That becomes a sister today?

Elise Merlin

Sunday, 11 march, 2018 01:00

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Sunday, 11 march, 2018 01:00

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Rare are the women in Quebec in 2018 which decide to enter in the orders for the love of God until the end of their life. The Journal has met three, including one who was only 22 years old. Here are their testimonials.

At the age of 42, she entered the convent

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Karen Duboy has received the call of God during a closed retreat.

“I’m crazy in love of God. I am very happy to enter the monastery, I crierais on all the roofs ! “This is what explains Karen Duboy, who is preparing to become a nun at the age of 42.

The woman, who has never been married, sold his condo, his house and his cottage in Quebec to join the Reclusive missionaries of Montreal.

“I paid my debts, there was a mortgage on it. So I’m going to enter to the monastery is very poor. I have insurance aside which I can’t touch. I have a car recently that I am going to sell as well, ” said the future nun.

With the little money that he’ll stay, she will buy clothing and medicines in case of need.

She wanted to become a nun since her childhood. She had tried his luck at the age of 22, but the sisters had responded that she was too young for that.

“I was told to go live my life. I had a meeting in 40 years with God, during a closed retreat that I had made in a convent and I was completely capsized, the desire is back “, she explains.

Farewell to the good salary

The woman exercised for several years the profession of special education teacher with both adults and earns an annual salary of $60,000.

“I have worked with street people, the underprivileged and I have had a beautiful life. God to me has given so much and loved that I wanted to give myself entirely to him “, she says.

His relatives were not surprised by the news. She explains that she has a circle of friends very small and that they all respected her choice.

Become a recluse, that is to say, withdraw from the world and live in solitude, he is not afraid of. Karen Duboy spoke with several nuns of the different convents to take advice and see the monastic life. She had a true blow of heart for the Reclusive missionaries of Montreal, and the head of the convent is very pleased to welcome a new sister.

Maturity

“In 42 years, Karen has had a past, that’s for sure! It doesn’t bother me at all and it’s even better in a sense. At this age, they are more mature, they are more aware of their choice. Karen will arrive with all his experience of life, ” says the sister Ginette Generous, the head of the Reclusive Missionaries.

The religious lived recently in colocation in Quebec city, waiting to perform his / her internship of three months at the monastery. She discovers in a first step the pace of life of the sisters, and then she will formalize her new title. It seems up here very motivated.

“I want to sign to life !” says the lady.

She gave up a hectic life

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At the age of 17 years, Jacinthe Allard claims to have received the call of God.

Jacinthe Allard became religious at the age of 19. She explained that she had lived out of the joint before joining the Marie-Jeunesse Québec, the catholic community in which she lives, in Quebec city.

12 to 17 years of age, the young woman was looking for a thrill, and explained that she was thirsty for life.

“I’ve tried everything, and I was using each week of marijuana and hard drugs. Even the sex, the alcohol, the outputs, the bars, I tried everything. My quest to know what I wanted to do in life was intense, ” says the young woman, now aged 35 years.

She was also interested in the occult, such as Tarot, the lines of the hand, the new age, but she was always disappointed in every experience that she was trying. It was difficult for her to find what she wanted to do in life.

Inner peace

And then his life changes radically, on a night that 17-year-old, her boyfriend at the time proposed marriage. “I loved her, but I couldn’t be satisfied and to find my ultimate happiness “, she says.

“In anger, I took a cross of Christ that there was in me, I was discouraged and I started to talk to God. I told myself that he was going to teach me how to love. “It was then that, for the first time in her life she felt an inner peace and his life took on a meaning.

“I then read the Gospel, and I explained to my boyfriend that I had received the call of God, and I was super happy. He agreed, I had never seen so many happy. I wanted to become a nun “, she says.

For the past 16 years, she is religious at the auberge Marie-Jeunesse in Quebec city, a place of welcome for young people who wish to live an experience of faith in a spirit of family. The young woman lives with three sisters and three brothers and prays for four hours per day. She brings her artistic touch by painting, writing and playing the piano in the day. She can go out to the outside, she is not cloistered. “Not in the bars, there is a consensus ! “, she says.

The religious has no cell phone and has chosen to take a vow of poverty, obedience and chastity.

“The love of God goes beyond sexuality. I am filled, I love God and I feel an inner peace, ” she said, which seems to be very fulfilling.

Love of God

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Mirianna Belleau admits that she worships boundless God since his childhood.

So that in 20 years we want to discover the world and try new experiences, Mirianna Belleau has taken many people by surprise by turning to religion.

“Go take a drink in the bars with my friends from high school, I didn’t like it. I love not necessarily the alcohol, it’s not like that I had a lot of fun. But with God, I have “, said the girl.

Mirianna is 22 years old and she is religious to the Marie-Jeunesse Québec, a catholic community of mixed Sherbrooke. The girl entered the convent when she was 17 years old. She fell in love with God and confesses not to know why.

Since childhood

“I carry God in my heart since I was a child. I had a call. I have no clear memories to give, it is as if I had grown up with, ” she says.

“I love God and I couldn’t answer why this is not explained. It’s like if I asked my parents why they fell in love. “

The young girl explains that she has had a few lightning strokes to the primary for some boys, but she has never been away.

“I’ve never slept with a guy ! It is important for me to respect my body. The fact of sleeping with any boys, it is like if I gave my body to anyone. My true love to me is God, ” she says.

“And then, my parents didn’t want me to have boyfriend before the end of high school. I have not searched not more “.

At the end of her secondary education, she entered the religious community. In his choice of life, members of his family encourage it. His friends were not surprised that it can go live in a convent.

Family prayer

“We are 11 children in my family. We prayed every day, and in the evening before meals. I had a childhood very catholic. My friends knew that I didn’t like the things of my age, so they smiled when I announced, ” says the girl.

The day she goes to mass in the morning and in the evening, and then pray for 4 hours a day. She receives training and she did the sewing of the clothes of the hostel catholic. To have a family life did not interest him. It is religious all his life.

“This is my place here, I am well. I take care of the young people who come to the convent saw that it was a hostel “home,” she adds.

She gets up at 6 o’clock in the morning and the curfew of the evening is set at 22 h. in The evening, she did not hesitate to watch movies with the other sisters, or alone in his room with his computer.

“Recently, I watched the movie Wonder Woman with the other nuns. We have access to Netflix. It is not cut off from the world, ” she said.

A vocation that loses in the ranks

In just five years, the number of religious has declined significantly in Quebec. Several monasteries have had to close their doors on the island of Montreal, because the feeder seems not to be ensured.

“The province of Quebec counted 9023 nuns in the convents of members of the canadian religious Conference, in 2012, compared with only 6480 in 2017 “, said Jean-Michel’bigou, communications coordinator at the canadian religious Conference.

The exact number of convents and monasteries closed or destroyed is still unknown for the canadian religious Conference.

The convents are converted

In July 2017, the convent of the missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception in Outremont has been destroyed by half, to be transformed in the future luxury condos.

“The nuns sold their convent for a number of reasons. Already, they are aging, the average age in a convent of 70 years. They also sell for financial reasons and because they do not find religious news. There is more of a vocation in 2017 ! ” said Mr.’bigou.

According to the canadian religious Conference, we note that several religious of old are moving to settle down in a place of end-of-life. A sort of infirmary religious.

“The sisters of Providence of Montreal have merged with other congregations to open a place of medical intervention such as this one. They come together to die with them “, adds Jean-Michel’bigou.

The convents are experiencing a crisis in vocations unprecedented. Suddenly, the ecclesiastical authorities are more and more foreign sisters. And, in the first place, african.