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Thank you for sharing this. It's true, we can fall into the trap of focusing on how successful our schools and projects are, how many vocations etc. But in fact, as communities and individuals, the only "success" we should be concerned with is the extent to which we fully, joyfully and generously live for God, and live our congregation's charism. A successful school or full novitiate can, of course, be AMDG - but so can a sister's integrity and quiet holiness, or her simple, compassionate presence.

The Fairfield monastery is about 3 miles from my house. I have watched it grow over the last few years with interest.

New Passionist novice: https://www.passionistnuns.org/blog/2019/10/19/introducing-our-new-novice

I mean no disrespect to you or your condition but sometimes humour can lighten things up a little bit. So here is my contribution to you.I am sure you have seen it before, but maybe this is a good time to remember it. Stay strong until your support people return to help out.

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Thank You! I just sent a message to the Western Province.

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I didn’t mean that you should show photos of cells that are already occupied—just an empty, staged cell with the typical basic setup so someone can imagine themselves in a similar space. I personally would also love to see meditation walking trails if there is attached acreage monastery grounds. And when I look at photos of the community at prayer in their chapel, I like to count how many sisters are in their appointed places in the pews to get an idea of how large the community is and the general age composition. Some people prefer small, intimate communities, but I would prefer being in a larger community of twenty-five to fifty women, so I would look to see how many other people I would be sharing communal prayer time with. I also love looking at photos of sisters doing their daily assignments—cooking, cleaning, laundry, preparing specialty products to sell, gardening, animal husbandry, artistic arts, choir practice, and apostolic ministries, especially when the photos are unstaged and natural so that some of the photos show sisters engrossed in their work without cued smiles. A collection of your fellow sisters’ vocation stories and perhaps some honest comments about the challenges to be expected in a religious vocation can also be quite inspirational and realistically accurate. I also like seeing photos of sisters in meditation in the early morning hours, and the entire community eating in the refectory. If a habit is worn, it would be nice to read about the symbolism of the various component pieces that make up the habit. I guess I like websites that give a rounded view of the daily life of a community and help a person picture themselves in a similar life. While artistic photos can be pretty, I prefer pictures that are practical. I don’t need to see photos of flickering candles on an altar, as atmospherically mystical as they may seem.

Having a dreadful time with bipolar. My psychiatrist and my GP are both on leave until the end of this month. These are the only two people I have ever spoken in depth with about the voices I can hear (inside my head not with my ear)during an episode. These voices (sometimes voice only) are really sticking the boots in. I am hoping this episode will not result in hospitalisation and at this point, it is not necessary. But any little stress could push it over the borderline into psychosis if I use the past as a guidance tool, which it is not as yet. I can't explain because there are no words. This is the worst episode in 14 years. I have not needed hospital for 14 years. That is the insidious nature of a bipolar illness. I rang Public Mental Health Emergency telephone line. She said that I was speaking logically, was not suicidal nor a danger to self or others and so they could not help me. That is a cause I am going to take up, I hope, when this episode is over. Apparently, one has to be illogical, suicidal and/or a danger to self or others before Public Mental Health will assist..............are they really waiting for a sufferer to reach the aforementioned stage before giving them assistance in some way? My parish priest might be calling today to water my garden if no one else is able to do so. I hope it will be Father and that he will have time for coffee and a chat. My spiritual director OMI, Oblates of Mary Immaculate) passed away quite suddenly while holidaying with his family in another state, not all that long after my Home Mass to renew life private vows.. I have also contacted my Carmelite nun friend asking for her prayer too. Thank you very much for prayer and may The Good Lord Bless you and yours.............Barb

@BarbaraTherese I love that first video - have watched it many times. Dave Allen had a wicked sense of humour, always made me laugh.

We are all multifaceted complex creations - and The Lord has created us thus -.............. A young priest asked his bishop, “May I smoke while praying?”... The answer was an emphatic “No!” Later, when he sees an older priest puffing on a cigarette while praying, the younger priest scolded him, “You shouldn’t be smoking while praying! I asked the bishop, and he said I couldn’t do it!” “That’s odd,” the old priest replied. “I asked the bishop if I could pray while I’m smoking, and he told me that it was okay to pray at any time!” https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/dotmagis-blog/more-jesuit-jokes/ 3) Holy Smoke: There is always a right way and a wrong way to proceed: Two Jesuit novices both wanted a cigarette while they prayed. They decided to ask their superior for permission. The first asked, but was told no. A little while later he spotted his friend smoking. "Why did the superior allow you to smoke, but not me?" he asked. His friend replied, "Because you asked if you could smoke while you prayed, and I asked if I could pray while I smoked!" https://catholic-resources.org/JesuitJokes.htm (Lyrics transcribed below video) "Forever Young" May God bless and keep you always May your wishes all come true May you always do for others And let others do for you May you build a ladder to the stars And climb on every rung May you stay forever young Forever young, forever young May you stay forever young. May you grow up to be righteous May you grow up to be true May you always know the truth And see the light surrounding you May you always be courageous Stand upright and be strong May you stay forever young Forever young, forever young May you stay forever young. May your hands always be busy May your feet always be swift May you have a strong foundation When the winds of changes shift May your heart always be joyful And may your song always be sung May you stay forever young Forever young, forever young May you stay forever young.

I hadn't seen it, cruciatacara. ..... laughter is great medicine and stress reducer. A real support along The Way especially when it gets a bit bumpy - but not only then. Here are a couple of funny ones I have come across. I really like the cat and/or dog videos.

I thought some of you might find this of interest. https://www.globalsistersreport.org/news/religious-life/column/success-religious-life-what-it

God bless you Barbara

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Hi Princess, and welcome! As with many of the questions people ask here, really it's best to ask the communities themselves. There should be contact details/forms on their websites, or else there might be listings in the diocesan directory. Unless someone who knows those communities extremely well is on this forum, we can't guess what their entrance criteria and policies might be. Bear in mind, though, that unless you're approaching a monastery, or a congregation's one and only community (eg a new foundation), the orders in Ontario will probably belong to much larger orders. Some might well be international , so their motherhouses and novitiates might not be in Canada. My own congregation, for example, only has a few communities in Canada - which is part of the same province as the USA, and is also part of a much larger, international congregation in 35 countries. Canadian candidates would begin in Canada, but then go to the US for their novitiate - so the question about permanent residence doesn't really apply here, whereas it would if someone was approaching a Canadian congregation/ monastery. i hope that makes sense and is helpful!

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I don't know the answers to your questions, but I recommend you get the answers straight from the horse's mouth and contact your Dominican province. www.opeast.org for the Province of St. Joseph (eastern US) www.opcentral for the Province of St. Albert (midwest US) www.opsouth.org for the Province of St. Martin de Porres (south US) www.opwest for the Province of the Holy Name of Jesus (western US)

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Isn't that a factor in postulancy? Everyone starts with what is thought to be one's best behavior, but it's only after the "party manners" are discarded, which takes time, that development really begins? Same thing happens in marriages, btw. It is what happens AFTER the honeymoon that matters.

:Prayers: Thinking of you...keep fighting.

As long as the voices or voice continues in my head and I cannot stop them. I cannot do anything whatsoever to stop them. I will not be on Pham as much as usual - but I am still hanging around because Phatmass Phorum is my comfort zone and a consolation at all times. To me, it is my community - one of them and an important one to me. But when I am unwell, hard to describe, but I know myself when I can or cannot read emails and posts on Pham and not allow things to upset me. As I said in my opening post, at a point like where I am now, going by my past history with this illness, it is not going to take much at all, some little upset, and I am over the divide into psychosis. If I do not not engage and battle head to head with what I hear, and slip into a psychotic state, it is absolutely terrifying. I do not hospitalise myself (usually not always, I will hospitalise myself)because I am not a risk of harm to others nor myself, rather to protect me in the state I get into from others. Most often, they have no idea why I am so upset. The other reason is that in a psychotic state, I am unacceptable to the herd. Basically, what happens in hospital is that I am brought back into a state that society can accept. I must conform. I read in Time Magazine I think it was more than many years ago "Psychiatry is the invention of society to keep its more creative members in line". That short sentence has an awful lot packed into it. My psychiatrist asked me not long ago (before she went away on leave) "Do you think you are overly sensitive?". "Overly" is a piece of string i.e. how long is a piece of string?" What is overly sensitive?" What it in fact means that it is not socially acceptable to be 'overly' sensitive. I need to conform and I do not want to conform, I very much like to be just me, Barb. What is happening in society today is a demand to conform or one will be on the fringes or even an outcast from the group or the herd (society) - and we are created to be social beings in community in the true sense of the word and thus The Lord calls to us to be, to strive for and out of that is my personal belief will be the first fruit of a magnificent fruitful tree. I am not speaking about triumphalism. Until the return of Jesus we must "take up our cross and follow Him". The Gift He gives of Peace '"that the world cannot know" is a Peace which can exist and does in the most terrible suffering. It is a Peace in the depths of the soul that one is indeed in relationship with Jesus and HIs Church and this has become the most important thing in one's life, in the journey. We are the Church Militant on earth because like it or not we are in a head to head conflict, a battle, with Satan and its servants. It is a battle between good and evil, with sin and virtue. If you want to inspire youth, I think that such a challenge and adventure will do so. With all this political correctness etc., society is trying to form, or even worse - to force, individuals into its own image and likeness (conformity with standards which are ever shifting). There are social penalties for not conforming - It is not an overnight event as it were, it is a process underway still. Think about it and then ask, what is the driving force behind it all? And then engage it head to head. I am not an anarchist, we need rules and regulations in order to live together in Peace. But as society unfolds those rules and regulations are multiplying. A rule etc. can never be an end in itself. Rules exist to serve a higher purpose of some kind and it is the higher purpose that is paramount and the objective ideally of rules. I am talking about rules written or unwritten that do not serve a higher purpose other than, as Bob Dylan put it "I just want to be myself but everyone just wants me to be just like them". In order to remain in the herd (society), I must dress a certain way, speak a certain way even think a certain way etc. etc. or one is in the very least socially distasteful and that in itself is a form of exclusion from the herd or society. In The Church as human institution, the same process is underway. We have fight or flight. Fight............engage. Thank you very much for prayer.

https://scrupulousanonymous.org/about-scrupulous-anonymous/about-thomas-santa-cssr/

I lived in Australia for most of my life. At one school, when we walked home some kids from another school would chant " caflicks, caflicks make me sick, call the doctor quick quick quick" . We thought they were weirdos, if they got too close, we would chuck rocks at them. No one died, no injuries.

I adored your last post Barbara Therese, because surely God has a sense of humour when He thought to give me the gifts that I have' but He is never malicious, that's just my imperfect understanding. That is part of the problem in my world....I feel that God is quite schizophrenic...after all He is 3 IN 1, or maybe it is His church, again it is probably my crazy understanding. Probably the best thing for me at present is that I have returned to the Faith as in the past I would be doing the self harming thing by now, but I just try to offer up any suffering for my past misdeeds and for humanity in general. I have battled this stuff for over 50 years and I am still here, so don't be afeared for me. I am terribly grateful to communicate with a devout Catholic who is also afflicted.

Fortunately, neither one was belted.