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Can someone with a disability become a nun?
Can someone with a disability become a nun? For instance I am legally blind and about to reach the age were I can enter if I wanted to. Are nuns aloud to take medications? Because I heard if your not perfect in health they will reject people.
- Aarin
Dear Aarin, Thank you for writing. This is a tough one. Religious congregations do require a person to be physically and mentally healthy in order to become a Catholic sister or nun, but sometimes if a person has a managed illness or a disability they can still become a sister or nun. We are allowed to take medication for both temporary and long-term illnesses or conditions.
I think the main thing is that religious communities want to be sure that people are capable of living the mission. But words like “healthy” and “capable” mean different things to different people so it really depends on your relationship with particular communities. Some communities might not be able to handle it (i.e., don’t have the resources, or their mission is of a kind where a person couldn’t engage in it because of their illness or disability, etc.) while others might be able to.
There are a couple discussions about this that we’ve had on A Nun’s Life. You might find them of interest.
- Can You Become a Nun if you have a Chronic Illness?
- Chronic Illness and Becoming a Nun REVISITED
- Discerning religious life with persons who have a managed mental illness
It is very important to get to know a community and for them to get to know you too. Talk it over with the vocation director. Also, I encourage you to find a spiritual director to help walk with you as you discern how God is calling you. And do take a look through How to Become a Catholic Nun and maybe even consider joining the Vocation Forum here to chat with others who are thinking about religious life and how God is calling them.
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{ 2 comments }
Aairin,
I’ve been a steady, but silent reader of this blog for about two years. I needed to write now because I know from experience how difficult it can be to feel a vocational call while at the same time be dealing with a disability–in my case, mild cerebral palsy.
I was received into the Catholic Church seven years ago at age 47. Even before I was officially Catholic, I mentioned to my spiritual director that I thought I might have a call to be a nun. He never discouraged me, but I quickly realized that I could never join an apostolic order. It wasn’t just the physical barrier of my disability, but also my temperment. I was drawn to monasticism, and a year after I became Catholic, I was blessed to be able to take a sabbatical from my job to spend three months as a live-in volunteer with a small community of Benedictine sisters.
The sisters were wonderful to me and I loved being part of the community on a short-term basis. I knew almost immediately, though, that I wasn’t meant to live there permanently. As I put it to the prioress during a session of spiritual direction, ” I feel a definite call towards an intimate relationship with Christ expressed in celibacy, but not within the context of a religous community.” She agreed with my self-assessment and then asked a question that has changed my life. “Have you ever heard of consecrated virginity?”
I could go on with my personal story, but the details don’t matter here. After several years of prayer, spiritual direction and help from women who were already consecrated virgins, I was consecrated myself last April.
I’m sharing all of this because I want to suggest that you may want to explore consecrated virginity as a vocational option in your discernment process. Very briefly, the call of a consecrated virgin is to live as a bride of Christ in the world–supporting herself much as a single woman does, while at same time maintaining a life of prayer and service to the Church. Here is a website where you can learn more:
http://www.consecratedvirgins.org/
I would hesitate to make this suggestion to you based solely on my own experience. But several of the consecrated virgins I have come to know live with a disability–a higher percentage, I think, than a random group of women would produce. Many of them, like me, explored religious life first (as do most consecrated virgins), but have come to believe that their call was to consecrated virginity–not as fallback position because it was possible in spite of their physical limitations, but as a genuine call from God that fulfills who they are truly meant to become. I tell myself that my body, like everything else in my life is a gift from God, and that any call He gives me would take my body with its limitations into account.
So, take a look at consecrated virginity and see if this might be where you are being led. It might not be the right fit for you at all, but I wanted to be sure that you knew that this option exists. If you are faithful in your discernment process–persistent yet patient–you’ll find the right way to say “yes.”
I will keep you my prayers,
Catherine
Hi Aarin,
I also understand the additional considerations that having a physical disability present when discerning, but I wouldn’t look at them as hurdles to jump over. I’d say that your disability is just a characteristic of who you are, and if a community isn’t cool with the whole package of who you are, then you don’t belong there anyway.
Definitely check out all vocations, but if you’re called to religious life in a community, absolutely pursue that. I am legally blind myself, and I’ve been discerning with an apostolic community for a while. They knew me from before I started to discern, so when I expressed interest in vowed life, my blindness and guide dog were not issues. They had gotten to know me for who I am, and they took a cue from my own attitude that my disability was no big deal. I’ve actually found women religious to be among the most accepting people, and many are genuinely interested in learning to understand me. I can appreciate how it might feel a bit uncomfortable to meet a community for the first time as a woman interested in religious life but also as a woman with a visible disability… because it’s kind of obvious.
We can’t choose to disclose that after getting to know them a little. But, the same thing happens during job interviews and other parts of life. The coping strategies are no different.
I possess an advanced professional degree, so it’s never even occurred to me that being able to participate in a community’s mission would be an issue. Sure, if a community’s apostolate were beekeeping or painting icons… perhaps those aren’t the best activities for a blind person.
Luckily, with an apostolic community, which is what I genuinely feel called to, I can do what I am already trained to do- and I’ll certainly learn a new discipline down the road if that is asked of me. One unique consideration that has arisen for me is my preference to live in an urban environment with good public transportation because I value independent travel. Not all communities are situated in cities. The availability of public transportation was one of the reasons I chose to discern with the particular regional community of the order I am interested in. The vocation people have been responsive to that. Really… follow your heart. There is at least one community out there who will look beyond your blindness and deeper into who you are and what you desire. There must be many others too. 
~JLynn