Older vocations?

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donsena said:
Hello, what oppurtunities are availalble to people in their late 50’s as far as vocations go?
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If you’re female, there is such a thing as “Betty Orders” starting to come together. I don’t know where you’re located, but Mater Ecclesiae is in the UK.

Lay associations of the faithful are also an option.

Secular Institutes.

If still physically a virgin, consecrated virgin is an option.

The Visitation will take older women, as will the Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood. Capuchin Poor Clares, and the Nuns of Perpetual Adoration.

The Children of Mary in Ohio.

I hope this is the right link for a blog with good links for older women:

womenreligiousorders.blogspot.com/

Any particular apostolate you’re attracted to or spirituality?

Blessings,
Cloisters
 
barb_finnegan said:
I heard it said on Mother Angelica’s program many years ago, when an older woman called about religious vocations. Mother told her, in effect, that older people were ‘too set in their ways’.
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Now I’ve had my dose of irony for the day.
 
dtatum said:
Does anyone know of contemplative/semicontemplative orders for men in their 50’s ?
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I’m sorry, I’m just amused at the term “older” being used for someone in his or her fifties. I believe people are in the prime of life at that time! (And people are living so much longer these days, many over 70 very active!) All best wishes at finding something where your experience and talent is welcomed:)
Kathryn Ann (young fifty something grandmother and still going/oblate of St. Benedict.):nun1::heaven::harp::grouphug:
 
At 54, How do I know if Jesus is calling me or I am only hearing my own voice?
 
I noticed that somebody used the British spelling of the word “practice”. Therefore, what is happening in Europe with older vocations?
 
atassina said:
At 54, How do I know if Jesus is calling me or I am only hearing my own voice?
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Respond. Just respond. Get an SD, and start working on it from there. If you have any kind of routine, commit it to paper, so you can honestly tell a vocations director that you’re already living some kind of horarium, but you’re flexible and adaptable.

“Set in their ways” can mean a myriad of things. I’ve heard of older vocations going into a convent and telling them that they need to paint the kitchen this color, and all kinds of nonsense. Recent divorcees–one can usually tell why they’re divorced. If a woman is divorced with children and wanting to enter a convent, I really have to bite my tongue.

People like that need a beguinage.

The eremitical calling is usually best for older discerners because they are set in their ways, are good at running their own house, and the hormones have died down.

My organization works with delayed vocations, and the first thing you need to do, after finding an SD, is to find your spirituality by reading the great Rules (Benedictine; Augustinian; Carmelite, etc.).

Blessings,
Cloisters
 
Brain of wood that I am, I did not understand the implied meaning of “socialized health care”. Does this mean that older people are being allowed to die?
 
atassina said:
Brain of wood that I am, I did not understand the implied meaning of “socialized health care”. Does this mean that older people are being allowed to die?
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No, it means that the healthcare in the UK is socialized, so the eldercare that would be a problem here in the US due to insurance is covered by the taxpayer there.

Blessings,
Cloisters
 
Oh I understand, you are indirectly making a case for socialized health care as a means of decreasing the reluctance to accept older vocations due to potential health problems.
 
atassina said:
Oh I understand, you are indirectly making a case for socialized health care as a means of decreasing the reluctance to accept older vocations due to potential health problems.
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Absolutely not!

I am simply making a statement about why the UK monasteries are more likely to accept an older vocation. It all has to do with those health gremlins we don’t know exist until the later years. We make up in our bodies what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ, and these health gremlins don’t come along sometimes until the older person enters the convent.

Lay associations may be the better way to go for the older vocations. They don’t have to transplant; they can adjust their schedules to the way of life; and they have the internet to keep in touch with their sisters/brothers. The lay associations can evolve into secular institutes or religious communities, but don’t have to.

Blessings,
Cloisters
 
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