A total gift

Religious life is a public gift of self to Christ in the Church through the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. It is one of the great paths of holiness, lived in community, under a rule, and ordered to a particular charism. The Catechism describes it as "a more intimate consecration, rooted in baptism and dedicated totally to God" (CCC 916). Sisters, brothers, monks, and nuns belong to the heart of the Church's life and have done so since the earliest centuries. The Diocese of Shrewsbury has been shaped by religious from its beginning and is shaped by them still.

Two great families: contemplative and apostolic

Religious life takes two principal forms, and both are needed.

Contemplative orders are dedicated chiefly to prayer, silence, and the worship of God. The Carmelites, Poor Clares, Cistercians, Carthusians, and others live enclosed lives where the work of the day is the Liturgy of the Hours, mental prayer, lectio divina, and labour offered for the salvation of the world. The Church teaches that the contemplative vocation "stands as an eloquent sign of the absolute primacy of God" (cf. CCC 915). When the world looks indifferent to God, contemplatives are the answer the Church gives without speaking.

Apostolic orders live the same vows in active mission. The Dominicans preach. The Franciscans serve the poor and live in evangelical simplicity. The Salesians teach the young. The Daughters of Charity care for the sick and the marginalised. Communities of teaching sisters built much of Catholic education in this country. Each charism is the gift of a founder who saw a particular face of Christ and gathered others to live it.

Margaret Rope: a Shrewsbury daughter

If you walk into Shrewsbury Cathedral and look up at the windows, you are looking at the work of a woman who became a Carmelite nun. Margaret Agnes Rope was born in Shrewsbury in 1882. She trained as an artist in the Arts and Crafts tradition, became Catholic, and entered the Carmelite Order. She continued to design stained glass from her enclosure for commissions in this country and abroad, including the seven masterpieces in our own Cathedral. Her life is one diocesan answer to the question of whether contemplatives matter. Her windows preach the Gospel daily to anyone who comes through the Cathedral doors. She did not stop being a Shrewsbury woman when she became a nun. She gave Shrewsbury back to itself in coloured glass.

The diversity of charisms

One of the gentle truths of religious life is that no two charisms are the same. The Lord shapes a soul for one community and not for another. The Bishop has often said that vocational discernment for religious life is finding which charism your soul has been shaped for. A young woman drawn to silent enclosure is not better or worse than a young woman drawn to teach in a tough school in inner-city Manchester. They are simply being shaped differently. The work of the discerner is to listen long enough to hear which form of self-gift fits the way the Lord has made her.

Shrewsbury is host to a number of religious communities, and new communities continue to be founded in the wider Church. Among the orders represented in or near the diocese:

Many newer movements and institutes also receive vocations from the diocese. The point is not the brand. The point is the call.

Discernment in practice

If you suspect the Lord may be calling you to religious life, you will need three things: prayer, a spiritual director, and contact with a community.

The Diocese of Shrewsbury supports discerners directly. Discernment retreats run during the year, and the Vocations Office can introduce enquirers to named communities. Saint Joseph's, Stockport, the Eucharistic Shrine of Perpetual Adoration dedicated by Bishop Davies on 22 October 2022, is a place of constant prayer for vocations of every kind, including religious life.

Bishop Davies on the gift

In his Pastoral Letter for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, Bishop Davies named "the Consecrated Life of Sisters or Brothers" alongside priesthood, diaconate, marriage, and the lay vocation. He invites all who are considering their calling to take real steps to discover it. The Lord still calls women and men to give themselves wholly. He still gathers communities. The question is whether you will listen.

Your next step

If you are considering religious life, write to the Vocations Office at vocationsdirector@dioceseofshrewsbury.org. Say whether you are drawn to contemplative or apostolic life, name any communities you have already encountered, and ask for a conversation and for suggestions of "come and see" opportunities. Fr Tony McGrath, Director of Vocations, will respond and help you take the next step.