Some advice to keep in mind when posting here

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

I have been thinking about this a lot lately and I think we need a post here in the Vocations sub-forum stating how one should post here when looking for vocation/discernment advice.

The first thing is to post whether you are a male or a female as user names do not always disclose this and it is very important information to know when you are asking about religious orders/communities.

You should already be discerning a vocation on your own with the aid of a spiritual director. You should let us know if you have one, if not you need to get one as the first step of your vocational discernment.

If you are a man then you should have already discerned between religious life and secular life with the aid of your spiritual director. The lifestyle of each is very different.

Even if you feel that you are called to the religious priesthood it is still different than the secular life. Even in the communities that are a congregation/society of secular priest it is different than the secular diocesan priest’s lifestyle.

Please list what dioceses or religious orders/communities you have contacted and/or you feel a call to.

Be aware that this is an anonymous forum and should not be used as the main source of your vocational discernment; really it should play almost no role in your discernment. Your main sources for your discernment should be prayer, your spiritual director, the vocations directors you contact, and your lived experience of the diocese or religious order/community that you are in contact with.

This is not a place to illicit information as to which orders/communities/dioceses are “orthodox” as that is a very subjective opinion. Any diocese/community/order that is in good standing with the Church is “orthodox”. It is the individuals within those groups that may have ideas that stray but that should not color the order as a whole.

Having said that, this is a good place to explore the experiences other may have had or are having with specific dioceses/communities/orders but not opinions of those who have no real lived experiences with them. For example, I may think that the Sisters of Waters of Jericho are awesome because they wear a traditional habit, BUT HOW MUCH DO I KNOW ABOUT WHAT’S UNDER THAT?

Any specifics of your life, abilities, and preferences (such as the OF or the EF from of the Mass) should be shared. Some of us may not really be able to provide any information due to differences in these things.

Lastly, this is for everyone else who reads these posts and reply. We should avoid playing the role of vocations director or any sort of spiritual director. This is not our role and we are not equipped for it. Not only do most of us have no experience or training to do such, as this is an anonymous forum, we do not truly know the individual posting. We should also refrain from criticizing dioceses/communities/orders or individual vocations directors.

And a final note, it is important to remember that while one might feel a calling or one might think someone else has a call that there is no true Call present until the Church, though the bishop or religious superior, actually Calls one to make vows or to ordination.

 

[JReducation]

If you are male, remember, there is a difference between a call to Holy Orders and a call to religious life. They are not the same thing. A man can be called to one and not the other. Diocesan and secular priests are not religioius. A consecrated religious can be a priest, but it’s not necessary.

If you are a man, you need to discern if God is calling you to the Sacrament of Holy Orders (deacon or priest) or to the consecrated life (life in vows in religioius community). He may call you to one or the other or to both.

For the average lay person, please avoid presenting the Holy Orders as the epitome of all vocations or as a marriage between a man and the Church. These are contrary to the doctrine of the Church. The consecrated life (with or without the priesthood) is the highest calling in the Church, as defined by Church doctrine and priests are not married to the Church. If they were married to the Church, married men would be disqualified from the permanent diaconate or the priesthood where a prior marriage is permitted before ordination.

A cleric is married to his wife or is celibate, there is not marriage to the Church. A religious is married to his or her religious institute. His or her vow of chastity is a covenant between the individual, the Church, the religious institute and God. Therefore, a person who is in a vow of chastity is in a covenant relationship that is equal to that of a marriage. Therefore, he or she cannot validly contract marriage. A secular priest can validly, but illicitly contract marraige, except when permission is granted.

It would be good, if you mentioned that you belong to an Eastern Church, because your situation may allow you to marry before you become a deacon.

Again, let’s avoid pushing the priesthood for men, at the expense of the diaconate and the religious life. We are losing many vocations to the diaconate and religious life on these threads, because young men are not encouraged to explore those calls.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Jesus_123]

+ Wow! . . . with all due respect . . . I absolutely DO NOT agree with the original post on this thread . . . re posting lots of personal private information . . . When interacting on the internet . . . it is wise to keep in mind the portion of Sacred :bible1: Scripture recorded below . . .

**'Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil,
as a roaring lion,
walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour. **
1 Peter 5:8
:bible1:

While the Catholic Answers Forum is a prayerfully founded . . . *relatively carefully *. . . monitored Christian Catholic website and apostolate . . . with clear strict Forum rules re posts . . . and the owners do try to keep it as a . . . benign . . . internet website . . . rather than allowing it to become a . . . dangerous and hostile at times . . . community . . . there are those who frequent this site who are . . . neither . . . Christian . . . nor . . . Catholic . . . and their motives are often not in the least bit . . . benign . . . and can often be very subtly dangerous and hostile to God’s children’s souls and well being . . . and now and again some of these folks are not in the least bit subtle re their dark intentions toward others . . .

Careful folks . . . keep it neutral . . . and play your “cards” close to the chest . . . and prayerfully rely on the . . . Holy Spirit of our Wonderful God . . . to guide and direct your posts . . . and God can and will supply the necessary information and guidance you may require for the next step on your spiritual pathway . . . Other than those who own and administer this Forum . . . don’t let . . . **anyone **at anytime for any reason . . . try to control your postings . . . and give careful thought to . . . absolutely not . . . responding to any individuals who ask for personal information . . .

There are some wonderful . . . good . . . holy . . . Christian . . . people . . . in various levels of spiritual growth and development . . . who frequent this site . . . **trust God **. . . but navigate . . . with care . . . when on the internet folks . . .

**“See then that ye walk circumspectly,
not as fools,
but as wise,
redeeming the time,
because the days are evil.” **
Ephesians 5:15-16
:bible1:

The Holy Bible
Ephesians 6:12

:coffeeread: For we wrestle NOT

against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

. . . all for Jesus+
. . . St. Michael the Archangel +
. . . guide and protect all at CAF+
:angel1:
. . . Lord, Thy Will and Thine Alone
be done on the CAF Forum Website . . .+
​

 

[JReducation]

+ Wow! . . . with all due respect . . . I absolutely DO NOT agree with the original post on this thread . . . re posting lots of personal private information . . . When interacting on the internet . . . it is wise to keep in mind the portion of Sacred :bible1: Scripture recorded below . . .

**'Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil,
as a roaring lion,
walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour. **
1 Peter 5:8
:bible1:

While the Catholic Answers Forum is a prayerfully founded . . . *relatively carefully *. . . monitored Christian Catholic website and apostolate . . . with clear strict Forum rules re posts . . . and the owners do try to keep it as a . . . benign . . . internet website . . . rather than allowing it to become a . . . dangerous and hostile at times . . . community . . . there are those who frequent this site who are . . . neither . . . Christian . . . nor . . . Catholic . . . and their motives are often not in the least bit . . . benign . . . and can often be very subtly dangerous and hostile to God’s children’s souls and well being . . . and now and again some of these folks are not in the least bit subtle re their dark intentions toward others . . .

Careful folks . . . keep it neutral . . . and play your “cards” close to the chest . . . and prayerfully rely on the . . . Holy Spirit of our Wonderful God . . . to guide and direct your posts . . . and God can and will supply the necessary information and guidance you may require for the next step on your spiritual pathway . . . Other than those who own and administer this Forum . . . don’t let . . . anyone at anytime for any reason . . . try to control your postings . . . and give careful thought to . . . absolutely not . . . responding to any individuals who ask for personal information . . .

There are some wonderful . . . good . . . holy . . . Christian . . . people . . . in various levels of spiritual growth and development . . . who frequent this site . . . **trust God **. . . but navigate . . . with care . . . when on the internet folks . . .

**“See then that ye walk circumspectly,
not as fools,
but as wise,
redeeming the time,
because the days are evil.” **
Ephesians 5:15-16
:bible1:

. . . all for Jesus+
. . . St. Michael the Archangel +
. . . guide and protect all at CAF+
:angel1:
. . . Lord, Thy Will and Thine Alone
be done on the CAF Forum Website . . .+
​

I agree that one should be very circumspect with information that one places on these boards. That being said, I also agree with Br. David’s concerns, because as a religious I too share them. I’d like to share my own concerns regarding the vocation sub-forum. I’ll try to make them very brief.

1. Too many lay people are giving advice on vocations to the religious life and Holy Orders who do not know the difference and do not bother to check it out.
2. The lay people on these boards are acting as if the priesthood is going to disappear, if we don’t take advantage of everyone who says that they want to be a priest. Our faith tells us that this will never happen.
3. We must encourage men and women to speak to those who know something about the spiritual life. The average parish priest is not trained in the spiritual life. Spirituality is an optional area of study in the seminary. If you are a member of a religious institute, you will have gone through a postulancy, novitiate and a juniorate in which you will have studied a great deal about the spiritual life. If you are a diocesan, you will not have that benefit. They do not go through this training.
4. As said before, men have a choice between Holy Orders and the Consecrated Life.
5. Holy Orders and the Consecrated Life are not the same. Encourage males to discern them separately. Some men may have a call within a call, not all.
6. For those who know little or nothing about religious brothers, I encourage you to read up on them. They are truly consecrated men in vows, in a stable form of life that dates back to the early Church.
7. Do not assume that because you feel the call to be a cleric or a religious that you have a call. Only the Church has the authority to say if you have a calling. The Church reserves this authority for itself.
8. Do not confuse the states of religious life: hermit, monastic, mendicant, apostolic and secular orders. If you’re not sure, find out.
9. Do not confuse the states of Holy Orders: diaconate, priesthood and episcopacy.
10. Traditional does not mean wearing a habit. There are many new communities that wear a habit, but are not traditional. Traditional, in religious life, means a religious family that has an old history within the life of the Church: Dominican, Franciscan, Benedictine, Cathusian, Carmelite, Trinitarian, Augustinian, Basilian, Jesuit, Salesian, Vincentian. Those are the traditional orders. There are also the major orders. These are for men only: Benedictine, Augustinian, Carmelite, Franciscan, Dominican, Carthusian, and Trinitarian.
11. The form of the mass (EF or OF) is not a reflection of the religious institute’s spirituality and charism. The charism is defined by the founder(s). The form of the mass adopted by a religious family is which ever is best suited for their needs.
12. Please show respect for the religious and clergy who post on these threads by not arguing with them about their way of life. They know what they live and to what they have committed themselves.

I hope this helps.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

+ Wow! . . . with all due respect . . . I absolutely DO NOT agree with the original post on this thread . . . re posting lots of personal private information . . . When interacting on the internet . . . it is wise to keep in mind the portion of Sacred :bible1: Scripture recorded below . . .

**'Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil,
as a roaring lion,
walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour. **
1 Peter 5:8
:bible1:

What kind of personal information did I say that one should give that would be bad to give?

All that I asked for is the posters gender, if they have a spiritual director, if they have done the basics of vocational discernment, what orders they feel a call too and any other information regarding what they view as their gifts.

None of that is private information that could be used to harm a person.

If someone is so secretive that they can not share this basic information then there should be a question as to whether or not the person has a calling to religious life and/or the priesthood.

 

[Hidden_One]

If someone is so secretive that they can not share this basic information then there should be a question as to whether or not the person has a calling to religious life and/or the priesthood.

Isn’t that question always there until the Church answers it?

Anyway, some may be unwilling to post aspects of that information (particularly specific orders) for such mundane and, I think, valid reasons as not to either create a discussion about the order (ex: a man brings up a Carthusians community and people who’ve never heard of them speak up and derail the conversation and/or throw in needless/useless critiques of them) or to be encouraged against wisdom to re-discern an order seemingly not for them (ex: a woman with Dominican leanings who does not feel called to the Nashville Dominicans and has not seriously discerned in their direction may get flak from well-meaning posters).

And again, with gifts… tangents and trouble all over, there. This forum is not, yet, in my eyes, a truly safe place to post such things and those who are reticent about doing such and/or sensitive to others’ comments (especially younger Catholics) may, in fact, be perfectly justified in not giving out all of that information, at least in the beginning of their interactions in the forum.

Others may be fine with it and it may well work out for their betterment. What I, personally, don’t want to see develop is a culture of “Give us info a,b,c,d,p,q,x,y, and z, and then we’ll talk to you.” It is, of course, more useful in many situations to have all of such information, but even so. And I question, ByzCath, your seeming assertion that those who are more cautious need to question the possibility of their vocation to not-marriage more closely than those who are open. I think that this can bite both ways: many of the cautious may take that poorly, and some of not not-as-cautious may consider themselves more “in the clear” than they ought.

 

[ThomasEugene]

these are really helpful!

1. Too many lay people are giving advice on vocations to the religious life and Holy Orders who do not know the difference and do not bother to check it out.

This has been my concern, too. May I add, I am also disturbed when people talk as if they know everything in the religious life, even though they haven’t been religous.

1. The lay people on these boards are acting as if the priesthood is going to disappear, if we don’t take advantage of everyone who says that they want to be a priest. Our faith tells us that this will never happen.

I am quite aware of this, but yes we must have faith, we must believe that the Lord will not leave us helpless. After all, He told us that He will not leave us orphans.

1. We must encourage men and women to speak to those who know something about the spiritual life. The average parish priest is not trained in the spiritual life. Spirituality is an optional area of study in the seminary. If you are a member of a religious institute, you will have gone through a postulancy, novitiate and a juniorate in which you will have studied a great deal about the spiritual life. If you are a diocesan, you will not have that benefit. They do not go through this training.

i didn’t know this! thank you for the information!

1. Holy Orders and the Consecrated Life are not the same. Encourage males to discern them separately. Some men may have a call within a call, not all.

This is a problem in our country. When they hear that a man is going to enter the Franciscans, all they know that he will be a priest, etc. Many don’t know the difference between diocesan and religious priests.

1. For those who know little or nothing about religious brothers, I encourage you to read up on them. They are truly consecrated men in vows, in a stable form of life that dates back to the early Church.

in my country, people do not understand the meaning of being a brother. They end up discouraging one being a brother. Brothers are very essential to the Church. I
hope many will understand,

1. Traditional does not mean wearing a habit. There are many new communities that wear a habit, but are not traditional. Traditional, in religious life, means a religious family that has an old history within the life of the Church: Dominican, Franciscan, Benedictine, Cathusian, Carmelite, Trinitarian, Augustinian, Basilian, Jesuit, Salesian, Vincentian. Those are the traditional orders. There are also the major orders. These are for men only: Benedictine, Augustinian, Carmelite, Franciscan, Dominican, Carthusian, and Trinitarian.

I read the word habit, and i would like to share this from the imitation of Christ:
The habit and the tonsure contribute little; but a change of manners, an an entire mortification of the passions, make a true religious

You’re the best Br. JR~

 

[Jesus_123]

What kind of personal information did I say that one should give that would be bad to give?.

The Holy Bible
Genesis 3:1

:coffeeread: Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD GOD

had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

PRAYER TO
SAINT MICHAEL
THE ARCHANGEL

St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.

. . . all for Jesus+
. . . Precious Blood Of Jesus
. . . in all Your Ancient Power
. . . cover all who have been in contact
with this CAF thread+
"Who hath ears to hear, let him hear."
Matthew 13:9
​

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

These are for men only: Benedictine, Augustinian, Carmelite, Franciscan, Dominican, Carthusian, and Trinitarian.

 

[ThomasEugene]

I overlooked that. i am confused. too.

 

[JReducation]

In religious life you have several breakdowns. You have the traditional religious orders. Those are the old orders that we mentioned above. The old orders have branches for men and women.

Among the traditional orders or older orders, there are groups called the Major Orders of Men. These are the original groups that were founded exclusively for males, for example:

Franciscans are a traditional order dating back 800 years. But the original Franciscans are open only to males. Franciscans open to females are not major orders. They are congregations

The same thing happens with the Dominicans. They are a traditional religious family. But the major order, which gave life to the Dominican movement, remains only for men. The other Dominicans are congregations.

There are several major orders of men. They have a different canonical status in the Church. Their vows are different. Their government is different. Their superiors have the same powers as a bishop, even if the superior is not a priest. They answer only to the Holy Father. They are protected from the laity by canon law. No lay authority can hold claim on their allegiance, property, or services. They are also protected from the bishops by canon law. The bishop can only dictate in those areas where the order and the diocese work together. In areas that are not diocesan, the bishop may not intervene. The major orders of men are free to come and go as they please. They are not bound to any jurisdiction in the Church. They can run their institutions as they see fit. They may not interfere in the affairs of the local diocese. They are Catholic, but are not part of the physical Catholic Church of a diocese. The men in major orders of religious men are free of any ties to any bishop or diocese. In matters of liturgy, they follow the rules of their order inside their chapels and of the local diocese where they may be living if they are in a diocesan parish. The one who owns the building makes the rules.

Women who belong to the traditional religious orders: Dominicans, Franciscans, etc or men who belong to the congregations: Vincentians, Redemptorists, Oblates of Mary, etc. are not part of the major orders of men. Therefore, they do not have these protections or these rights. They have some rights. Others have none of the rights. Others have all of the rights. It’s up to the Holy See.

But the major orders of men have all these rights, because they were in effect when they were founded and the changes in the laws that govern religious life are not retroactive, unless they are abrogated by the Vatican. So, if the Vatican says that only men can join the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscan Friars) and that the Friars Minor have certain rights, that makes the Friars Minor a Major Order of Men. Only those who belong to that branch of the Franciscan family belong to a major order of men. The others belong to the Franciscan tradition, but not to the major order. They belong to one of the congregations of the order. These have different vows and different effects.

It’s complicated. I am on the formation team of my community and have to teach all of these rules to our novices every year. Every year they look at me as if i were talking Chinese. But it’s important, because there are some things that they must do and other things that they may never do. If they do not know the rules, they can get into trouble with a superior or with a bishop.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

JR, it’s clear that you know a lot. But perhaps your knowledge is to a point of confusing people. It’s confusing to me and I have a degree in theology.

Scholastica was Benedict’s twin. She was a nun following his Rule at the same time he was a monk following the Rule. To say that Benedictines are a men’s order is not helpful.

Dominic founded his order of nuns before he founded the friars. To say that Dominicans are a men’s order is not helpful.

I’m not sure why you’re doing this, but if you think you’re helping a woman by telling her she can’t be a Benedictine, Carmelite, Dominican, etc., you’re not.

To add to the original list, perhaps one more should be KISS – keep it simple and don’t simply do information dumps.

 

[Sister_Rose]

Back the original topic. I wouldn’t want to limit the people able to post or ask questions on this forum only to those who had already ruled out a secular vocation or those who already have a spiritual director. (I don’t know if that was what you intended to say, but that is what it sounded like to me.) I think those who are just starting to discern a vocation still have a lot of questions that they may be afraid to ask anywhere else. Also, good spiritual directors are hard to come by. As you have said already, many priests have not received much training in the spiritual life, although that does seem to be changing. We have run also run into some young women whose spiritual directors or pastors were very much against religious life in general. Sometimes they are the only priests they know to go to or are available for spiritual direction.

I do find that people do give false information on the forum. They often are told something that is wrong or they over generalize. Or personal opinions are expressed as facts. I don’t know that we will ever be able really get rid of that in a forum like this. I think that those who are more informed on those topics have to step in and correct the information. Provide a little balance. This gives the opportunity to correct the false ideas of the person who posted it too.

I think the biggest thing we need to do is to warn people that this is a forum. They cannot assume that everything here is correct or reliable. We need to watch out for the younger ones. But we can’t tell what is going on though the personal messages.

 

[CDNowak]

I have a number of issues with this thread. I have been discerning most of my life, and have found anonymous forums such as this one very useful in clarifying my thoughts and my options. In part, this is because there was no need to share information that is, quite frankly, none of anyone else’s business (ie spiritual direction).

Among the most helpful converstaions were the “illicit” (under what law, pray tell) ones regarding the comparative spirituality (including form of the Mass), faithfulness (seminary and religious orders of men were visited, sisters now under a double visitation), and manner of life (externals that I find helpful to my spiritual life: habits, etc.).

That being said there are helpful points, vis-a-vis the distinctions in vocations (unfortunatley not made within some orders), the fact that your parish priest may (sadly) not be qualified as a spiritual director (although this often eliminates the availability of spiritual direction, particularly for younger members!)

I especially want to echo Sr Rose: This is a forum. All advice should be given as generally as possible and taken with a shaker of salt. As is pointed out, very few of us are vocation directors, and an internet forum in not the place for real formation in either case.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Isn’t that question always there until the Church answers it?

Yes this is true.

Anyway, some may be unwilling to post aspects of that information (particularly specific orders) for such mundane and, I think, valid reasons as not to either create a discussion about the order (ex: a man brings up a Carthusians community and people who’ve never heard of them speak up and derail the conversation and/or throw in needless/useless critiques of them) or to be encouraged against wisdom to re-discern an order seemingly not for them (ex: a woman with Dominican leanings who does not feel called to the Nashville Dominicans and has not seriously discerned in their direction may get flak from well-meaning posters).

The reason I that one should post what order/communites they feel a call to is becuase we may not be able to help them. If one feels a call to the Carthusians there will be little help out there for them outside of a spiritual director and the vocations director for the Carthusians due to the fact that they are hermits.

If people are giving someone “flak” then the moderators need to be contacted.

It is very hard to provide assistance without basic information.

And again, with gifts… tangents and trouble all over, there. This forum is not, yet, in my eyes, a truly safe place to post such things and those who are reticent about doing such and/or sensitive to others’ comments (especially younger Catholics) may, in fact, be perfectly justified in not giving out all of that information, at least in the beginning of their interactions in the forum.

Safe or not, there is nothing in the information I say that we need that can be used against someone.

Again, to provide basic assistance there is a level of information that we need.

Others may be fine with it and it may well work out for their betterment. What I, personally, don’t want to see develop is a culture of “Give us info a,b,c,d,p,q,x,y, and z, and then we’ll talk to you.” It is, of course, more useful in many situations to have all of such information, but even so. And I question, ByzCath, your seeming assertion that those who are more cautious need to question the possibility of their vocation to not-marriage more closely than those who are open. I think that this can bite both ways: many of the cautious may take that poorly, and some of not not-as-cautious may consider themselves more “in the clear” than they ought.

Secrecy is not a good quality for a calling and, again, nothing I asked for can be qualified as personal information as none of it can lead us to who an actual person is.

Many of the questions I say we “need” may not have answers as the person may just be starting out in their vocational discernment but it is helpful if they do have it.

The basics musts, as I see them, is to have a spiritual director and for men to have worked out whether their calling is to the secular or religious life.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

**The Holy Bible
Genesis 3:1 **Quote:
:coffeeread: Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD GOD had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

You are making no sense with these posts.

 

[JReducation]

JR, it’s clear that you know a lot. But perhaps your knowledge is to a point of confusing people. It’s confusing to me and I have a degree in theology.

Scholastica was Benedict’s twin. She was a nun following his Rule at the same time he was a monk following the Rule. To say that Benedictines are a men’s order is not helpful.

Dominic founded his order of nuns before he founded the friars. To say that Dominicans are a men’s order is not helpful.

I’m not sure why you’re doing this, but if you think you’re helping a woman by telling her she can’t be a Benedictine, Carmelite, Dominican, etc., you’re not.

To add to the original list, perhaps one more should be KISS – keep it simple and don’t simply do information dumps.

I can see how this is confusing and how it’s not helpful in the context of this thread. It is better left for a formation class on religious life. I withdraw the statement. However, if anyone wants to know more about the difference between what the Church calls the Major Orders of Men and the Traditional Religious Orders, there may be a series of lectures found on EWTN’s catalogue. There is a Msgr. who did a very good set of conferrences on these differences. They are historical differences, not theological. Though there are some canonical issues that enter the picture. But again, that’s probably a good subject for those who are interested in the history of religious life, rather than someone discerning a vocation.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Hidden_One]

JR, it’s clear that you know a lot. But perhaps your knowledge is to a point of confusing people. It’s confusing to me and I have a degree in theology.

I’m just quoting that so that what I’m about to say will make more sense, in the context of to what I am replying.

Scholastica was Benedict’s twin. She was a nun following his Rule at the same time he was a monk following the Rule. To say that Benedictines are a men’s order is not helpful.

He did not say that, at least, according to the terms as you understand them.

Dominic founded his order of nuns before he founded the friars. To say that Dominicans are a men’s order is not helpful.

He did not say that, at least, according to the terms as you understand them.

I’m not sure why you’re doing this, but if you think you’re helping a woman by telling her she can’t be a Benedictine, Carmelite, Dominican, etc., you’re not.

He’s not.

Br. JR was elaborating on the different types of religious… “set-ups”. There are people who are rightly called Dominicans who are under various “set-ups”. The Major Order of Dominicans is the Order of Preachers, which is open only to men. The Major Order of Franciscans is the Order of Friars Minor, which is open only to men. Etc. There are, of course, many groups of the Dominican or Franciscan (etc.) spirituality and tradition who are rightly referred to as Franciscans or Dominicans but are not Major Orders… such as all of the ones that include females.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

JR, you’re a model of courtesy and charity. We can all take lessons from you.

 

[JReducation]

JR, you’re a model of courtesy and charity. We can all take lessons from you.

My best answer to this is, “God is good. Everything we are and do that is good for us or for others really comes from his love and his Divine Providence.”

I’m just very lucky to have met folks like all of you.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF