Their thoughts aren't about solving a "vocations shortage." Rather, their mind-sets are focused on how to serve God and community. That is what has led these four women - of varying ages and backgrounds - into pursuing the call to religious life. This week, The Tidings profiles four women to see how responding to the particular call in their lives has affected them.

Sylvia Diaz
Unlike many of her peers, Sylvia Diaz didn't attend Catholic schools or spend much time around religious sisters in her youth. Her first memories of nuns came from her cousin who talked endlessly about their good nature and their good works.

At 12 years old, Diaz told her mother she wanted to be a nun --- despite never really having spent time around them.

But growing up in Guatemala, Diaz's mother encouraged her daughter to concentrate on finding a career that would bring the family money. "We came from a very poor family," says Diaz, whose dream was put on hold.

Three decades ago, Diaz' family moved to the Reno area, she found a job and started life anew --- only to have a car accident shake up her world. "That accident made me reevaluate what was important to me," she says. "It was a spiritual awakening."

It led her to attend retreats with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in the Bay area where she found the community a place she needed and wanted to be.

Today, the 50-year-old Diaz has been a candidate for the religious community for two years. She has been living with three sisters of St. Joseph in a house in Sherman Oaks. Diaz continues her administrative work in Pacoima at Soledad Enrichment Action, Inc., a charter school community project that targets youth at risk, giving them education, counseling and support.

Living in a communal setting with the sisters changed Diaz's preconceived notions about religious life as "super holy" people. "They are real people with good days and bad days," she says. "They accept me as I am and give me such an optimistic outlook. They are very real."

The hardest part about religious life? "Cutting back on expenses," she says. "I am starting to live my vow of poverty and have to realize the difference between buying something I want versus something I need."

Overall, Diaz finds a peace and purpose with the sisters. "It makes me realize how many good things I can do." She hopes one day to work in Latino community parishes. "I am preparing for that but am open to where the Spirit calls."

Lilly Fitzpatrick
Lilly Fitzpatrick came to explore religious communities quite by accident. Literally.

In her prior life, Fitzpatrick managed real estate in the Bay Area, handling the day-to-day activities of large shopping centers and commercial buildings in San Francisco and San Jose.

Noting an advertisement about an upcoming Lenten retreat that offered quiet reflection, Fitzpatrick signed up - only to find out later that that retreat took place a week earlier. The retreat Fitzpatrick signed up for was for people interested in religious life.

"There was a mistake in the bulletin," says Fitzpatrick who thought, "Why not?" when she was asked to confirm her attendance.

Fitzpatrick went to the retreat and came back "feeling so different" about religious life. "Something shifted inside," she says. "I wanted to figure out what was going on in my heart."

Wanting to explore religious life more, Fitzpatrick prayed for some kind of sign. It came in the form of a bumper sticker that instructed, "Don't Die Wondering." Five months from her first retreat, Fitzpatrick joined the community.

Today, Fitzpatrick lives with 11 other fully professed Dominican Sisters of San Jose at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy. She's been with the community for nearly four years, having taken her first vows and preparing for her final vows in 2008.

Just turned 40, Fitzpatrick is enrolled at Glendale Community College studying for her associate of arts degree. Prior to that, she was with the religious community in the Bay Area in a formation program where she also worked at local soup kitchens and schools.

The revolving tasks didn't faze Fitzpatrick, whose list of jobs include managing real estate, teaching English in Japan, working with homeless teenagers in New York City, and running a sporting goods store in Hawaii.

Communal living is everything Fitzpatrick expected it to be. "I had no great surprises or adjustments," she says. "I am very realistic and understand that you meet the same kind of people inside and outside a convent."

Advice Fitzpatrick could give to anyone considering religious life would be simple: "Try it, you might like it."

Elizabeth Lopez
Elizabeth "Lisa" Lopez has been straddling two worlds.

During the week, she's a successful attorney who tends to her clients, prepares for upcoming trials and enjoys her own home in Lake Balboa in Orange County. But on weekends she drives to downtown Los Angeles, where she is learning what it means to be a member of a religious community.

"I'm going to be there full-time in September," says Lopez, 44. "Right now, I'm winding down my practice."

Entering the Sisters of Social Service in the fall, Lopez will put her legal mind to rest and concentrate on formation classes. Her material possessions are slowly being sold, given away or stored for future use. The downsizing process has shown Lopez "how much you can get wrapped up in things. We often think that success comes from what we own."

Lopez grew up in Hacienda Heights and moved later with her family to Anaheim Hills. Joining a religious community was something she felt like doing since she was seven years old, but she resisted the calling for years. "I kept thinking if I did other things, I could quiet that voice," she says.

Active in her parishes, Lopez has taught confirmation, been a eucharistic minister and liturgist. Active in youth ministry, she was dramatically inspired by St. Joseph Sister Helen Prejean's message at the Religious Education Congress three years ago.

"It was like the voice told me it was time to 'bump it up a notch,'" recalls Lopez. "I needed to bring myself up to the next level [of service]."

Indeed, being involved with youth ministry, Lopez had many contacts and connections with members of religious communities. She scouted the territory and said that when she met the Sisters of Social Service, she "felt like I came home. I immediately knew this is where I belonged."

Still, there were hurdles to cross. In discernment, Lopez and fellow classmates had many misconceptions about sisterhood.

"We were asking questions like, 'Can we wear make-up?' 'Can we go out dancing?' and 'Can we drink?'" she says. "The sisters just laughed and told us that life does not end when you join. Just be who you are. We accept you."

With fall approaching, Lopez sizes up her new life. "For me, being able to do God's work without having to worry about overhead and the bottom line is truly exciting," she says.

Nicole De Leon
When she was a little girl, Nicole De Leon had a cassette player and would constantly play a tape of children's religious songs, including one called "Heroes and Saints."

The refrain went, "Who's going to be a hero for our Lord?" to which De Leon used to holler, "I want to be God's hero!"

"I never made the connection that that would mean religious life," says the 23-year-old with a laugh. "I'm sure I drove my parents crazy with that song."

Today, De Leon is making her parents proud --- she's been living for the past year and a half with the Sisters of Notre Dame in a house in Long Beach, waiting for the day when she, too, will be a fully professed sister.

"I love that my parents have been so welcomed by the sisters," says De Leon who graduated from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana and points to the sisters there as inspirational. "My parents realize that they aren't losing a daughter, but gaining a whole community of support."

A full-time student at Long Beach Community College, De Leon is also in a formation program, works with her spiritual director and teaches religious education at nearby St. Cornelius Church. It's a lot of juggling, she admits, but well worth it.

An only child, De Leon says that one of the biggest challenges of living in a communal setting is discovering where she fits in. "You know your role with your family, but here, I had to find my role," she says, explaining that since living with the community, she's learning how to cook. Her favorite dish: pasta with pesto sauce.

Because she's a young person herself, De Leon sees her potential ministry to be with youth. As a former assistant youth minister at her home parish, De Leon enjoys the stimulating outlook of today's youth.

"They are refreshing because they are confident they can do anything," she says. "They want to know why the world is the way it is and how they can make a difference. We have to encourage that kind of thinking. I never want to lose that attitude in myself."