There are opportunities to get to know a group of Sisters and for the Sisters to get to know you… before you actually become a member of the community. Women today are finding that they are attracted to becoming a nun later in life. One can become a nun at almost any age.
You must be 18 to 40-ish years old. Although the age limit used to be confined to 18-25, communities accept women up to age 40, and many accept women beyond their 40s and into their 50s. If you are in the higher range of age, don't be discouraged from pursuing religious life.
According to a recent study, less than 1% of nuns in America are under 40 and the average sister is 80 years old. Sister Joanne Persch just turned 88. She said that many of her friends who joined her in service in the early 1950s have died.
It takes a minimum of five and a half years' training or 'formation' before one can make final or lifelong vows as a nun. Throughout the whole period both candidate and community will work together to try to discern what God is asking.
Nuns and sisters, or apostolic women religious) take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, which are the three evangelical counsels or counsels of perfection in Christianity. As Jesus of Nazareth stated in the Canonical gospels, they are counsels for those who desire to become "perfect."
Each night, these nuns allow themselves no more than three hours of sleep. Their calling is an extreme one: to stay inside the walls of their convent and spend their days and nights in prayer and silent contemplation.
The salaries of Nuns in the US range from $24,370 to $69,940 , with a median salary of $41,890 . The middle 60% of Nuns makes $41,890, with the top 80% making $69,940.
The nuns pray the Divine Office together in choir five times a day, spend an hour and a half daily in mental prayer, do spiritual reading for at least a half hour a day, observe silence except during Recreation which is after dinner and supper; and engage in a variety of work: maintenance of the monastery, gardening, ...
You must take a vow of chastity, which means you cannot get married or have sexual/romantic relationships. You must take a vow of poverty, which means you must live a simple life. In most cases, this means giving up your personal possessions (and any sense of 'ownership') and share what you have with your community.
Though there is no official canonical prohibition regarding the use of tobacco, the more traditional among the Eastern Orthodox Churches forbid their clergy or monastics to smoke, and the laity are strongly encouraged to give up this habit, if they are subject to it.
Contemplative Women's Monasteries
We are an enclosed, contemplative community of nuns in Goonellabah, New South Wales, Australia, whose lives are dedicated to prayer for the needs of the Church and the whole world.
If nuns do "fall in love," what do they do? Yes, as a human and as a woman it is natural for a religious to fall in love with someone, or someone to fall in love with her.
Aspiring nuns and monks are required to reject private property, marriage and biological family ties. Celibacy – abstinence from sexual relations – is implicit in the rejection of marriage and procreation and has always been central to the monastic ideal.
Most orders of Christian nuns require that you must be at least 18 years of age, and usually no older than 40 (though there may be few exceptions).
A woman who has been married and divorced must have her marriage annulled within the church, he said, and, if she is a mother, her children must be old enough to not be her dependents. Widows can become nuns but have different criteria, he said.
There are fewer than 6,000 left in Australia, and with an average age of 74, the church is at risk of losing one of its most devout populations. Sister Ailsa Mackinnon has been with the Sisters of Mercy for more than 50 years. She attributes the decline of the sisterhood in part, to rising affluence.
Most people use the term nuns to refer to both nuns and sisters, but there are some significant differences. Nuns' lives are spent in prayer and work within their convent or monastery. Sisters are more active in the world, engaging in many different kinds of work, most often for people who are in great need.
They call her "Sister Mom." Sister Patricia Schofield is well-known in her convent in Honolulu because unlike many nuns, Sister Schofield is a mother to eight children and has several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
They don't speak, except during short work periods, recreation time in the evening and during mass, when they sing and pray aloud. Their hymns sound sweet as twenty-odd women – ages ranging from 33 to upwards of 80 – sing in harmony, and their prayer is deep and heartfelt.
Sisters work in hospitals, prisons, schools and shelters. They might work as lawyers, political activists, artists and scientists. Many of these women manage to work a full day while also completing several hours of prayer with their communities in the morning and the evening.
Short answers: clothes or underwear as appropriate, nightgowns or other sleeping clothes, and they can go to the beach, particularly when on vacation, according to the rules of their order.
Retired nuns continue to serve through the ministry of prayer. A willingness to remain active reflects the years of busy lives they lived. Most will serve until they no longer can. Sisters are constantly praying for those in need, often taking turns on the hour during times of crisis.
Each faith and order sets its own requirements for those who want to become nuns. A woman who wants to become a Catholic nun, for example, must be at least 18 years old, be single, have no dependent children, and have no debts to be considered. Buddhist nuns face similar requirements when considering ordination.
Priests and nuns vow to spend their lives serving God in poverty, chastity and obedience. Upon entering the seminary or convent they must be debt-free because they do not have an income.