Editor's note

YEARS AGO, when I taught a grade-school religion class in my parish, I remember telling my husband that at least 50 percent of the questions in class could be answered with one word: “Jesus.” What will we be receiving at first Communion? Jesus. Why do we come to church on Sunday? Jesus. And so on. Fast forward a few decades and ask the question on the minds of vocation directors: What attracts people to consecrated life? Jesus.

If you boil down the much more sophisticated answers people give, for most it really does come back to a passion for living one’s faith in Jesus in a fuller, more intense way—living that faith in community, intentionally, publicly, as a committed Catholic who is at the service of the church and world.

Every vocation story is uniquely personal, and I can say that after many years of listening to these stories, they still move me, as a good story always will. There is a call. There is a response. That’s where the individual differences run the gamut, from full-throated resistance to a joyful yes. In the same way a good love story rivets us, the stories of attraction and falling in love with a religious community can also be compelling with their ups and downs and dramatic moments.

May our exploration in these pages about what attracts people to religious life help you as you accompany men and women who are sorting out their own story. We’re all just grown up versions of those CCD kids years ago, still feeling a bit wondrous about this Jesus, who continues to inspire.

 —Carol Schuck Scheiber, editor, cscheiber@nrvc.net