Vocation to Religious Life

You might be thinking that only priests, Brothers and Sisters have a “real” vocation. However, every baptized person has a specific calling, that is, a vocation to a committed relationship that centers your life.  This can be through the vocation of marriage, through the vocation of a single person living a life of service, or through the vocation of a woman religious, a religious brother or a priest.  Are you seeing yourself somewhere in this picture?

What God desires for us first and foremost is our happiness, the fulfillment of who we truly and uniquely are as God created us. The path of prayer and discernment leads us to the particular way of life to which the Holy Spirit is calling us.  Some of us respond to this early in life and others find their authentic calling later in life.  By living this call as fully as possible each of us experiences the true joy of coming home to his or herself.

The vocation you pursue and embrace is your primary commitment, your primary relationship and your primary pathway to God.  In particular, the vocation to religious life is a God-quest out of which all resulting commitments flow.

One form of religious life is the ministerial life of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ.  Our lives, centered in God, are rooted in prayer and are informed by our vowed commitment and the bonds of community.  As we embrace the adventure of religious life we express our love in service by partnering with others in responding to the needs of the whole community of life.

We offer an integrated life of prayer, ministry and community expressed through our charism, our vision and the sharing of our gifts to contribute to the reality of the reign of God in our time.

If you are interested in contacting the Poor Handmaids or pursuing a process of discernment with us, please connect with Sr. Connie Bach, PHJC.

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Called in baptism to proclaim by our lives and our works the presence of God in the world, we Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ accept the invitation to live a vowed life in community. We are inspired to listen prayerfully, to live simply and to serve joyfully. We respect and value each person. We stand with the poor and the powerless and respond to the need of Church and society. We deserve to foster peace in the world, and we accept the challenges of the futur...

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National Vocation Awareness Week

National Vocation Awareness Week, celebrated November 5-11, 2023, is an annual week-long celebration of the Catholic Church in the United States dedicated to promoting vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and consecrated life through prayer and education and to renewing our prayers and support for those who are considering one of these particular vocations.  NVAW began in 1976 when the U. S. bishops designated the 28th Sunday of the year for NVAW.  In 1997, this celebration was moved to c...

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A Saint that Ignites My Vocation

by Sr. Connie Bach, PHJC

On October 14, 2018, I had the wonderful experience of a lifetime in attending the canonization celebration of our foundress, Saint Katharina Kasper at St. Peter’s in Rome. It set me on fire! I am still left speechless when I am asked what it feels like “to be the daughter of a saint!” I know down deep inside that following “Catherine” calls me to a deeper commitment in my personal life to the conscious pursuit servant leadership at all levels in my life, as she d...

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