It’s happening in the priesthood — and, evidently, in the sisterhood, too: more and more of those entering religious life, feeling the pull of a vocation, are older. A growing number of the vocations are coming, not from kids in their teens and 20s, but middle aged men and women in their 40s and 50s. Here’s a look at some “second career” nuns in California:

This weekend, Valerie Roxburgh will make her first profession of vows as a Sister of Notre Dame. At 51, she is six years older than her formation director, Sister of Notre Dame Mary Kathleen Burns, who entered the religious community at age 18.

Sister Roxburgh represents a wave of “second career” women who are making the leap to religious life. Their ages reflect an “upward trend” among religious candidates that’s been going on in the archdiocese for the last 15 years, says Religious Sister of Charity Kathy Bryant, archdiocese vocations director.

A lapsed Catholic for more than three decades, Roxburgh enjoyed her work as an administrative assistant but, beginning about the age of 35, experienced always having “a hole in my heart that only God could fill.” Ten years later, the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001 spurred her to action.

“9/ll was my wake-up call, when I realized my security was in God,” said Sister Roxburgh. She started going to Mass at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Ventura, where she was working for a bio-medical firm. Just two months later, she started her quest to join a religious community.

The Lord works in mysterious ways, indeed. Like Sister Roxburgh, I felt the first stirrings of my own vocation in the wake of 9/11 — and I suspect many others did, too. These later vocations have much to offer the Church, I think: seasoning and experience and a grounding in the ways of the world that is often absent in younger vocations.

It remains to be seen how any of this will affect the character of the Church and her leadership. But I can’t help but think the impact will be positive.