Exploring Religious Life

As your interest in serving God as a religious sister deepens, talk with vowed religious. Ask them how they live out their faith and what life is like within a religious community.

Help to imagine the life of a sister:

Spend time on our Life as a Sister website exploring and imagining what it would be like to live as a, e.g, Sister of Bon Secours. You will find a great deal of information there about our charism and mission.

Talk with our vocation director:

Connect with our vocation director to talk about what you are sensing and what steps you can take to understand God’s call. She is committed to support you as you determine whether God is calling you to a vowed religious life. She will talk to you about religious life and mission as it is lived in community.

Visit our community at a Come and See weekend:

If you feel inspired to move further in learning more about your vocation, community life and ministry, consider attending our “Come and See” vocation weekend for women like you discerning religious life.

Coming together with sisters in community gives you a closer understanding of our underlying spirit and how we live out our commitment to our calling. You also get to join with others who are on the same journey you are!

Listen to Sr. Pat Dowling, vocation director for the Sisters of Bon Secours in the USA explain more about the Come and See experience for women wanting to learn more about understanding their call from God and sisters in religious life.

After a “Come and See” experience, it is very important to continue your dialogue with our vocation director who will continue to work with you, guiding you, answering your questions and praying with you throughout your discerning experience. You may want to consider beginning a discernment process to know if God is calling you to be a sister. Our vocation director can accompany you in this process.

Things to reflect upon as you experience religious life “up close”:

  • What about religious life do you find affirming?
  • What are your concerns?
  • What makes you curious to know more?
  • Imagine what happiness in religious life looks like!

If you would like to find out more about our sisters, becoming a sister, or religious life, we are happy to help you in any way we can. Click here for our Information Request Form or you can call Sr. Pat Dowling at 410-442-3171. Pat’s mailing address is:

Sisters of Bon Secours
Vocation Office
1525 Marriottsville Rd.
Marriottsville, MD 21104-1399

Walking together

Every journey is a little less daunting and a lot more fun when you travel with like-minded friends. On your road to determining if God is calling you to become a sister in religious life, we will set good-spirited companions on your path to support you, pray for you and guide you.
From the very beginning when you’re invited to visit us at a community near you, or even if you live at a distance, you will begin to develop relationships with our Sisters. As your interest grows, you’ll be partnered with both a prayer partner and companion sister who will accompany you while you explore with us.

Support during inquiry and discernment:

Prayer Partner

As you take the first steps, your prayer partner will support you and hold you before God in prayer. Together you will pray for one another weekly and keep in touch often whether by phone, email, letters or visits.

Your sister prayer partner will share her thoughts and experiences about her vocation, what life is like for her and the daily things she’s involved in. You’ll be able to share with her your sense of God’s call, your story, your questions and challenges and your faith life.

Companion Sister

Early in your discernment, a time for experiencing and making a prayerful decision, you’ll be matched with a companion sister. She will accompany you, and assist the vocation director during your discernment. You meet monthly and she will invite you to attend some community events together. She will be a familiar friendly face – your companion as you get to know us. She will be someone you can speak freely with about your desires and fears, and with whom you can raise many questions about religious life and our community.