VANCOUVER—Coffee outreach is growing rapidly in the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

Inspired by Coffee with a Priest and Coffee with a Vocations Director, two sisters have launched yet another new coffee ministry.

“We were already having coffee with women a lot,” said the Dominican behind Coffee with a Sister, Sister Mary Sabina Demuth.

She and Franciscan Sister Angela Marie Castellani are the go-to vocations contacts for women’s discernment. Young women have been contacting them for years, asking to meet privately to talk about possible vocations to the religious life. “We were already doing it, but no one knew we were doing it.”

So, the Dominican and Franciscan sisters teamed up to offer Coffee with a Sister and invite more women to have casual, no-pressure conversations about religious life.

“We’re available to answer those questions that only a sister who is living in religious life can answer,” said Sister Demuth.

Discernment is an individual process. “There isn’t one single path. Every person has a different path and God works individually with our hearts and our vocations.”

Coffee with a Sister is a casual, no-pressure atmosphere. Sister Demuth, who is also a teacher at Our Lady of Assumption School, said her aim is to get to know and listen to each young woman.

“A lot of it is about getting to know the young woman, asking about her journey and her spiritual life, and listening for ways God is already working in her life that might give her clues as to where God is leading her.”

Sister Demuth chats with a young woman over coffee. (vocationsvancouver.ca)

Often what a discerning person needs is someone to ask the right questions. That’s what happened to Sister Demuth before she entered a Dominican convent 16 years ago.

“I had been discerning and dating at the same time, which is a very difficult place to be because my heart was torn.” She thought she might be called to a vocation, but also started dating a holy young man. When God didn’t seem to meet her deadlines to confirm her religious vocation, she made up her mind to pursue marriage. She told her spiritual director.

“He asked me: ‘why do you think you’re called to religious life?’ When I thought about the answer to that question, I knew I was called.”

Now, nine years since making her final vows, Sister Demuth has coffee at least once a month with a woman in the discernment process. “There are young women in our archdiocese actively joining religious communities every year.”

She started a vocations discernment group three years ago and has since seen three members become novices, two become postulants, and a handful of others preparing to enter different communities. Others have realized their calls to marriage.

All women are called to answer with fiat, just like Mary. Whether a young woman is called to be consecrated as a sister or a mother, all of those are saying ‘yes’ to God’s call.
Sister Mary Sabina Demuth

“All women are called to answer with fiat, just like Mary. Whether a young woman is called to be consecrated as a sister or a mother, all of those are saying ‘yes’ to God’s call.”

With the new ministry comes a re-vamp of the vocation discernment group. Rather than run monthly evening meetings, Sister Demuth plans to host four recollection events a year.

Between those events, she plans to put on social events such as hiking, snowshoeing, games nights, and, of course, plenty of coffee dates. “There’s lots of options for young women.”