A life given whole
The consecrated life is the choice to give one's entire life to God under the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The Catechism (914-933) describes it as a state in which the baptised are more intimately consecrated to divine service. It is not a more important vocation than marriage or the priesthood. It is a different shape of love, made for a particular kind of soul.
Bishop Mark Davies named it directly in his 2026 Pastoral Letter for Vocations.
Today, I want to join Pope Leo in inviting all considering their calling to take these steps to discover their vocation, whether this will be found in Christian Marriage; the Consecrated Life of Sisters or Brothers; the Catholic Priesthood; the service of the Diaconate; or the greatness of the lay vocation lived in the midst of the world.
Source: Vocations Pastoral Letter 2026, dioceseofshrewsbury.org.
Sisters and brothers are not relics. They are the Church's prophetic witness that this world is not the last word, and that Christ alone is enough.
The two great branches
Consecrated life has two large families, and most communities sit clearly in one or the other.
Contemplative life
Contemplatives live behind enclosure. Their work is prayer, silence, the chanting of the Divine Office, the slow reading of scripture, and the unceasing offering of intercession for the world. The Carmelites, Poor Clares, Cistercians, and Carthusians are classic contemplative orders. Their daily life looks small. Its impact is enormous. Every parish in the Diocese is held up by contemplatives somewhere praying for it.
Shrewsbury has a particular daughter in this tradition. Margaret Rope was born in Shrewsbury in 1882. She became a Carmelite nun, and from within the cloister she designed seven of the masterpiece stained glass windows of Shrewsbury Cathedral, in the Arts and Crafts manner. When you stand in the Cathedral and look at the light coming through her glass, you are looking at the work of a contemplative whose life poured itself out for the Lord and whose vision still feeds the prayer of the Diocese over a hundred years later. Contemplative life is not a withdrawal from the world. It is a sustained gift to it.
Apostolic life
Apostolic communities live in active service. They run schools, hospitals, parishes, missions, retreat houses, social projects, and chaplaincies. The Sisters of Mercy, the Daughters of Charity, the Salesians, the Dominicans, the Franciscans of various branches, the Jesuits, and many newer congregations are apostolic. They take the same three vows as contemplatives, but their charism sends them out.
New communities
The Spirit has not stopped raising up new forms. Communities such as the Community of Saint John, the Sisters of the Gospel of Life, the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, and various ecclesial movements have emerged in the last fifty years. Some live a hybrid of contemplative and apostolic life. Some serve specifically in evangelisation or in the pro-life mission. The Diocese welcomes religious of many charisms across its territory.
What discernment looks like
The shape of religious discernment is recognisably the same across charisms.
- Prayer. Daily Mass where possible. Adoration. Scripture. Spiritual reading.
- Spiritual direction. A wise priest or religious to talk with monthly.
- Contact and visit. Write to communities. Stay with them on a Come and See weekend or longer retreat.
- Honesty about your own life. Health, debt, family situation, prior commitments. Nothing has to be hidden. Everything has to be told.
- Time. No good community presses a candidate. Vocations are tested, sometimes for years.
Why this still matters
Bishop Davies returns often to a phrase he uses for the priesthood, that it is the one vocation on which all other vocations in the Church depend. The same Bishop has consistently named consecrated life as a foundation of the Diocese's mission. The contemplatives pray for the priests and the families. The apostolic religious teach the children, sit with the dying, and run the soup kitchen. Without their witness, parish life loses a dimension of its catholicity.
The Diocese gives thanks for the religious houses on its territory and prays for new vocations to consecrated life alongside the 12 men currently in priestly formation.
Your next step
If the Lord is putting this question on your heart, take these three steps.
- Pick one community. Read about its founder, its rule, its current mission. Pray with that for a month.
- Write to the vocations director of that community. They will be glad to receive your letter.
- For broad questions about consecrated life across the Diocese, email vocationsdirector@dioceseofshrewsbury.org and ask to be pointed to communities of the charism that draws you.
Christ asked the rich young man to sell what he had and follow him (Mark 10:17-22). Some are asked the same. Religious life is the answer of those who say yes.
