SISTERS
PHOTOS COURTESY OF SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH
SISTERS represent the church, their congregation, and their faith at every moment. Here the author (left) works in the food pantry of the Sisters of St. Joseph Neighborhood Center in Camden, New Jersey.
Sisterhood is different from singlehood by
Sister Colleen Gibson, S.S.J. currently ministers at the Sisters of Saint Joseph Neighborhood Center in Camden, New Jersey. A writer and retreat speaker, she blogs at beingmyvocation. blogspot.com and has been published in a variety of outlets.
Sister Colleen Gibson, S.S.J.
Being a committed single person is a calling of its own, but one that differs from being a Catholic sister who takes vows and lives in community. Here’s why I chose sisterhood.
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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?
102 | VISION 2021 | VocationNetwork.org