SISTERS
SISTER COLLEEN GIBSON, S.S.J. (with her friend Elyse Raby) believes that single life and religious life each have their own gifts and challenges; each is a unique vocation with its own unique aspects.
Why being single and living as a sister aren’t the same by Sister Colleen Gibson, S.S.J.
Sister Colleen Gibson, S.S. J. is assistant director of campus ministry at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia. Author of the blog Wandering in Wonder, beingmyvocation. blogspot.com, she is a regular columnist for Global Sisters Report, a contributor to Take Five for Faith, and has published articles in America, Commonweal, and Give Us This Day.
How living as a sister—instead of a committed single person—helps one young woman be her best self.
W
HEN I TOLD PEOPLE I was thinking about becoming a religious sister, they asked me the same questions: Why did I feel called? Why religious life? Or just plain, Why? And once I told them about my desire to grow in my relationship with God, to serve others, and to live a radical life of intention in line with the gospel, the inevitable questions were: Why become a sister? Couldn’t you do all those things as a committed single woman? Yes, I could have done all of those things as a committed single woman. I realized this as I discerned, so the bigger question for me was: What exactly is the difference between a committed single life and a vowed religious one? The answer to that question is more complex than simple statements. It digs
108 | VISION 2016 | VocationNetwork.org
