Evangelisation Needed In The Uk

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

I'm curious to know more about your experience with FSM as I know the Sisters there quite well, including Sr Marianne. If you wouldn't mind, I would really like to talk to you. Please email me: franciscan.klt@gmail.com 

Thanks. 

God bless! 

 

This is a very old thread, so I hope you get an answer to your question. If you don't get an answer within a few weeks, if you feel comfortable, you may want to contact the Community directly. Plus, as I'm sure you know already, Lent begins this coming week, and some Religious who normally log into the Internet might not do so during Lent, or might not log in as often.

 

Sadly, despite the fact that this thread dates back to 2011, from the little I know, it feels as if the Catholic Church in general, and Catholic Religious Communities in both the U.S. and the UK still face many of the same issues now, in 2015, that they faced back in 2011. Although the U.S. and the U.K. have a lot of shared history, from all that I have read, the U.K. is still a far more "secular" nation than the U.S. Granted, many of the most vocal religious people in the U.S. are Protestant, but, in the almost five years I have been a member of Phatmass, I have seen a growth in interest in Catholic Religious vocations in the U.S., as well as a growing interest in Traditional Catholicism (again, at least in the U.S.). There is still much more work to be done, but it feels, at least, as if the trend is in a good direction. Unfortunately,  I don't know much about the situation in the UK.

 

In the past few months, we have had more Catholic Religious post on Vocation Station, both from the U.S. and the UK. This has been wonderful.

 

FYI--Back in 2011, I posted about Phatmass member Laetitia Crucis who joined the Dominican Sisters of St. Joseph in Lymington, England. She is still with this Community, is now Sister Mary Catherine, and made her First Profession a couple of years ago. In addition to Sister Mary Catherine, the Sisters of St. Joseph also have a novice from the U.S. And, these are obviously not the only two U.S. Catholic Religious in the UK.

 

Some people find it surprising that, despite the shared language and history, the cultures of the U.S. and the UK are  very different, and many people from the U.S. who move to the UK are not able to make the transition. Despite this, discerners from the U.S. may still want to look at UK Communities as part of their discernment.

 

I'm very glad you opened this thread again. (I had forgotten about it.)

[kg94]

This is a very old thread, so I hope you get an answer to your question. If you don't get an answer within a few weeks, if you feel comfortable, you may want to contact the Community directly. Plus, as I'm sure you know already, Lent begins this coming week, and some Religious who normally log into the Internet might not do so during Lent, or might not log in as often.

 

Sadly, despite the fact that this thread dates back to 2011, from the little I know, it feels as if the Catholic Church in general, and Catholic Religious Communities in both the U.S. and the UK still face many of the same issues now, in 2015, that they faced back in 2011. Although the U.S. and the U.K. have a lot of shared history, from all that I have read, the U.K. is still a far more "secular" nation than the U.S. Granted, many of the most vocal religious people in the U.S. are Protestant, but, in the almost five years I have been a member of Phatmass, I have seen a growth in interest in Catholic Religious vocations in the U.S., as well as a growing interest in Traditional Catholicism (again, at least in the U.S.). There is still much more work to be done, but it feels, at least, as if the trend is in a good direction. Unfortunately,  I don't know much about the situation in the UK.

 

In the past few months, we have had more Catholic Religious post on Vocation Station, both from the U.S. and the UK. This has been wonderful.

 

FYI--Back in 2011, I posted about Phatmass member Laetitia Crucis who joined the Dominican Sisters of St. Joseph in Lymington, England. She is still with this Community, is now Sister Mary Catherine, and made her First Profession a couple of years ago. In addition to Sister Mary Catherine, the Sisters of St. Joseph also have a novice from the U.S. And, these are obviously not the only two U.S. Catholic Religious in the UK.

 

Some people find it surprising that, despite the shared language and history, the cultures of the U.S. and the UK are  very different, and many people from the U.S. who move to the UK are not able to make the transition. Despite this, discerners from the U.S. may still want to look at UK Communities as part of their discernment.

 

I'm very glad you opened this thread again. (I had forgotten about it.)

Hi!

 

Thanks for your message. I am actually in touch with the Sisters and know them well. I've been up to see them in CC several times. I was just curious to see what other discerners thought and I just thought it'd be nice to have some other people to talk to about their journey - kind of like building a network, if you like. It's always nice to be able to talk about something and have other people who know about what you are talking about, so I hope the person replies to me. :)

 

If you want to email me, please feel free to do so. I keep that as a vocations email anyway, so it's publicly on line. :)

 

GBY.

 

Kim x

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

Hi!

 

Thanks for your message. I am actually in touch with the Sisters and know them well. I've been up to see them in CC several times. I was just curious to see what other discerners thought and I just thought it'd be nice to have some other people to talk to about their journey - kind of like building a network, if you like. It's always nice to be able to talk about something and have other people who know about what you are talking about, so I hope the person replies to me. :)

 

If you want to email me, please feel free to do so. I keep that as a vocations email anyway, so it's publicly on line. :)

 

GBY.

 

Kim x

 

I'm just really glad that you reopened the discussion about Vocations in the UK. Phatmass normally has a lot more anonymous "guests" than they have posters, and I'm hoping that your post will bring some of our "guest" discerners out of "hiding" and into the discussion--whether it's privately in a PM or email to you, or in a post in Vocation Station.

 

In the U.S., we often find it all too easily forget about other countries. Even if a discerner who reads Vocation Station isn't called to a Community in the UK, knowing more about what's going on in the UK will remind all of us to include the UK in our prayers.

[Sr Mary Catharine OP]

I would love it if we could start a monastery in the UK someday! The brethren are praying for it!

[orapronobis]

I am in the process of converting to the Catholic Church (through the Ordinariate) and it really makes me sad that male religious life in the UK seems to be slowly dying out. In the Anglican Church we had the communities of SSJE and the Abbey at Nashdom/Elmore and they have slowly withered away. I fully believe that the Ordinariate should try and found communities following their inspiration within the Catholic faith, Nashdom was famous for its Catholic liturgy and devotion to the Liturgy of the Hours. Just what the English Church needs!

[beatitude]

I am in the process of converting to the Catholic Church (through the Ordinariate) and it really makes me sad that male religious life in the UK seems to be slowly dying out. In the Anglican Church we had the communities of SSJE and the Abbey at Nashdom/Elmore and they have slowly withered away. I fully believe that the Ordinariate should try and found communities following their inspiration within the Catholic faith, Nashdom was famous for its Catholic liturgy and devotion to the Liturgy of the Hours. Just what the English Church needs!

 

I think the Ordinariate is already bringing about a small revival in religious life for women in the UK. :) Sisters who formerly belonged to an Anglican community have formed a new Benedictine monastery following their reception as Catholics, and there is a new little community down at Walsingham, the Sisters of Reconciliation. I pray for them daily, especially the Walsingham sisters. Some English sisters in a religious community I am very close to, the Little Sisters of Jesus, have mentioned to me that in recent years they have had several Anglican women approaching them to talk through deep questions about faith and vocation. I think something is stirring.