Congregational Leader of the Sisters of Charity, Sr Clare Nolan, says much has changed in religious life since she first took it up, but the one thing that hasn’t changed is the call to live the Gospel.

Clare entered the Sisters of Charity some time after completing her nursing training. She had been experiencing “a niggle” in her prayer life which was prompting her towards religious life.

“Around Easter, I went up to the convent at Mt St Michael’s to speak to an RSC. She said to me, Mother General is coming up and it might be worth you speaking to her,” she recalls.

“I said I would see Mother St Agnes when she came up … and when we met, she said it was worth exploring my vocation further. I knew I had a vocation for nursing, and I loved Jesus… but it was a big shock that was there was an intake in July – and this was Easter! My stomach was in knots… but the feeling of wanting more wasn’t going away.”

When Clare made the decision to enter the novitiate, her mother was devastated.

“It was the toughest thing I had ever done leaving Mum… she had never seen me so determined,” she says.

“There were eight on that first day; one left overnight. Only two of us are still Sisters of Charity – Margaret Guy and me. Five of us from that intake still meet once a year. They were 17, I was 21 but knew nothing.”

Clare says her vocation as a nurse has always enabled her as a Sister of Charity to live out the charism – the healing ministry of Christ.

“I loved the companionship we had. You love community, you love your ministry. I loved nursing but those early years were tough,” she says.

Since that time, religious life changed in dramatic ways, following the Second Vatican Council.

“Everything has changed: The call of Vatican II. Living the joy of the Gospel, that hasn’t changed. The daily ‘yes’ to Jesus and the following of that to wherever it leads me, that hasn’t changed. It’s a rich and textured life in loving service.”

Clare says her most challenging time was the 12 years as a member of the leadership team from 1984 to 1996.

“It was huge period of change within the Congregation. The Congregational Leader Sr Mary Maguire told us we couldn’t continue doing things the way we had been. It was a heralding in – incorporated health and aged care and our education, national health service, the Mary Aikenhead Ministries, trying to bring the Congregation along with us. Boy, was it hard!” she says.

“(But) each day is rewarding. I can wake up and thank God for my vocation and the privilege of living the joy of the Gospel. In the evening, as I put my head on the pillow, I can be overwhelmed with gratitude for the miracles of the day.”

Clare says that despite the dwindling numbers of religious in Australia she remains hopeful.

“We are sowing seeds of hope,” she says.

“Within Australia, 85 per cent of the Congregations have 20 or fewer members. With Catholic Religious Australia, we are looking at emerging futures. There is always hope … interculturality is the future of religious life.”

This is an edited article taken from an interview with Sr Clare Nolan RSC featured on the Sisters of Charity Website. Read the full interview here.