Stories Of Older Discerners

[AccountDeleted]

I saw this obituary and thought I would start a thread on older discerners, whether living or dead, people who felt the call to the priesthood or religious life late in life, and then offered themselves at the 11th hour. There are many of them and I think it's inspiring for someone like me (over 50) to read their stories. It gives me hope that God is really calling me too. I have read other stories in VS but thought we could use a thread dedicated to these people.

My own parish priest back in Melbourne told me he was called in his fifties and took his vows when he turned 60. This obituary is about a man who was also called late, after a life as a policeman, father, monk and finally a priest.

Please post any inspiriing stories about older vocations here....

[url="http://www.getreligion.org/2011/11/a-life-police-pro-father-monk-and-father/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+getreligion%2FDmXm+%28GetReligion%29"]http://www.getreligion.org/2011/11/a-life-police-pro-father-monk-and-father/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+getreligion%2FDmXm+%28GetReligion%29[/url]

[OnlySunshine]

[url="http://www.the-tidings.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1499:benedictine-priest-ordained-at-st-marys&catid=113:local&Itemid=402"]Divorced (and subsequently annulled) man becomes ordained as a Benedictine priest after entering the monastery.[/url]

http://blog.beliefnet.com/deaconsbench/2008/01/vocation-stories-just-dont-get-any-better-than-this-really.html

[OnlySunshine]

[url="http://text.medjugorje.ws/en/articles/vocation-sister-rita-marie-sofka/"]Sr. Rita Maria Sofka[/url]

[url="http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0904228.htm"]Fr. Rick Curry, SJ[/url]

[url="http://vocations.dublindiocese.ie/life-as-a-priest/fr-gerry-moore.html"]Fr. Gerry Moore[/url]

[url="http://www.cam.org.au/vocations/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=182&catid=69&Itemid=189"]Fr. Peter Ferwerda[/url]

Edited November 4, 2011 by MaterMisericordiae

[AccountDeleted]

[quote name='MaterMisericordiae' timestamp='1320371660' post='2331088']
[url="http://www.the-tidings.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1499:benedictine-priest-ordained-at-st-marys&catid=113:local&Itemid=402"]Divorced (and subsequently annulled) man becomes ordained as a Benedictine priest after entering the monastery.[/url]

[url="http://blog.beliefnet.com/deaconsbench/2008/01/vocation-stories-just-dont-get-any-better-than-this-really.html"]http://blog.beliefne...his-really.html[/url]
[/quote]


Another good one. I think it is easier for men to become priests late in life than it is for women to find a community that will let them enter as religious. A priest I knew back in Perth had been married and had a son, marriage annuled and he became a priest and then officiated at his own son's wedding!

[AccountDeleted]

[quote name='MaterMisericordiae' timestamp='1320371960' post='2331091']
[url="http://text.medjugorje.ws/en/articles/vocation-sister-rita-marie-sofka/"]Sr. Rita Marie Sofka[/url]

[url="http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0904228.htm"]Fr. Rick Curry, SJ[/url]

[url="http://vocations.dublindiocese.ie/life-as-a-priest/fr-gerry-moore.html"]Fr. Gerry Moore[/url]

[url="http://www.cam.org.au/vocations/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=182&catid=69&Itemid=189"]Fr. Peter Ferwerda[/url]
[/quote]

Loved this from Sr Rita's story...
[quote] One day, I run into Fr. Slavko Barbarić. My friends told me to talk to him. I told him: “I think, God is truly calling me to religious life, but I am 50 years old.” He said: “Well, if you were dating three men and you wanted to decide which man to marry, what would you do?” I said: “I would spend time with each of them to see if we were compatible.” He said: “With religious life it is the same. There are three kinds of communities: totally apostolic, they work out in the world; totally contemplative, they pray all the time; and the combination of the two. So, where do you think you would go?” I said: “The last one. I love people, and I love the Lord.” He said: “Then you go back, you visit the communities that are contemplative and apostolic. As you visit them, you will see if you have something in common spiritually, if you have this charism. You will know it. When you go to the right one, peace will come over you.” I thanked him and I went. [/quote]

[MarysLittleFlower]

I think St Rita was married first and had children, before she became a nun

[Laudem Gloriae]

Sr. Paul Miriam of the Waldron Visitation in the UK - while not an article she talks about her vocation, entering when older and "hanging on my her fingernails" and "looking up at that cross every day and saying 'yes'".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e04eF9K5ags&feature=player_embedded


Another Visitation story from the Rockville Visitation - article:

www.catholicvirginian.org/archive/2011/2011vol86iss17/pages/article8.html


While I know of no article, there was a woman in her early 70's who was Solemnly Professed in the Dallas Carmel (1990).

[organwerke]

[quote name='nunsense' timestamp='1320371997' post='2331092']


Another good one. I think it is easier for men to become priests late in life than it is for women to find a community that will let them enter as religious. A priest I knew back in Perth had been married and had a son, marriage annuled and he became a priest and then officiated at his own son's wedding!
[/quote]

maybe I am too cinic but I don't like very much stories like this...

[PrayerSupporter]

I would like to know more of the story of Sister Margaret Ann of the Blessed Sacrament, a Carmelite nun from the Terre Haute Carmel. She recently died (July 6, 2011) and the memorial card for her indicates that she was born in 1938 and was professed in 2003 -- that would mean she was 65 when she was professed. I was told second hand (so don't know how accurate it is) that she cared for a parent until their death and then entered Carmel. God bless her, and God bless the Terre Haute Carmel.

[the171]

[quote name='nunsense' timestamp='1320371997' post='2331092']


Another good one. I think it is easier for men to become priests late in life than it is for women to find a community that will let them enter as religious. A priest I knew back in Perth had been married and had a son, marriage annuled and he became a priest and then officiated at his own son's wedding!
[/quote]

There's a priest in our diocese who is EXACTLY like this. Word for word.

[AccountDeleted]

Yeah, it is interesting how men can seem to get away with so much and still be allowed to be priests but women have to fit into a kind of mold. But even though it appears that way sometimes, the fact is that God is doing the calling and He can make a place for someone where He wants. When I read the story about Sr Rita (above) I was surprised to see that she was accepted into the Sisters of Life, who do have an age limit! God wanted her there, she was allowed in.

There was a sister at one of the Carmels in Western Australia (there are two, one was founded by Thai sisters) who entered at 60 - and yet when I wrote to them they said I was too old and I wasn't that old! So it depends on where God wants us and when. I applied to St Joseph's Carmel in Alberta and was told I was too old, but then they took someone else around the same age. (The Prioress was really great, by the way, phoned me and spent time on the phone - really nice).

So, if one older discerner tries and fails, another might succeed.... God works in mysterious ways.


And someone posted they wanted to know more about St Rita - get the video - it is probably way overdramatised, but I enjoyed it.

[the171]

[quote name='nunsense' timestamp='1320451590' post='2331491']
Yeah, it is interesting how men can seem to get away with so much and still be allowed to be priests but women have to fit into a kind of mold. But even though it appears that way sometimes, the fact is that God is doing the calling and He can make a place for someone where He wants. When I read the story about Sr Rita (above) I was surprised to see that she was accepted into the Sisters of Life, who do have an age limit! God wanted her there, she was allowed in.

There was a sister at one of the Carmels in Western Australia (there are two, one was founded by Thai sisters) who entered at 60 - and yet when I wrote to them they said I was too old and I wasn't that old! So it depends on where God wants us and when. I applied to St Joseph's Carmel in Alberta and was told I was too old, but then they took someone else around the same age. (The Prioress was really great, by the way, phoned me and spent time on the phone - really nice).

So, if one older discerner tries and fails, another might succeed.... God works in mysterious ways.


And someone posted they wanted to know more about St Rita - get the video - it is probably way overdramatised, but I enjoyed it.
[/quote]

I bet you're thankful for all that those graces you've received from such troubles. Younger discerners have problems of this sorts as well. Many communities will not even talk with you if you are too young. It's hard to look at communities when you can't get a view of their life. Looking at contemplatives communities means that many can only communicate via phone or letter. So you can't check a website to see their life. Praying

[brandelynmarie]

Thank you nunsense! I am enjoying this thread very much. If I come across any stories, I will post but I am having a hard time finding any.

[AccountDeleted]

[quote name='the171' timestamp='1320453352' post='2331514']

I bet you're thankful for all that those graces you've received from such troubles. Younger discerners have problems of this sorts as well. Many communities will not even talk with you if you are too young. It's hard to look at communities when you can't get a view of their life. Looking at contemplatives communities means that many can only communicate via phone or letter. So you can't check a website to see their life. Praying
[/quote]


Younger discerners do have their own set of problems, but they also have their whole life ahead of the them and time to discern. Usually their most difficult challenge is patience, but since this is essential for religious life anyway, it's a great opportunity to practice this virtue.

And there is nothing stopping a young person from going to visit a community - although perhaps not as a discerner. You can still go visit in the parlour with the nuns if you have a convent nearby or your parent's will let you go visit further away. And since you are under obedience to your parents, another great opportunity to practice this virtue! St Therese is a great example of someone who had to wait. Sure, she took steps along the way, went to see the Pope etc... but she still had to practice patience while she waited for actual entry.

I am not saying that the young don't have it hard, but there is something so hopeful about knowing that each year you will be one step closer to the possibility of entrance. At my age, each year feels like one more 'nail in the coffin' - and less communities that will give you a look'see. As the options narrow, one is forced to consider places that really aren't a good fit. My last entrance was an act of desperation rather than a positive choice, and it was a mistake on my part because I knew it wouldn't work but I felt I had no other options, so I tried to force the size 7 shoe onto my size 9 foot! Cinderella I was not, more like one of the ugly stepsisters, and of course, it didn't fit, no matter how hard I tried.

The good thing (I always try to find the positive, like Pollyanna ) is that I am learning that I CAN'T control this process (that lesson needs to be learned over and over again it seems) and have to TRUST God. I am Abraham over and over again - not the trusting Abraham who agreed to sacrifice his son, but the unsure Abraham who agreed to sleep with his wife's maid to conceive a son because God was delaying in this matter and Abraham kept getting older. Obviously, the trusting Abraham took awhile to develop, seeing God's power over the years and learning that he, Abraham, couldn't make it happen, that he had to trust God to take care of things. I second guessed God over the last convent, just like Abraham did, but I'm learning that if God wants me in a convent, even I'm 99 before it happens, then it will happen. And if He doesn't, then at least I am learning to trust Him more and more.

It's scary getting older and wondering if it will ever happen, just as it's scary to be young and wonder if the time will ever come when it can happen. We all have to trust - and we don't really have any other choice in the matter.... we can't do it without Him.

[the171]

[quote name='nunsense' timestamp='1320454977' post='2331538']


Younger discerners do have their own set of problems, but they also have their whole life ahead of the them and time to discern. Usually their most difficult challenge is patience, but since this is essential for religious life anyway, it's a great opportunity to practice this virtue.

And there is nothing stopping a young person from going to visit a community - although perhaps not as a discerner. You can still go visit in the parlour with the nuns if you have a convent nearby or your parent's will let you go visit further away. And since you are under obedience to your parents, another great opportunity to practice this virtue! St Therese is a great example of someone who had to wait. Sure, she took steps along the way, went to see the Pope etc... but she still had to practice patience while she waited for actual entry.

I am not saying that the young don't have it hard, but there is something so hopeful about knowing that each year you will be one step closer to the possibility of entrance. At my age, each year feels like one more 'nail in the coffin' - and less communities that will give you a look'see. As the options narrow, one is forced to consider places that really aren't a good fit. My last entrance was an act of desperation rather than a positive choice, and it was a mistake on my part because I knew it wouldn't work but I felt I had no other options, so I tried to force the size 7 shoe onto my size 9 foot! Cinderella I was not, more like one of the ugly stepsisters, and of course, it didn't fit, no matter how hard I tried.

The good thing (I always try to find the positive, like Pollyanna ) is that I am learning that I CAN'T control this process (that lesson needs to be learned over and over again it seems) and have to TRUST God. I am Abraham over and over again - not the trusting Abraham who agreed to sacrifice his son, but the unsure Abraham who agreed to sleep with his wife's maid to conceive a son because God was delaying in this matter and Abraham kept getting older. Obviously, the trusting Abraham took awhile to develop, seeing God's power over the years and learning that he, Abraham, couldn't make it happen, that he had to trust God to take care of things. I second guessed God over the last convent, just like Abraham did, but I'm learning that if God wants me in a convent, even I'm 99 before it happens, then it will happen. And if He doesn't, then at least I am learning to trust Him more and more.

It's scary getting older and wondering if it will ever happen, just as it's scary to be young and wonder if the time will ever come when it can happen. We all have to trust - and we don't really have any other choice in the matter.... we can't do it without Him.
[/quote]

Your trust in God's providence amazes me.