Ever wondered if religious formation is like military training?

[Catherine Therese]

Just wanted to share this fun post from the Leonie's Longing website. Enjoy!

http://www.leonieslonging.org/school-of-love-much-more-than-holiness-boot-camp/

[katherineH]

What a fun read! I actually did have a vocation director tell me formation was like boot camp

[Gabriela]

Yup.

[superblue]

i have been in basic training, and did my time in the military, i find the religious life to be much much more challenging physically, mentally, and spiritually.

anyone can be trained to follow orders, and fire a weapon.

You can not train someone to believe in Christ and or order that person to freely give up his or her life to follow Christ.

[Catherine Therese]

i have been in basic training, and did my time in the military, i find the religious life to be much much more challenging physically, mentally, and spiritually.

anyone can be trained to follow orders, and fire a weapon.

You can not train someone to believe in Christ and or order that person to freely give up his or her life to follow Christ.

Hi superblue - you've mentioned your point of difference above in your comment, but can you think of any fun parallels along the lines of the ones listed in the article, e.g. early mornings or b-grade coffee? (just for fun  !!)

[superblue]

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh hoooooooooooooo, it was to be a fun thread. my bad.  

 

hmph, the coffee is actually better here,  sheesh good challenge, i'll have to try again later.

[TheresaThoma]

hmph, the coffee is actually better here,  sheesh good challenge, i'll have to try again later.

I look forward to what you come up with.

I've always wondered about the number of former military members in religious life and how their past military training impacted their religious formation.

[Feankie]

I believe one of the Nuns of Our Lady of Solitude (PCPA's in AZ) was in the military.   She is Sr. Marie Andre's blood sister and her name absolutely escapes me right now.  I believe she alludes to her time in the air force in her vocation story.  Try looking it up at desertnuns.com

[superblue]

I look forward to what you come up with.

I've always wondered about the number of former military members in religious life and how their past military training impacted their religious formation.

I totally didn't read fully the original post, being " share this fun post " so i do apologize if i passed gas in a crowded elevator there. 

 

I can't speak for others on how their time in the military impacted their religious for me, I can only speak for myself, my Formation Director, thinks he has it pegged that those in the military who go into religious life are looking for similarities; one size does not fit all , not for me anyhow.

I didn't want a monastic life looking for a place where i can wake up @ 5 am, and drink coffee with buddies, and swap stories and all the other nonsense that military has to offer.  For me I saw the Army as only having two sides, horrible and good. For me my time in the Army was a complete nightmare, if i had been around smart people, they would have told me to contact JAG, get a lawyer, start filing medical reports and get out as soon as i can. Others do love and thrive in the army and other branches of our military.  So I  contribute nothing positive of who i am to the military in any shape or form, i tell people in person a load of semi positive bs because this part of the truth about my life, would first open up a ton of issues i do not want to rehash and lead me to go on a verbal tirade and eventually getting into an argument with whom ever i was speaking to about my time in the army.

Not to derail this thread, just wanted to respond briefly to T/Thomas, perhaps this can be moved to a new thread later for more discussion.

[Catherine Therese]

I totally didn't read fully the original post, being " share this fun post " so i do apologize if i passed gas in a crowded elevator there. 

Now THAT imagery was fun  

You didn't derail the thread at all. Sure, I had intended it to be a fun thread... but maybe there's something more important to be discussed, and that's absolutely fine!

My own time in the Air Force was really short... but there was a lot I enjoyed about it. The coffee really WAS dreadful. I found religious life more challenging overall, definitely. But I feel like the discipline I cultivated in the Air Force helped to absorb some of what would have been otherwise a massive culture shock. 

Anyhoo.

Superblue, feel free to take it down the serious path if you'd like. It's only a hijack when done by force/without leave.  

Edited October 12, 2015 by Catherine Therese

[Nunsuch]

As always, it very much depends on the community. This sounds like no community I have ever experienced--and I have visited dozens of them, and studied a couple of hundred more.... Not saying this isn't true somewhere, but it's hardly typical in the modern world. 

[AveMariaPurissima]

Just to throw another voice into the mix...earlier today I found a different blog post about this same theme:

http://felicitysfelicity.blogspot.com/2012/03/soldier-of-christ.html

[elizabeth09]

I never thought that way before. I guess boot camp and becoming a sister/nun is not that different.