Thread for Women Discerning Religious Life

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anode said:
Can you define what you mean by ‘strict’?

-full habit?

-penitential practices?

-full office?

-perpetual fast and abstinence?

-papal enclosure?

Not all ‘strict’ enclosed monastic orders practice all of this.
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What exactly do you mean by “strict?”

Strict in observance? Strict with enclosure (which includes visitors)?

Here’s my website: cloisters.tripod.com/

Blessings,
Cloisters

Yes to the both of you
 
Definitely try the Poor Clare Colettines if you are looking at strict enclosure, but I would recommend the Passionist Nuns as well. They have strict rules as well. I would recommend the Passionists in Whitesville, KY. They are a beautiful community.

passionistnuns.org/

As for the Poor Clares, I would recommend the Santa Barbara convent:

poorclaressantabarbara.org/

My friend did a visit there and loved it, though she discovered she is not called to be cloistered. 🙂

I would also recommend the Roswell, NM; Belleville, IL; and Rockford, IL convents:

poorclare.org/belleville/
poorclaresroswell.com/
rockfordpoorclares.org/

There was one time when I was discerning the Poor Clares as a possibility, and I thought the Belleville Poor Clares were utterly beautiful. They have a video series on their website that I recommend you watch. God bless!
 
Thank you all, I can’t stop bookmarking the websites that you recommend! :D:D:D
 
This is off topic (just a tad), but I would like to offer as an option for older women who are seeking a second vocation or any woman who is called to a more secular, yet traditional, way of life to visit our website, oblatesistersofmarymagdalene.net/. We are an emerging charism, linked with the GS Renewal of the Magdalenes with Cloister Outreach. We offer a contemplative, Eucharistic charism in the spirit of St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier’s third expression. I invite you to consider completing the contact form and sampling this beautiful way of life.👍
 
LilFranciscan25 said:
Definitely try the Poor Clare Colettines if you are looking at strict enclosure, but I would recommend the Passionist Nuns as well. They have strict rules as well. I would recommend the Passionists in Whitesville, KY. They are a beautiful community.

passionistnuns.org/

As for the Poor Clares, I would recommend the Santa Barbara convent:

poorclaressantabarbara.org/

My friend did a visit there and loved it, though she discovered she is not called to be cloistered. 🙂

I would also recommend the Roswell, NM; Belleville, IL; and Rockford, IL convents:

poorclare.org/belleville/
poorclaresroswell.com/
rockfordpoorclares.org/

There was one time when I was discerning the Poor Clares as a possibility, and I thought the Belleville Poor Clares were utterly beautiful. They have a video series on their website that I recommend you watch. God bless!
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Just to add some information for those thinking of Contemplative Life in the Franciscan family. Please note this is not meant to be an exhaustive list… just an addition to some of the links above]…

In addition to the Poor Clare Colletines there are also …

Many Poor Clare Communities in the United States following various observances perhaps the most well known in addition to the Colletine being the O.S.C.

you might try these links to read more about the poor clares in general and also the differences between the various ways of living out the rule of St Clare:

poorclare.org/* [this website is quite nice as it gives an overview of the many monasteries throughout the world]… and the many observances…

poorclare.org/blog/?page_id=32

Sr Judith Ann is with this community: [poorclaresmt.org/]](http://www.poorclaresmt.org/])

I shall be entering the Poor Clares in Spokane calledbyjoy.com/ ]

Hope this helps to keep the ideas and suggestions flowing… blessings of peace…
 
**I am happy to say that I have been able to update our website, oblatesistersofmarymagdalene.net/, with pictures of our habits and more detail in our way of life. I also have updated the ever growing resource page to reflect our affiliation with Cloister Outreach and the Good Shepherd Magdalen Renewal. Again, I would like to invite those interested to visit us and see what we are about.

Now, the site is still rather under construction, but we are able to add more information all of the time.👍**
 
Well, I guess it was bound to happen one of these days. I got my first “You should be a nun!” comment from a fellow parishioner. 😉 (and “You look like a nun” - I was wearing black dressy slacks, white shirt, and pink vest/jacket… Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters?). Maybe I should wear my brown “Carmelite Outfit” next week. 🙂

It’s really been an interesting day…

This morning, I decided to watch some nun/vocation videos on YouTube. One of the nuns/sisters said something about asking Mary, so I did before church. During hymns, like the Gloria, (and looking over at this cute little 4 year old in the pew in front of me), I could visualize myself in a habit. After Mass, one elderly parishioner (who’s part of the Altar Society – they clean the sanctuary and altar every morning, and I see her when I can get to Daily Mass in the morning). That’s when she said, “You look like a nun! You should be a nun!”. We were talking a bit, and before we left, she pointed and said, “Be a nun! :)”.

Anyway, this evening just now, I was helping to take my great-aunt back to her assisted living home, which is the one I’ve mentioned before that looks like it would make for the perfect little convent with its’ simple rooms. I was sitting with my great-aunt in the hallway outside of her room, and was visualizing how it would look as a convent. The thought of the Carmelite Sisters of the Aged and Infirmed came to mind.

Later, there was this elderly lady (the residents on that floor have some stage of memory loss, alzheimers, dementia), took my hand and wanted me to help her walk places (with the worker that works there). So, I gladly helped her go to the “Movie Room” and helped her sit down. Then she got up 30 seconds later and wanted to walk with us (my mom and I) as we were leaving, so the other worker and I (she grabbed my hand again) walked towards the exit. I felt a certain “tug” in my heartstrings (don’t know if it was just doing a good deed, or something more) while we were walking the halls. 🙂

One thing that I know I’ve felt a tug to do is to help the elderly (not nursing, more like hospitality) who are in nursing homes, and especially those who have no or little family, or those who don’t have anyone to visit them. Maybe that comes from when I helped my aunt with her Cancer Support Group years ago before she passed away (from cancer). We would sometimes visit people who were recovering from their illness.

Now, I wonder how that fits into my curiousity about nuns (which I think just won’t leave now!), and my attraction to prayer and contemplative life.
 
I’m asking for your prayers because I’m at a spiritual crossroads with the Visitation Nuns and the Franciscans. I love both orders and I can’t (and really don’t want to) make a decision right now. It would be premature anyway. 😉 I’ve learned to mellow out and take my discernment one step at a time, however, I would like to visit the Visitation Monastery in Mobile, AL. I am planning to contact them this week and ask when I should come. I’ve also started looking at tickets to ride a Greyhound bus there and it’s not that expensive. I’m selling some things on eBay to fund the fare (that sounds funny, LOL), if it be God’s will. I know He will provide for me as He has done so graciously in the past (I could tell stories about His incredible miracles!).

This retreat is known as the “Desert Experience” and has been recommended to me by several friends. I had every intention of going as soon as possible just to use this time to be silent and still and learn from the Sisters and the Lord, but now I think it might be useful as a discernment retreat as well.

I will be spending some time at Mass and Adoration this week to pray about this and see what the Lord says since He is ultimately acting as my spiritual director right now (my SD is out of town for several weeks and I might be looking for a new one soon). I am not going to rush into this, but I feel like this opportunity is presenting itself since I don’t have a job now and I have the time to make the retreat. All I need is the money. 😃

May His Holy Heart be forever praised! Amen. ❤️
 
Being the world’s foremost authority… well, at least in my own mind:o. I have completed a blog which is, in all honesty, over 15 years in the making. I have been wanting to express my views on the annulment process for years. It was that requirement by the Church for me to pursue my dream of living consecrated life, which drew me even more into living a life in accordance of the evangelical counsels.

I know it may not ring the bell of all of you, but for those of you for whom it’s relevant, I hope it is helpful!
 
I am so new at this… I never thought I’d EVER want to be a sister, but slowly my heart is opening up to the idea. I’m an Evangelical convert and I grew up expecting to give my mother loads of “grand babies” 😃 but now I’ll have to see…

The most attractive thing about becoming a sister is being able to completely devout myself and my work to proclaiming the truth of the Church. I’ve got evangelism running through my veins, I guess 😉

Anyway, at 19, I know I have a long way to go, but it is comforting to read and reflect on what the other women on here in the same position are saying.

God’s peace be with us all,
hmm
 
Hmmm… I like that name! Maybe it’s because I say it so much of the time. Anyway, you have a young, fresh outlook on consecrated life and you should do very well. Now, remember, marriage is a consecrated vocation and if it is truly sacramental, you are still devoting 100% of your life to Our Lord.

There are a multitude of opportunities for you. About twice each year, our diocese has a discernment weekend. There are also a multitude of places looking for someone like your self. My emerging charism, the Oblate Sisters of Mary Magdalene, is particularly geared for women a bit older… possibly contemplating a second vocation, maybe reaching a less than desirable age for entrance into many communities. What we do offer is a chance for women to live consecrated life in their own milieu and to see if secular or cloistered consecration is for you. Well, we are much more than that, but you get the idea. Our site is oblatesistersofmarymagdalene.net/, so give us a look if you are so inclined. I also found a site, which slips my mind at the moment, but lists a variety of forms of religious life for women. Find a spiritual director, ask your parish priest or a sister you may know, and have them handy while you embark on the discernment process. They are the jewels of the journey! Be bless, um hmmm…
 
Here’s a link to the novices of the US Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph:

go to:

sistersofsaintjosephfederation.org/

and clink on “Meet the 2008 Novices”.

One of them was divorced for 20 years before she started looking at congregations, and has grown children. Another is Vietnamese.
 
I started looking at various websites of members of the UN Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph and found the one in Florida. It contained a link to a 9-page pdf. file on their Spiritual Discernment Process which contained one of the most complete discussions of the discernment process with an order that I have seen. I suspect that what they do is similar to what is done in many orders.

Worth a look.

ssjfl.org/discerning.htm
 
Is this thread still open? I was wondering if there is anyone discerning with the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church.
 
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