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'I wanted seven kids but instead I became a nun
BBC ^ | 16th June 2024 | Sister Catherine as told to Pail Mosley

Posted on 06/18/2024 1:48:05 AM PDT by Cronos

While faith has always been important to Catherine, 26, she did not always plan on joining a religious order. "I'd had this dream of getting married and having seven children - you know, proper Catholic, you need to have lots of babies, right?".

Yet here she is, part of a small group of women in a convent on the edge of Dereham, a small Norfolk town. Growing up a Catholic and working for the local diocese, .

She initially had doubts about joining them, working instead as an au pair in Austria. She hoped to find "a nice, handsome man", but that did not happen.

"There were lots of moments on my day off I'd go exploring some of the beautiful surroundings," she says. "And I can remember those times where I'd come across a chapel or a church and have that real sense of deep peace - almost a sense of being held - in God's presence. "And so I realised this desire to belong totally to God was still there."

Shortly after the first Covid lockdown, Sister Catherine joined the convent of The Community of Our Lady of Walsingham, based in a converted barn. "I thought I'd give it three weeks. Almost four years later, I'm still here," she says. A typical day involves at least three hours in prayer and silent contemplation.

But Catherine and the other sisters are also involved in the community, giving talks in schools, working in prisons and also with university students. They also maintain the convent and its grounds, as well as its website and social media channels.

...She met "some really joyful sisters" and says that, through prayer, she came to trust that what God wanted "is what's best for me".

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: catholic
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To: Qwapisking

I think it all adds up organically to make a better society. There is no right way to do anything that involves doing good. Even just paying for services does that on some level.


21 posted on 06/18/2024 4:33:33 AM PDT by Jonty30 (He hunted a mammoth for me, just because I said I was hungry. He is such a good friend. )
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To: Chicory
But the ultimate purpose of our lives is to love and serve God. Some are called to love and serve God in a way other than marriage and parenthood.

Yes. True.

There is another ultimate and higher purpose, though. As the very first book of the Bible says, " Be fruitful and multiply." God put us here and gave us all unique talents and equipped us with the ability to multiply. In the end, "be fruitful and multiply" is a core purpose to be added to "love and serve God" in our own unique way.

If we don't become "fruitful and multiply" it more or less means in the long run we will not be able to be here to "love and serve God."

By the way, most of our modern Western culture has clearly abandoned the "multiply" concept.

Right?

22 posted on 06/18/2024 4:37:16 AM PDT by icclearly ( )
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To: Az Joe

My parents sent me to Catholic school. The nuns were physically and mentally abusive. One was so bad she ended up in jail for child abuse.

When I was a kid, my aunt was a nun. She got real sick and they basically told her to go home and die.

She went home and recovered. She quit being a nun, got married and is still doing well. (still a little weird though)


23 posted on 06/18/2024 5:13:41 AM PDT by cyclotic (Don’t be part of the problem. Be the entire problem)
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To: Cronos

The Vatican has long ago been taken over by filthy depraved Heretics. The Church (Bride of Christ) will NEVER be destroyed but those evil perverts in the Vatican are a different matter.

https://www.soulask.com/inside-the-popes-reptilian-audience-hall-in-vatican-city/

https://nypost.com/2019/02/14/80-percent-of-priests-in-the-vatican-are-gay-new-book/

https://nypost.com/2019/02/16/inside-the-horrifying-unspoken-world-of-sexually-abusive-nuns/

https://www.foxnews.com/us/the-dark-silent-history-of-nuns-sexually-abusing-minors-set-to-become-the-next-church-scandal


24 posted on 06/18/2024 5:14:03 AM PDT by Flavious_Maximus (Tony Fauci will be put on death row and die of COVID!)
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To: Cronos

The nuns who ran my grammar school always called us students “my children”


25 posted on 06/18/2024 6:33:13 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: roving

St Paul begs to differ.


26 posted on 06/18/2024 6:34:05 AM PDT by Romulus
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To: Cronos
I'd like to see women become nuns as they get older.Be married,have kids and when your husband passes on and your kids grow up *then* become a nun. Perhaps you're a teacher or a nurse...you can teach in a Catholic school or be a nurse in a Catholic hospital.
27 posted on 06/18/2024 6:56:17 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Never Trust A Man Whose Uncle Was Eaten By Cannibals)
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To: Cronos

thank you for posting this BBC news report. It is refreshing to see a positive article about Christianity in the msm for a change. May the young lady/nun be blessed with her decision to lead the life of a religious.


28 posted on 06/18/2024 7:57:55 AM PDT by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
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To: Jonty30

It is indeed permanent and is certainly not a way station on the road to marriage. Becoming a nun is a serious commitment and made with the intention of it being for life.


29 posted on 06/18/2024 8:36:47 AM PDT by lastchance (Cognovit Dominus qui sunt eius.)
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To: roving

Too bad you were not around to advice some of the saints who decided marriage was not for them.


30 posted on 06/18/2024 8:38:53 AM PDT by lastchance (Cognovit Dominus qui sunt eius.)
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To: lastchance

I disagree. If that’s what you want, that’s fine.
However, if you want to be married, but your time is not yet, it’s better to take a temporary vow to do the most good until you are ready.

The Jews had the Nazarenes. Being a Nazarene was a one year commitment, where you kept the Torah perfectly. However, God did not expect that to be permanent.


31 posted on 06/18/2024 8:40:39 AM PDT by Jonty30 (He hunted a mammoth for me, just because I said I was hungry. He is such a good friend. )
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To: roving
God wants you be married regardless if you’re serving in the Catholic Church. That’s just some rule they made up.

Speaking of "just some rule they made up," please show us from Scripture where it says "God wants you to be married regardless". Please start your teaching with 1 Cor chapter 7. Pay particular attention to verses 6 through 8, because verse 6 clearly states that there is no "commandment" requiring individuals to marry, but only a "permission".

32 posted on 06/18/2024 9:04:32 AM PDT by Campion (Everything is a grace, everything is the direct effect of our Father's love - Little Flower)
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To: Jonty30

It’s not a matter of agree or disagree it is a matter of what it means to join an order and become a Catholic nun or sister.


33 posted on 06/18/2024 9:27:28 AM PDT by lastchance (Cognovit Dominus qui sunt eius.)
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To: lastchance

I’m not Catholic. There is no going to hell over leaving the religious order. I’m saying it’s a good place for temporary service until you can choose to marry.

One thing I find interesting about Catholics is that their religion is oriented towards utter loneliness and despair in order to serve God. You can’t serve God with joy and purpose and in preparation for marriage, because that is somehow against the Bible in the view of a Catholic.

I’d rather have somebody join an order, knowing full well that they plan to leave that order when they are ready for something like marriage, so they serve God with complete devotion while they prepare for marriage, even if they never marry.

Instead, by your words, you can’t join a religious order unless you are prepared for permanent celibacy and loneliness. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why so many single people are out carousing, because they have been messaged that’s it’s either singledom or celibacy. There doesn’t seem to be a middle of the road that can work for the common good.


34 posted on 06/18/2024 9:34:10 AM PDT by Jonty30 (He hunted a mammoth for me, just because I said I was hungry. He is such a good friend. )
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To: lastchance

I’m not Catholic. There is no going to hell over leaving the religious order. I’m saying it’s a good place for temporary service until you can choose to marry.

One thing I find interesting about Catholics is that their religion is oriented towards utter loneliness and despair in order to serve God. You can’t serve God with joy and purpose and in preparation for marriage, because that is somehow against the Bible in the view of a Catholic.

I’d rather have somebody join an order, knowing full well that they plan to leave that order when they are ready for something like marriage, so they serve God with complete devotion while they prepare for marriage, even if they never marry.

Instead, by your words, you can’t join a religious order unless you are prepared for permanent celibacy and loneliness. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why so many single people are out carousing, because they have been messaged that’s it’s either singledom or celibacy. There doesn’t seem to be a middle of the road that can work for the common good for a temporary time.


35 posted on 06/18/2024 9:34:50 AM PDT by Jonty30 (He hunted a mammoth for me, just because I said I was hungry. He is such a good friend. )
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To: roving
God wants you be married regardless if you’re serving in the Catholic Church. That’s just some rule they made up.

No, it's not "some rule they made up." Catholics (and Orthodox) going all the way back to the time of Christ, considered marriage and family a good thing. But sacrificing the human desire for marriage and family for the sake of the Gospel is considered something grand--almost miraculous. No one is forced to do it. The "rule" is only for those who wish to abide by it and enter into it willingly.
36 posted on 06/18/2024 10:06:38 AM PDT by Antoninus (Republicans are all honorable men.)
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To: Cronos

Never 7, then you have that weird kid in the middle.

Always shoot for an even number.


37 posted on 06/18/2024 10:16:28 AM PDT by gnarledmaw (Hivemind liberals worship leaders, sovereign conservatives select servants.)
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To: Antoninus

The Catholic did to protect their assets from claims of children that were fathered by priests. It’s not based on some standard of holiness.

Every Apostle was married. The only Apostle not married was Paul, but it is presumed he was a widow.

https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/when-did-the-catholic-church-decide-priests-should


38 posted on 06/18/2024 10:50:00 AM PDT by Jonty30 (He hunted a mammoth for me, just because I said I was hungry. He is such a good friend. )
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To: Jonty30
I’m not Catholic.

That's your loss and Satan's gain.

39 posted on 06/18/2024 12:10:22 PM PDT by ebb tide
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To: ebb tide

Not when I read the Bible. John 3:16.


40 posted on 06/18/2024 12:13:41 PM PDT by Jonty30 (He hunted a mammoth for me, just because I said I was hungry. He is such a good friend. )
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