The Importance Of The Apostolate

[Julie de Sales]

I would like to have some insights in this matter. When considering a certain order/congregation, do you give a lot of importance to the apostolate of the sisters? Or is the charism the essential point and if the sisters are taking care of children, the elderly, the sick or the poor, this doesn’t count that much? I’m asking because sometimes I fall in love with the charism of some order, but their apostolate isn’t what I would like to do. Not that I would not love to work with children for example, but I’m more attracted to the sick and the poor.

Any opinions?

Edited February 21, 2013 by Julie de Sales

[maximillion]

I think for me they would both have to match....I would need to feel a desire for the particular charism and see it as the means to my perfection as well as having a desire to carry out the specific apostolate.......but then, I entered the cloister!!!!

[FutureSister2009]

I agree it does have to be a bit of both. I have been planted with this desire to work with children and bring them to know Christ. So that's what really draws me to that Apostolate. But I want to be a part of a community that carries out their Apostolate joyfully

[OnlySunshine]

I think it definitely matters.  I love the Nashville Dominicans and the DSMME but I would never enter either order because I do not like teaching.  I don't have the patience for it.  I have tried working with emotionally disturbed children before and that didn't work out either.  My preferred apostolate is healthcare because I have a natural aptitude for it.  I am not looking into any teaching orders.  :)

[FutureSister2009]

I think it definitely matters.  I love the Nashville Dominicans and the DSMME but I would never enter either order because I do not like teaching.  I don't have the patience for it.  I have tried working with emotionally disturbed children before and that didn't work out either.  My preferred apostolate is healthcare because I have a natural aptitude for it.  I am not looking into any teaching orders.  :)

 

Just as well, I have absolutely no attraction the medical field and I definitely do not have a natural aptitude for it.

[Sister Marie]

I think it depends on the nature of the community itself and the type of religious life you are looking to live.  Some communities see their apostolate as an extension of or addition to their prayer and community life and others see is more as a vital organ in their living of religious life.  You can usually see this preference in communities by looking at the structure of the day and the amount of time sisters spend in their apostolates as well as the structure of the day (do they fit the apostolate into their schedule or is their schedule flexible around their apostolate?) 

 

If you are looking into a community that participates in the active apostolate for a relatively short amount of time during the day because they are more active-contemplative it won't be as much of an issue what type of ministry they do.  However, if you are considering a nursing or teaching community that require, professionally, a large amount of time in the apostolate and in preparation for the apostolate it will matter much more whether or not you enjoy the apostolate (for example - teachers = an entire school day + meetings + conferences + sports teams + after school activities + planning lessons and grading + your own continued professional education, nurses = charts + patients + additional education + strange shifts).

 

That being said, unless you try, you never know.  I never thought I wanted to be a teacher, even after visiting sisters in the apostolate but I felt very called to my community so I entered.  When I was missioned I found that I LOVED being a teacher.  It's a lot of work but I can't imagine being happier in another profession. I'm glad Mater shared her story too in that she tried an apostolate and found it wasn't for her.  She could then cross that off her list and move on!  

[TheresaThoma]

I definitely think there should be a balance. When I first started discerning I looked first at the apostolate and then maybe at the charism but I quickly realized that it should be the other way around. I realized that there will come a time when I can no longer work in an apostolate and I knew if I joined just for the apostolate then there would be issues down the road. It would be the charism of the community that would carry me from my entrance day forward even beyond the apostolate.

I started then to look first at the Charism/spirituality of a community and see if I felt called to that and then at the apostolate. I had to feel called in some way to both parts (even if it was just a simple openness to the apostolate, kind of like what Sr Marie was saying).

[Kateri89]

Just as well, I have absolutely no attraction the medical field and I definitely do not have a natural aptitude for it.

 

Hahaha its funny because I'm a nurse and during my discernment, I've specifically looked at orders that do NOT include healthcare in their apostolate.  If I could go back in time and choose a different career, I probably would but at the same time, my school/career choice has allowed me to be debt-free and living comfortably at only 23 years old so I can't complain too much...

 

That being said, like Mater said, I love the NDs and DSMMEs but I have no patience for being a teacher.  I never have.  I'm discerning with SSEW and their primary apostolate is catechesis/retreats.  I could talk catechesis for hours plus I love that they follow the Rule of St. Francis with some added Dominican spirituality.

 

But since we're asking questions about discernment, I have another one:  Is location important in discernment?  For example, I love the Sisters of Life but all of their convents are right in the heart of busy cities (with good reason).  I've been working in a city environment for about 4.5 years and I hate it.  It may seem silly and shallow but I just feel like I'm not a city person at all and I'm wondering what other people's thoughts are about this.  (P.S. I don't want this question to detract from the main point of the thread so tell me if I should just start a new topic rather than hijack this thread)   :proud:

[Julie de Sales]

I guess you never know until you try, like Sister Marie said. I said I would like to help the poor and the sick, but I'm not sure I have the necessary strength. In the rare occasions I get in contact with them I’m very touched by their suffering and I found myself stuck, I’m not able to move towards them. In the future, I want to volunteer to a retreat house or to spend a couple of weeks with a community that has this specific apostolate and see if I can do it. I don’t have a sort of apostolate I couldn’t handle at all, but everybody has his preferences. I’m particularly interested in active-contemplative orders and sometimes I just wonder where they put the apostolate and working with people among that amount of prayer and manual labor. I realized that this communities tend to do a little bit of everything (catechesis, organizing retreats, visiting the sick and the elderly, etc.)

I wouldn’t like either to be a sister in a big city, although I’m currently living in one. I would prefer to be outside the city, but I don’t think this would greatly influence my decision of choosing a religious community.

Edited February 22, 2013 by Julie de Sales

[FutureSister2009]

I guess in a way I see this now. I absolutely love love LOVE the Sisters of Life. I think they are amazing and they're Apostolate is so important. But I don't think I would do well in their community because I would not know why to say to a woman who is hurting from an abortion. And the same goes for me and the Carmelites and the Passionists. I love them but I'm not sure if I am called to them

[petitpèlerin]

But since we're asking questions about discernment, I have another one:  Is location important in discernment?  For example, I love the Sisters of Life but all of their convents are right in the heart of busy cities (with good reason).  I've been working in a city environment for about 4.5 years and I hate it.  It may seem silly and shallow but I just feel like I'm not a city person at all and I'm wondering what other people's thoughts are about this.  (P.S. I don't want this question to detract from the main point of the thread so tell me if I should just start a new topic rather than hijack this thread)   :proud:

 

I don't think it's entirely off-topic and I don't think it's silly or shallow. I think it's part of discernment. Since the first time I visited New York City and fell in love with it (amazingly, since I am so not a city girl) I've felt strongly that it's a place I love to visit for a weekend but would never want to live. I'm a Franciscan at heart and love the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, but one reason I don't feel called there is that I don't feel called to live my life in New York City. Nor London. (Where they have another priory.) I need to have some wilderness in my life. Of course we're called to give up our own preferences in order to serve God in whatever way he calls us to (such as St Francis who had to overcome his distaste for lepers in order to serve Christ in them), so then we have to discern which preferences we're being called to overcome, and which ones are the ones that lead us to our vocation in the first place (such as the attraction St Francis had to Muslim lands which led him to travel there and evangelize them).

Edited February 22, 2013 by petitpèlerin

[Sister Marie]

Location is a question that is definitely on topic because it relates a lot to the question of the type of community you desire to live in as well as the apostolate. 

 

Location will matter much more when looking at communities that are "stable" in the sense that they don't change or mission sisters often as is the case in most of the more contemplative communities. 

 

On the other hand, you can't be too choosy about location if you are discerning a vocation with an active congregation in which you will be sent by obedience to all different places; suburbs, cities, rural areas, foreign countries...  Most active sisters have their preferences but God is the one who sends and knows where a sister needs to be and where she is needed most.  I've been in the city for a few years now and I really love living in an urban setting but that won't be the case forever and I'm happily detached from it - wherever and whenever I go somewhere new it will be God's will.  It is part of the charism of some communities to be changed and missioned for the apostolate.   

[EmilyAnn]

I think on the subject of location it's not silly. It's not something I would say should be a top priority but if you really really hate living in a city then maybe it's not for you. Although at the same time you can be surprised. I have always had a great hatred for nature and countryside - I've pretty much always lived in cities so I find nature abhorrent. Yet when I was on my live-in one of the things I loved most was gardening! I happily got my hands dirty planting seeds and picking weeds, and in any normal context I'd despise it. So you never know. But I think it is important to know yourself and think "could I live this life?" whether it's with regards to location, apostolate, anything. I'm not discerning any more, but when I was I knew I could never be part of a huge congregation such as the Nashies or the DSMMEs. One thing I learnt about myself in college is that I can't cope in a setting like that, so I knew myself well enough that I needed to look at smaller communities. God isn't going to send you somewhere where you're going to be unhappy, but you have to prayerfully discern otherwise you risk just being picky. :P

[TheresaThoma]

When I talked with my priest about my discernment one of the points that he made was that grace builds on nature. God is going to work with who we are and that includes our preferences. We can't take our preferences as the only factor in discerning but they are definitely a good starting place.