I considered it, and started in on the discernment process several years ago - only to realize that it wasn’t what I was called to do, no matter how much I wanted it to be.
Which, I know, is the point of discernment. 
That said, I hope it goes well MissMossie!
That’s really great, I hope the interview goes well! I’m looking forward to learning more about this process through your posts.
I never had even an inkling of a vocation, but I did read In This House of Brede over and over until the pages were falling apart.
Congrats.
While not as, ah, worldy as when St Teresa de Jesús started her reforms, many convents in Spain (so I imagine elsewhere) have a lot of daily contact with the world, even cloistered orders. Pillows (MASH); chocolate (La Trapa); editorial houses, emboidery, baking… are just a few of the ways in which they earn their livelihood. And of course, teaching.
What kind of works do the sisters in this convent you’re looking to join do? Wherever your path ends up bringing you, I do hope you can always take it with joy.
It’s a long way off, but when Bricker Jr. and any other kids that have come along are grown and out of the house, I’ve discussed with my wife the possibility of entering the permanent diaconate. She’s supportive of the idea.
That’s a bit down the road, though; perhaps you were looking for something more immediate…
That’s wonderful news. I will keep you in my prayers as you continue your discernment, and I think this is a wonderful vocation to discover. All the best to you for the interview and beyond!
Good luck, MissMossie. Hopefully your discernment will lead you to where you’re meant to be, either as a religious or as a lay Catholic. You’ll be in my prayers.
StG
Oh, BTW - the Nashville Dominicans are always taking on new postulants. You could come and be a Nashville Dopers.
StG
I never knew that Sr. was the abbreviation for Sister. Learn something new everyday.
Congratulations, MissMossie! I think of you whenever we pray for vocations at Mass, and will continue to pray that you find your true path!
My mom was a nun before she, obviously, decided not to be a nun anymore. Thing is, I didn’t even know that until I was 15 or so - whenever Dead Man Walking came out, because I saw it with my dad and we were talking about the various kinds of nuns, and he said, “blah blah like your mother was?” I asked her and she said she didn’t really think it was any of my business. 
Now, as an adult, I’ve asked her again why her only child didn’t know she had been a nun, and she said she just doesn’t talk about it because people look at her like she’s a freak of nature and ask a ton of questions, especially here where there aren’t so many Catholics around, and she just doesn’t feel like being singled out like that.
Even as a pretty hard agnostic I very much see the appeal of religious orders, especially the more cloistered kind. I’ve read a lot about that kind of community - there’s an interesting out of print book, I Leap Over the Wall, that’s an autobiography of a woman who decided the cloistered life was not for her and left the convent… right in the middle of WWII, in England. It’s very interesting.
We have a community of Trappist monks here in South Carolina (Mepkin Abbey) and I have sometimes considered going on retreat there.
ETA - I am the most treasured female grandchild, partly IMHO because my grandparents never obviously expected my mother to have any kids. I know they were very proud to have a nun in the family, but I don’t know how they reacted to her decision to give that life up.
What if they ask you to go be the governess for a sea captain who is a widower with seven children? What then? Would you have confidence?
The what?
Wow - this has been a really pleasant thread to read. And I recognize the Benedictine Sisters - I had several friends who graduated from their high school in Richmond.
Best of luck to you - I have a cousin who is a Catholic priest, and while I was hesitant in the beginning (my cousins are like siblings to me - we’re all close), I have absolutely no doubts now that he followed his heart and he is exactly where he’s supposed to be. It sounds like you know where you’re supposed to be, too.
I’ve kind of wanted to be a nun since I was about ten. The problem then was that I was Presbyterian, and the problem now is that I’m an atheist. MissMossie, I envy your ability to have faith, and I wish you all the best in your vocation.
I think you should change your screen name to Sister Mossie, when it is officially appropriate.
I hope your path shines before you, and leads you to faith, hope and love.
Tris
Interesting - I tried Googling convents in Pittsburgh to find out what order my mom was in (we actually went there for her to visit people she knew, but I thought they were nuns she had taught with or something, not that she herself had been one) and there’s, like, a bazillion! Coming from South Carolina, that is weird. I don’t think we have any here at all now, although we did have an Ursuline convent in the nineteenth century that I believe existed through the first half of the twentieth - it kept burning down.
He’s thinking about becoming a deacon.
Becoming a deacon. Deacons serve the church in a variety of ways: proclaiming the Word, assisting with the Liturgy, and with works of Charity.
Men on the path to priesthood typically serve a year as deacons first; they are known as transitional deacons. But there are also men who do not intend to become priests but feel a call to serve in this way, and they may become permanant deacons.
The deacon assists at Mass as an ordinary minister of communion, and by reading the Gospel. Deacons may perform baptisms and witness at weddings, and may preside at funerals – though of course not celebrate a funeral Mass. Deacons are not “mini-priests;” they cannot celebrate Mass, hear confession, or administer the anointing of the sick. Unlike priests, who draw their support from the church, the deacon has a job in the real world, and draws no salary from the church (nor is he vested with any retirement residence rights or benefits). Permanent deacons may be married, although they generally may not marry once they have become deacons unless the local Ordinary assents.
In unusual circumstances, a deacon may serve as a parish administrator (although never as pastor).
Thanks for the explanation. I had a reasonable idea what being a deacon meant–in terms of responsibilities, but I had an entirely different explanation of what the permanent bit meant.
(My assumption was that permanent meant permanent–as in a life-time or at least long term commitment–rather than temporary–as in for six months or a year or whatever the usual term of office was.)