What is the religious life? What do monks and nuns do?
Members of a religious community, such as monks or nuns, live according to the gospel of Christ with prayer as a regular part of daily life. Some give the opportunity of life-long commitment after several years of training and discernment.
In most communities, promises are taken or vows made in community before God and the church. Such vows include poverty, chastity, and obedience. Usually, but not always, vows are made for life.
Most communities are women only or men only. Some wear distinctive clothes (a ‘habit’). Some are engaged in the world, others are more oriented to prayer. Members of communities can be lay or ordained.
In general, religious communities can be described as either active, contemplative, or new:
Active communities have active ministries in society: in education, health and social care, evangelism and parish work. What makes their ministry different is the way it is anchored in a life lived together. The support of sisters and brothers acts as an encouragement and a witness. Caring for the poor and reaching out to the vulnerable are central to the witness of religious communities.
Contemplative communities revolve around set times of prayer and worship. Much time is given over to seeking God in private prayer and silence. The community’s home, which may be called a monastery, priory or convent, is a place of God. Some members will leave the monastery at times to preach and minister, but such outside commitments are secondary to the life of prayer. Some communities confine their work to the home and its grounds, maintaining what is called ‘enclosure’. This helps keep distractions from prayer to a minimum.
New Monasticism traces its history back to the activities of the Confessional Church during the Second World War. In resistance to Nazi oppression, German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer advocated a complete lack of compromise in a life lived in accordance with the Sermon on the Mount in the discipleship of Christ.
Since then, there has been a revival in the place of Christian groups living out a sense of community, loving service, and rhythm of life. New Monasticism was recently named as a fresh expression of church, for which a number of diocesan-funded initiatives have grown up.
A prominent example is St Anselm, a residential community based in Lambeth Palace, which has given young adults selected from around the world the opportunity to live a life of prayer, community and loving service for up to a year.
This model is now being expanded to Leicester Cathedral and Sheffield Cathedral, with others also considering it.
How do I join a religious community?
Do you believe God is calling you to serve in community? Your starting point is to meet with your own vicar, chaplain, or equivalent, to talk with them about your sense of calling. You should also arrange to meet with the vocations team in your diocese.
The best way forward for anyone interested in this way of living is to visit different communities and experience their way of life as a visitor first.
Many communities provide opportunities for people to live alongside them for longer periods of time. Participants commit to helping with the work of the monastery or community - and there is no obligation to join the community afterwards unless the person wishes to explore further.
It is important you continually pray about your vocation throughout the discernment process.
Find out more about Religious Communities in the Church of England.
Elizabeth Pio: I have time to be still and quiet with God
Prayer is our main work. Solitude and silence are my joys. I have time to be still and quiet with God. I’m blessed to have the opportunity.
We have a guesthouse as well with people staying for retreats and quiet times, so there’s quite a bit going on. I tend to follow a contemplative life, so I don’t go out as much as some of the other Sisters might do. I spend a lot of my time in prayer and in silence, working in silence, and walking for recreation.
I’d say to anyone exploring their call, spend time with God, and spend time in silence every day. Give time to listen and not say anything. Keep your eyes open. Keep your ears open. Open for anything that he might bring to you. Anything he might put in your way. Go and visit places. One of the quickest ways to know is to visit and see if you feel a draw. Go and see for yourself.
Before my thirties I hadn’t had any interest in religion whatsoever, no faith background at all and none in my family. I wondered why people went to church, what did they get out of it? Why would they do that every Sunday?
Then I started having a look at what Christianity was about. I bought a Bible. It was actually a children’s illustrated one, much to the amusement of my family. I didn’t think I could get through the adult one, it would be too much at first.
My conversion was quite dramatic. A St Paul moment really. I took my new Bible home, opened it, and something amazing happened. I heard a voice saying to me, “In this you will find everything you have been searching for”.
I had no idea who or what the voice was, or what it meant. I wasn’t even sure what I was searching for. I did know that it changed my life. I read my new children’s Bible from beginning to end in a week. I didn’t understand all of it, but it was the beginning of my Christian journey.
I was in a career that I absolutely loved, a marketing manager for an international engineering group. Yet something had changed. Within eight months I’d left my job and started studying theology.
I felt called to the Religious Life, but it was only once I had plucked up enough courage to explore that I knew it was the right path to follow. I visited this convent, and heard the voice, “I’m calling you here. This is where I’m calling you”. Nothing else made sense but to live in this house, but at the same time I thought "who would do this kind of thing?" I knew it was what God was asking me to do. So that’s what I did, I just obeyed.
My spiritual director, vocations advisers, and parish priest were all encouraging me towards priesthood. I knew though that wasn’t my calling. I said to my vocations adviser “I’m not sure I’m right here, but I think the Religious Life is saying something”. So he supported me and looked out for opportunities for Religious Life weekends, convent experience weekends and that sort of thing.
At times I thought it was mad to give up everything and live like this. I remember thinking this doesn’t make sense, it’s not even an attractive place, I don’t like anything about it. In chapel I felt so uncomfortable, so stuffy. Nothing drew me to it at all. Everyone was so much older than me, and with so much more biblical knowledge. I worried we had nothing in common. I said to God, “If you want me to come here, you will really have to say, otherwise I’m not coming back”.
When I came out of Evening Prayer, one of the Sisters asked, “So when are you coming back then?” And then I had that feeling again. That I was being called. I’d come with a friend because I was scared, I didn’t want to be obvious, but I said to my friend “I’ve got to go back, I’ve got to go back.” On subsequent visits there was always a really strong draw back, and then eventually I came back for good.
I knew it was the right path for me.
Elizabeth Pio