On Mondays, I answer questions frequently asked by those considering a return to the Catholic Church. How do I know this stuff? I was away for more than 30 years myself, and am the co-author of When They Come Home: Ways to Welcome Returning Catholics, a book for pastors and parish leaders interested in this ministry.
I saw a lot of nuns on TV and in social media while Pope Francis was in the United States. Is being a nun a sort of “priest lite”?
No, not at all. Women religious belong to an order that address their particular charism (interest or talent), such as teaching, nursing, study, contemplation, or missionary work. Most of us use the terms “sister” and “nun” interchangeably, but there are differences in their vocations. Catholic sisters take vows of poverty, celibacy, and obedience and typically interact with the larger world in their ministries. Catholic nuns take similar vows, but their focus is more contemplative, serving God within their own community.
As with priests (generally; there are exceptions for converts, for example), brothers, and monks, nuns or sisters must be single. They can’t have dependent children, and typically they enter their order between the ages of eighteen and forty. Some religious orders accept previously married men and women who are without dependents, such as widows and widowers, divorced people (with annulments), and mothers and fathers with grown children.
