Not yet Catholic, but want to begin Discernment

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I will be beginning RCIA in the fall at my local parish and will be formally received into the church at Easter '09. However, I am extremely drawn to religious life. I want to begin discerning so that I am ready once the proper amount of time has gone by since my conversion, yet I feel as though I won’t be taken seriously since I am not yet converted? I love the Lord, and I love the Catholic Church, and I sincerely feel a call to the sisterhood. Should I wait until I have been Catholic awhile to start discernment, or is it alright to start now?
 
You might start reading about the different orders and praying to determine which one you are attracted to, but I don’t think any order would seriously discuss membership with you until you had been a Catholic for a couple of years at least.

Welcome home…👍
 
NMJenny said:
You might start reading about the different orders and praying to determine which one you are attracted to, but I don’t think any order would seriously discuss membership with you until you had been a Catholic for a couple of years at least.

Welcome home…👍
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I agree with the above. But there is no reason why I dont think, if you are attracted to a particular Order, you should not contact them and maintain periodic contact until these few years have elapsed and serious consideration and discerning of a religious vocation may commence.

Blessings this Easter…Barb:)
 
I also agree with the above. I am in a similar situation in that I have been discerning on my own for several months now and just entered the Church this Easter. I expect needing to settle into being Catholic and continue my discernment for at least 2-5 years. In the meantime, I am continuing to discern whether I am called to religious life with the help of a spiritual advisor, contacting communities that interest me, and continuing to grow in my relationship with Christ and His Church.

You might also consider making an appointment with your priest to sit down and discuss your situation and that you are discerning a call to religious life. I eventually did that a couple months ago with one of the priests at my parish. He was very understanding and did not discourage my discernment, though, understandably he encouraged me to take it one step at a time and entering the Church is obviously the first step. I expected this, but he had some good additional insight as well.

One final encouragement - realizing you are going to have a few years or more after you enter the Church to discern, be sure to take full advantage of this year as preparation for entering the Church. This time will go so quickly, yet is so important for preparing for the Easter sacraments and beginning life as a Catholic.

God bless you as you continue your journey!
 
I felt the call to religious life at age 6, but had to wait 10 years to become Catholic.

Believe me, the reception of the sacraments, esp that of Most Holy Communion, will be an aperture to help you focus on what HE wants for you.

Blessings,
Cloisters
 
By all means, begin dicserning. Just be aware that many people who convert have the idea that they are called to the religious life because they are so excited about their new faith. That is one of the main reasons most orders won’t let you join until you’ve been Catholic for about two years. I joined the Church in 2007 and I’m still trying to make sure my “call” isn’t just convert’s zeal.

Good luck with your dicsernment and God bless your journey into His Church!

Joyful_1
 
I can relate entirely to your situation, Last March I began RCIA after deliberation and discernment as to whether I was truly being called to the Catholic Faith or not. My first experience of The Mass was a Traditional Latin Mass, and the beauty that emits from this “Extraordinary Form” left me breathless, and I needed to make sure that it wasn’t just the grandeur of the Mass that I was attracted to, but that I was truly seeking God. As I am sure you have already discovered conversion itself is a vocation, and one that requires no less amount of discernment than any other vocation.

Before I decided to convert, before I ever went to my first Mass, I was as innocent of a terrible person as one could be, but still a terrible person; my level of humanity was on the rocks and my compassion even for those whom I was close to was lacking; and really, looking back on it now there is no true way I can express or explain my conversion than to say that it was all God. I come from a background of midwest protestants who’s idea of Theology is to form arguments over how the KJV of The Bible is to be interpreted. My view of the Catholic Church stemmed from my upbringing and the disdainful image my protestant ministers painted of the Church. Basically, everything that John Hagee says about Catholicism, I was raised to believe.

To not make this too long, after years of questioning the very existence of God, and wanting to do my own thing, at the age of 19 I made the acquaintance of my first catholic friend, now 6 years later I am a confirmed catholic, and am myself, discerning the priesthood.

It didn’t take me long to realize that there was something about the priesthood that was luring me to it, but again I had to be sure that, as one person has already said, it wasn’t just convert zeal.
With the exception of my closest friends and one other who helps in RCIA – and who is also discerning the priesthood – I told no one of my discernment, mostly for the fear of being seen as not foolish, but amusing.

Now after almost a year of discerning, everyone who knows me knows that I want to be a priest. It’s quit funny actually; about a month before confirmation I told the RCIA director of my decision and now from her spreading of the news, people I don’t even know come up to me with well wishes; one lady even gave me a rosary that has been blessed by Our Holy Father – that act alone moved me to tears. Being a convert it’s not so evident to me, or wasn’t, how important new priest were to the faithful; but it’s amazing to see how so many people can seem affected by one persons decision; how glad they are.

Obviously you have a long time for discernment. The best advise that I could give you is to get acquainted with the Blessed Sacrament. Most parishes host hours for Eucharistic Adoration and many, like my parish, have perpetual adoration from 9pm Sunday night to 8am Saturday morning. Your Pastor will be able to help you in finding time for praying before the sacrament.

If maybe you feel that you are not yet comfortable enough for such devotion, which would be understandable concerning you have yet to begin RCIA, I would recommend praying the rosary. As a meditative tool it really helps in the discernment process.

Nevertheless, it can never be too early to begin your discernment; there are plenty of online resources to assist you and there are plenty of people with whom you can discuss your discernment with.

I hope some this is able to help; and know that all of us here have you in our prayers.
 
That’s great! You’re in the same situation as me! 😛
I was converted almost two years ago in a Cistercian Monastery. The first thing I felt was a very big attraction. Of course, it couldn’t bring me anywhere… :rolleyes:
But since this day, I keep in mind my discernment, and I’m looking forward to having Confirmation! 😃

I’m fond of God, but you must know that Spiritual Life isn’t always easy. You’ll have to go through sufferings, difficult moments, when you’ll be filled with doubt, disgust…
Keep on praying! That’s all I can tell you with my own experience.

Don’t be afraid of going where you feel better, where you can “feel” God and pray! Because God gives us places where we can really seek Him! Making retreats, even if you aren’t baptised yet, isn’t useless at all. It will really help you!

I advise you to write everything beautiful that may happen next, because in the hard days, you’ll really need to remember all this love you have.

😊 I remember my first days… I’ll never forget them. 😊 Go ahead, you can discern now, but don’t talk too often about it… You’d be torn away if one day you weren’t called.

God bless you and guide you!! :o
 
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