Would You "cross The Pond" For Your Vocation?

[HisAlone]

Wow! This thread has really turned up some useful information. When I started it I hadn't even thought about visas yet. However, I think it's funny that before I ever seriously considered a foreign community I felt the urging to renew my passport. When I looked at the paperwork I realized that it would expire in 10 days! Pretty interesting,huh!

[Chiara Francesco]

Wow! This thread has really turned up some useful information. When I started it I hadn't even thought about visas yet. However, I think it's funny that before I ever seriously considered a foreign community I felt the urging to renew my passport. When I looked at the paperwork I realized that it would expire in 10 days! Pretty interesting,huh!

 

If you have a mother or father or a grandparent who was born in Ireland, you can get an Irish Passport through descendency and with this Irish Passport you have immediate citizenship to any of the countries in the European Union.

 

I got mine a few years ago as being older I wanted to have it ready in case I did go overseas.  It is not that expensive to get.  Contact your local or nearest Irish Embassy or Consulate and they will mail you the application - but you will also need a US Passport first I believe as the Irish application asks for your passport to be sent (along with long-form birth certificates on yourself and the parent/grandparent born in Ireland - you can get the long-form Irish birth cert from a records office in Ireland, I had to for my mom as she only had her short form).  They, of course, sent back all originals documents to you that you send in.
 

Having this Irish Passport cuts out the visa expenses and craziness that can occur.  Don't know if this descendency program to get passports from other European countries works or not, I just know about Irelands.

 

**ALSO, you CAN have dual citizenship with an Irish Passport.  Not sure if this is so with ALL other countries.**  This was a concern I had at first as I didn't want to get the Irish passport and then be told to "pick one!" if I wasn't sure where I was going to enter overseas or not!

Edited February 12, 2013 by Chiara Francesco

[petitpèlerin]

There is something similar with Italian passports: I know an American girl who has an Italian passport because her father or grandfather was originally from Italy. I think she has dual citizenship. I don't know the details but anyone who's interested in living in Italy could look into it.

[Antigonos]

It's very individual. Some countries permit dual citizenship, others don't. Often, when a country doesn't, there is a category of visa called"Permanent Residency" which is pretty self-explanatory.

I not only am an American citizen by birth, but have Israeli citizenship too. My children also have dual citizenship but they are "American citizens born abroad" officially. There is a special arrangement between the Us and Israel.

So one would have to find out what each country's laws are regarding holding more than one passport.

[nikita92]

What about German??? Also...my great grandmother's mother immigrated from Ireland (I have the ship's manifest) would that still count?

[Chiara Francesco]

What about German??? Also...my great grandmother's mother immigrated from Ireland (I have the ship's manifest) would that still count?

 

Check with a Germany Embassy or Consulate here in the US or the government site in Germany, if they have an English translated site.  Each country is different.  I just know about Ireland's policy/procedure in this.

 

If you can get an Irish passport (or other country), it gives you citizenship to ANY country in the European Union to live in.

[FFI Griswold]

Ave Maria!

 

I voted "yes" because in the Franciscans of the Immaculate it is our obligation to go under holy obedience to any mission "ad gentes" in the world, at a moments notice. It has happened that a friar, who has been stationed at one friary for a few years, would be notified, pack his bags, and be on a plane the next day. It is a great grace for a friar or sister to die in a mission land.

 

Now for the contemplative friar and sister, it is also another martyrdom, especially since our contemplative houses are mostly in Italy.

 

Here are some serious words from St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church,

the more tender the

affection of a religious for her kindred, the greater her

impiety towards God. " Great piety towards relatives

is impiety towards God." 1 And what greater impiety

than that a nun should, for the service of her family,

give up the service of God, neglect mental prayer, the

sacraments, and expose herself to all the distractions

that necessarily arise from the care of worldly affairs.

St. Bernard exhorts his religious " to fly from such cares,

as being diabolical."" St. Ignatius of Loyola refused

to interfere in the marriage of one of his nieces, though

she was the heiress of the family. St. Francis Borgia

would not ask the Pope for a dispensation (which he

would have easily obtained) to have his son married to a

relative, although the acquisition of a large estate de-

pended upon the marriage. No man, said the Redeemer,

put ling his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the

kingdom of God. 3

 

...

 

Let us tremble, for God himself has declared that he

who has begun to serve the Lord, and looks back to the

things of the world, is unfit for paradise. When, then,

relatives seek to implicate you in worldly affairs, with-

draw at once from them. Attend to the advice of the

Redeemer to the young man who, when asked to follow

Jesus, answered, that he wished first to bury his father:

Let the dead, says Jesus, bury the dead.* Leave, then,

dear sister, worldlings (who are said to be dead) to

attend to their worldly business, and let it be your sole

care and concern to love God and to become a saint.

 

...

 

Should your relatives complain of your

unwillingness to serve them, should they even charge

you with disaffection, with ingratitude, and even call

you the enemy of your family, answer them with firm-

ness that you are dead to the world, and that it is your

duty to attend only to the service of God and of the

monastery. I conclude this chapter with the words of

St. Joseph Calasanctius: "A religious who is attached

to her relatives has not yet left the world."

 

 

 

 

Ave Maria!

 

In the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary,

 

fra John Paul

[inperpetuity]

^{I would not dare to argue with St. Alphonsus. He is one of my favorite saints, so if God asked it, I would say yes.}

Edited May 14, 2013 by inperpetuity

[nikita92]

Thank you John Paul!

[inperpetuity]

Actually until very recently I wouldn't have considered going to California to follow my vocation.  Then I thought hey, wait, California is on the same continent.  What a revelation!