In need for advice

[Yaatee]

The Society of the Sacred Heart, rscj, has a province in Budapest.  It has numerous international websites in Europe and the UK and Ireland. 

Your write fluent, amazing English--do you speak it too?  You could 'converse' by email with several of these provinces where English is used widely, which would include the UK, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands.  NOt sure about Hungary.  It would not be so difficult to any of these provinces.

The rscj are an amazing community of very bright, well-educated women who have been in education from the beginning. They do nnow a variety fo works mainly with women and the poor, but remain in education.  Check them out!

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

Sister Leticia- I don't live in Poland nor in Hungary, but in Romania, so unfortunately I can't contact your congregation. However, I have read a book about the life of your foundress and I enjoyed it very much

The priest I go to is a franciscan friar, who understands religious life from within, and he strongly suggested that particular community not because they share his spirituality, but because the sisters are very devout and have a beautiful mission. He always says to me that I'm free to choose my community, but it's a hard thing to do when you don't know where to go. You're right, I admire St Francis of Assisi, but I don't feel any call whatsoever to follow his footsteps, nor a particular attraction to embrace his radical poverty. So I guess I got that settled.

From my experience, priests tend to encourage discerners to look into orders that they are familiar to, and I understand that. But more often then not, the orders they suggest don't match my desires, and it's also hard to know from a distance without visiting. But I can't visit 50 congregations, I have to limit myself to a few.

​Would it be difficult for you to leave Romania for a Community in another Eastern European country? I apologize for being so ignorant of the visa/emigration rules for Eastern European countries. Also, many aspirants have family issues that might make it very difficult to choose a Community in a different country (not to mention cultural differences--all Eastern European cultures are not alike, despite the fact that many (most?) of us in the U.S. are poorly educated on the the cultures of Eastern European countries). 

I second Yaatee's comment that your written English is outstanding!

[McM RSCJ]

Dear Julie,

Like Sr. Leticia who replied previously, I am also a Religious of the Sacred Heart.  I am responding because your desire to follow devotion to the Sacred Heart in religious life while engaging in the ministry of education sounds to me like my life and desire.  The Charism of the Society of the Sacred Heart is intrinsic to our Mission and Spirituality:  To make known the love of God revealed in the Heart and Person of Jesus Christ.  The icon you would find in many of communities captures this purpose/desire:  Etre Sur Terre Le Coeur de Dieu.  Our primary ministry is education--formal and informal, on every level from pre-school to university to adult.  

We are international--and, in fact, preparation for final profession takes place within an international group, usually after each Religious lives and ministers in another country for a period of time.  We also increasingly connect in "continental regions."  The European Continental Region has selected English as the working language.  As Leticia mentioned, we are in Poland, Hungary Austria, Germany.  There is a small project in Moscow.  I encourage you to browse the website:  http://rscjinternational.org/

[Yaatee]

 

Dear Julie,

Like Sr. Leticia who replied previously, I am also a Religious of the Sacred Heart.  I am responding because your desire to follow devotion to the Sacred Heart in religious life while engaging in the ministry of education sounds to me like my life and desire.  The Charism of the Society of the Sacred Heart is intrinsic to our Mission and Spirituality:  To make known the love of God revealed in the Heart and Person of Jesus Christ.  The icon you would find in many of communities captures this purpose/desire:  Etre Sur Terre Le Coeur de Dieu.  Our primary ministry is education--formal and informal, on every level from pre-school to university to adult.  

We are international--and, in fact, preparation for final profession takes place within an international group, usually after each Religious lives and ministers in another country for a period of time.  We also increasingly connect in "continental regions."  The European Continental Region has selected English as the working language.  As Leticia mentioned, we are in Poland, Hungary Austria, Germany.  There is a small project in Moscow.  I encourage you to browse the website:  http://rscjinternational.org/

 

There you go, Julie!

Go for it!

[Julie de Sales]

IgnatiusofLoyola- Yes, it would be difficult to move in another country, first from an emotional point of view; in the past I never thougth that that may be a problem, but now I think it would be very hard to leave my family. However, I like to travel, I particulary love France and I dream that I might live there one day as a nun. We'll see  As for the visa/emigration rules, I'm clueless...

McM RSCJ- Thank you for your encouragement, I will certainly pray about it and talk with my SD. He also presented to me other communities here in my region and advised me to search for an order that matches my spirituality. When I look back, only once did I fell in love with the spirituality/charism of a particular order, but the sisters are cloistered and I doubt that I'm called to that. It saddens me because everything was perfect except this aspect of their life. When it comes to other communities, I always felt called only to certains elements of their charism, to a greater or lesser degree. This raises a question: what if, in my discernment and searching for an order that has the devotion to the Sacred Heart, the sisters have another devotion that is more important in their Institute? It's ok if the devotion to the Sacred Heart it's not their main focus, or should I look elsewhere?

[Carla]

It is so nice to see here someone who is also from Eastern Europe.We are so rare here!Because most of the members are from US sometimes it is hard to explain all this differences

[Sister Leticia]

IgnatiusofLoyola- Yes, it would be difficult to move in another country, first from an emotional point of view; in the past I never thougth that that may be a problem, but now I think it would be very hard to leave my family. However, I like to travel, I particulary love France and I dream that I might live there one day as a nun. We'll see  As for the visa/emigration rules, I'm clueless...

McM RSCJ- Thank you for your encouragement, I will certainly pray about it and talk with my SD. He also presented to me other communities here in my region and advised me to search for an order that matches my spirituality. When I look back, only once did I fell in love with the spirituality/charism of a particular order, but the sisters are cloistered and I doubt that I'm called to that. It saddens me because everything was perfect except this aspect of their life. When it comes to other communities, I always felt called only to certains elements of their charism, to a greater or lesser degree. This raises a question: what if, in my discernment and searching for an order that has the devotion to the Sacred Heart, the sisters have another devotion that is more important in their Institute? It's ok if the devotion to the Sacred Heart it's not their main focus, or should I look elsewhere?

​Julie -

Romania is one of the 28 countries which make up the European Union, which guarantees free movement to citizens of all those countries. So you don't need a visa to go to any other EU country, and there are no visa restrictions on what type of work or study you would do.  But there are different types of restrictions, to do with qualifications and professional bodies: for example, if someone is a qualified lawyer or social worker in their own country, they have to do a conversion course and complete lots of paperwork if they want to work as a lawyer or social worker here. This takes time and money, and I've met several foreign-qualified lawyers who have never done this, and ended up doing different work - some are happy about this, others feel discontented. I don't know about teachers from abroad, though I imagine they'd have to learn the British curriculum and systems. So theoretically there are no work permit restrictions within the EU, but in reality other restrictions exist due to language levels, qualifications and the type of work.

But even without this, as you've said, it can be hard to uproot yourself and move to a strange country, find somewhere to live and work, cope with a new culture and lots of other things. It's certainly not a decision to be made lightly, though, if it's the right thing to do, the uprooting will be worth it.

As to searching for the "right" order, it's just important to leave yourself open to God, which also means open to being surprised by God. I have a friend in another order who originally wanted to be a Franciscan, so she visited several Franciscan communities, especially the ones wearing habits, as she was also keen on this. Eventually she realised that God was in fact calling her to an order she already knew very well, but she has discounted them because they aren't Franciscan (though they live with great simplicity) and don't wear habits - but this was where God in fact wanted her to be, and where she continues to be very happy.

It isn't easy to be truly open to God: we have a natural tendency to try to control the outcome, to kind of force a conclusion, because we would prefer certainty to uncertainty. We like to know where we're going, how we're going to get there, and be sure we'll be happy as well! But the basis for any discernment has to be true openness, and this is a grace need to pray for daily. As St Ignatius says, in his First Principle and Foundation, we should aim to hold ourselves in balance

Our only desire and our one choice should be this:
I want and I choose what better leads
To God's deepening his life in me.  

Prayers for you and the time ahead!

 

[NadaTeTurbe]

There is some restriction on Romanian people to work in country of the European Union. I sometimes volunteer with Romani people from Romania, and if they are so poor here, it's because there are work restriction for people from Romania :/ 

I can ask more to the lawyer of the charity i work with about work restriction the next time I go volunteering (next week I think). 

Edited May 30, 2015 by NadaTeTurbe

[Sister Leticia]

Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007. Transitional controls were imposed by some member states on nationals of the two countries - the poorest in the EU  - and their rights to work and claim benefits were limited for their first seven years of EU membership. These restrictions were lifted in January 2014, certainly here in the UK - and I think that applies across the EU. However, many of the migrants from these countries are still to be found in low-paid, unskilled work, and some struggle with language, which also holds them up.

[NadaTeTurbe]

Thank you for the precision ! They are also victims, in France, of human trafficking for prostitution. It's tragic. 

[TheresaThoma]

As far as as figuring out where you are called I think you have to really know yourself. You need to know what you personally need to function and be healthy and holy. For example I know that I need the accountability of community for silent prayer. But I also need a "quiet day" each week where I can have some alone time. With those in mind I can start to look at communities that would fit me. Currently the community I am discerning with has their silent prayer in the chapel together but they also have what they call a desert day each week. On desert days meals and the Office are in private and there is more free time for self study or other activities. This allows me to thrive there. The other things such as the habit and their apostolate are just icing on the cake. 

Habits, locations and some times even apostolates change but the essentials must be there. The best advice I have heard is to ask yourself, can I eat well, sleep well, pray well and laugh well here? If the answer is yes then you know you are on the right track,