Fostering Vocations in the Family
Suggestions for Cultivating Good Soil
When groups of families visit us, the parents often ask: how can we foster vocations in our children? Here are some suggestions based on the experience of our own Sisters.
Sacramental Life: Attending Mass, receiving Holy Communion devoutly, going to Confession regularly. Going to Eucharistic Adoration or stopping by a church to make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament.
“When we moved closer to the parish church, we began attending daily Mass. The devotion of our elderly Irish pastor impressed us deeply. Also, our father taught us to make visits to the Blessed Sacrament with a deep, personal love for Jesus.”
“First Friday All-Night Adoration was a staple of my youth. My family would always be there, with many different tricks to help us keep awake during the vigil of prayer. When I started discerning, I couldn’t image becoming a nun without Eucharistic Adoration!”
Family and Personal Prayer: Putting God first visibly in the family, and modeling that you also put God first in your own life, is the best and most effective example to give your children.
“Growing up, I knew that my mother got up early each day to have her personal time of prayer with the Scripture. When I got old enough, she had us children take quiet time to read the Bible after lunch each day, which helped open my own heart to God.”
Lives of Saints: These heroes are on fire with love for God, unlike the heroes in most other children’s literature (and adult literature!)
“My family started making First Saturday’s at a bigger parish that had a book rack in the vestibule. Reading the lives of the saints refocused my Junior-High heart back on God and my desire to serve Him as a Sister.”
Daily Duty and Joyful Gift of Self: A vocation is a call to self-sacrifice, whether that is motherhood in the family or spiritual motherhood of souls in the convent or monastery.
Exposure to Religious: Women religious are not as present today, but visiting a convent or monastery may be possible, or providing books about Sisters is also helpful.
Arrange a “Come and See” Day for your children’s group at a local convent or monastery.
Sign up for the newsletters of several religious communities. This is vocation exposure delivered right to your mail box or inbox. (Sign up for our e-mail newsletter in the footer; teens can sign up for our Vocation Newsletter at the bottom of our Vocation page.)
Ask if communities have books available for your home library on their founder or on their way of life; some communities have materials specifically for children as well.
Older teens may be interested in attending a discernment retreat. Some good places to find vocation retreats are religiouslife.com (for active and cloistered communities) and cmswr.org (for active communities). Check out our vocation retreats here.
When travelling or on vacation, check to see if there are any monasteries or religious houses where you could stop to pray in the chapel and greet one of the monks or nuns. (ReligiousLife.com, CloisteredLife.com, and CMSWR.org are good places to check.)
I didn’t meet any Sisters growing up, but when I was around 12 years old I read a book about Poor Clare Colletines and fell in love with the monastic life. It took me ten more years to grow up and find the community God planned for me to enter.
Good Catholic Education: Many families chose to homeschool in order to provide solid teaching, or maybe there is a good Catholic school near you. An orthodox Catholic college, or at least a school with a vibrant Catholic student center, can be a crucial support at an important time in personal formation.
“The Sisters taught us in school, and I used to play ’nun’ on the playground with my little friends. When I was in high school, one of the Sisters gave me St. Therese’s Story of a Soul to read. I knew then that I wanted to be a cloistered nun like her.”