Sister Janice Bemowski, r.c.

Sister Janice Bemowski, r.c. is vocation director for the Religious of our Lady of the Retreat in the Cenacle (commonly known as the Cenacle Sisters). She also is a member of the finance committee for the NRVC.

 
How long have you been involved in vocation ministry?

I became part of the vocation effort while in temporary vows. Then in 1998—right after final vows—I became the vocation director for our North American province.

Are you part of a vocation team?  

We have a vocation minister in every community. Four of those sisters, plus myself, comprise our Province Vocation Team. The local ministers try to do outreach and connect with people locally, while my role is also to try to animate all the sisters in the province, communicate information to the sisters about vocations and young adults, and help encourage vocation ministry.

   
Has being a member of NRVC been helpful to you?  

I appreciate the great resources of NRVC ... people and products! All of the staff are extremely helpful and supportive. The website is a wonderful source of information and encouragement and is of very good quality. There are also many workshops and educational opportunities that would not otherwise be available to us. Foremost is the fact that through NRVC religious life is made visible, connections are made with other organizations and supporters. None of this could we do on our own.

    
What has been your best vocation effort? 

Our best internal vocation effort came from NRVC's “Keys to the Future” program.  [Purchase "Keys to the Future" at nrvc.net.] Participating in that workshop and learning the facilitation skills gave me the opportunity to share the information and process with our province membership. It was an enlivening and energizing process.
 
Our other best effort was to invite a number of young adults to our last province assembly to tell us their stories. We wanted to experience and understand the lives of some young adults so as to better understand the life context of those who might be looking at religious life.

   
What do you find most rewarding about vocation ministry?

I find two things most rewarding: first, the ability to walk with a woman on her vocational journey, and witness to her deepening relationship with God; second, the joy of sharing stories and experiences of faith, and helping to open Cenacle lives and ministry to others.

Contact Sister Janice at vocations@cenaclesisters.org.