|
Vocation Stories
|
Sister Katherine Collard
I had very antiquated notions of religious life, but because I'd studied, I knew enormous changes had come about. I looked at quite a few apostolic communities and I just had not found the right one. I definitely didn't want to join a community where I felt I had to become a "cookie-cutter" nun, needing to be the same, and believe the same things as everyone else. I knew I had to be true to myself and to be myself. That's what I found when I came to the IHM community.
The first thing I noticed was an acceptance of difference. People were different. We were all on the same path but were expressing our spirituality in different ways. You don't all have to be the same and sometimes it's better if the group isn't all the same because differences are the places where growth occurs.
I haven't been a part of the community that long, but as I meet and talk with our women I can really see that there s a certain vitality. You are permitted to be your own person, to grow in your own way and it's okay to question and it s okay to pray in different ways. You're allowed to be an adult in this community and to really grow and take responsibility for your own life and your spiritual growth. |
Sister Katherine is rector of Howard Hall, an M.Div. student at Notre Dame University and a native of Canada.
|
|
Sister Julie Vieira
I met the community while studying for my master's degree at St. Regis College in Toronto. One of my professors was an IHM, and even prior to considering religious life for myself, I was attracted to her lifestyle and evident love of life. As I got to know her community, and as my own spiritual journey unfolded, I found that they were women of deep prayer and compassion, women who were alive and engaged in the adventure of life.
In the IHMs I see women living their lives and flourishing, and I catch on to that energy. That excites me. It triggers my own passions in a way I can hardly articulate and overwhelms me at times because I know I am experiencing the living God.
The thing that attracted me initially was the way they interacted with each other. It was a very tangible, dynamic spirit that existed among them -- as if they had known each other for many, many years. There was an ease about them that drew me in and called to me as if I was one of them.
What I see now after living this life for a few years is that I'm becoming more truly myself. I have come into contact with people, ideas and experiences of God that I simply could not imagine beforehand. I find that what I was looking for I had already found, not just in religious life, but in the person I've always been. Religious life for me is not external. I don't have to "fit into" it because I feel most fully alive within this way of life. |
Sister Julie is an editor for Loyola Press and internationally known blogger at anunslife.org.
|
|
Sister Max Kollasch
Although I didn't envision myself in religious life, I've always sensed that my life is about the spiritual journey. That's why I went into the martial arts. A popular perception is that they re all about fighting. The spiritual side often gets downplayed. The arts have given me a spiritual practice, a pathway to growth.
When I went to the IHMs' theological education sessions in 1997, I began to see connections between myself and religious life. It was sort of unnerving. I didn't expect it. But there I was, listening to IHM Sisters and Associates feeling an incredible energy and commitment from them. What I seemed to have in common was the search for the spirit as the central thing in life.
Community was another area where I felt I had something in common with religious life. In traditional martial arts there's an understanding that we need each other in order to train and learn and grow, and that each person brings a unique gift and benefits the learning of everyone else. It s the idea that we cannot grow alone. We need each other.
My experience with the IHMs is consistent with this. There's mutuality. My growth as a person shapes and is shaped by the community and, by extension, the world. |
Sister Max is a master's candidate in theology at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago and a professional writer.
|
|
Sister Ellen Licavoli
I wasn't looking for religious life. It really took me by surprise. I have to say that I saw myself as more traditional in terms of the church, but what I loved about the IHMs was their openness. Even if I disagreed, I felt it was important to ask questions. I still am traditional in my spirituality in many ways. But with the IHMs, and because I wanted it, I have grown in openness in lots of different ways -- understanding the different cultures, different questions, different spiritualities, diversities, and living with that. Not always agreeing with it. But being able to live with it and appreciate it and value the IHMs for it.
When you get married, there is something about that guy. Religious life is something like that. It's about following the call of God. I find in this community I can be myself. I find God in the IHMs, and myself in God in the IHMs. That's something that is just there. |
Sister Ellen is assistant director of vocations for the Archdiocese of Detroit, and a spiritual director.
|
Stories have a way of engaging us.
Did any of these women' stories strike a chord in you? Surprise or touch you? Take a few moments to let their stories touch your story.
|
|
