Overtime, everything is bound to change – even things once thought to be bound by tradition.

Sometimes, however, people fail to see exactly how much things change.

That’s why NewsChannel 7 recently sat down with Sister Mary Barbara Cherek.

This September she will have been a nun for sixty years. In that time, she says she’s seen innumerable changes in the sisterhood, but still fewer women joining.

“Here in the United States vocations are very scarce,” Sister Barbara said. “We do not get the girls we used to.”

In fact, Sister Barbara says when she entered the sisterhood, her province in Chicago had more than 800 nuns. Right now she says they barely have a hundred and most are in their nineties. Less than fifty are working and bringing in a salary.

Sister Barbara says she’s not sure why fewer girls are choosing vocation, only that she has a few ideas.

“My opinion is that there’s no commitment,” she said. “They probably feel that we have a very strict life, which is all wrong today.”

“Sixty years ago we did not have that many types of work to do so most of us became teachers,” said Sister Barbara.

Now, the sisterhood has a wide variety of work nuns can do – virtually any job a woman could dream of.

But Sister Barbara also feels some young women may fear joining a sisterhood will mean limited amounts of fun as well.

"We have a good time,” she said. “We go bowling, swimming - we do whatever."

But she realizes everyone believes they are meant to do something, and sisterhood may just not be for everyone.

"We believe God gives us a calling,” she said. "I had an aunt who was religious and she inspired me to join the sisterhood. I just wanted to that type of work. So at the age of 13, I already knew the sisterhood was going to be my life."

"I say listen to the Lord. He does not tap you on the shoulder - a vocation is a feeling. ‘This is what I want to do.’"

To learn more vocations, click on the link below.

www.vocationmatch.com.