What is a vocation?

Many people use the word vocation in reference to the call to be a priest, sister, or brother. However, the Catholic understanding of vocation is actually much broader: every baptized person has a vocation--a call--to love and serve God. How you choose to live out that vocation is what each person must discern. Some feel called to live as single or married laypeople; others choose to be members of a religious community (as a sister, priest, or brother); members of a secular institute (Secular institutes are groups of people who live independently but take vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience.); or be ordained as deacons or diocesan priests. Each Christians primary vocation is Each of these particular way of life that is a vocation.
 

What is a sister or nun?

A sister or nun is a woman who belongs to a religious order, or community, such the Franciscans or Carmelites. Many people use the word nun interchangeabley with sister, but technically nuns are those who live a cloistered (or enclosed) monastic life; whereas sisters serve in an active ministry. After a period of preparation (called formation) sisters and nuns take lifelong vows. Usually they take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience; that is, they promise to live simply, to live celibately, and to follow the will of God through their community.

What is a brother?

A brother belongs to a religious community of men. Like sisters, they, too, follow the counsels of perfection--the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Their lives revolve around prayer, communal living, and a ministry of service. Brothers are distinct from priests and do not perform the sacramental duties of priests. Some men's communities include both brothers and priests. Both types of members have equal respect and status in the community.

What is a monk?

A monk is a man or woman who lives a monastic life. Monasticism is a particular form of religious life built around a rule, such as the Rule of Benedict, and the Divine Office, a set of prayers and psalms chanted or sung at various points in the day.

What is a friar?

A friar is a member of a men's Franciscan religious community.

What is the difference between a diocesan priest and a priest from a religious order?

Diocesan priests typically serve within their own diocese (a geographic territory designated by the Catholic Church), and they are appointed to their ministry by the bishop of that diocese. The majority of diocesan priests serve in parish ministry, but a small portion carry out administrative, educational, or other types of ministry.

Religious priests belong to a men's religious community. While they may perform parish ministry, they generally serve in other ways, typically doing work related to the mission and charism (gift/spirituality) of their congregation.

Are religious communities dying out?

Religious communities continue to thrive even though some individual communities may merge with others or die out altogether. The rise and fall of religious communities have always had an ebb and flow since the days of the early church. The needs of the time, and Catholics believe, the movement of the Holy Spirit are the impetus for new communities to form and others to fade away. Today in the U.S., while many religious communities are merging or diminishing following an historically unusual surge 40 years ago, others are being founded or are attracting new members. In addition, there is a rising interest in religious life among North American Catholics, as noted in VISION surveys in 2007 and 2008.

Are young people still choosing to become priests, sisters and brothers?

Yes. In fact, reversing a decades-long decline, Catholic religious communities have enjoyed a 19 percent jump in the number of candidates preparing for religious life in the past three years, according to the VocationMatch.com Report on Trends in Religious Life, sponsored by VISION Vocation Guide. That upward trend promises to continue with fully 71 percent of communities polled reporting an increase in the number of people inquiring about entering religious life, and 6,930 discerners (up from 5591 in 2007) creating online profiles and requesting information from specific religious communities in 2008.

Are young adults pressured to join a religious order if they request information?

Trained vocation ministers adhere to a code of ethics that specifically encourages them to allow inquirers a sense of true freedom to choose or not choose religious life or priesthood without any pressure or expectation from others. Online websites, discussion boards, and email exchanges allow inquirers to seek information anonymously until they feel prepared to make more personal contact.

Most vocation ministers acknowledge that their role is to accompany those in discernment, not to recruit them. In addition vocation directors have a duty to their communities and the church to properly assess and offer honest feedback about a candidate's fitness for religious life.