Religious On the Net

[Ocarm]

My experience with this is (and I am not a vocation director) that because the resources of each communities are strained (time, manpower, skills) vocation work is streamlined to focus particularly in the work of recruiting candidates to their particular communities.

I think that’s absolutely right, and unfortunately, inevitable. But if the church as a whole prioritised the idea of discernment rather than, for example, complaining that there aren’t enough priests, the general message of seeking God’s will could be introduced in a developed and facilitative way, and then become more focussed as people begin to have a sense of what may be right for them. At that point we would begin our vocations work. My order does offer retreats that help men to look at all states of life, although of course we hope some of them might join us.

My own opinion is that being authentic to one’s calling is half the job. If I am living my religious life the way I should, it will speak for itself in words and deeds. I was drawn to religious life by the example of a nun who did not say a word to me about vocation.

I totally agree. I had a sense of God asking me to change my life, but it was the witness of men and women in very different forms of Carmelite life that led me to fall in love with Carmelite spirituality, and then discern how I might live that out myself. All these aspects of finding one’s vocation are linked, and not in any way more important than each other - be aware that God calls us to be truly ourselves, observe the witness of others, and find the charism or state that best fulfils His plan for us. Sounds easy, but it can take many years - it certainly did for me.

 

[JReducation]

I agree with something that you said, Sister, authentic witness. I believe that our holy father Francis had a similar idea when he said, “Preach always and when necessary use words.”

I also agree with what O’Carm said. Vocation direction should resemble spiritual direction. The director shoud lead where God wants the soul to go, not where we want it to go.

That being said, I would add this. Vocation Directors or Recruitment Ministry is an important ministry that has place in the religious life and secular priesthood. The number of younger people exposed to priests and religious is not as large as it was. There was a time when larg.e number of Catholic children attended Catholic schools and where Catholic schools were staffed by religious. Many religious communities were fed by their ministries, especially Catholic education and parish ministry. The smaller number of Catholic youth exposed to clergy, religious and secular orders must be considered.

In addition, the secular priesthood, religius and secular orders have a great deal of competition when it comes to attention. I believe there are so many careers, and life styes that attract the attention of the young, that it is easy for them not to look at the priesthood, religious or secular orders.

Also, many young people do not know enough about religious and secular institues, because of a lack of exposure to them. Unfortunately, the exposure in in the media is generally very negative. We hear about the number of priests and religious who have been charged with great crimes from sexual predators to embezlers. But we never hear about those who are exhonorated. The young people only hear the worse, not the best.

I can speak about my own community. Originally, we were part of the Secular Franciscan Order. Most people, including priests and religious, don’t even known that the Secular Franciscans, Lay Dominicans, Secular Carmelites and others are true orders with profession that is morally equivalent to the profession of the religious in those families. Many think these are pious organizations around a particular devotion to St. Teresa or St. Francis, etc.

I found out about the SFO because I was educated by Capuchin Franciscan Friars. I was exposed to the three Franciscan Orders. But that is not common today.

Later, when several of us gathered to live in a community house, under the direction of the local Minister and bishop, we made vows. We became canonical religious of diocesan right. Thus we became the OSF (Order of St. Francis) instead of SFO. But our work and spirituality are based on the rule of the SFO. Because people do not have much exposure to us, we have begun to make our presence felt by working among youth and their families.

My point is that sometimes you have to place yourself where the future brothers or sisters of your community can find you.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[allhers]

Hello Sister and everyone else,
I am sure you all know that praying daily for vocations is the most important of all and then I believe as JR pointed out, that you have to place yourself where the young people are and talk to them about vocations. When you notice a particular prayful person or one that is very kind and loving and always helping others, or one that seems to be very interested in Religion, that you ought to ask them if they have ever considered a vocation.

Unfortunately, it seems that young people are not getting as much exposure to the Religious life like they use to, as JR pointed out. They not only have to see you, they have to hear from you.

Perhaps classrooms could hook up with the internet and show what all the different Religious life is like, perhaps have some of you go into the classrooms and talk about your vocations, have them make a whole day of it, with Priest’s, Sisters, Monks, etc…all showing up on one day and just making an effort to reach them with your presence and show them what daily life is like for you. Share your stories and your lives like you are here. Set up time for Religious Education classes too, not just Catholic Schools as many who take Religious Education classes (or CCD or PRE) or whatever they are calling it now, go to public schools.

Maybe have pen pals, or internet “buddies” or whatever, different ways to reach out and to help them to start thinking about vocations. I haven’t checked into your blogspot yet Sister and maybe that is exactly what you are doing there. Some young people just need to hear that perhaps they are being called. Explain discernment to them, remind them to pray daily for God’s will for their lives. Show them all the different ways that God could be calling them to service.

Just my thoughts, I am sure many others would have better thoughts. Plus, I am sure that a lot of this is already being done in some places, but we need it so bad everywhere.

 

[ladybuggirl84]

I agree that we don’t see enough of the religious to jar our “own” way of life. I can say that growing up I saw one nun when she was doing a missionary thing at our church. That was it! In college I was asked to sing at a nursing home that is run by the Little Sisters of the Poor. That was my first real experience with nuns/sisters.

They just aren’t out in the open. It would be wonderful to have had some nuns visit us and talk in our youth group or offer a retreat. (I know the opportunities are out there, but no where near my parish…or so it seems)

Only recently, after a lot of research did I find that a contemplative order lives just a few towns away.

We NEED the exposure, it is what startles people out of the stuppor the world has put them in Those who know they are called will do the research to find the answers to their questions, but those who don’t realize, or wont realize, that they are called sometimes need an “in your face” experience.

I love that there are Sisters on the net who can describe their experiences and what it is like to be a Sister. It helps a lot on the discernment journey.

 

[Sister_Helena]

I am encouraged by these discussions. You guys are awesome! This makes me think I did the right thing after all in placing myself in the net! But your ideas so far are wonderful. I am even thinking that vocation work does not have to be formal in the sense that you go to so many formation sessions. I think just placing yourself (religious) on the path of these young people (and even the not so young) will generate the exposure and the interest enough for them to take the next step. But this brings me to the next touchy subject of the “habit.” DO you think a habited Sister can be more of a visible witness in the world? I am partial to this subject but I respect others decision because there is a lot that goes with a decision like that and most communities which chose not to wear the habit have compelling reasons.

the idea of having a group look at communities website and actually inviting these religious they see on the net is also a marvelous one! Inviting religious to the parish and classrooms are already being done.
I feel there is so much hope for vocation. There are plenty interested men and women, we just have to be more visible and more approachable to them, I think.

 

[allhers]

I am encouraged by these discussions. You guys are awesome! This makes me think I did the right thing after all in placing myself in the net! But your ideas so far are wonderful. I am even thinking that vocation work does not have to be formal in the sense that you go to so many formation sessions. I think just placing yourself (religious) on the path of these young people (and even the not so young) will generate the exposure and the interest enough for them to take the next step. But this brings me to the next touchy subject of the “habit.” DO you think a habited Sister can be more of a visible witness in the world? I am partial to this subject but I respect others decision because there is a lot that goes with a decision like that and most communities which chose not to wear the habit have compelling reasons.

the idea of having a group look at communities website and actually inviting these religious they see on the net is also a marvelous one! Inviting religious to the parish and classrooms are already being done.
I feel there is so much hope for vocation. There are plenty interested men and women, we just have to be more visible and more approachable to them, I think.

That is exactly why a habited person would be so excellent, they make a witness like no other can. I know I much prefer them in a habit and whenever I am in their presence it makes me feel extra special that I am Catholic too, I always make the effort to say…"Good morning Sister, or “Good evening Father/Brother.”

I just loved seeing Mother Angelica on T.V. the very first time I tuned in to her. She ia one awesome person who really “put it out there”. I believe she did God’s will in so many ways and reached so many, I’m sure she still does.

 

[JReducation]

The question of a habit is a tricky one. I believe that a habit is a powerful word in the world. At the same time, the decision to wear a habit has to be practical. I believe that one reason that more religious men have preserved some external habit or clerical shirt and less women religious wear one is because the rules for women were not practical.

The habits of many women religioius were very complicated to make and maintain and very uncomfortable to work in, especially manual labor and household chores. Men could take the habit off for sports, working in the garden, fixing the car or even watching TV with their brothers, especialy if the day was hot. They could take off the tunic or cassock and replace it with a clerical shirt. Women didn’t have these options.

I had the honor and pleasure of working with the Carmelite Sisters of Charity in Washington, DC. They had this kind of flexibility. They modified the Carmelite habit from the full habit to a simple tunic and veil. They allowed themselves the room to take it off as any other person does when they need to work in a pair of jeans doing what I call grungy work and wore it at all other times.

I have a very good friend who is a Dominican Sister of St. Cecilia. I thought that they never took their off the habit from the time they awoke until bedtime. She told me that they do, just like male religious do. It is up to the sister. But they have agreed to wear it when they are in public or community functions and they built the habit into their constitutions without difficulty, because they take a practical approach to it. As she put it, “It’s not a second skin as it once was.”

I loved that way of explaining it.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Sister_Helena]

Some of the Sisters I know in the cloister told me that cloister vocation seems to be on the rise. I don’t have the statistics to back the claim. I’m wondering if this is not partly because young people are so tired of what the world has to offer that they romanticize life in the monastery. They long for silence, solitude and simplicity of life. Is this an accurate assessment?

 

[Sister_Helena]

.

The habits of many women religious were very complicated to make and maintain and very uncomfortable to work in, especially manual labor and household chores.

This is one of the changes Vatican II implemented and I’m glad it did.

 

[JReducation]

This is one of the changes Vatican II implemented and I’m glad it did.

Sister, here’s a thought for you. Imagine having to sit next to a Daughter of Charity in her cornet flying coach in those tiny seats. Better yet, being a passenger in a car driven by one of them, when they can’t see into the rear view mirror.

Remember the days when friars could not wear pants under their tunics? Does anyone realize how that felt in a place like North Dakota or the Windy City of Chicago?

There is a rich symbolism in the religious habit. There is also common sense. The two have to preserved hand in hand.

Our brothers serve in the tropics. We wear a half-tunic. It is the traditional grey Franciscan tunic, but it reaches just below the hips. You wear it with light weight slacks of the same color. It retains the monastic look, while at the same time it allows for flexibility of movement and less skin problems than the old woolen tunic. We still have the long tunic with cincture, but it is worn when the situation allows it. The reason for the half-tunic is because we do not wear clerical shirts with collar as many men religious do.

I don’t know about sisters, but most communities of men were given two habits. In hot climates they could easily be identified by their “odor of sanctity”, not exactly what Vatican II meant when they said that the habit should be simple and becoming.

Thank God for Perfectae Caritatis!

Fraternally,

JR

 

[littletherese3]

They long for silence, solitude and simplicity of life. Is this an accurate assessment?

YES!

 

[JReducation]

Some of the Sisters I know in the cloister told me that cloister vocation seems to be on the rise. I don’t have the statistics to back the claim. I’m wondering if this is not partly because young people are so tired of what the world has to offer that they romanticize life in the monastery. They long for silence, solitude and simplicity of life. Is this an accurate assessment?

Longing for silence, simplicity and solitude are not necessarily a sign of a monastic vocation. Many lay men and women live consecrated lives in the secular world and practice silence, simplicity and solitude.

The monastic vocation is both a longing and a discovery. The monastic religious, male or female discovers that God gives himself to be posessed by man. He gives himself in the Eucharist, in the brothers and sisters with whom one shares the enclosure and on the cross. The monastic man or woman discovers that he or she needs no one else but God to serve God.

He or she does not need to find Christ in the poor, the sick, the child, the parish or any other place. He is satisfied with posessing Christ and being posessed by Christ without the physical contact that an active community offers. In other words, the person who is called to the monastic vocation is called to live in the silence where God does not speak through human voices, but through the soul.

The monastic is called to live in solitude where his only companion is the faith that God is eternally present, even though his presence may never be experienced, as was the case with many great monastics. Therefore, he goes into the desert to be alone and be found by God and to find God, rather than to the busy hospital, school, parish or city street.

Men and women who are called to monastic life live simple lives becausse not because they do not want or enjoy what the world has to offer, but because they do enjoy it. They see goodness and beauty in the created and material things of this world. This vision awakens in them the realization that these are all symbols that vaguely and imperfectly represent the goodness and beauty of God. They leave what they love to find who they love, the God of beauty and goodness.

In other words, the monastic vocation is not a call to simplicity, solitude and silence, but a call to seek the wealth that God offers, to be in God’s company without the distraction of men, and to hear God’s word, without human voices to distract them.

Not everyone is called to this life, because most of us depend on our senses to experience the Divine reality. Monastics have a very special gift. They do not need the senses to posess God and be posessed by him. This is a rare breed of people.

What is happening is that those who once thought they were different and saught to accommodate to the sensual (senses) life, are not discovering that their difference is a gift and they do not have to force themselves into a peg to fit in with the world. They can be different and there is a place for them.

Like Jesus rising our of the waters of the Jordan, they hear the voice of God saying, “This is my beloved Son” and they follow that voice into the desert.

One has to be careful not to fall in love with the externals of monastic life, but make sure that one is in love with the internals. The externals of monastic life can become torture for those who cannot find God in silence, solitude and material simplicity. God calls us to sacrifice, but he never calls us to be other than what he created us to be. Some are called to be Marth and others are called to be Mary.

Fraternally,

JR

 

[Sister_Helena]

In other words, the monastic vocation is not a call to simplicity, solitude and silence, but a call to seek the wealth that God offers, to be in God’s company without the distraction of men, and to hear God’s word, without human voices to distract them.

Not everyone is called to this life, because most of us depend on our senses to experience the Divine reality. Monastics have a very special gift. They do not need the senses to posess God and be posessed by him. This is a rare breed of people.

One has to be careful not to fall in love with the externals of monastic life, but make sure that one is in love with the internals. The externals of monastic life can become torture for those who cannot find God in silence, solitude and material simplicity. God calls us to sacrifice, but he never calls us to be other than what he created us to be. Some are called to be Marth and others are called to be Mary.

Fraternally,

JR

Thank you, JR, for that exhaustive contribution to this thread. I do want to add and propose a slightly different emphasis.

Monastic life is definitely a call within a call of discipleship. It is a very special calling for a very special mission in the Church. I agree that people see the fruits of a life totally and absolutely dedicated to God alone (simplicity, silence, solitude, singleness of purpose and other virtues) but forget to reason how these were all accomplished. It takes tremendous faith, hope and self-sacrifice to be faithful to monastic life. People can run the risk of admiring the view from the outside without realizing the pains and nakedness of spirit entailed in this particular journey.

I do not agree totally with the phrase 'they do not need the senses to possess God and be possessed by Him." Monastics are not angels, with no body. They are like all human beings who were created from matter. We are both matter and spirit, soul and body, inseparable from each… Our senses which perceive natural realities are the same senses which perceive and capture supernatural realities. We go to God through our humanity and humanness. We need our senses, monks and lay people alike, to perceive realities. Our external senses and internal senses **definitely **would have to be mortified and purified to effect some transformation into the likeness of God, but this is not an exclusive call for monastics. St. John of the Cross in his book “Ascent of Mount Carmel” precisely outlines this program for us. I do agree that it would be more difficult for a lay person or even for an active religious to find the environment for this, but it is nevertheless the interior detachment which makes us possess God, not the absence of material things. We are not talking merely of not having things materially, but of the purification of desires and uniting them with God. We are all called to this.

 

[JReducation]

Thank you, JR, for that exhaustive contribution to this thread. I do want to add and propose a slightly different emphasis.

Monastic life is definitely a call within a call of discipleship. It is a very special calling for a very special mission in the Church. I agree that people see the fruits of a life totally and absolutely dedicated to God alone (simplicity, silence, solitude, singleness of purpose and other virtues) but forget to reason how these were all accomplished. It takes tremendous faith, hope and self-sacrifice to be faithful to monastic life. People can run the risk of admiring the view from the outside without realizing the pains and nakedness of spirit entailed in this particular journey.

I do not agree totally with the phrase 'they do not need the senses to possess God and be possessed by Him." Monastics are not angels, with no body. They are like all human beings who were created from matter. We are both matter and spirit, soul and body, inseparable from each… Our senses which perceive natural realities are the same senses which perceive and capture supernatural realities. We go to God through our humanity and humanness. We need our senses, monks and lay people alike, to perceive realities. Our external senses and internal senses **definitely **would have to be mortified and purified to effect some transformation into the likeness of God, but this is not an exclusive call for monastics. St. John of the Cross in his book “Ascent of Mount Carmel” precisely outlines this program for us. I do agree that it would be more difficult for a lay person or even for an active religious to find the environment for this, but it is nevertheless the interior detachment which makes us possess God, not the absence of material things. We are not talking merely of not having things materially, but of the purification of desires and uniting them with God. We are all called to this.

I can agree with this.

Fraternally,

JR

 

[Sister_Helena]

I wonder if young people are more comfortable discussing their spiritual life with a Religious who’s totally unknown to them (like myself) in the internet, than with somebody they know? And if so, why?

 

[Sister_Helena]

I have heard it many times, among religious and lay-people alike, this remark: Religious life is dying.

I personally do not believe this. the Consecrated Life being a gift of the Holy Spirit, will never die. Religious communities do die and we have witnessed this with some communities or Order that are being replaced by new apostolic congregations. Now there are many reasons and opinions as to why religious communities die out. Some think it’s the loss of external witness, specifically the religious habit. Some say it’s the disappearance of the traditional Religious Community structures of community living (Sisters now living in apartments), increasing demands of ministry impinging on the religious time for spiritual growth, lack of new vocations, aging of current Sisters, etc. Whatever the reason may be, I believe the Consecrated Life will always be part of the life of the Church even when it reinvents itself.

 

[Marsha_Adams]

I have heard it many times, among religious and lay-people alike, this remark: Religious life is dying.

Some say it’s the disappearance of the traditional Religious Community structures of community living (Sisters now living in apartments) . . .

Religious life is not dying, but it is a changing. One change is the mushrooming numbers of Oblates and Lay Associates.

As for apartment dwelling nuns, when I was discerning a vocation I visited with the Adrien Dominican sisters I found that huge numbers of them lived alone in apartments. My personal response to this was, what is the difference between me living a “good” Catholic life as a single woman in an apartment, and them living a good Catholic life as sisters in an apartment? I couldn’t come up with a good answer, so I pursued my vocation in a different direction. To my mind, the key to religious life is community, but I’ve been wrong before.

 

[Sister_Helena]

As for apartment dwelling nuns, when I was discerning a vocation I visited with the Adrien Dominican sisters I found that huge numbers of them lived alone in apartments. My personal response to this was, what is the difference between me living a “good” Catholic life as a single woman in an apartment, and them living a good Catholic life as sisters in an apartment? I couldn’t come up with a good answer, so I pursued my vocation in a different direction. To my mind, the key to religious life is community, but I’ve been wrong before.

This is obviously a big concern of many discerning religious life. I think it also played into my own discernment. In fairness to those concerned, I realize now, being an insider, that these decisions don’t come easy to most Communities. I know of some individual Sisters who are in individual apartments because their Community has gotten old and with no new vocations entering. With more Sisters needing help, the Community resources have dwindled and they can no longer afford a convent. It’s hard to tell what comes first the egg or the chicken. Is it the change in lifestyle that discourages vocations or is it the lack of vocation which forces a new lifestyle? I am very grateful to God that my Community still keeps the traditional elements of Religious Life. We have much to be thankful for as a Community!

 

[Marsha_Adams]

In the case of the Adrien Dominicans, the reason did not appear to be a dwindling or aging order. The sisters also wore make up and jewelry, and dressed far more expensively in their “poverty” than I did on a good paying job.

In the case of the orders that are dwindling/aging, I am sure that the decision to live singly in an apartment with its accompanying loss of community is heart breaking. Praying the Office alone is just not the same as praying it in chapel with your sisters around you.

 

[Sister_Helena]

A fellow religious was verbalizing one day why every time she walks into a room, the conversation stops? She wasn’t quite sure how to take it, whether to feel insulted or what?
I told her that it happens to me too and I think it’s because people get very uncomfortable around a Sister or Priest. They don’t seem to know how to act, they get cautious or something. But that was just my opinion, I really am not sure how to answer her and I haven’t asked people either.