Women entering religious communities happens far less often than it did decades ago. Catholic World News reported in 2013 that over 3,000 women leave religious life each year worldwide.
Yet there are signs that the tide is turning, especially in some areas worldwide, and some religious orders are seeing substantial growth in vocations. Young women continue to experience a call to religious life.
But what makes a young, modern woman leave good friends, a boyfriend, and a promising career to enter a convent? How does that happen?
While many outsiders think nuns are making huge — even unbearable — sacrifices, it looks very different from the perspective of these women. They speak of their vocations as joy and gift, rather than a burden. There are periods of trial and difficulty, but what anchors their vows is a deep and abiding love.
A 20-year-old model Oniel Chimwanda with a strong Catholic background said she wants to be both a nun and a model to defy odds. The Iconic Modelling Agency alumni made the revelation in an interview with H-Metro where she opened about her perennial admiration of monastery lifestyle and how she would give up everything to become one.
The mushrooming Oniel also confirmed that she was only trying her luck in modelling last year.
“I only pursued modelling beginning last year when I joined Iconic Modelling Agency and I am not worried about mixing the two so long I keep my morals upright. I am currently studying towards a Bachelor of Business Management and Information Technology and doing modelling just for the fun of it,” she said.
She said that her parents support her in pursuing this dream as she would promote Catholicism.
“Both my parents support my decision to convert and I will immediately pursue the training after I complete my studies. And mixing the two(nunnery and modelling), they have urged me never to lose my morality by making sure I don’t invite scandals in my modelling career. I want to be different and inspire young girls that they can achieve whatever they want and do the catwalk but still remain with morals,” she told a Hmetro reporter.
The model said she is not intimate with any man and haven’t kissed as she prepares herself to take the step as a nun.
“I have so much respect for the church and would love to keep myself upright until I finished the race,” she added.
Already, Oniel despises fashion as she said it is nothing to chase after.
“I am not a fashionable person, and my view is that some of the things that fashionistas chase after won’t be that special.”
She advised fellow young models to uphold their morals in the profession.
“You don’t have to go naked to be recognised as a queen or model, my advice to fellow models is to remain original, and everything will work out well,” she said.
Oniel Chimwanda isn’t the sore case of a model dumping profession for the monastery.
In 2014, Spanish model and actress Olalla Oliveros stunned the fashion world by giving up her successful career and became a nun. While Oliveros made the decision four years before that, she waited to discuss her decision publicly and said it was a visit to the shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal that prompted her vocation.
In an interview with El Diario de Carlos Paz, the model explained she felt an increasing dissatisfaction with her life and experienced “an internal earthquake” when she was in Fatima.
“God gave me a role and chose me, and I couldn’t say no to him,” she said.
Another, Sister Ann Kateri, 39, a member of the community of the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, graduated from Harvard University and then began working with the poor for the Catholic Church. From the time she was 11, she felt a strong attraction to this work but also experienced a great desire for marriage.
When her boyfriend proposed to her, she said yes, but then a great sadness descended on her. Caught by surprise at this reaction, she sought the reason for her sadness and recognised she was being called to another life, a different sort of spousal relationship, one that — despite initial hesitation — has brought her tremendous joy.
Listening to her heart clarified her call and she describes the day she professed her Final Vows as “by far the happiest day of my life.”
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