The NRVC's Catalyst newsletter has alerted us that the USCCB published their annual report with the characteristics of the women and men making perpetual profession in 2022. Here are some of the characteristics the NRVC on review of the report: 

• On average, respondents report having known the members of their religious institute for three years before they entered.
• On average, respondents report that they were 18 years old when they first considered a vocation to religious life, with half being 18 or younger when they first did so.
• Respondents who reported educational debt paid down an average of $34,000 in educational debt before admission.
• 84% had work experience prior to entering their religious institute. The main work fields are business, education, and healthcare. 14% were Catholic school teachers.
• 12% report being raised by their grandparents during the most formative part of their childhood.
• 36% attended a Catholic high school, compared to 8% of U.S. adult Catholics.
• 93% report that someone encouraged them to consider a vocation to religious life.
• Women are more likely than men to report being discouraged from discerning a religious vocation (64% compared with 37% of men religious)
• 30% report having a relative who is a priest or a religious.

Read other studies on vocations to religious life here.

Gymnast Simone Biles and swimmer Katie Ledecky both say an important source of strength in their lives is their Catholic faith. For Ledecky, who attended a Catholic school run by the Sacred Heart (R.S.C.J.) Sisters, support also comes in the form of the sisters from her high school who have cheered her on. Both Biles and Ledecky won four gold medals apiece at the 2016 Olympics and both qualified for the 2021 Olympics in Japan.

Biles has noted that she carries a rosary in her gym bag: “My mom, Nellie, got me a rosary at church,” she told Us magazine. “I don’t use it to pray before a competition. I’ll just pray normally to myself, but it’s there just in case.”

Likewise, Ledecky told journalists that her faith was a mainstay in her life and that she likes to pray a Hail Mary prior to competitions: “I do say a prayer—or two—before any race. The Hail Mary is a beautiful prayer and I find that it calms me,” Ledecky told The Catholic Standard.

In her autobiography, Courage to Soar, Biles noted many Catholic milestones in her upbringing. For instance, she wrote about her Confirmation day: “I marched into St. James the Apostle Church that Sunday in a line of teenagers with solemn faces . . . in a way, our procession reminded me of a medal ceremony, except that no gold, silver, and bronze medals would be given out. Instead, our prize would be something much more powerful: in a few moments, each of us would bow our heads to receive the Holy Sacrament of Confirmation.”

In drawing upon their faith and the support of Catholic sisters, Ledecky and Biles are continuing a tradition familiar to many Catholic athletes: turning to God and community for strength, courage, and perspective.

Many who join monastic and contemplative religious orders take a vow of stability, committing themselves to a particular community.

The vow of stability means that a monk stays put. Unless he’s sent somewhere else by his superiors, or gets a dispensation from Rome, a monk must remain in the monastery of his profession. [Cistercian writer Thomas] Merton explains: “By making a vow of stability the monk renounces the vain hope of wandering off to find a ‘perfect monastery.’”

There’s a lesson here for happiness. It’s often tempting to think that we’d be happy if only external circumstances would change. Sometimes it’s true that some external change would make a huge difference to our happiness . . . [But] sometimes we need to embrace a vow of stability and make our happiness in the situation in which we find ourselves, instead of searching restlessly for perfect circumstances.

From “Monks Take a ‘Vow of Stability.’ Maybe You Should, Too” by Gretchen Rubin, on Slate.com.

My most beloved teachers were nuns who taught us to help the poor, pray for the sick, and send our milk money to El Salvador. It was there that I learned of the necessity—and the possibilities—of self-sufficiency and cooperation. . . . In their polyester pantsuits and orthopedic shoes, Sister Irene and Sister Betty—my first- and second-grade teachers—emanated a sense of joy and purpose I found infectious. . . .

I was 5 when I began first grade in the fall of 1981. Sister Irene, with short, silver hair and oversize glasses, sat before my class in a little orange chair. With a map of Central America pulled down behind her, she passed around a badly photocopied picture of the sisters’ burned-out van [American sisters killed by Salvadoran death squads]. I don’t remember her words, but I remember the sensation: the gravity of the shock tempered by Sister Irene’s insistence on forgiveness. We did not learn about “capitalism” or “revolution.” The nuns did not traffic in propaganda . . . Sister Irene taught us that vulnerability didn’t separate humans, it connected us.

The nuns taught us generosity and introspection as directly as fractions and cursive. My education, in other words, was never only about me, but also about the world I was poised to inherit.

From “Everything I Know About Feminism I Learned From Nuns” by Liesl Schwabe, New York Times, Feb. 16, 2019.

Plenty of valuable data exists about who has been entering religious life recently and why. The National Religious Vocation Conference has made this information available in a highly visual “storymap” online.

That research, and other data, also appear in written form at “Studies” at nrvc.net.

Some highlights:

• Newer members express hope about the future, even as they acknowledge that the demographics of religious life are changing fast.

• Newer members are diverse, ethnically and in terms of age, although most are young. The newest research shows the median age for those entering religious life in 2020 was 26.

• What draws new people into religious life are a desire for prayer, spiritual growth, charism, the joy of community life, a sense of call, and mission.

Many religious communities are offering online liturgies, prayer services, retreats, and discernment discussions. Please check out the VISION calendar for upcoming events.

Prepare the Word, a parish evangelization resource published by TrueQuest Communications, has a round up of some prayers and reflections and livestreamed liturgies: https://preparetheword.com/publication/6284/article/21380-resources-during-covid-19-pandemic.

Find additional resources on Prayer, Discernment, and Being Catholic in VISION's article library.

After 90 years on earth and 70 years as a Catholic sisters serving seven popes in the Vatican, Sr. Maria de Céu, a Franciscan Missionary of Mary, has learned the secret to a happy life: "A life given to others,"

In an interview in Rome Reports, Sr. Marie explains, "If we don't give ourselves to others, what's the purpose of living? The Lord always comes first."

Millennial sisters with many doors open to them chose religious life. That was the theme explored on a recent Tamron Hall Show, a new daytime talk show. The Catholic sisters featured on the show, Sisters Anne Marie Findlay C.S.S.F.; Elizabeth McGill, I.H.M.; Rachel Lauritsen, F.M.A.; and Boram Lee F.M.A. were brought to the attention of Tamron Hall producers by VISION publisher Patrice Tuohy, who worked closely with the show's producers to provide information on the contemporary religious life, Two of the sisters are also recipients of grants from the National Fund for Catholic Religious Vocations, established by the National Religious Vocation Conference to help alleviate the obstacle of educational debt to religious life. Patrice Tuohy and Phil Loftus, Executive Director of NFCRV, were in the audience to cheer the sisters on.

Serveral VISION sponsoring communities from New Jersey received a nice writie up in the North Jersey Record article "Number of nuns are dwindling, but these Jersey millennials are still hearing the call" by Deena Yellin.

And VISION got a mention too! 

As many orders are dwindling, some remain strong. The Salesian Sisters of Saint John Bosco . . . is among the largest women's orders in the world, with more than 13,000 sisters in over 90 countries. It is also among the few orders that are growing. This year, three new women joined the order in New Haledon.

Some women continue to feel the pull to the religious life, offering hope that nuns will continue to serve, perhaps in new ways.

The Felician Sisters in Lodi have four women in different stages of discernment, the multi-years process of considering religious life. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace in Englewood Cliffs had six women take vows over the past 15 years. The Discalced Carmelites in Flemington has two candidates this year, and Sisters of Christian Charity in Mendham has 12 women in various stages of formation.

Patrice Tuohy, publisher of Vision Vocation Guide, which provides information about religious communities, says an average of about 3,000 women fill out profiles each year, seeking to be matched to a religious community, but that number rose to 3,500 last year. "That surprised me," she said. "They were predominantly people under 30. There's definitely been an uptick of inquiries into religious life."

In September 2019, Pope Francis will make his fourth visit to Africa. Among the key reason's for the Popes special attention to Africa: Africa is the fastest growing Catholic population on the planet. Read more in a recent BBC report.

Related to the growth of Catholicism in Africa, is the rise of African priests in the U.S. Martin Emehs, former president of the African Conference of Catholic Clergy and Religious in the U.S., estimates that in 2013, "there were about 700 African priests in the country and believes the number is much higher today." African priests are serving as "reverse missionaries," doing what their Global North counterparts did for several centuries: "taking God’s word to people across the ocean." 

The Pope has named four women, three religious sisters and one laywomen, to serve as consultors to the secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, an important Vatican department. According to Sister Nathalie Becquardt, xav., one of the women named, the move reflects Pope Francis' desire to be more inclusive and provide greater leadership roles for women in the church. The other women named are Sister Alessandra Smerilli, F.M.A,. Sister Maria Luisa Berzosa, F.I. and Professor Cecilia Costa.

https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/11724/pope-appoints-four-women-to-top-synod-jobs-

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-women/pope-names-women-to-key-vatican-department-for-first-time-idUSKCN1SU1TJ

Thinking of consecrated life? Prepare for vowed life by incorporating simple practices into your daily life today. Read more here.

Our banner display at World Youth Day Panama on the Four Steps to Vocation Discernment was a big hit. An article (in English and Spanish) and pdf of "Four steps to vocation discernment" now available. Click here for more.

The VISION crew met thousands of World Youth Day pilgrims at the Vocation Fair in Panama City's Omar Park. We passed out prayer cards and VISION bookmarks and signed up pilgrims to receive daily "Take Five" meditations and stay connected with VISION. One lucky pilgrim won our Fit Bit door prize.

We look forward to the 2022 World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal. Hope to see you there!

Join VISION Vocation Guide in Panama City, Jan. 22-25, in the Vocation Fair

Parque Omar, Section A, booths 23, 24, 25.

Walk through our "Steps to Discernment" display and enter to win a fitbit! 

Other World World Youth Day events

Fiat International Festival for Youth and Young Adults, hosted by the U.S.A.

Sponsored byKnights of Columbus, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Fellowship of Catholic University Students

Wed., Jan. 23, 2019, 2 p.m. - midnight

Centro de Convenciones Amador (Figali Convention Center)

Recognizing the context of the Church this year (including the crisis, the Synod, the Encuentro, the National Dialogue, etc.), the conversation will center on “What is the role of young people at this moment in the life of the Church?” 

Featuring music, witness talks, prayer, dialogue. Learn more here.  

The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth featured Sr. Pat Haley, S.C.N. in a recent newsletter. This line caught our attention: "I will not work in a segregated dining room, obedience or no obedience . . ."

Sr. Pat explains, "When we got to Nazareth as postulants we were assigned duties. I was assigned to the white men’s dining room. I thought, ‘There’s no way I’m gonna do that.' Mother Lucille was coming down the hall, and although I knew I wasn’t supposed to, I stopped her. I asked for a meeting with her and her Council ‘because I am assigned a duty I simply will not do.’ The next day Sister Constance said that the meeting would take place that afternoon. I told the Council, ‘It is not right to be segregated in a place like this. I just spent my years in high school and earlier fighting segregation. I know I was coming into a white world, but there is no excuse for this.’ Sister Mary Ransom Burke, bless her heart, said, ‘What would you suggest we do?’ I looked at her and said, ‘It’s just a partition between two dining rooms. If you have a ladder and screwdriver, I’ll take it down….Mother Lucille said, ‘We will have to have a conversation with the workers.’ I said ‘You didn’t have a conversation with them before. It was decided by the Council. I will not work in a segregated dining room, obedience or no obedience.’ Nothing else was said but in a week the partition was down and I took the duty. Many of the workers did not like it but it was down. In the hallway there was a white water fountain and a colored fountain. I said you also need to do something about those two fountains. So they did. Sister Mary Ransom later said ‘Thank you’ to me and so did Mother Lucille.”

Learn more about the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth here.

VISION has a gift for your in honor of Giving Tuesday: Our VISION Giving Calendar!

Click here to download. 

Find great ideas on the VISION Giving Calendar. Make every day of December a day of giving. 

Enjoy and thank you for giving! Feel free to share with others! 

#GivingTuesday

#ActLocally

#VISIONGivingCalendar

Donate to support VISION Vocation Network.

The National Religious Vocation Conference, VISION's parent organization, hosted a conversation with young Catholics recently about their faith, their challenges, and how older Catholics can be of service to them. One youung person's advice to all Catholics: "Speak less. Pray more. Be faithful."

Find more highlights here:

Full session

“Universal Judgment: Michelangelo and the Secrets of the Sistine Chapel," a new multimedia production celebrating the Sistine Chapel opens March 15, 2018 in Rome, according to Elisabetta Povoledo writing iin the New York Times. Notwithstanding a renowned artistic director, Marco Balich, and the theme song written by Sting, the shows choregrapher Fotis Nikolaou admits that "we can’t do anything bigger than Michelangelo, it’s like committing a sin to suggest that. We’re dialoguing with this masterpiece in the new forms of art, video, dance, theater. It’s like saying thank you to a masterpiece like the Sistine Chapel.”

According to the Times report, "As most sightseers to the real Sistine Chapel know, the visit isn’t always edifying. The hall, though large, is almost always packed, and even though silence is mandatory it can be noisy experience. Ensuring that visitors have a positive experience there 'is constantly on my mind,' said Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums, and a problem that still has to be resolved.

Ms. Jatta saw a rehearsal of the 'Universal Judgment' by artistic director Marco Balich and gave it a thumbs up. "It’s a delicate way to tell a beautiful story of faith, art and history," she says. And it communicates the Sistine Chapel "in a way that many generations can understand."

Asked whether she thought it could replace going to see the real thing, "No, sorry," she said.