Older women choosing religious life

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LoveMercyGrace

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I am wondering if any older women have information- or maybe an interest- in

taking vows in a religious order? There are some that accept older women

and curious to hear any information you may have to share. Or if you have made a retreat

or visit with sisters someplace?

Thank you!
 
There is a community founded by Mother Rosalind Moss that may accept older women:

motherofisraelshope.org/vocation.htm

Mother Rosalind, a Catholic convert from Judaism, herself is a “late vocation”.

Blessings, Peace and All Good in Jesus Christ
 
If you are interested in following the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi, there is a new community forming in Steubenville, Ohio called the Family of Jacopa. This community is for widows and single women over 40 years old. We are working with the Diocese, supported by the local Secular Franciscan Community and mentored by the Franciscan TOR Priests and Franciscan Sisters TOR of the Sorrowful Mother.
It consists of two groups. The Family of Jacopa (Seculars) will be fully professed in the Secular Franciscan Order and members of the Family of Jacopa. They may live in their own homes anywhere in the world.
Also there is the Sisters of Jacopa who will live together in community in Steubenville and God-willing will be allowed to be consecrated religious Sisters. There will be a particular Postulant garb to wear and Novice/Professed habit with a veil.
You may contact: familyjacopa@yahoo.com or call (740) 275-6168 for more information. There is also a Facebook page called, “Family of Jacopa” and a blog:
familiajacopa.wordpress.com/
 
LoveMercyGrace said:
I am wondering if any older women have information- or maybe an interest- in

taking vows in a religious order? There are some that accept older women

and curious to hear any information you may have to share. Or if you have made a retreat

or visit with sisters someplace?

Thank you!
Click to expand...
Bless you for responding to grace!

Communities just for older women are beginning to emerge. The reasons for established comunities not accepting older women are numerous.

Practice interior silence.

Find your spirituality.

If you don’t have a spiritual director, the Liturgy of the Hours will suffice until one can be found. Immerse yourself in the spiritual classics.

Also, look locally first before trying to “cross the pond.”

Blessings,
Cloisters
 
Hi, LoveMercyGrace (great name, by the way!).

There is also a new group of Sisters of St. Joseph forming in Flint, Michigan. I have nearly twenty years experience of living religious life in a pontifical right congregation and will be part of this new/renewed SSJ group. Women of varying ages are invited to discern with us…they should have a pioneering and adventurous spirit to be among the first members of this new group of SSJ! 👍

The purpose of the institute of the Sisters of St. Joseph that will exist in the Diocese of Lansing is the personal sanctification of the members, instruction of youth from preschools to colleges, participation in the New Evangelization, and to provide an avenue for the living out of the appropriate renewal of religious life from a Sister of St. Joseph perspective.

A spiritual foundation or charism: Sisters of St. Joseph (Ignatian/Salesian). Our life is based on the original documents of the Sisters of St. Joseph, with necessary updates for the 21st century.

The Sisters will have advisement from local Sisters of St. Joseph who have lived the life for 52 + years; these Sisters will act as spiritual guides and will help to form the new Sisters in the spirit of the institute. The timetables will be at the discretion of the Bishop; the Sisters will look to him as a spiritual father and religious superior.

We have great encouragement from the delegate for consecrated life/special assistant to the Bishop, the director of priestly vocations/formation, the director of consecrated vocations, and some great local priests.

God bless!
 
I have always wondered about how communities in the us handle health insurance?

Do you normally need to bring money into the community when admitted?
 
Deltadeliquent said:
I have always wondered about how communities in the us handle health insurance?

Do you normally need to bring money into the community when admitted?
Click to expand...
Dear Deltadeliquent,

It depends on the community…different groups have different practices. In some, your work supplies your health insurance, in some you must supply your own until vows, in some you supply your own until novitiate. In some you are probably on “congregational insurance” as soon as you enter.

God bless.
 
In the Diocese of Portland, Maine two new communities were approved that were founded
precisely for older women:
  • The Companions of Clare who accept women 62 & up (but also younger women if they
    apply) are a contemplative community founded by an ex-Poor Clare Nun;
  • The Sisters of the Cure of Ars for women up to 72 yrs of age; a community of active
    Sisters working w/children & others. They have two kinds of members: one group lives
    in community; the other is composed of members who live in their own homes.
Both communities have an online presence: Google Companions of Clare
or Sisters of the Cure of Ars
 
Cloisters said:
Bless you for responding to grace!

Communities just for older women are beginning to emerge. The reasons for established comunities not accepting older women are numerous.

Practice interior silence.

Find your spirituality.

If you don’t have a spiritual director, the Liturgy of the Hours will suffice until one can be found. Immerse yourself in the spiritual classics.

Also, look locally first before trying to “cross the pond.”

Blessings,
Cloisters
Click to expand...
*I Thank you, Cloisters, for this bit of guidance! may be helpful to others too. Joy and blessings *
 
Thank you all for posting so helpful information! Joy and blessings to all~
 
LoveMercyGrace said:
I am wondering if any older women have information- or maybe an interest- in

taking vows in a religious order? There are some that accept older women

and curious to hear any information you may have to share. Or if you have made a retreat

or visit with sisters someplace?

As a Convert to the Catholic Church and older than 35 hence this is the cut off age for the majority of Orders I have done a lot of research and have found a very nice Order that will take the older and much older vocation pending on circumstances of course, they are traditional, full habit and veil (no hair showing) and a great bunch, they are called
All Saints Sisters of the Poor, e-mail address is info@allsaintssisters.org
then you can always google them for there Website and find out more, or drop them an e-mail. God Bless . I am in talks with them myself.

Thank you!
Click to expand...
 
The Community of Saint Anna (www.saintanna.co) is a group of single women living in their own homes who are committed to compassionate listening and intercessory prayer. We are guided by the Benedictine Rule, adapted to our circumstances. Our inspiration is Anna the Prophetess, who prayed for all those who came to the Temple (and for those who didn’t) without exception, and whose transformation into love allowed her to recognize the infant Jesus as the Savior.

A few differences from traditional orders: Most of the members are Catholic, but there have been several from other faiths who have asked to become part of the community and have shared a rich faith life, warmth, and wisdom with all, and have been appreciated greatly by the other members. No annulments are necessary for divorced members, prayers for the blessing of faithfulness are offered rather than vows, and there is no upper age limit. A common dress is optional.

All the wonderful groups springing up by and for mature women suggest that the Spirit is working with generous women everywhere to maintain religious life and create new forms for the conditions of today - a very encouraging sign!
 
Here is another one that is set up as a public institution in Tyler Texas - Sister Susan and the Daughters of Divine Hope live in an old convent (which they have worked on probably) and apparently a few women have joined. I have spoken to her twice,and emailed several times, and she is a lovely Sister, open to many different situations that older women have - this community is worth studying. The habit is interesting. BEfore you judge, ask her about what it means and how it came about.

info@daughtersofdivinehope.org

I am 66 - 67 in September. Not all the new communities are accepting of that age, even if they say they do and you can prove your good health and so on.

Personally, after months of searching and many conversations and a visit or two, I have backed off from applying any more. I have a vocation, but perhaps it is to something other than community. This is a painful thing for me to admit, as it is the end of a long, long, dream.
 
Please don’t give up, you know the expression The Lord does not give a heart’s desire without the means to fulfill it.

As before there is also “All Saints sisters of the Poor” in Maryland who take late vocations, as well as Daughters of Divine Hope in Tyler in Texas.

Trust in the Lord, talk to Sr. Christina in All Saints, very traditional habit, no hair showing etc, plus Mother Catherine who founded the Daughters, find out what the Lord wants of you
Code: 
                     "Speak for your Servant heareth"
By talking to these two great nuns and visiting them will you know, I know its easy to get down about it, but don’t if the Lord is with is who can be against us. Have another go, look up there Website’s and go forward with the Lord.

God Bless on your Journey.:signofcross::signofcross:
 
Been a while since I posted. I plan to visit the Brigittines in Tyler Texas in October - to visit I wil have to stay in a motel and provide my own transportation, since the one sister there does not have alot of accomodations for visits. This convent is I believe semi-cloistered - contact with family once a month. (Associated wtih FSSP, and is a public institution of the faithful) I finally got my nerve up to just ask if that could be changed to once a week. (no answer yet) Deep i my heart, I just cannot do once a month contact with family. I wish I could, but I can’t.( I have grown children) And yes I know that family is probably THE biggest obstacle to older women and vocation.(Taht and being set in your ways) That is why I was attracted to several “post-Vatican II liturgy” communities for older women, such as Daughters of Divine Hope, because one can talk to their children…and other things that make sense for older women. But I am attached to the Latin mass and the Breviary before 1962. That’s been established for sure.

I had a friend who recently visited a basically cloistered community in Italy which I would rather not name. They were devout Catholic women, and they pray all the offices. The real deal. Here is what disturbed me: there are 14 women, in a large but not huge home. During work time there seems to be very little for all 14 women to do. AFter the cooking and daily cleaning, some sewing and so on, there was not much else else. No garden for food, no crafts to sell. She was a visitor and she felt that a huge obstacle would be just plain no “real” work. I’m sorry, but I really heard that. You can only dust for so long.

I spent 2 months at a convent I will not name in 2007, where there were 6 others, and that also was my experience - there was not enough to keep all 7 of us busy, in an engaged sense. (that was not why I left). There were enourmous, unsurmountable, problems there and it no longer exists, but I spent many afternooons just wandering the halls. FRankly you can only read spritual literature for so long also. A person needs some kind of meaningfull work. I think.

So how do those big cloistered communities keep everyone engaged in some kind of work?
 
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