Number of women becoming Catholic Nuns hits an all time high in 25 years

Reports say that latest figures show the number of women seeking solitude solitude and silence with God has increased six-fold in ten years in England and Wales.

"Religious life is an attractive choice for an increasing number of educated and dynamic young and older women," a Catholic spokeswoman said.

Christian Today reports that Sister Cathy Jones, the church's promoter of religious life vocations, said: "A key reason for this increase is the growth of a culture of vocation in the Church. Young Catholics are asking themselves 'What is God's plan for my life?' and they are availing themselves of opportunities to meet with experienced guides to consider their future in the context of prayer, discussion and scripture.

"It is also significant that in recent years many religious congregations have grown in confidence in proposing their way of life, both through offering taster weekends and by participating in youth festivals, enabling potential 'discerners' to easily encounter religious and take the first steps to find out more about religious life."

Reports also say that a priest, Christopher Jamison, the Benedictine monk and former Abbot of Worth Abbey who achieved international recognition outside the Church through the BBC TV series The Monastery, and who is currently the Church's director of vocations, said: "There is a gap in the market for meaning in our culture and one of the ways in which women may find that meaning is through religious life."

One example is former academic Theodora Hawksley, 29, who was until recently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh and who joined the Congregation of Jesus a couple of months ago. She is now living in their house in north London and is taking the first steps towards making vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

She said: "Entering religious life was a decision born of love. It was an acknowledgement that my life has slowly and concretely rearranged itself around the love of God, and around that relationship is the one I prize above all else."

Pope Francis has called for women to play a more "incisive" role in the Church. He has said: "The Church acknowledges the indispensable contribution which women make to society through the sensitivity, intuition and other distinctive skill sets which they, more than men, tend to possess." Recently, he wound up two years earlier than expected the investigation into nuns in the US set up under his predecessor.

Nuns in the UK and the US are among the most dedicated in terms of social and other contributions to society, education and the "common good" as taught by the Church.