I know from experience and from the experience of others that parents are often not thrilled when their child mentions to them that they feel God might be calling them to religious life or the priesthood. In an old vocation book that I have from the 1950's, there is a chapter on dealing with parental opposition. We have an idea that people were much more open to vocations before Vatican II--not so. Listen to these statistics from the book, "For More Vocations" written in 1954: in a study in which more than 1500 young men and 2400 young women who were in formation or seminary at the time were surveyed....59% of the men and 72% of the women had endured an amount of pressure or opposition to their vocation. It was hard for me to believe the statistics were that high in the past when the Church held sisters and priests in much greater esteem than today. I wonder what the statistics are today! I can only imagine they are higher.

When we are called to do something that our parents don't understand or encourage, we must be kind to them and pray for them, but we also have the right to follow that call even in the midst of that opposition. Many saints have endured the same trial, but God gives strength. Great fruit comes from great sacrifices.

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Very interesting! Thanks Sis.

Another thing to mention is that the parents almost always, in time, come around. A sister I know has an Atheist father. He wouldn't come to any of her ceremonies and was extremely opposed to her entering. 11 years ago, at the age of 18, she got on a bus, went to the airport by herself, and entered the community that day, with no audience or supporters except the chaplain of the community and the sisters. Now, her father hasn't come around to Christianity, but he accepts her call and loves her very much. He doesn't understand her vocation yet, but he's made a huge turnaround since she entered.

Yes, that is true. Often parents find out that it is the child that they thought they were giving up that becomes the one who is closest to them. My grandma felt completely rejected during my novitiate because I was unable to visit her except for a few days after a year (I am the only granddaughter and my mom, an only child, had already died.) She was so sad she didn't want to communicate with me during that time. But many years later, God arranged that I was able to care for her in her last years.

Not only parents, but siblings too. For instance, my sister was completely opposed to me entering the convent when I first told her. She didn't talk to me for 3 days!! In time, once she saw I was happy and she began to understand how it works, she came around. She's not 100% for it, but she's supportive because we are sisters. It's the same way for parents. In time they realize that their son/daughter is exactly that, their SON and DAUGHTER. That is the one thing that does not change.

My parents were really happy about the thought of "not losing one child, but gaining forty more"

One of these clips I was watching last night from the Teresa de los Andes movie, reminded me of this thread. In Clip 4, Juanita speaks to her father about entering religious life - http://www.teresadelosandes.org/anglais/a_video_teresa.php