But when she professed her first temporary vows on a Sunday morning in August 2010, becoming an official Catholic sister, everything changed. The Mass was supposed to mark the culmination of a call the 28-year-old from Lexington, Kentucky, had first experienced in high school, a public and unabashed yes to the Lord.
It wasn’t until the following week, when she had begun losing sleep and struggling with her new teaching position, that Kathy shared her concerns with her superior, beginning a painful process of discerning out of the vocation she had once felt so sure of. It seemed liked a strange reversal. Was she now saying no to God? Had she fallen from grace?
Four months after professing her vows, Kathy moved into her parents’ basement.
Today, after five years, heaps of prayer, regular spiritual direction, countless convent dreams and some counseling, Kathy loves life again. She lives with a friend in an apartment near Minneapolis, teaches preschool, attends a Catholic studies master’s program and communicates with guys on CatholicMatch. Marriage, is a genuine desire of her heart not a default vocation. She’s waiting on God’s perfect timing.