Hearing God’s call at a later stage

RELIGIOUS orders have seen vocations heading in one direction over the past couple of decades — and, unfortunately, it hasn’t been up.

But a group of Cistercian sisters in Co Waterford have managed to attract interest in their work, despite falling numbers all around them.

With a Vocations Day coming up this Sunday, June 8, the nuns at St Mary’s Abbey in Glencairn near Lismore are readying themselves for inquiries from possible entrants to the order.

Recent trends indicate many newcomers make the decision later in life.

The Glencairn convent — the only group of Cistercian nuns in Ireland — has brought in novitiates in their late 30s, early 40s and older.

“The 20-year-olds aren’t coming any more,” explains Sr Eleanor Campion, a Lismore native who joined the order in 1984 and co-ordinates the Vocations Day along with looking after the group’s daily accounts.

“Today, they are coming after doing other things for a number of years, before eventually deciding this is the life they want.”

The group at St Mary’s are not involved in teaching but, under the guidance of Abbess Mother Marie Fahy, maintain their abbey and their livelihood through three income streams: nManufacturing and supply of communion hosts.nProduction of greeting cards and mass cards using pressed flowers. nThe working farm upon which their home stands.

They also made a CD last year of hymns and chants recorded in the adjoining chapel with the proceeds going towards the refurbishment of the abbey’s guesthouse.

The information day is aimed at single women aged between 22 and 40 interested in monastic life.

At the moment, there are members at various stages of the learning process from Ireland, India, Nigeria, and Uganda.

According to Sr Maria-Therese Brosnan from Ballymore Eustace, who joined the order in 2006, it was “the silence and the solitude” associated with a contemplative life that attracted her most to Glencairn.

“I didn’t really know what to expect, but it has been good so far,” she says.

A teacher beforehand, she says anybody who thinks they want to become a nun should “go ahead and give it a try”.

“I do miss it [her old life] from time to time, the little children in school, but it had been surfacing for quite a number of years and I sort of put it to the back of my mind and it would come back again.”

The sisters have visitors on a regular basis and there is a television in-house. Sr Eleanor also posts a blog on the abbey’s website, the move away from the outside world has proven the most difficult hurdle for many.

“To give up your mobile phone can be tough!” says Sr Fiachra Nutty from Malahide, “But in other ways there’s a certain amount of relief in a sense, not having to be constantly available.”

Sr Fiachra was studying horticulture in Britain when she realised she could no longer ignore the call to religious life. “While I was there, God kept knocking on the back door. There’s tremendous challenge in it and also tremendous reward.”

She says her mother was delighted when told of her decision to join the Cistercians, while her father initially told her she was wasting her career, before becoming fully supportive.

Sr Fiachra remains busy as do all of the nuns in Glencairn — with their work on the communion hosts, the cards and the farm.

“I think there’s a huge misconception in the outside world that being in a monastery is sitting around daydreaming a lot of the time. The reality is there’s very, very little free time. You’re busy almost from the time you get out of bed until the time you get back into it.”

Early rising is a feature of monastic life in this part of the world, with the sisters up and about by 4am each day, in time for the first prayers at 4.20am. The day is littered with prayers, bible reading and hymns, along with mass at 8.15 celebrated by a monk from nearby Mount Melleray. Work fills up much of the rest of the day, along with a certain amount of free time, and meals, before retirement for the night at 8.30pm.

Sr Eleanor says some inquiries have already been made about joining up, in advance of Vocations Day. “I’ve been doing this job for five or six years and I’m never without somebody at the inquiry stage. They don’t all enter, I’d say about one in 20 of those who inquire end up entering, but there’s always a lot of interest.”

Attendees on June 8, between 2.30 and 6.30pm, can spend time in prayer with the sisters, listen to a presentation on Cistercian life and ask questions. Some places will be available in the abbey’s guesthouse.

“They can see a little bit of what we’re like,” says Sr Eleanor, “without any obligation or pressure whatsoever. I won’t say to anyone, ‘don’t be afraid’. There is the element in it of separation from the world; there is an element of sacrifice involved, but if somebody is called to this life then they’ll get the grace to accept that and find joy in it.”

* www.glencairnabbey.org