My first memory of meeting an actual nun (as opposed to watching The Flying Nun, played by Sally Field, on TV) was when I was nine years old. She can only physically embrace her family and friends every 25 years. Some women choose to become a self-proclaimed nun and commit themselves to God in a private ceremony. Nor are they normal. How do I become a Carmelite? Become A Sister. Some communities, particularly the more traditional ones, do have an age limit of usually 30 or 35. But Poor Clares are not fanatical, crazed, or frustrated. Communities of nuns exist in numerous religious traditions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Jainism, and Taoism.. The cloistered nuns pray seven times throughout the day, starting at 12:45 a.m. and ending with compline at 7:30 p.m. As a way of showing solidarity with the poor they forgo shoes. They are perpetually separated by a metal grille from visitors and see their family and friends only during limited allotted visits. When you begin, you are in the Aspirancy stage, living at the convent for 3-4 weeks and taking classes while deciding if you want to be a nun or not to join. You must take a deep look inside yourself to know if you're cut out to be a nun. A sparkly blonde with an easy laugh and a penchant for dangly earrings, she had literally never thought about becoming a “woman religious” before—in laymen’s terms, a nun. desiring to experience the joys and challenges of living in community with women of compassion, prayer, hospitality and action? Cloistered Poor Clares are happily abnormal in exceptionally nice ways. Becoming a nun involves an intense training period, as well as lots of personal sacrifice. JADE BANKS. They are perpetually separated by a metal grille from visitors and see their family and … Becoming a Carmelite, in response to God's call, is through a gradual process of prayerful discernment that takes a number of years and is made up of a few specific steps and stages. If you feel a strong calling of faith and would like to learn how to become a nun, then keep on reading. A nun is a member of a religious community of women, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery. Yet even the more traditional communities will sometimes make an exception. To succeed as a cloistered nun, you actually have to be called to it. It’s not easy becoming a nun. In the Buddhist tradition, female monastics are known as Bhikkhuni, and take several additional vows compared to male monastics (). Pennefather now lives as a cloistered nun in the Poor Clares Monastery in Alexandria, Va. She can only physically embrace her family and friends every 25 years. Many nuns live a life of poverty, chastity and obedience. A nun during a quiet moment of prayer. In 2015, I began what was to become a long-term project exploring the lives of nuns in the Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary convent in Rome. The decision to join the religious life as a nun, or sister, requires prayer, research and discerning if God is calling you to this extraordinary vocation. Becoming a nun is a life-altering decision. Responding to God's call. Are you called to serve God and others as a Sister of Mercy? This day, however, she gazes downward, at the sidewalk. How to Become a Nun. When Tracy Kemme first got the calling, at age 22, she had an active social life, an internship in Ecuador, and a serious boyfriend. Determine if you are willing to make the necessary sacrifices to become a nun. Cloistered nuns know most people can't appreciate a nun's happiness if her life is seen as weird. Answer: People interested in becoming a cloistered nun normally follow this procedure: a) approach the order in which they are interested b) make several visits, normally weekends and possibly a week or two c) be admitted as a postulant, a period normally lasting 6 months, or longer, if desired in which the person lives in the community full time.