Vowed Religious Life

If you wish to follow this life, it is recommended that you find a spiritual advisor and work with them.

Brothers: Brothers are non-ordained members of religious communities who live lives committed to prayer and service. Religious priests and brothers serve together in their communities and their ministries include much more than the care of parishes. They take vows of Chasitiy, Poverty and Obedience.

Monks, Friars, and Canons: These are broad categories that include religious priests and brothers, and each of these is connected to specific ways of life and spiritualities.

©LPi

Men:

Vowed Religious Life is a lay Vocation for women who are called to live out a spousal love to Christ. A woman religious will take vows of Chastity, Poverty and Obedience.

Women:

Religious Brother

The life of a religious brother is rooted in work, alone or with others. Regularly, there is a communal morning and evening prayer, and different types of work and prayer throughout the day.

Formation: Time of Discernment and preparation.

Postulate: As a Postulant, you will learn what it means to follow this vocation.

Novicate: After entering a formation, your time as a Novice is spent on deepening personal faith by learning how to pray, and about the Church and scriptures.

Vows: After at least two years of preparing, you can make a temporary vow to a congregation. A temporary vow is renewable, and lasts for one year. When you are ready, you can take a lifelong vow of profession.

Religious Sister

A Religious Sister is an ‘Apostolic” vowed woman. They are active missionaries in the world. They work in school, hospitals or wherever they feel called, in service to the Church.

You would start as an Aspirant; you would live with a community for a while to experience the life and see if you want to accept it as your life.

Then you would become a Postulant; for 6 months to a year you would live in a community and focus on discernment. Is this life really for you, if so, what are you going to do with it?

If you decide to continue on this path, you would become a Novice; for (usually about) 2 years you would live as a postulant who has been formally accepted into the community and study intensely. As a novice, what you wear and how you would be addressed would differ depending on the community. You would not be considered a nun and would be free to leave or be asked to leave at any time.

After the required Novice time, you would take First Vows; basically, you would need to be voted into the community by fully professed members and leadership of the community. You would take short term vows (usually 3-5 years). You can still leave, but it would take a formal process.

Finally, you would take your Perpetual Vows, lifelong vows.

Cloistered Nun

A cloistered nun is a vowed woman religious, who chose to live in a secluded community and spend time their time focused on prayer and contemplation.

Constitutional Cloister - These are cloistered nuns who are allowed into the world depending on the rules of their particular order: Passionist Nuns, Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood, and Norbertine Canonesses.

Monastic Cloister - These are completely cloistered nuns whose communities allow for people to come visit them: Benedictine Nuns, Cistercian/Trappistine Nuns, Sisters of Mary Morning Star

Papal Cloister - Completely cloistered. They will only leave for very serious reasons and do not allow visitors: Carmelite Nuns, Poor Clares, Dominican Nuns, Visitandines, Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters, and Handmaids of the Precious Blood

Six Steps in Vocation Discernment

  1. Know You Were Created with Purpose-Reflect inward and really think about your true feelings about God, his church and his people, then think about what you can provide to help in God's divine mercy.

  2. Accept His Love-When you are looking for discernment secure yourself in God's love and his acceptance, live to serve God and his people.

  3. Listen- Listen to the world around you to hear the sounds of God's words reaching out to you, guiding you to your proper path in life.

  4. Cooperate- When cooperating you are listening and being acceptive of God's love, when you stop to take the path of cooperation you make God's world more Holy and peaceful.

  5. Be Holy-Look to the Bible to verse Hebrews 12:14 where it reads: "Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification (holiness) without which no one will see the Lord" as this is how to become most Holy in the eyes of the Church and our Lord.

  6. Distinguish Between Voices- This step could be one of the hardest of all to accomplish as the entities in our lives are all trying to vie for your help in good and bad ways, this is where the previous 5 steps come in handy as you look for the Lord's gifts he has bestowed upon you and how he wishes you to use them. 

If you are wishing to speak to someone in the Cedar Rapids area about vocations please reach out to:

Fr. Loecke

DBQ030@dbqarch.org,

Dcn. Rich Wallace

RWallace@stmatthewcr.org,

or

Fr. Jon Seda
Associate Director of Vocations (Cedar Rapids)
515-292-1192
DBQ032@dbqarch.org
or go to the link below, from the Archdiocese of Dubuque:

Questions about becoming a Deacon please reach out to Deacon John Stierman at DBQCPD@dbqarch.org.

Archdiocese of Dubuque - What does God want me to be?  Part 1: Introduction - Dubuque, IA (dbqarch.org)