Questions on daily life for a sister

[snuck]

Hi, I’m new here, and hoping I can get some guidance and thoughts from people about daily life for a sister.

I’m seriously considering becoming a Sister in a more open and community engaged ministry. One with a focus on education, refugees and women/children support in the community.

I’m also left wondering, and having great difficulty, finding answers to things like:
Do you share a room?
What about meals - how are they organised? (I am coeliac, and unable to eat gluten/wheat without feeling quite ill, but manage it easily now day to day)
What about day to day - getting up, going to bed?
And how about visiting friends -seeing a movie, or having a social catchup with family and friends?
Mobile phones, laptops, ipods, pushbikes, books and pictures on the walls.Can you keep these? Don’t mind sharing them at all, just… don’t want to give them up exactly - they don’t really hinder religious life, and can give great depth (ie here I am on my laptop now )

I’m looking at a progressive order, with a community engagement policy, in Australia. Probably Sisters of Mercy if that might suit. But I am curious about other experiences in other communities…

 

[Cloisters]

Hi, I’m new here, and hoping I can get some guidance and thoughts from people about daily life for a sister.

I’m seriously considering becoming a Sister in a more open and community engaged ministry. One with a focus on education, refugees and women/children support in the community.

I’m also left wondering, and having great difficulty, finding answers to things like:
Do you share a room?
What about meals - how are they organised? (I am coeliac, and unable to eat gluten/wheat without feeling quite ill, but manage it easily now day to day)
What about day to day - getting up, going to bed?
And how about visiting friends -seeing a movie, or having a social catchup with family and friends?
Mobile phones, laptops, ipods, pushbikes, books and pictures on the walls.Can you keep these? Don’t mind sharing them at all, just… don’t want to give them up exactly - they don’t really hinder religious life, and can give great depth (ie here I am on my laptop now )

I’m looking at a progressive order, with a community engagement policy, in Australia. Probably Sisters of Mercy if that might suit. But I am curious about other experiences in other communities…

Community websites usually include an horarium (Latin for schedule).

Most orders that are engaged in the kinds of apostolate you feel drawn to are usually up around 5am, and in bed by 10pm. The “progressive” order that you’re talking about may allow you to live on your own, and that will essentially have you up at whatever time you need to be up.

Sounds like you need to start contacting communities there Down Under, and do “come and see” visits. That’ll give you more of a perspective on their lives than anything.

I understand the celiac part. I’m almost completely gluten intolerant myself.

The only orders I’ve ever heard of where sisters have to share rooms is if it’s a new order being founded; a new foundation of an established order; or it’s some form of the Benedictines. A sister usually has her own room (also known as a “cell”–from the Latin “cella”–pronounced “chella”–meaning room).

The one order that comes to mind while I’m sitting here is Mother Mary MacKillop’s community, the Sisters of St. Joseph. They minister to the Aboriginals, but not exclusively. Even if the “Brown Joeys” --as they were first called–don’t suit you, they can certainly show you what’s available there.

As for the material goods, it depends on the order. Usually, the closer you get to God, the less these things matter. I tell discerners that they will know when they’ve arrived at the right place for them when they can give up their “crutches”–a holy card or other object that brought them comfort in the world, or whatever else we felt we couldn’t live without while in the world. As St. Teresa of Avila stated, “God Alone Suffices.”

Anything taken to the convent usually becomes convent property. They will want you to bring a small amount of money, though, so that you can get back home if necessary.

And, as is oft repeated on these boards–get a spiritual director.

HTH.

Blessings,
Cloisters