May 1, 2023 // Diocese

‘Your Job is to Listen’: Young Women Spend Saturday in Vocational Discernment

Grace Flanagan

On Saturday, April 29, the feast of St. Catherine of Sienna, more than 20 young Catholic women gathered at Sacred Heart Parish Center on the campus of the University of Notre Dame for a retreat focused on discernment in spiritual life and the beauty of true femininity.

The retreat opened with the women filing into the chapel for Mass celebrated by Father Matthew Coonan.

Then followed a reflective day filled with insightful talks, fruitful fellowship, and Confession and Adoration. Two of the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration were present during the retreat to give talks and interact with the young women.

The first speaker, Anne Marie Stroud, began the day hyping up the attendees with an earnest talk on the primary calling of every woman: being rooted in one’s identity as a daughter of the Father. Smaller breakout sessions were offered during the day, giving the young women an opportunity to choose what topic they wished to hear more about and creating a cozy atmosphere of leisurely chatting with one’s sisters.

These sessions were given by Sister M. Ignatia Henneberry, O.S.F, who spoke on vocations and specific discernment advice, Sister Regina DeVreese, O.S.F, who spoke on community and love, and Anna Laisure, Youth Minister, who spoke on prayer and its importance.

In the afternoon Jessica Hayes, Consecrated Virgin and Advisor for Vocations to the Consecrated Life for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, shared her insights on prayer, especially Lectio Divina. “Your job is to listen, not to hear,” she shared, encouraging the women not to be downcast when nothing seems to be standing out to them in prayer.

The day closed with a Vocations Question and Answer Panel featuring Sister Henneberry, Margaret Freddoso, currently living the vocation of being single, and wife and mother of four, Megan Quigley.