An Invitation: Become Part of Something Bigger Than Yourself!

Do you know a young woman or man that you think may  have a religious vocation? Why not invite them to look at some of the possibilities. Or what about you yourself? Are you interested in becoming part of something bigger than yourself? The call to religious life is definitely that.

One of our vocation directors shared the following link with me. The VISION Vocation Network developed a timeline of the history of religious life.  Religious Life Timeline VISION Vocation Network for Catholic Religious Life & Priesthoodenglish

The timeline definitely depicts something that is bigger than any one  of us. It illustrates the history of religious life in the Churh back to about 50 AD. Does that mean that religious life is an outdated entity? Absolutely not! Founders of religious congregation usually emerged in efforts to meet the needs of their day and as those needs changed over the course of history, congregations changed as well in their efforts to meet emerging needs.

I know that this is true in my own congregation's history. Our early sisters really did not have a specific ministry. Initially Mother Francis and her two cofounders opened their home to young immigrant women to provide a safe living situation for them. When the poor of Philadelphia could not obtain health care in the existing hospitals, the sisters brought the sick into their home and cared for them. They managed eventually to scrape together enough money to buy a building to serve as a hospital. When St. John Neumann became concerned about the lack of education available for the children of German immigrants, he gave the sisters a stack of books and the fledging community became teachers. And on it went throughout our history. Teaching, healthcare, care of orphans--when there was a need our sisters stepped in to try to meet that need and when that need no longer existed or when the laity were available and able to care for the situation, we moved on. Today our sisters are ministering in 20+ states as well as in Ireland and Africa. We serve in education, healthcare, social services, prayer ministry, retreat work, parish ministry--wherever there is a need, we try to help.

You can check out our ministries as well as our vocation information on our website, http://www.osfphila.org/. And don't forget--if you are a young adult who wants to be part of something bigger than yourself, give religous life a chance and check us out!