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Religious Life – “a neat way of life”
I just read a lovely article about a young woman’s experience joining and being part of a religious community. The article is called “Hamilton native talks about life with St. Joseph sisters” (January 12, 2007) — it is written by Celeste Baumgartner and published in The Catholic Telegraph, the Cincinnati diocesan paper. Here are a couple paragraphs from the article.
Two months after graduating from Miami University in Oxford, Rebecca Ramsey left home to join the Sisters of St. Joseph the Worker for a “different way of life, but a beautiful way of life.”
“I started thinking of religious life when I was 10 years old,” said the former parishioner at Queen of Peace Parish in Hamilton. “Then when I got to high school, I reconsidered. I came from a big family and thought maybe I’d want to have a family of my own. I had the normal growing-up years. I dated some; I went to parties.”
Sister Rebecca goes on to talk about what her family thought, her experience in college, and her choice to join the Sisters of St. Joseph the Worker in Walton, Kentucky.
“God has called us to a different way of life, but it’s a beautiful way of life,” said Sister Rebecca Marie. “There’s prayer time and time to be serious but we also have fun. I think that’s what surprises people when they come to the community and see how much fun we have, just like any other family.”
In the meantime, Sister Rebecca Marie is content at the convent: “It’s a neat way of life. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
Learn more about the Sisters of St. Joseph the Worker.
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Julie, I just tagged you for a very spiritually oriented meme. Drop by my blog to see it.
Peace!
That was a great article…and it’s nice to see peoples’ families supporting their vocations
why couldn’t she leave for the wedding? I don’t understand the benefit of being left out of a family milestone event.
In the article (click the link above), Sr. Rebecca says how when her brother got married, she chose not to go to the wedding. From reading the article, I’m not sure if this was Rebecca’s choice or her communtity’s. I’m guessing she was in formation at this point, and if she was a canonical novice, there are often particular rules about how long you are allowed to leave the novitiate house, interaction with family/friends due to the special nature of this part of formation (I’ll address canonical novitiate in a “Decoding Formation” post.) etc. Formation itself is a graced period of time when a person is integrating herself with the community. Some communities ask the candidate to limit interaction with others outside the convent for a period of time so they can focus on their discernment and growth in the community. Becoming a nun is not easy. Major culture shift. One way that can help is by limiting “outside” interaction for a time. I’m not sure what else to add to this as it has not been my experience to be asked to not attend a major family event. I’m sure that must have been a very tough decision for Sister Rebecca.