[caption id="attachment_7267" align="alignright" width="176"] Blog by Sr. June Fitzgerald, OP[/caption]
You do not leave your family behind when you enter the convent.
Recently, I was interviewed about my discernment and life as a Dominican Sister of Peace. Here is a small part of that interview. As you will see, we do not leave our family behind when we enter the convent.
Who was most supportive of your becoming a sister? Did anyone try to convince you to take another path?
My sister Amy’s support for my vocation never waved – she was always happy for me and supported my decision to enter religious life. My parents were apprehensive at first, because they wanted me to be happy. They were not familiar with consecrated religious life either and they were concerned that I would be cloistered, away from my family and friends, and lonely. However, as my discernment and formation continued, and they became familiar with community life, their fears were dispelled and today they support my decision 100%.
In fact, my father recently visited our sisters in Kentucky – and I was not even with him! These days he knows he is welcome wherever our sisters are. He is part of the family.
What attracted you to the Dominican order?
Definitely the preaching. I had never seen women preach when I was in college, and honestly, I was a little unsure about it. However, watching how the Sisters studied scripture, discussed it and broke open the Word from a feminine perspective – it just made me feel alive.
What attracted me to the Dominican Sisters of Peace was their connection to the world – their concern for and involvement in the issues of the day. Their desire to sow peace and encourage justice, in the way that Christ did.
What do you like about being a religious sister?
Being part of something larger than myself. As a Dominican Sister of Peace, I am one of a network of Dominicans and religious around the world. This network of Sisters may not be politically powerful, but we are powerfully persuasive when we join together to take action. As an individual I may feel very small, but with religious Sisters and Brothers around the world, I am part of a mighty voice for the voiceless and hope for the hopeless.
To be continued . . .
If you have any questions for us that you would like us to answer, please send them to us at vocations@oppeace.org
Blog by Sr. June Fitzgerald, OP[/caption]
You do not leave your family behind when you enter the convent.
Recently, I was interviewed about my discernment and life as a Dominican Sister of Peace. Here is a small part of that interview. As you will see, we do not leave our family behind when we enter the convent.