The Catholic Morning Show
Nun Run 2026: Young Catholic Women Visit Convents to Discern Religious Life - Fr. Max Carson - 11/02/2026
Episode Summary
Fr. Max Carson, chaplain at St. Albert Catholic Schools in Council Bluffs, invites high school and college-age women on a Nun Run to the Twin Cities, November 12–15, 2026, to visit convents and discern a vocation to religious life. He shares why young people are newly curious about religious vocations, how a cloistered sister moved him to tears, and why the Church needs spiritual mothers. Learn which religious communities the group will visit, where they'll stay, and how to reserve a seat on the bus.
Episode Notes
Is God calling you — or a young woman you love — to religious life? You can't discern a vocation you've never seen up close. That's the idea behind the Nun Run, a vocation pilgrimage led by Fr. Max Carson, chaplain at St. Albert Catholic Schools in Council Bluffs and assistant vocation director for the Diocese of Des Moines. (And no — no running required.)
Highlights:
- How faith life is growing at St. Albert: full confession lines on Tuesdays, Thursday adoration, and a booming altar server program
- Emceeing the Christ Our Life Conference youth breakout
- Where the Nun Run started: a Garrigan bus trip to Nebraska convents, then last year's trip to Kansas City
- The Benedictines of Mary at Gower, Missouri, who pray for priests — and why Fr. Max cried in the back of the room
- "Spiritual ecology": why a parish or school needs spiritual mothers as well as spiritual fathers
- The seventh-grade teacher, Sister Greta, whose daily Scripture time led him to pray for wisdom like Solomon
- Why Hollywood's picture of nuns falls short, and why young people are asking, "Is this life for me?"
Nun Run 2026 – Trip Details
- Dates: Thursday, November 12 – Sunday, November 15, 2026
- Who: High school and college-age women discerning what God is calling them to
- Destination: Twin Cities (St. Paul–Minneapolis), Minnesota
- Planned visits: Pro Ecclesia Sancta Sisters, the Carmelite nuns of Lake Elmo, the Missionaries of Charity, and (hoped for) the Dominican sisters at St. Agnes
- Travel & lodging: 44-seat charter bus, made possible by generous donors; overnight stays at the Carondelet Event Center in St. Paul, run by the Sisters of St. Joseph, with an on-site chapel
- Seats: 17 filled — room for more
- Register / questions: Email Fr. Max Carson at mcarson@dmdiocese.org
More on vocations in the Diocese of Des Moines: VocationsOnline.org
Hear the full show at IowaCatholicRadio.com.
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