Catholic Youth Parramatta celebrated National Vocations Awareness Week by hosting a ‘Convent Crawl’, giving an opportunity to glimpse the life of consecrated women across the Diocese, reports Catholic Outlook.
The ‘Convent Crawl’, a day long journey visiting four Religious communities across the Diocese, received great support from local religious communities and young women.
Young women at the Tyburn Priory, Riverstone. Image: Catholic Youth Parramatta.
Fourteen women gathered on Saturday September 7 at 6am outside the Tyburn Priory at Riverstone for their briefing, before joining the sisters for Morning Prayer and Mass. Following prayers, the sisters invited the women to their library for tea, coffee and sandwiches. Mother Marie Pierre welcomed the women to the convent and shared about life as a contemplative nun in community.
The women then jumped on a bus, driven by Rosie Drum mgl, Assistant Director, Catholic Youth Parramatta, to the Missionaries of God’s Love Sisters Mission House in Quakers Hill. Here, the women joined the sisters for breakfast and were invited into their lounge room for a Q&A session. The sisters led the women to their chapel for praise and worship before the Blessed Sacrament.
Then on to the Missionaries of Gods Love Sisters Mission House in Quakers Hill. Image: Catholic Youth Parramatta.
By midday, the women headed to the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth in Marayong. Before lunch, Sr Cristina gave the women a tour of the Our Lady of Częstochowa War Memorial Chapel, the Holy Family Services Aged Care facility and convent. They were able to spend time meeting residents and spend short periods of time in prayer in each of the chapels. After a Q&A session over lunch, the women were brought to the chapel of the convent where the women were led in reflection.
The final stop of the journey was Mulgoa. The young women were warmly welcomed by the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary for dinner and night prayer and reflection at the pilgrimage site – the Mount Schoenstatt Shrine. After sharing about the history of their congregation, the sisters shared their own vocation stories and invited the women to pray for vocations to the Church.
The ‘Crawl’ continued with a tour through the Holy Family Services Aged Care facility with the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. Image: Catholic Youth Parramatta.
At the end of the night, the young women continued their conversations in the bus as they travelled back to Riverstone for the final departure home at 9pm.
“I never thought it was something I had been looking for and had been needing! I had lots of questions answered in just one day,” one participant said.
And last stop was a visit with the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary in Mulgoa. Image: Catholic Youth Parramatta.
Another young woman said “the Convent Crawl helped me to be a little bit braver to be open to religious life as a possible reality for me. While I still don’t know the very end of this journey, the next step for me is now much clearer”.
Vocation and Discernment is a focus area of Anointed and Sent: An Australian vision for Catholic youth ministry, which is promoted by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.
This article was first published in Catholic Outlook.