Vocation for an engineer?

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Eupraxia

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Does anyone know an order or congregation where a woman could work as an engineer? I am engineer by profession and I have tried different jobs as well (nursing, orphanage), but most natural for me is to work with technology, science and nature. And I am most gifted in that area. Could I do it as a sister? In my country we have no congregations like that. Thanks for Your help! 🙂
 
what about researching missionary orders who do work in developing countries, I can see where such skills would be exceedingly valuable in many places. ask the vocations director of your diocese, or go on line to research missionary orders.
 
:bible1:
For **I **know the thoughts that **I **think towards you,
saith the Lord,
thoughts of peace, and not of affliction,
to give you an end and patience.
- Jeremiah 29:11

+Hi Eupraxia . . .

The engineering profession contains many disciplines . . . which type of engineering discipline are you referring to . . . ? . . . for example Father Joseph of EWTN was professionally an engineer before the **Lord **called him to become a brother and priest in the order of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word . . . and his engineering skills were much needed as EWTN developed and grew . . . by the grace of God . . . so quickly in Alabama here in the United States . . .

One thing to keep . . . always . . . in mind however . . . regarding consideration of our . . . Wonderful Lord’s . . . possibly calling you into the vocation of a religious . . . is that to follow such a call is to follow the . . . **Voice of Christ ** . . . calling you for . . . His Work . . . and in following such a call . . . your interest in engineering must needs be completely surrendered to the Lord for Him to do with as He pleases . . . God’s calling a soul into the life and vocation of a religious is a wonderful calling . . . but you need to realize you may . . . *possibly *. . . never have an opportunity to use this expertise as a religious sister/nun . . .

When discerning a possible call to the vocation of a life as a religious . . . it needs to be clearly understood that the first and foremost consideration and commitment of a religious sister/nun is to the Lord and His holy will, purpose and plan for your life . . . and your’s and any . . . good . . . holy, devout and spiritually healthy Catholic religious order’s first and foremost priority should . . . always . . . be that of the formation of your soul . . . as a religious nun :nun1: /sister . . . in the holy service of God . . . for the . . . Work of God . . . here on earth . . . and as such a religious you will be required to be obedient to the order’s superiors . . . they have the responsibility in and to the Lord for all final decisions re your future work if you join the order . . . not you . . . the simpliest little acts of obedience as well as the greater disciplines of obedience of a religious all are ordered to the final goal of becoming lovingly and humbly surrendered in obedience to the Will of God . . . in all things . . . for the love of God and mankind . . . and in consideration of becoming a sister/nun you need to prepare yourself in heart ❤️ and mind for this reality . . . which may include use of your engineering talents or . . . may not . . . you need to realize that first and foremost if you discern you are being called to the vocation of a religious . . . that you are being called to become a nun :nun2: /sister . . . *not an engineer . . . *and wholeheartedly embrace the below portion of the Our Father prayer . . .

:bible1:
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:10

I dearly love the below Benedictine prayer the nuns . . . *who have been such wonderful devout spiritual guides in my life *. . . pray during their final vows . . . which is quoted below . . .
:signofcross:"Save **Thy **handmaiden, O Lord, for in Thee is her hope. Let her be good and humble. Let her be exalted by obedience. Let her be bound to peace. Let her be constant in prayer. Lastly, O Lord, we beg Thee to receive graciously her offerings … "​

*In dedication to the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart . . . *

*God bless . . . *

. . . all for Jesus+
. . . thank You Sweet Spirit of our Holy God+
:byzsoc:​
 
Eupraxia said:
Does anyone know an order or congregation where a woman could work as an engineer? I am engineer by profession and I have tried different jobs as well (nursing, orphanage), but most natural for me is to work with technology, science and nature. And I am most gifted in that area. Could I do it as a sister? In my country we have no congregations like that. Thanks for Your help! 🙂
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First step; Contact a Vocations Director, you can usually find him by asking your Local Priest.

Second step; Arrange and meet your Local Vocations Director, and discuss where you are going.

It is important to realise that a Vocation is not what we want as individuals, it is about answering a call from God to serve him and others. A skill like Engineering is unlikely to be wasted, however in all the Orders I have ever seen or heard of a person is a Sister, Nun, Brother, Priest(some are Priests only second, such as Fransiscans) etc. FIRST, and an engineer, a teacher, a theologian or whatnot Second.

A Vocation is not about performing this or that particular Job, it is the dedication of oneself fully to God.

👍
 
Thank you for all your comments and advices!

I know vocation is not a career or a job, and I am not looking for that. I can have a career without being a religious. My “problem” is that I am not gifted in the way how women usually are; I don´t have a gift to be a teacher, speaker, nurse, social worker, I am not good with children etc. I am good with technology and science, and because God has given these gifts to me I suppose I should use it somehow. I am specialized to forestry and wood technology, I know I could not do exactly that in any congregation, but I suppose I could use my gifts somehow…? And I know the prayer is the most important apostolate in every congregation and that is also what I desire from the bottom of my heart. But I also would like to use my gifts for the Church and to help other people. Maybe a missionary order could be the answer 🙂
 
Sure there are religious orders that can use and engineer. I don’t know whether it would be in forrestry though. You may want to look into a religious community in health care, expecially one that runs its own hospitals. I know we have a number of engineers on staff here.

If your not looking specifically at engineering, but still someting more technical there are plenty of opportunities. (I’m a physicist by education.) My community’s primary apostolate is healthcare, but we aren’t all clinical people. Takes a lot of people with different professions and educational backgounds to run a healthcare system.

There could also be opportunities in communities that run there own schools or colleges. If they have to maintain their own buildings and or computer systems.

What country do you live in?
 
Drear Eupraxia

I would try daughters of St. Paul, the Benedictines or Franciscans.

Y?
  • D of st Paul: they are working with media so technically, they would need engineer somewhr.
  • Benedictines; their charisma is ora et labora (work and prayer)
  • Franciscans: they are also involved with building stuffs so I guess u would like to check that.
Btw: It’s not what you ve learned or what ur gifted for, I think you should visit several communities and you will be surprised where you will fall into. Ask Jesus to show you what he wants you to do. Before being a nun/sister, u followed your own will so you do whatever pleases you i.e But if you want to be religious, you let go your will and you follow God’s. So if you fall for say Franciscans, then you will have to do whatever God is asking of you even being in the kitchen to cook for your fellow nuns or for the poor. Your engineering status remain behind unless your superiors ask you to use such a skill.

Btw, am not convinced that the only thing you can do on earth is being an engineer in the forest. You may wish to ask the holy spirit to show you your other gifts. In case that’s truly your own gift then you should consider the parable of talents where a man with a single talents decided to hide it on the ground…

I will put you in my prayers. I’m a lawyer myself and I will be finishing my LL.M soon but with the grace of God, am ready to give it up for whatever HE is asking of me. It’s not easy but when you reach a point where nothing else matters, its like pew:thumbsup:

Will pray for you sis n pray for me too.

Densy.
I wonder what my life would be if I were not a Catholic. I Can’t thank God enough!🤷
 
Eupraxia said:
Does anyone know an order or congregation where a woman could work as an engineer? I am engineer by profession and I have tried different jobs as well (nursing, orphanage), but most natural for me is to work with technology, science and nature. And I am most gifted in that area. Could I do it as a sister? In my country we have no congregations like that. Thanks for Your help! 🙂
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A young priest at our college is an engineer. The Basilian Father’s run the college; they’re sort-of focused on education.
 
Thank you again for your helpful comments!

I believe we all have hidden gifts, but to find those can be not so simple… I think we all who are discerning religious life are (at least at first) drawn to communities what share our interests in their apostolate and lifestyle. But it is also sometimes hard to know the difference between desire and vocation… Most important would be to feel “at home” in the community. I haven´t found that community yet. I have visited several communities, especially contemplatives, but I haven´t found the place where I would feel “I belong here”. Maybe God is calling me live consecrated life in the world, or in third order. I don´t know yet.

I live in Scandinavia where problem is also that the Church is very small. Here we don´t have so many opportunities. I am open to move to other country, but making contacts and visiting is more complicated. But, I believe Lord will show me. I just have to keep on looking and searching.

Sister Rose, may I ask what is Your community?
 
I know that there are a few monasteries/convents in the Ozark mountains of Missouri/Arkansas (USA) that would love to have a forrester on staff.
 
Hello Eupraxia!
I suggest you take a look at the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist. They are located in Connecticut in the United States and Assisi, Italy. They have at least one sister in engineering. Sorry I don’t have the web link for you. If you do a search with their title, you should be able to find them. Good luck and God bless!
 
You might be interested in this news:

sistersofmary.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=179:our-new-dominican-doctor&catid=12:news&Itemid=147
On April 21st, the feast of St. Anselm (a Doctor of the Church) we gained a new doctor among the ranks of the Dominican Sisters of Mary. Sister Mary Elizabeth Merriam, OP, successfully defended her doctoral dissertation in electrical engineering at the University of Michigan, to a lecture hall filled with her parents, fourteen other Dominican Sisters of Mary, and many of her professors and colleagues. Sister had begun her graduate studies in electrical engineering prior to entering religious life, but after completing her Masters’ degree and her PhD coursework, she heard the call of Our Lord to follow Him as a Dominican Sister of Mary, and so she left off her studies and entered the convent. After she completed her education certification, Mother Assumpta asked her if she would be interested in returning to the University to finish what she had begun. Three years later, she has done so!
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If you are interested, I would email the community and ask them what sort of place they might have for you if you come in with such expertise.

God bless,
Rob
 
Densy makes a good point. I’m an attorney and am now discerning with a cloistered community. Will I ever practice law there? Most likely, no. But who knows how the gifts, knowledge, and skills I have may be used in other ways? Ways I cannot imagine that presently only God knows.

I love my legal practice, but I love God more so if He is calling me to give up my career, or anything else, I have to trust it’s because He has something far better in mind. Be open in your discernment and He will faithfully lead you and grant you the true desire of your heart.

I’ll keep you in prayer and may God grant you peace as you discern His will for your life! 🙂
 
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