Discerning In The Northwest

[melporcristo]

JMJT

Hey all!

So I hope this thread serves as an outreach for those who are in need of support who live in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho (me!), Utah, Oregon and Washington ... Did I miss anyone? Forgive me if I did! For those who don't know, until recently, this area has been like a desert in a storm with the presence of good, solid Orders who are faithful to the Holy See. When I began my discernment journey, I came come home to my home parish actually more discouraged in discerning. People would tell me what I was doing (by discerning) was a waste of my time, that there are better things to do than to be a "nun" and that I could do more with my life.
Basically, they were telling me to forget it.
Today, more than 5 years later, I have met many beautiful parishes who support those with vocations and even an amazing order in Spokane, the Sisters of Mary Mother of the Church, who are a spring to the people here who are thirsting for more!

If you have any orders to add to this list, please do so! Also, share your thoughts & feelings - even if your not from this area, I'm sure many share the same experiences!

In Christ,
Melissa

[the lords sheep]

[quote name='melporcristo' post='1932429' date='Jul 26 2009, 06:39 PM']JMJT

Hey all!

So I hope this thread serves as an outreach for those who are in need of support who live in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho (me!), Utah, Oregon and Washington ... Did I miss anyone? Forgive me if I did! For those who don't know, until recently, this area has been like a desert in a storm with the presence of good, solid Orders who are faithful to the Holy See. When I began my discernment journey, I came come home to my home parish actually more discouraged in discerning. People would tell me what I was doing (by discerning) was a waste of my time, that there are better things to do than to be a "nun" and that I could do more with my life.
Basically, they were telling me to forget it.
Today, more than 5 years later, I have met many beautiful parishes who support those with vocations and even an amazing order in Spokane, the Sisters of Mary Mother of the Church, who are a spring to the people here who are thirsting for more!

If you have any orders to add to this list, please do so! Also, share your thoughts & feelings - even if your not from this area, I'm sure many share the same experiences!

In Christ,
Melissa[/quote]

I've had many people tell me I was wasting my time/life/talents- from all over the country, in fact. I think it's a pretty universal thing when coming up against the values of the world, because the religious life challenges most of what our culture stands for.

As far as communities in the Northwest, both the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist and the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma have convents in Portland, OR, and the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist are also in Pocatello, Idaho.

God bless you in your discernment.

[TeresaBenedicta]

My home is in the Northwest, though I go to school out East. We've had a few vocations come from my home parish and I know there are a few Dominicans (Mary, Mother of the Eucharist) from the Northwest.

As for orders... that's a problem that I've encounter-- there aren't a lot of [i]good, solid[/i] orders, it seems. Sisters Mary Mother of the Church are very solid, and I think there's a Benedictine community up near Seattle.... Our Lady of the Rock? Something like that, I think. But I think the Northwest is generally lacking. It would be nice to see some orders expand to the NW. The Dominicans brothers are in Portland, and they're solid.

[melporcristo]

[quote name='the lords sheep' post='1932441' date='Jul 26 2009, 10:33 AM']I've had many people tell me I was wasting my time/life/talents- from all over the country, in fact. I think it's a pretty universal thing when coming up against the values of the world, because the religious life challenges most of what our culture stands for.

As far as communities in the Northwest, both the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist and the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma have convents in Portland, OR, and the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist are also in Pocatello, Idaho.

God bless you in your discernment.[/quote]

The Franciscan Sisters in Pocatello left early this year. it was really sad. One passed away while she was here as well.

I love Franciscans (I kind of have to since I went to Steubie! he he) But my call isn't to a Franciscan order.

[melporcristo]

[quote name='TeresaBenedicta' post='1932443' date='Jul 26 2009, 10:36 AM']My home is in the Northwest, though I go to school out East. We've had a few vocations come from my home parish and I know there are a few Dominicans (Mary, Mother of the Eucharist) from the Northwest.[/quote]

Amen!

Today, I was talking to a parishoner and they mentioned to Father after Mass one day last week, "Father, we just need a visible order of sisters in this community." And our priest said quickly, "Hmm that's a thought ..." and was actually considering! ... So who knows ...

[Vin]

Here is a community in Oregon for women, faithful to the Church

[url="http://www.olpretreat.org/"]Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady of Sorrows[/url]

Here is a community founded by Conchita Cabrera for men, may have some kind of sisters

[url="http://www.christthepriest.org"]missionaries of the Holy Spirit[/url]

Also in Oregon and Washington state

[melporcristo]

JMJT

Thank you for the update on Orders nearby!

I think I've written to the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit; they are a male order.

There is also the Missionaries of Charity (Bl. Teresa of Calcutta's order) in Spokane, WA as well as a Cloister Carmelite Order in Salt Lake City. If only they felt called to have an active order as well!

[deusluxmea]

[url="http://www.ourladyoftherock.com/"]http://www.ourladyoftherock.com/[/url]

A former Vocation Station-er entered this Benedictine group. They are cloistered though, if that isn't what you are looking for.

[Thomist-in-Training]

I'm not from there, but a friend of mine mentioned a tiny new Institute that has Sisters and Brothers around Corvallis, Oregon. The men are Sociedad de San Juan/Society of St. John and the women are Sociedad de Maria/Society of Mary. (Yes, I know there are already several Societies of Mary, but I guess they don't have a subtitle.)

Some pages: this mentions men's ordinations for the society [url="http://oregonfaithreport.com/2009/05/seven-priests-to-be-ordained-largest-in-35-years/"]http://oregonfaithreport.com/2009/05/seven...st-in-35-years/[/url]

[url="http://www.sentinel.org/node/8739"]Article[/url] about the men's society by the local Archbishop:
[quote]Recently one religious community has quietly begun to make an impact on the evangelizing mission of our church here in western Oregon. They are relative newcomers to the consecrated life when compared with giants like Holy Cross, Benedictines and Jesuits. I am speaking of the Society of St. John which has established its missionary presence in Corvallis. SJS is a Society of Apostolic Life which strives to live up to Pope John Paul II’s call for a “new evangelization.”

...

The Society’s beginnings are rather interesting. At the end of the 1980s a group of college students, called the St. John Group, began to conduct popular missions in towns and cities of Argentina. They also worked with young people by teaching classes in high schools, organizing spiritual retreats and beginning prayer groups to help the youngsters learn the faith. Eventually some of the members of the Society realized that they were being called to the priesthood and wanted to continue with this particular apostolate. As a result, a project to constitute a Society of Apostolic Life was presented to the bishop of Cruz del Eje in Argentina, Most Rev. Omar Felix Colome. After several years of discernment, the bishop accepted the group as a Society of Apostolic Life on Dec. 8, 2006.

Presently, SJS has established three houses in Argentina, one in the United States and one in Italy. The missionaries see a great need to re-evangelize those in today’s secular culture who are away from the church, to bring these folks to a real encounter with Christ. They sincerely desire to “announce the good news and make it resound in the heart of every person.”

As they have shared with me, their desire is to work with the young and the poor focusing on a personal apostolate, helping develop the faith of individuals through mentoring, individual conversations and spiritual direction. The members of the St. John Society have chosen John Henry Cardinal Newman as their intellectual father. They were deeply impressed with Newman’s saying that “heart speaks to heart.”

The Society has been quite active ever since the opening of its house in Corvallis back in July 2005. Members have led four retreats (called Fragua) for college students and young adults, seven retreats for Hispanic men (called San Juan Diego) and three retreats for Hispanic women (called Guadalupano). ...

The retreats among the Hispanic community here in western Oregon have seen some remarkable results. ... More than 600 men and women have made these retreats, often reawakening the Catholic faith that had been dormant in their lives. The retreatants returned to their families in their communities with a fire for Christ and a desire to help others come to know him better.

The missionaries of SJS also work to bring about “ministries of unity,” in which members of both the young adult community and the Hispanic community work together to build up the body of Christ. One of these ministries is the popular mission program which sends students and adult Hispanic retreatants out, under the direction of the SJS missionaries, to bring the good news to those living in humble conditions. Seven such missions, one in Mexico, have already been conducted by the Corvallis-based missionaries. In addition, 10 young adults from OSU have gone to Argentina for a seven-week missionary experience with the Society.
...
With Corvallis as their home base and with an eagerness to open another house in the Portland area one day, these missionaries in our valley foster great hope in our efforts to evangelize our many Hispanic newcomers as well as our teenagers and young adults. Pope Benedict said that real hope is experienced only through an encounter with God. Members of SJS share that conviction and are doing something about it right here and now.

Communities of consecrated life have been a great gift to this church from its very inception. We have welcomed the St. John Society in our midst and we are already experiencing many blessings because they have found a home among us.

Please keep these men in your prayers and be encouraged by their witness and presence among us in these early years of the third millennium of Christianity.[/quote]

[url="http://www.socsj.org/pdf/society_of_mary.pdf"]A newsletter about the women's Society of Mary[/url]

[url="http://www.socsj.org/principal/"]Website for both[/url]--for women's click on "Society-Mary"

[melporcristo]

+JMJT+
+St. Kolbe+

SWEET!! Thank you for this post!

I am actually compiling a list of orders for men and women in the Northwest and doing what I can with it. It may spread locally or even in the diocese newspaper. We'll see!

Thank you for this!

[Lil Red]

+J.M.J.+
i'm in one of those states

there is a dearth of faithful orders in my state. the sisters/nuns we do have are *ahem* well-versed in social justice (i.e. the poor, but not abortion) but not so much interested in the teachings of the Church. i've talked to the bishop and the vocation director for my diocese telling them about Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist - the problem being that every diocese is demanding them, and they don't send them anywhere unless it's a group of three or four. but i've heard wind of a possible Carmelite order coming to our diocese. i just wish we could get Dominicans here (since that's right up my alley).

[melporcristo]

[quote name='Lil Red' post='1948840' date='Aug 14 2009, 12:23 PM']+J.M.J.+
i'm in one of those states

there is a dearth of faithful orders in my state. the sisters/nuns we do have are *ahem* well-versed in social justice (i.e. the poor, but not abortion) but not so much interested in the teachings of the Church. i've talked to the bishop and the vocation director for my diocese telling them about Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist - the problem being that every diocese is demanding them, and they don't send them anywhere unless it's a group of three or four. but i've heard wind of a possible Carmelite order coming to our diocese. i just wish we could get Dominicans here (since that's right up my alley). [/quote]

JMJT
+The Assumption of Our Lady+

Keep praying! Don't stop believin ... (ha ha sorry just had to add that in; corny, i know ...)
The Sisters of Mary Mother of the Church (Spokane, WA) mentioned that two bishops in Montana have already asked for them to go there. They have had many inviations already which is awesome. So we'll see what happens!

Have your parish ever done like a Parish Missions where you invite religious with young sisters & many vocations to speak at your parish? This was a big thing they'd do about 2-3 times in northern Idaho where I lived before. IT was so cool because the sisters would come, give a talk to the different groups in the church (the kids at the school, the young people, RCIA, etc) and for dinner go to a volunteer family's home. It was neat to see how the different families invited the sisters over and how it just sparked vocations throughout the week they'd come.

There's a change acomin' - I can feel it!