious life than going from a religious community to a diocese. When going from a religious community to a diocese you have to ask for a dispensation from vows. The Church does not have to grant the dispensation or the superior general may recommend against it and the case will not proceed without his recocmmendation. Communities of men have some slight differences from communities of women, besides the gender, obviously. Some of the rules for entry and exit are different.

If you join an order of men, the superior general has all the authority to stop your request for a dispensation. If you join a congregation of men, they are like the sisters. The superior general must allow you to proceed with your request for a dispensation. In either case, there is no guarantee that Rome will see it your way and dispense you from vows.

The second glitch is that you are not given the dispensation for five years. You must find a bishop who is willing to take you in. Once that is done, you move into his diocese and are on leave of absence from your religious order or congregation for five years. But you are still bound by the vows, the rule and constitution and even by obedience to the religious superior.
The superior can recall you. It rarely happens. During those five years, the bishop does not incardinate you into his diocese, becaues you are still a religious, but living as a secular priest. He assigns you and observes. After the five years are over you must decide. If the bishop does not want to keep you, then you have no choice but to return to your religiuos community or ask to be laicisized. You cannot go shopping for another bishop.

However, if you enter as a secular and become a secular priest, either diocesan or in a society and you change your mind and decide to apply to a religious order or congregation, it’s very simple. You notify your bishop of your intent. But since he is not your superior, he cannot interfere. Then you apply to the religious community of your choice. Once accepted, you become a postulant. At that time, the bishop will grant you a leave of absence from the diocese. If and when you make perpetual vows or solemn vows if you’re in an order, then you are excardinated out of the diocese. That’s it. You are no longer a secular priest. You are a priest who is also a religious or what is canonically called a regular priest. The first priests in the Franciscan Order were all diocesans who became brothers. One of them wast St. Anthony of Padua. We still have some brothers who were diocesan priests. I recently had a good friend of mine move from the diocese to the Redemptorists. In fact, St. John Neuman was a diocesan priest who became a religious. He died as a Redemptorist.

I hope that helps.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

Since I still have about 2 years to go before I will have my Bachelor in philosophy, I am hopeful and fairly confident that by that time the Holy Spirit will let me know which path to take.

That being said, there is always the chance that the time will come when I must choose between entering major seminary for the diocese or pursuing the religious life, and I will still be unsure. I very much appreciate this information, that is very helpful. I wasn’t aware that the secular priest’s obedience to the Bishop does not allow the Bishop to interfere with the decision to leave the diocese for a religious order. I also did not know the particulars of leaving a religious order, although I had assumed it would be more difficult to make the religious to diocese switch than vice-versa. Thank you for your insight, Brother JR. I would like you to know how informative and helpful your posts here in the vocation forum are. I am very grateful that you give your time here for the many young men and women discerning there vocation. May God bless you in your ministry.

In Christ and Our Blessed Mother,
Frank

 

[JReducation]

I always look at things from the point of view of Canon Law. If you’re a diocesan priest and you hear the call to the consecrated life, you’re not leaving anything. You’re taking your priesthood into the consecrated life with you. In reality, you’re embracing something.

If you’re a regular priest and you wish to become a diocesan priest, you are leaving something that you had embraced. You are leaving the consecrated life to become a secular man. You made a vow to life that life until death and now you’re saying that you cannot do it. You have the moral obligation to prove to the Church that you’re not reneging on your vow, but that in fact, you never had a call to be a consecrated man and the whole thing was a mistake. The only other way out of religious life for men who belong to religious orders is to declare themselves heretics or apostate. If you can prove to the Church that you never had a vocation to the consecrated life, you only thought you did, the Church may let you off the hook and dispense your vows.

I know there are sisters here. Before they send me to my corner, I must clarify that the laws set up by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life are divided into categories: religious orders of men and women, religious congregations of men, secular orders, and religious congregations of women, secular institutes and societies of apostolic life. The current laws are much tougher on men who belong to orders than on men and women who belong to congregations. The two types of religious life have fundamental theological differences because of the nature of the vows that congregations make… That’s why the Church did not approve the foundation of any more orders after the Jesuits. The government of orders is very complex, because the superiors of orders have the same legal powers as a bishop, even an abbess. That’s why some abbots and abbesses still carry a crosier and wear a pectoral cross. It’s easier to govern congregations.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Sister_Helena]

My question is: Why is there more attraction among religious discerners to congregations involved in education than health care? Or is this a mistaken claim on my part?

 

[JReducation]

My question is: Why is there more attraction among religious discerners to congregations involved in education than health care? Or is this a mistaken claim on my part?

Sister, I agree that among women there seems to be a larger number of candidates for teaching congregations and enclosed orders too. Among men, the candidates for teaching congregations are very small in number, such as the Christian Brothers, who were once the largest teaching congregation in the Church, larger than the Jesuits. Among men the largest number of men are postulating themselves are to orders and congregations that are living and working among the very poor. The fastest growing communities among men are the Franciscan reform communities, the Missionaries of the Poor, and the male branch of the Missionaries of Charity.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Sister_Helena]

Sister, I agree that among women there seems to be a larger number of candidates for teaching congregations and enclosed orders too. Among men, the candidates for teaching congregations are very small in number, such as the Christian Brothers, who were once the largest teaching congregation in the Church, larger than the Jesuits. Among men the largest number of men are postulating themselves are to orders and congregations that are living and working among the very poor. The fastest growing communities among men are the Franciscan reform communities, the Missionaries of the Poor, and the male branch of the Missionaries of Charity.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

What are your thoughts on the reason/s for that?

 

[Spiritu]

My question is: Why is there more attraction among religious discerners to congregations involved in education than health care? Or is this a mistaken claim on my part?

I’ll go out on a limb here and answer your question from personal experience, and hopefully in the process address your earlier question about why I’m drawn to the religious life as well.

I’ll start with the negative side of your “why teaching?” question, to get it out of the way:

I’ve seen kids aged ten or eleven doing colour-ins or word-finds through the Mass (including the Consecration), coming up to receive Communion, then going back and keeping on with their activities. I’ve seen teenagers and young adults - lots of them - trashing the Church’s teachings on morality and faith, while still claiming the title Catholic and receiving the Eucharist. I’ve spoken to Jehovah’s Witnesses and Evangelical Protestants who say, “I used to be Catholic, until I someone taught me how to read the Bible…”

As one of Australia’s prominent commentators on the state of the Catholic Church, Michael Gilchrist, has said, we now have generation of kids being raised by parents who had no instruction in their own faith. Darn it, I want to do something about that. I want to impress upon young people in my classroom how beautiful the Church is and why it’s so important to reverence the Eucharist, and thereby reclaim something of the floating generations for God. It’s not enough to teach several hours of RE a week, either: I want my whole life to be a witness, with prayer and fasting outside school hours the marks of my apostolate. I want to walk into a classroom in a habit and have the students recognise that I am teaching a religion worth making great sacrifices for.

That’s the negative side - fighting against malaise, ignorance and contempt within the Church as well as outside it. Here’s the wonderful side…

As a woman, I can’t be a priest: I’ll never know what it’s like to hold a piece of bread in my hands at the exact moment it becomes the Body of Christ, and as a teenager I felt that loss quite sharply for a while. But I’ve realised since that it fits perfectly that Jesus, a man, should stand at the centre of a woman’s heart: I wasn’t meant to be His priest, but His bride. (I’ve never understood why some women want to worship “Our Father and Mother” - the ways in which a woman can approach God are so profound that trying to re-imagine God as a feminine being basically similar to oneself is an unbelievable loss.) I wonder sometimes… what symbolism do men use when they want to express the same intensity of love for Christ? How does a man, a priest or brother, read the Song of Songs in his own life? (If anyone wants to answer this or turn it into another thread, I’d love to read it.)

So, to get back to the topic at hand. I will love Him as my Spouse, and pray that I will inspire others to choose Him above all else: I can give Him priests from among the young men in my classrooms. I can give Him nuns and Sisters from the young women who talked with me about finding their own vocation, the same way talking with Sisters has inspired me. I can give Him devout men who will be good husbands and fathers, and devout women who love their husbands and foster vocations in their own families. As a Sister - as a teaching Sister in my case - I can give a witness to the love of God as powerful as that of a priest, in a way that is centred on the fact that God has made me a woman.

Caring for the sick is a beautiful vocation, but I think I can achieve most in my life by working among the young and healthy who will be the Church long after I’m gone, so I feel called more strongly to communities that teach.

 

[JReducation]

What are your thoughts on the reason/s for that?

Sister, I believe the short answer to your question is, “This is the Will of God.” The Holy Spirit has always given to the Church men and women according to the needs of the time and place. God in his mercy does not abandon his children. He sends us people to meet the needs of his children. It is the continuation of the Incarnation. God continues to break into human history through humanity.

Now, let’s look at reason through the eyes of faith. Let’s talk about women religious first, and then we’ll get to male religious. When I look at the United States and the Church around the world I see the child as the greatest victim of modern man. Children are murdered in their mothers’ womb. Others are allowed to be born and are abandoned through neglect. They live in the home, but are anonymous. Only the computer, the video game and the cell phone know that they exist. Others are exploited by sexual abuse and human trafficking. Our children need mothers who will teach them and protect them. They need mothers who will guide them into the arms of God.

Teaching sisters are mothers. Children spend the greatest portion of their day in school with teachers. Those sisters who teach are their mothers during the greater part of their waking time. God has given them to our children to protect them and to guide them, to do for them what their biological mothers often fail to do.

What about nuns? What does a nun do? Isn’t a nun a woman who embraces silence and solitude to pray for those who cannot or do not pray for themselves? Our Lady is the consummate contemplative. She intercedes before Christ for his brothers and sisters. Today, we need Mary more than we ever needed her before. We live in world that has lost the desire and the sense of contemplation. Our society is awed by scandal, but we do very little to resolve problems. We simply whine and point the finger. The nun is a woman who is silent. She does not whine or point the finger. Like our Lady, she leads them to Christ through her prayer. Like our Lady, she remains in the background.

The Holy Spirit is calling American women to teaching congregations and enclosed orders because that is where our greatest need is. It’s not our only need, but it is our greatest need. The Holy Spirit will continue to call women to other forms of religious life, but the sheer numbers of souls being lost for lack of prayer and the children being killed in the womb or abused has triggered an aggressive response on the part of the Holy Spirit.

Why is God calling men to the mendicant and poor communities? Why is he calling more men to the brotherhood than to the priesthood, at this time? Again, let’s apply faith to reason. The greatest threat to peace is abortion. We know this. But abortion does not exist in a vacuum. The absence of peace also produces a disregard for human life and the dignity of the person.

Now, before I run out of space here, what did the Apostles ask Christ when they found themselves hopeless? “Lord teach us to pray.” And Jesus said, “When you pray say, ‘Our Father. . .’ .” If we pray, “Our Father,” we proclaim that we are brothers. The world today needs this message of brotherhood, especially the brotherhood of the unborn. We say, “Give us this day our daily bread.” The poverty of the modern world, given our technical and scientific abilities, is an indictment against man. The brothers who are called to these newer communities are living this part of the Lord’s Prayer. They are dependent on the Providence of God and through them Divine Providence provides for those who have no bread.

“Forgive us our sins as we forgive . . .” The brother who goes out to the poor is accepting of man in his fallen state, be it spiritual, psychological or material. He is forgiving by accepting and embracing the fallen as a brother. The “our” is played out here. The brother recognizes that we are all fallen in some way. In some area of our lives, we are all destitute. We will not be reconciled with God unless we reconcile with our brothers and sisters who are fallen and forgotten. “Lead us not into temptation.” The temptation to worship the material god and the god of death is assaulting our world. The Holy Spirit is placing in world men who will Witness to the Luminous Mysteries, the public ministry of Jesus. This is the testimony that the world needs. Even though many say that we need parish priests, this will not bring people into the Church. First you need to send out the servants to invite the guests to the feast as Jesus tells us in the Gospels. Then the parish priest can do his ministry. Finally, “Deliver us from evil.” Again, we admit our solidarity with others. We are not exempt from doing evil or being victims of evil. But evil is not found at mass. It’s on the streets of our cities. That’s where the Holy Spirit is calling the male religious to serve. He calls us to fight evil and proclaim Christ where no one else does.

I may be completely wrong. But this is my idea of why God is calling American women to teaching and enclosed communities and why he is calling men to the mendicant reform.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[JReducation]

I’ll go out on a limb here and answer your question from personal experience, and hopefully in the process address your earlier question about why I’m drawn to the religious life as well.

I’ll start with the negative side of your “why teaching?” question, to get it out of the way:

I’ve seen kids aged ten or eleven doing colour-ins or word-finds through the Mass (including the Consecration), coming up to receive Communion, then going back and keeping on with their activities. I’ve seen teenagers and young adults - lots of them - trashing the Church’s teachings on morality and faith, while still claiming the title Catholic and receiving the Eucharist. I’ve spoken to Jehovah’s Witnesses and Evangelical Protestants who say, “I used to be Catholic, until I someone taught me how to read the Bible…”

As one of Australia’s prominent commentators on the state of the Catholic Church, Michael Gilchrist, has said, we now have generation of kids being raised by parents who had no instruction in their own faith. Darn it, I want to do something about that. I want to impress upon young people in my classroom how beautiful the Church is and why it’s so important to reverence the Eucharist, and thereby reclaim something of the floating generations for God. It’s not enough to teach several hours of RE a week, either: I want my whole life to be a witness, with prayer and fasting outside school hours the marks of my apostolate. I want to walk into a classroom in a habit and have the students recognise that I am teaching a religion worth making great sacrifices for.

That’s the negative side - fighting against malaise, ignorance and contempt within the Church as well as outside it. Here’s the wonderful side…

As a woman, I can’t be a priest: I’ll never know what it’s like to hold a piece of bread in my hands at the exact moment it becomes the Body of Christ, and as a teenager I felt that loss quite sharply for a while. But I’ve realised since that it fits perfectly that Jesus, a man, should stand at the centre of a woman’s heart: I wasn’t meant to be His priest, but His bride. (I’ve never understood why some women want to worship “Our Father and Mother” - the ways in which a woman can approach God are so profound that trying to re-imagine God as a feminine being basically similar to oneself is an unbelievable loss.) I wonder sometimes… what symbolism do men use when they want to express the same intensity of love for Christ? How does a man, a priest or brother, read the Song of Songs in his own life? (If anyone wants to answer this or turn it into another thread, I’d love to read it.)

So, to get back to the topic at hand. I will love Him as my Spouse, and pray that I will inspire others to choose Him above all else: I can give Him priests from among the young men in my classrooms. I can give Him nuns and Sisters from the young women who talked with me about finding their own vocation, the same way talking with Sisters has inspired me. I can give Him devout men who will be good husbands and fathers, and devout women who love their husbands and foster vocations in their own families. As a Sister - as a teaching Sister in my case - I can give a witness to the love of God as powerful as that of a priest, in a way that is centred on the fact that God has made me a woman.

Caring for the sick is a beautiful vocation, but I think I can achieve most in my life by working among the young and healthy who will be the Church long after I’m gone, so I feel called more strongly to communities that teach.

I love your post, but I have a bone to pick with you. What about giving him Religious Brothers too?

I say this half in humor and half in earnest. Sisters play a powerful role in awakening the attention to a vocation in their students. However, as Archbishop Dolan once said, sisters and preists have forgotten the religious brother and that is an injustice to the Church. I never thought of it as an injustice the Church. But it makes sense.

When you become a sister, remember that our brothers are not going to live forever. We need a younger generation to take over.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Spiritu]

Sorry, Brother!

It’s a bit after lunchtime in Australia at the moment, so at the time I wrote the last paragraph, I was concerned mostly with efficiency in conveying my thoughts: another few minutes and I’d have been eating the corners off my laptop. If I’d stayed around long enough to see your post after mine, I would have remembered to be more comprehensive. Your point is a good one!

 

[JReducation]

Sorry, Brother!

It’s a bit after lunchtime in Australia at the moment, so at the time I wrote the last paragraph, I was concerned mostly with efficiency in conveying my thoughts: another few minutes and I’d have been eating the corners off my laptop. If I’d stayed around long enough to see your post after mine, I would have remembered to be more comprehensive. Your point is a good one!

Please don’t eat your laptop. Then we would have to text on the cell phone and I don’t have one of those. I’m luck that the Archiocese lets me use its computer.

On a more serious note . . . I always mention Archbishop Dolan’s comment, because I heard it and I thought it was rather interesting that he, a secular priest, would remember religious brothers. He’s very interresting. Whenever he prays for vocations he always mentions religious brothers. I wonder if he was educated by brothers. I do know that New York and Boston have the largest concentration of religious brothers in the USA. They have hundreds of brothers, most them are Franciscan of one or the other branches of the family. The Christian Brothers are also very big in NY.

But I had never thought of it as a justice issue until I heard the Archbishop speak about this. The brothers have served the Church for almost 2000 years. The first hermits and monks were brothers. The oldest are the Carmelites who began as a community of brothers and later acquired priests. Benedict and Basil organized monastic life in the West and East with brothers. They wee the only priests in the first monastery that they founded. Francis began the Franciscan family with brothers. Then came the great teaching brothers and nursing brothers.

I can see how it is an injustice to the Church not to continue this tradition of brothers who have contributed so many saints and so much to Catholic culture.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[GilChrist77]

Brother,
In the past year I’ve realized that I have a huge love of encouraging young people to discern the priesthood and religious life. I’ve been very inspired, and saddened, by reading your posts about the call to religious life for men and how often it is forgotten and I would love to be able to talk to the young men in my youth group about it but I actually don’t know very much about it. Any advice you could give me on how to talk about it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for all you do and God bless you!

JMJ+
~Betsy

Totus tuus Maria! Let’s see what the good God wills.

 

[Poor_Clare_tobe]

Thank you to Sr. Helena and Brother JR for your responses to my questions!

God bless you!
Ellie Anne

Yes a big thank you to you both for your time here on the forums.
Blessings of Peace and all Good!

 

[Sister_Helena]

I agree that before the desire to be a religious is even awakened (normally speaking since God can bypass this process and call them directly through other means), information about it and instructions in the Faith must first be done. This is where I find the teaching congregations to be very important. But I don’t agree that this is our greatest need here in the US. The attacks on life issues have been very aggressive in this country and the US has set leadership for the rest of the world. What prevails in the U.S ultimately becomes an invitation for the rest of the world to follow suit. That is why I feel that Congregations dedicated to the defense of life in all its forms: conception to natural death, are very much needed. Abortion and Euthanasia are two frontiers very relevant in our society today getting plenty of support by popular vote, State and Federal laws. We have the phenomenon we call the “graying of America” because the percentage of person over 65 is increasing. Health care ministry is a very great need in this country and it saddens me to see that many are not answering this invitation.

I can guess reasons for this: It is a very personally, physically and spiritually demanding vocation dealing with life and death issues. It is very draining because one actually wages a “war” on systems and government institutions demanding a sense of creativity on the part of the religious members to receive the financial assistance required and meeting the standards of care without compromising the congregation’s mission and philosophy. There is great tension between active life and prayer life which many discerners find unsettling. I can cite many more reasons but will have to stop here.

I believe God recognizes the need and is calling many, but I wonder if many are listening?

 

[JTheresa]

My question is: Why is there more attraction among religious discerners to congregations involved in education than health care? Or is this a mistaken claim on my part?

I’ve noticed this too among a lot of young women that I’ve met who are discerning religious life. Personally the community that I am entering has apostolates in education and health services. I figure that they’ll use me more as a teacher, but I would love to go into health care if I can stomach it.

I find myself feeling the same way as Spiritu here:

I’ll start with the negative side of your “why teaching?” question, to get it out of the way:

I’ve seen kids aged ten or eleven doing colour-ins or word-finds through the Mass (including the Consecration), coming up to receive Communion, then going back and keeping on with their activities. I’ve seen teenagers and young adults - lots of them - trashing the Church’s teachings on morality and faith, while still claiming the title Catholic and receiving the Eucharist. I’ve spoken to Jehovah’s Witnesses and Evangelical Protestants who say, “I used to be Catholic, until I someone taught me how to read the Bible…”

As one of Australia’s prominent commentators on the state of the Catholic Church, Michael Gilchrist, has said, we now have generation of kids being raised by parents who had no instruction in their own faith. Darn it, I want to do something about that. I want to impress upon young people in my classroom how beautiful the Church is and why it’s so important to reverence the Eucharist, and thereby reclaim something of the floating generations for God. It’s not enough to teach several hours of RE a week, either: I want my whole life to be a witness, with prayer and fasting outside school hours the marks of my apostolate. I want to walk into a classroom in a habit and have the students recognise that I am teaching a religion worth making great sacrifices for.

That’s the negative side - fighting against malaise, ignorance and contempt within the Church as well as outside it. Here’s the wonderful side…

As a woman, I can’t be a priest: I’ll never know what it’s like to hold a piece of bread in my hands at the exact moment it becomes the Body of Christ, and as a teenager I felt that loss quite sharply for a while. But I’ve realised since that it fits perfectly that Jesus, a man, should stand at the centre of a woman’s heart: I wasn’t meant to be His priest, but His bride. (I’ve never understood why some women want to worship “Our Father and Mother” - the ways in which a woman can approach God are so profound that trying to re-imagine God as a feminine being basically similar to oneself is an unbelievable loss.) I wonder sometimes… what symbolism do men use when they want to express the same intensity of love for Christ? How does a man, a priest or brother, read the Song of Songs in his own life? (If anyone wants to answer this or turn it into another thread, I’d love to read it.)

So, to get back to the topic at hand. I will love Him as my Spouse, and pray that I will inspire others to choose Him above all else: I can give Him priests from among the young men in my classrooms. I can give Him nuns and Sisters from the young women who talked with me about finding their own vocation, the same way talking with Sisters has inspired me. I can give Him devout men who will be good husbands and fathers, and devout women who love their husbands and foster vocations in their own families. As a Sister - as a teaching Sister in my case - I can give a witness to the love of God as powerful as that of a priest, in a way that is centred on the fact that God has made me a woman.

Caring for the sick is a beautiful vocation, but I think I can achieve most in my life by working among the young and healthy who will be the Church long after I’m gone, so I feel called more strongly to communities that teach.

I was so mad when I was younger because I couldn’t be a priest, but I’m now very happy with the fact that I will be His bride and He will be my Spouse. (Thanks Spiritu for very beautifully expressing my own thoughts!)

When you become a sister, remember that our brothers are not going to live forever. We need a younger generation to take over.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

We just had a group of brothers move here from PA and I absolutely love them!!! If only I was a guy…
But you can definitely count on me to be promoting the call to religious life as a brother!!

 

[JTheresa]

I can guess reasons for this: It is a very personally, physically and spiritually demanding vocation dealing with life and death issues. It is very draining because one actually wages a “war” on systems and government institutions demanding a sense of creativity on the part of the religious members to receive the financial assistance required and meeting the standards of care without compromising the congregation’s mission and philosophy. There is great tension between active life and prayer life which many discerners find unsettling. I can cite many more reasons but will have to stop here.

I believe God recognizes the need and is calling many, but I wonder if many are listening?

I see where you are coming from Sister. I believe that there are a few new communities that are starting who are responding to this call. And the fact that it is a tiring war may be one of the reasons few people are responding. It’s a really hard choice to make; you’ve inspired me to look more closely into the medical field. Maybe he’s calling quite a few of the young women who are already out there in the nursing field, protecting life, they just aren’t responding to His call to religious life. I know I’ve seen quite a few people online, even here, who are afraid that they won’t be able to be a nurse any more if they become a nun. They have this misconception that all nuns are teachers. Hopefully that’ll change soon, and then maybe more will respond to the call.

 

[JReducation]

I agree that before the desire to be a religious is even awakened (normally speaking since God can bypass this process and call them directly through other means), information about it and instructions in the Faith must first be done. This is where I find the teaching congregations to be very important. But I don’t agree that this is our greatest need here in the US. The attacks on life issues have been very aggressive in this country and the US has set leadership for the rest of the world. What prevails in the U.S ultimately becomes an invitation for the rest of the world to follow suit. That is why I feel that Congregations dedicated to the defense of life in all its forms: conception to natural death, are very much needed. Abortion and Euthanasia are two frontiers very relevant in our society today getting plenty of support by popular vote, State and Federal laws. We have the phenomenon we call the “graying of America” because the percentage of person over 65 is increasing. Health care ministry is a very great need in this country and it saddens me to see that many are not answering this invitation.

I can guess reasons for this: It is a very personally, physically and spiritually demanding vocation dealing with life and death issues. It is very draining because one actually wages a “war” on systems and government institutions demanding a sense of creativity on the part of the religious members to receive the financial assistance required and meeting the standards of care without compromising the congregation’s mission and philosophy. There is great tension between active life and prayer life which many discerners find unsettling. I can cite many more reasons but will have to stop here.

I believe God recognizes the need and is calling many, but I wonder if many are listening?

There are two points in your post that attracted my attention (your entire post was good, don’t get me wrong). First, you refer to the Culture of Death. I cannot agree with you more. If I could I would. We do need people in the forefront of the Gospel of Life and healthcare is certainly in that area. I can see the disatrous results when there are not enough voices out there. Just look at the shameful comment from the Catholic Health Association and the NCWR. Those statements just blew me away, especially the Health Association. I just sat there and listened. I was just asking myself, “What is wrong with this picture?” There is obviously a need for more voices in the Catholic Healthcare field.

I do believe that women are not exposed to this need. The crisis involving children has governed the media and the Church’s attention for quite a while now and healthcare has been put on the back burner. What I’m thinking is that women are responding to what they see. We need to put Catholic heallthcare out there in the front lines.

The second point that you mentioned is equally important. God may be calling, but whose listening? I believe that to get people to listen, congregations such as your own, Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, Little Sisters of the Poor and many other very faithful Catholic congregations that do this ministry have to get out there in the public eye, where women can see the need and see the gift that the sisters bring to the ministry.

This is very hard to do. I know this, because we do respect life ministry, predominantly. Men don’t hear much about us. Where to begin to get their attention?

Maybe your congregation and my order should do something together, such asn expose of the ministry and the call.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF