Calling Franciscan Poor Clares Sisters Video Vocation

It’s a bit like Catholic Boot Camp!

A group of four women are given an extraordinary opportunity to spend 40 days and 40 nights living with nuns at the Convent of the Poor Clares, in Arundel, West Sussex,

The series tries to discover if the nuns traditional religious values can help them tackle contemporary problems of relationships, achievement, self-esteem, and meaning in their lives.

An eclectic mix of personalities, the four participants were chosen from over 500 volunteers. All felt that they had deep-seated personal issues which might be helped by a long period of quiet reflection. All understood that they would be sacrificing friends, families and home comforts and that they would have to submit to the strict discipline of monastic life.

  • At 25 soul singer Iona is desperate to be saintly. Still a virgin Iona’s issues centre on sex. She’s an Evangelical Christian and believes God has told her to live her life as a celibate, a calling she’s hoping the nuns can help her understand.
  • Living a life without rules has left Victoria unsettled. She hopes living in a strict convent regime might allow her to re-assess her boundaries, but to a woman who has never got up to an alarm clock, it won’t be easy!
  • The third woman joining the convent doesn’t do poverty! But that’s about to change. Angela is 43 and a shrew, sharp and successful business woman who revels in a thrusting male environment. She admits to being uncomfortable in female company. She’s turning her back on a six figure salary to live in the all female an frugal Poor Clare life.
  • The forth woman joining the convent is terrified of God. Debi was abandoned as a child by her mother and she can’t shake off the belief that God is punishing her. Now a mother herself she’s hoping that the nuns will help her see religion in a new light.

During their time in the convent the four women will try and find a spiritual path and for the nuns this experiment is a rare opportunity for them to explain their calling.

Filmed in 4 episodes The Convent tracks their remarkable voyage to see if the enclosed sisterhood can give them the strength and the will to change their lives.

Video Source Youtube:

Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4 – Not available on YouTube.

Elizabeth is a member of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. She has had an interest in Franciscan Spirituality for over 20 years.