Young sisters describevocation journeysBY ANGELA CAVES T A F F W R I T E R

At a time when most religiousorders are aging, two youngwomen en route to professingvows in local religious commu-nities exemplify the hopes andchallenges involved in renewingvocations:

• Sara Marie Schepis, a 28-year-old Wappingers Fallsnative, became an affiliate of theResurrection Sisters in Castle-ton after earning Master’sdegrees in English and libraryscience. The idea of becoming anun surfaced in her mind at age14, but she wasn’t always sure.

• Debra Comins, a 26-year-oldnative of central New York,entered the Little Sisters of thePoor last summer after facingyears of family opposition andstudent loan obstacles. Shehopes to be placed in Lathamnext summer after she com-pletes her postulancy inWashington.

Both women were attracted totheir orders’ adherence to tradi-tions like wearing habits as a vis-ible sign of identity; praying andliving in community; praying theRosary and prayer before theBlessed Sacrament; and beingfaithful to the Church.

They’re not alone. Nation-wide, religious communities fol-

lowing moret r a d i t i o n a lpractices havebetter successa t t r a c t i n gyounger mem-bers, accord-

ing to a 2009 vocations study bythe Center for Applied Re-search in the Apostolate (CARA)and the National Religious Vo-cation Conference.

The study found that religiousborn in the “Millennial Genera-tion” (between 1981 and 2000) aremore likely than those born in ear-lier generations to be attracted totheir religious order’s fidelity tothe Church and the example ofits members.

Though 91 percent of womenwho had taken final vows in reli-gious orders were age 60 andover in 2009, new members donot see this as a deterrent fromentering.

Ms. Schepis called religiouslife “a way to focus my attention,

my awareness on God.” One sis-ter she knew when she wasattending a Catholic high schooldownstate told her that religiouslife is a “sanctification of time.”

“That always stuck in mymind: to make this day holy andto do work that is fulfilling,” Ms.Schepis noted.

The future sister grew upadmiring saints — particularlySt. John Bosco and St. ClareMontefalco — and nuns, butnoticed that American culturedidn’t foster a sense of commu-nity.

Many people, she said, falselybelieved that entering a reli-gious community meant lockingyourself away.

“If people see vibrancy,” shecountered, “they will catch on” tothe reality of religious life.

The sisters who led the voca-tion group at Ms. Schepis’ almamater, the University of Illinoisat Urbana, helped her search fora community. She recalled visit-ing an order founded in the late1990s that has successfullyattracted young women, but feel-ing out of place because theywere all younger than her.

The Resurrection Sisters, Ms.Schepis said, fit her preferencesfor a prayerful and intellectualcommunity.

Barriers hurdledMs. Comins hit even more

obstacles during her journey. Though she didn’t meet a nun

until her freshman year of highschool, she began consideringreligious life in Kindergarten: “In

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BUSING CATHOLIC KIDS

T H E O F F I C I A L P U B L I C A T I O N O F T H E D I O C E S E O F A L B A N Y

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DEBRA COMINS, CENTER, POSESWITH FELLOW FUTURE LITTLESISTERS OF THE POOR IN THE

NATION’S CAPITOL.

SNOWBOYSVOCATIONS

Religious life today:Who’s called and how?

SEE OURSPECIALSECTION ONVOCATIONS,PAGES 8-11 RELIGIOUS LIFE TODAY: WHO’S CALLED

AND HOW?, SEE PAGE 11

RAY DONLEY LEADS his son, Dillon, back up the hill for another sledding runduring what St. Joseph the Worker parish in West Winfield/Richfield Springscalled its “Boyz Snowball Party” last weekend. For more photos, see page20. (Nate Whitchurch photo)

BY DENNIS SADOWSKIC A T H O L I C N E W S S E R V I C E

Washington — Frustrationand aggravation are simmeringacross Haiti a year after a terrify-ing earthquake ripped apart thecountry’s most densely populat-ed region and as a persistentcholera epidemic endangers thehealth of virtually everyone inthe impoverished nation.

Life in a tattered tent in acrowded makeshift camp withno alternative on the horizon,threats to personal safety and

the need to scramble for foodand clean water are fueling thegrowing anger, said ArchbishopLouis Kebreau of Cap-Haitien,president of the Haitian bish-ops’ conference.

“The people of Haiti are tiredof misery,” Archbishop Kebreausaid during a visit to theWashington headquarters of theU.S. Conference of CatholicBishops. “They are tired of living

QUAKE AND CHOLERA

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HAITIANS FEEL ABANDONED AMID ONGO-ING DISASTERS, SEE PAGE 13

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recess, I was always telling Biblestories on the swing sets,” shetold The Evangelist, adding thatshe attended a rural parish ofabout 300 parishioners.

“I soaked up everything fromchurch school. I was the kid whowent up to the priest and askedwhy we didn’t have churchschool over the summer,” shesaid.

Ms. Comins talked to a priestabout her vocation in middleschool and requested to meet anun in high school. She wasoverwhelmed by the variety oforders, but forged ahead by writ-ing to different communities,particularly those with a teach-ing focus.

But her family didn’t think shecould be happy in a convent anddenounced her vocation as awaste of time. She began to feellike a hypocrite at churchbecause she was “saying no toGod.”

So she stopped going.

Rerouted homeBut when Ms. Comins started

college at the State University ofNew York at Geneseo, a newfriend convinced her to go tochurch again. Soon, she wasattending Mass and prayingbefore the Blessed Sacramentdaily and receiving the sacra-ment of reconciliation regularly.

She dressed modestly and con-sulted with a spiritual director.

But Ms. Comins’ family stillopposed religious life for her. “Itwas very hard at first because itbecame this break from my fam-ily,” she said.

She became a youth ministerand religious education director.When she brought the youth ofher parish to see Pope BenedictXVI in his New York City visit in2006, a representative from theLittle Sisters of the Poorapproached her about becom-ing a nun.

She stopped by their Bronxconvent. “It immediately felt likehome,” Ms. Comins said.

Her career plans at that pointinvolved teaching, not workingwith the elderly and disabled, apopulation that terrified her. Buton the second day of her visit, “Istopped seeing the disabilitiesand I saw the people,” she said.“By the time I got to the thirdday, I stopped seeing the people.All I saw was love.”

She felt the same when shewent for a longer visit to theLittle Sisters’ Our Lady of HopeResidence for seniors in Latham.Then she received a grant tocover her student loans.

“God provided,” she said. “Hemade the order come in His

time, in the way that He wantedit to happen.”

Youthful drawMs. Comins said that seeing a

spiritual director, praying andlistening to God also helped hercommit herself to religious lifeand find a community. Meetingother sisters was also helpful.

To recruit new people, shesuggests members of religiousorders visit youth groups: “Theyhave to see that you’re real.”

Ms. Comins believes thatnuns who wear habits are moreattractive to young womenbecause they signify a vow ofpoverty and “authentic living.”

The CARA/NRVC vocationsstudy found that younger newmembers of religious orderswere more likely than older newmembers to have participated in“come and see” experiences ordiscernment retreats and tohave heard about the order

through a friend. Conversely, younger respon-

dents were more likely to havebecome acquainted with theorder through print or onlinepromotional materials.

The Carmelite Sisters for theAged and Infirm in German-town recruit girls to stay withthem and shadow members ofthe order. Sisters attendCatholic school retreats andanswer questions on the order’swebsite.

A group of graduates fromFranciscan University ofSteubenville, Ohio, plans todevelop a mission program withthe community. Sister MariaTherese Healy, vocations direc-tor, is currently in touch withabout 30 young women interest-ed in religious life.

Sister Rosemary Cuneo, CR,of the Albany Diocese’s voca-tions team, is not disheartened

by the decline in religious life. “God is with us. For some rea-

son, this is the way God wants itto happen,” she said, describingthe Diocese’s poster and pres-ence campaigns.

Referring to Jesus’ resurrec-tion, she added: “After threedays, there’s always new life.”

Ms. Schepis hopes to find alibrary-related position in herreligious community. For peoplediscerning a vocation now, shesuggested: “Really pray. Pray forpeace and trust. It can be confus-ing and difficult sometimes tofind a way — but, either way,God’s always there already.”

As a member of an orderdevoted to caring for the elderly,Ms. Comins will miss workingwith children, but admits therewas something missing from herformer lifestyle.

“I don’t have that void here,”she concluded.

11January 13, 2011 T H E E VA N G E L I S T

VOCATIONS

Sponsored by the Vocation Office, Diocesan School Office, Office of Evangelization, Catechesis and

Family Life and the Vocation Awareness Council of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, NY.

RUN 4 VOCATIONS!SAVE THE DATE: Saturday, May 14, 2011

Location: The Crossings in Colonie

Walkers Welcome Too!

The Vocation Office of the Diocese of Albany invites you to our RUN 4 VOCATIONS

and to “raise your prayers” for friends and loved ones, called to holiness through

the life commitments of marriage, priesthood, diaconate, single or religious life.

Registration to RUN OR WALK 4 VOCATIONS will be available

beginning April 1, 2011 at www.albanyvocations.org.

Religious life today:Who’s called and how?RELIGIOUS LIFE TODAY: WHO’S CALLED AND HOW?, FROM PAGE 1