Just wondering about something....How do you explain a religious vocation to non catholics? specifically non catholic family members? I tried to explain it to my aunts children and was told never to mention it again. I didn't explain it in a threatening manner....just wondering about others experience with this. Thanks

I've found that using the analogy of spousal love is quite useful.

I was reading an article by a CFR father in which he talked about his trip to the zoo. While he was looking at the monkeys, he noticed a small girl staring at him. She finally asked, "Are you Jesus?"

The friar replied, "No, but I work for Him."

The little girl yelled back to her friends, "He's not Jesus, but he works for Him!"

I think this would form a good basis for an explanation.

I think that is a great story. I tend to think of it in martial rather than marital terms. I don't come from a military family, but I have firends in the Canadian military, and I find that useful. To quote Canadian military reruitment ads from the 80's, "there's no life like it"!

Speaking from the Bible Belt, I try to explain it like this: it's a Catholic variation of the "altar call."

If someone is going to explain something to someone, trying to relate it to their way of life is usually the way to go. I was looking at a church building for our future Cloisterites, and I told the Protestant minister that this group would be "praising Jesus Christ 24/7." He loved the idea!!! If you just say, "convent," all kinds of negative images are popping up in their heads.

This is where discerning spirits can come in handy. Is the person asking about "convents" and "nuns" because of curiosity, or do you sense the Holy Ghost moving them in that direction?

HTH.

Blessings,
Gemma

You know, it is many times a lot easier to explain a religious vocation to a faithful protestant than it is to a non-practicing Catholic.
My main difficulty with my family seems to be more that they don't really understand that God can speak to you. They seem to think that either you would hear an audible voice (and then you'd be crazy) or that it is what you what to do and you're just blaming God for it (you're running away from the world because you're scared, you don't like men, you want to look like you're better than other people, you're just being dramatic, it's a stage you're going through,.....) As much as we would like to explain that God can speak to you in a way that you can actually know it's Him, unless they experience it themselves they are not going to get it.
If they are faithful people you can point out many passages in the Gospels that show that God does ask that kind of commitment from some people.