Talking to your priest about a religious vocation

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I’ve been thinking that I may have a religious vocation as a sister or nun. It sounds so strange and odd to me since I don’t know any religious besides my priest, but I do think God may be calling me to look into it. Over the past few months, the idea of being a religious has come to feel less crazy and more desirable.

I haven’t told anyone yet, and I’m a little embarrassed. I feel as if people will say that I’m not good enough for a vocation like that (which I’m not!). Yesterday, I got a strong feeling that it’s time to talk to my priest about it, so I’m going to try to do that soon. My priest has acted a bit as a spiritual director for me before, and I know him relatively well.

What should I say? Has anyone else brought their possible vocation up with a priest (or another religious or spiritual director)? How did the he react?

Thank you in advance for any thoughts or experiences! 🙂
 
Hi, justagirl.

I would think you could say something like, “I’ve been having thoughts lately about religious life. I think God might be calling me to become a Sister. Do you think this is really of God?” I’m pretty sure I said something like that.

When I spoke with my priest about it, He got an excited glint in his eyes as I’m sure he was excited to see a young person pondering religious life. He told me about his own journey to the priesthood and suggested some reading for me. He also suggested talking to a Sister he knew. I took everything to heart, read the book, visited the Sister.

Be not afraid, my friend. It is good to stop living with these thoughts only in your head, but sharing them with someone who can relate (priest or religious). You can get some very good direction to help you in the discernment process.

God’s blessing for you on this journey!

Peace in Christ,
Teri
 
justagirl said:
I’ve been thinking that I may have a religious vocation as a sister or nun. It sounds so strange and odd to me since I don’t know any religious besides my priest, but I do think God may be calling me to look into it. Over the past few months, the idea of being a religious has come to feel less crazy and more desirable.

I haven’t told anyone yet, and I’m a little embarrassed. I feel as if people will say that I’m not good enough for a vocation like that (which I’m not!). Yesterday, I got a strong feeling that it’s time to talk to my priest about it, so I’m going to try to do that soon. My priest has acted a bit as a spiritual director for me before, and I know him relatively well.

What should I say? Has anyone else brought their possible vocation up with a priest (or another religious or spiritual director)? How did the he react?

Thank you in advance for any thoughts or experiences! 🙂
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I first talked to my parish priest about my vocation about 8 months into my discernment. I was hoping that he would be my spiritual director, but he is so busy since he is the only priest at our parish. So, he told me to contact a Social Ministries Coordinator in the diocese that was also a Sister (a Sinsinawa Dominican). At first, I didn’t think much of it, but I got home and researched the Sister and found out which order she was in, and I didn’t feel comfortable asking her, so I asked a priest at my old Church to be my SD and he said the same. So, I finally decided to listen about a month later, and then found out that she had been reassigned! 😦 So, I didn’t know what to do. I went for 4 more months without an SD, and finally had a general Confession with the priest that I had asked last. He had finished our session, and I told him my dilemma and reminded him that I had asked him and he said to contact the Sister. He knew the Sister was no longer available, so he said he would do it! 😃

He has helped me so much! The first time I told him I wanted to be a Sister, his eyes lit up and we have been working together now that I am a formal aspirant to a Carmelite community. He even wrote a letter of reference for a job with the Sisters that I am going to next month, so I am very happy.

Don’t be afraid to approach your priest. You might even consider contacting the diocese you are in and asking if they have a vocation director that you can speak to. Most of the time, the VDs are dedicated to the priesthood discernment, but they do help with those who are discerning other options.
 
Wow! Thanks for being so encouraging! I think I’ll approach him next week sometime. I just need to figure out what to say. :o
 
justagirl said:
Wow! Thanks for being so encouraging! I think I’ll approach him next week sometime. I just need to figure out what to say. :o
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Make an appointment with him so that you both have time to talk about it.
 
I’m dipping my toe in the water at the moment. I have written to a few orders/congregations for information but the only ones that seem to be replying are enclosed/contemplative orders (maybe Our Lord is trying to tell me something!). I haven’t spoken to my local priest yet but I think that will come when the time is right.

I will hold you in my thoughts and prayers as you walk this path.
 
First thing to do, find some quiet time and pray in silence. Once you are comfortable sitting down and talking with God in prayer, you will be even more comfortable talking to a priest or a nun about a vocation.

I graduated from high school 10 years ago and I always had people telling me I would make a great priest. I never paid attention to a thing they said and I went on to college and eventually got a job. During that time there were always little things asking me to explore a vocation but I was more interested in partying, making money and living on my own. I am now 6 years out of college and only within the last year did I come to realize I was being called to the priesthood.

Everyone’s discernment is different and unique. God uses people and events around us to get his message out. It was only until I took some quiet time to pray did I come to realize I needed some spiritual direction. After talking with a priest that specializes in vocations, I came to realize God was talking to me in a unique way over all these years.

I am coming to the end of my private journey and about to take steps in the next leg of this journey. God has a plan and its way better than anything we could ever come up with. Follow that plan and enjoy the journey.

-Jay
 
Thanks!

I agree, Jay, on how important quiet prayer is. One of the reasons I think I may be called toward religious life is the fact that one of my favorite things to do is pray. I spend a couple of hours a day in prayer now, and I’d love to double it! 🙂
 
If prayer is your favorite thing, then God will speak to you that way. I tend to be a little loud and I often miss subtle hints. Luckily God knows this and he has put me around good people to assist with my discernment. He also put things right in front of me so I cant miss it anymore.

Good luck.
 
Before you go to your meeting with your priest, take some time to reflect and pray. Don’t try to figure out ‘how to tell him’, but just let your heart open with your thoughts. Your priest will likely smile, be very happy and honored that you came to him for advice and guidance, and offer to do his best to help you through the initial stages of discernment. He will ask you questions about your faith/prayer life and your feeling of being called. He’ll ask questions to try and help figure out what communities might be a good fit, and offer to help you contact them to continue your discernment. You will probably go in nervous, but as the meeting goes, the nervousness will be replaced by a big sense of relief to get it out in the open, and you’ll leave the meeting feeling very relaxed, and probably excited, about continuing to explore the vocation.
 
Thank you so much. That’s great advice, tvknight.

I’m mostly nervous because I’m a new “re-vert” to the Church (I guess… I was raised only nominally Catholic and just started practicing recently), and I’m nervous the priest won’t take me seriously because of that. I know my feeling of a religious vocation could just be excitement at entering the Church fully, but for a variety of reasons I don’t think that’s it.

The idea of being a religious just popped into my head one day, and it was really surprising! The idea was also very unwelcome! I kept ignoring it but the idea kept tugging at me, and slowly but surely it has gotten more attractive to me. At the same time, I have felt less called toward marriage, even though I would love to have a family. Every time I pray about what my vocation is, I feel more called to religious life.

Anyway, I’m just nervous that my feelings and thoughts will be dismissed. 😊

My priest is a wonderful man, though, so I probably don’t need to be concerned.
 
As someone trying to figure out if I’m called to the priesthood this thread was super helpful. I had been wrestling with it for months, and finally told my assistant pastor after daily mass two days ago. He had another meeting really soon afterwards, so we didn’t have a ton of time to talk, and asked me for phone number and told me he would try to talk about it with me again soon (probably in a week or so after I finish drivers Ed). Anyway, thanks for the advice to anyone who posted in this thread, and I hope you (Just a Girl) figured out what God was calling you to!
 
Back when I was discerning, I had a very positive experience talking about it with my pastor. He was very helpful, not pushing anything but offering suggestions. It was such a blessing!
 
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