Leaving All Things Behind from Province of Saint Joseph on Vimeo.
Showing posts with label Dominicans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dominicans. Show all posts
Friday, March 18, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Monday, September 14, 2009
"Religious life: The path is less chosen, but young women still hear the call"
'I knew I wanted to do God's will'By Ann Rodgers
Photo at left: Sister Mary Elizabeth Liederbach, center (with blonde hair), and Sister Angela Russell, right, with their fellow postulant class at St. Cecilia Motherhouse, Nashville, Tenn.Angela Russell was a teenager visiting relatives in France when she prayed in a chapel where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared in 1830. That was where she first felt a call to be a Catholic sister.
"It was an overwhelming sense that I was going to dedicate my life totally to Christ," said Sister Angela, 21, a Beaver native who recently entered the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in Nashville, Tenn.
Far fewer women than in the past take that path, and those who do are often attracted to traditions that many communities no longer practice. Since 1965, the number of sisters in the U.S. has fallen from 180,000 to 61,000. A Vatican-ordered study is under way of conditions that may have contributed to the decline.
Yet women still answer the call. Sister Angela is among three local women seeking vows in the Nashville Dominicans. Two just made temporary vows in the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, formerly the Millvale Franciscans. The Little Sisters of the Poor, a community in Brighton Heights known for traditional habits and ministry to the elderly, count a medical doctor among two novices. This weekend a half-dozen women were expected at a discernment retreat for the Sisters of the Holy Spirit in Ross.
A recent study from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University found that two-thirds of communities have at least one person working toward final vows, which typically takes at least seven years. Their average age is 32. But in less traditional communities, 56 percent of newer members are 40 or older. In more conservative ones, 85 percent of sisters make final vows by age 39.
Sisters born since 1982 prefer the habits and ancient communal prayers that were standard before the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s called sisters to re-evaluate how their lives related to their founders' intentions and to the world around them.
Communities with the most success in gaining new members "wear a religious habit, work together in common [ministries] and are explicit about their fidelity to the church," the study said.
That describes the 252 Nashville Dominicans, who gained 23 members this summer. The community doesn't accept postulants -- candidates -- past age 30.
"There is great hope for young people entering religious life in the future," said Sister Mary Emily Knapp, 39, the vocations director.
Their sisters teach in 34 Catholic schools nationwide, but none in Pittsburgh. The community has attracted local women through connections with the Newman Center, a university outreach in Oakland, and Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.
Sister Maria Francesca Wiley, a Franciscan University graduate who grew up in Washington, Pa., and Peters, just received a black veil in her third year with the Nashville Dominicans.
As a postulant she wore a black skirt and vest over a white blouse, while learning community life and studying philosophy and education at Aquinas College. Her novice year, she received a habit and white veil. The black veil marked first vows. Final vows likely will be in 2014.
She thought religious life would be more of a sacrifice.
"The biggest surprise was how happy I was," she said, of her life of prayer and academics.
Her preparation began in the youth group at St. Benedict the Abbot in Peters, where she developed a deep love of the Eucharist.
Becoming a sister "wasn't really on my radar. I had never known anyone who did it, and I wasn't in touch with any communities. But I knew I wanted to do God's will," she said.
When her family moved to South Carolina, she met a Nashville Dominican sister.
"She was very down to earth, a normal, personable young woman -- the kind of woman I thought would have been a great wife and mother," she said. "I had thought of sisters as people who wanted to flee the world. She wasn't like that at all."
She visited the Nashville convent her senior year of high school, and felt attracted to religious life. In college she considered other orders, including the Franciscans at Steubenville and the Sisters of Life, who assist women in crisis pregnancies. While she admired both, "when I was with the sisters in Nashville, I felt they were my family,"she said.
Sister Mary Elizabeth Liederbach, who entered the Nashville Dominicans after her April graduation from the University of Pittsburgh, said her plans left some students speechless.
"They just didn't know how to react because it's such an unknown thing," she said.
She can relate. She felt called years before she understood it.
"It was a very mysterious call for a long time because of my minimal exposure to religious life," she said. "I was captivated by the idea of belonging to Jesus, without having any concept of what that would mean for me."
She majored in civil and environmental engineering, hoping to bring water to drought-stricken lands. She knew of religious orders that would sponsor such work. She also seriously considered the Sisters of Life. But she felt drawn to the Nashville Dominicans, whom she encountered when two sisters visited her campus Bible study.
"As I grew in faith, I stopped asking 'What am I going to do?' and started asking 'Who am I going to be?' Instead of asking myself, I started asking God," she said.
"It wasn't a call away from the poor, but to look to a deeper, hidden spiritual poverty that is all around us."
As she looked at orders' Web sites, she rejected those in which the sisters wore street clothes.
"I think most women feel that our clothes matter. When you are consecrating your whole life to God, that is part of the consecration," she said.
Most of the 1,200 sisters in the Diocese of Pittsburgh are in orders where habits are optional. When Sister Teresa Baldi became a novice with the Sisters of the Holy Spirit in Ross in 2006, she had to decide whether to wear a veil and habit, as about half the 40 sisters in her community do.
"I was really torn, and I prayed about it for a long time," she said.
She was moved by a sister in her 90s, who encouraged her to wear it as a witness for Christ. But she chose street clothes, with the medal that is the sole visible mark for many sisters today.
"In contemporary society there need to be contemporary ways of witnessing to the gospel," said Sister Teresa, who teaches at Immaculate Conception in Bloomfield.
She would never have chosen a community with a full habit.
"I sweat too much in the summer," she said, laughing.
Now 47, Sister Teresa resisted her call for decades. But she served the church full time as a youth minister at St. Bernard in Mt. Lebanon. An encounter with a Holy Spirit sister at a retreat center changed her life.
"She had a great devotion to the blessed sacrament, and would go and sit in front of the tabernacle for an hour," she said. The sister had such a peaceful radiance "that when I sat with her I thought, 'This is what I want.' "
Her life is governed by monastic traditions that some communities have abandoned. Although her wishes are taken into account, community leaders decide where and how she will serve. In her novice year, she could have only two family visits.
Now she has more freedom than would a Nashville Dominican but must clear outside visits with her immediate superior.
"It's like a family. You don't leave your family every night," she said.
Many orders have diverse ministries, and want new members to try several. The Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities have 530 sisters in education, health care, pastoral care, social services and serving as missionaries worldwide.
Moon native Sister Laura Hackenberg, 33, was an administrative assistant at FedEx before entering the Millvale Franciscans in 2006. Since then she has worked with the homeless and at two retreat centers. Speaking just before her temporary vows, she expected to move next to a health care setting.
A growing thirst for life with God led her to respond to a brochure for a retreat to consider religious life.
"I came to see that religious women ... have a great love for one another and, like St. Francis, are advocates for the poor and marginalized and are promoters of peace and justice. The sisters bring the depth of God's love to all that they minister to," she wrote in an essay on her decision.
Avalon native Sister Amy Williams, 37, recently took first vows alongside her. The former legal secretary has done hospice ministry and worked in day care for the elderly. She loved it all, and expects to attend nursing school, specializing in pain relief for the seriously ill.
"I found a sense of belonging with this community that I had never experienced before, and my life suddenly felt full and complete," she said.
"It was an overwhelming sense that I was going to dedicate my life totally to Christ," said Sister Angela, 21, a Beaver native who recently entered the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in Nashville, Tenn.
Far fewer women than in the past take that path, and those who do are often attracted to traditions that many communities no longer practice. Since 1965, the number of sisters in the U.S. has fallen from 180,000 to 61,000. A Vatican-ordered study is under way of conditions that may have contributed to the decline.
Yet women still answer the call. Sister Angela is among three local women seeking vows in the Nashville Dominicans. Two just made temporary vows in the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, formerly the Millvale Franciscans. The Little Sisters of the Poor, a community in Brighton Heights known for traditional habits and ministry to the elderly, count a medical doctor among two novices. This weekend a half-dozen women were expected at a discernment retreat for the Sisters of the Holy Spirit in Ross.
A recent study from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University found that two-thirds of communities have at least one person working toward final vows, which typically takes at least seven years. Their average age is 32. But in less traditional communities, 56 percent of newer members are 40 or older. In more conservative ones, 85 percent of sisters make final vows by age 39.
Sisters born since 1982 prefer the habits and ancient communal prayers that were standard before the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s called sisters to re-evaluate how their lives related to their founders' intentions and to the world around them.
Communities with the most success in gaining new members "wear a religious habit, work together in common [ministries] and are explicit about their fidelity to the church," the study said.
That describes the 252 Nashville Dominicans, who gained 23 members this summer. The community doesn't accept postulants -- candidates -- past age 30.
"There is great hope for young people entering religious life in the future," said Sister Mary Emily Knapp, 39, the vocations director.
Their sisters teach in 34 Catholic schools nationwide, but none in Pittsburgh. The community has attracted local women through connections with the Newman Center, a university outreach in Oakland, and Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.
Sister Maria Francesca Wiley, a Franciscan University graduate who grew up in Washington, Pa., and Peters, just received a black veil in her third year with the Nashville Dominicans.
As a postulant she wore a black skirt and vest over a white blouse, while learning community life and studying philosophy and education at Aquinas College. Her novice year, she received a habit and white veil. The black veil marked first vows. Final vows likely will be in 2014.
She thought religious life would be more of a sacrifice.
"The biggest surprise was how happy I was," she said, of her life of prayer and academics.
Her preparation began in the youth group at St. Benedict the Abbot in Peters, where she developed a deep love of the Eucharist.
Becoming a sister "wasn't really on my radar. I had never known anyone who did it, and I wasn't in touch with any communities. But I knew I wanted to do God's will," she said.
When her family moved to South Carolina, she met a Nashville Dominican sister.
"She was very down to earth, a normal, personable young woman -- the kind of woman I thought would have been a great wife and mother," she said. "I had thought of sisters as people who wanted to flee the world. She wasn't like that at all."
She visited the Nashville convent her senior year of high school, and felt attracted to religious life. In college she considered other orders, including the Franciscans at Steubenville and the Sisters of Life, who assist women in crisis pregnancies. While she admired both, "when I was with the sisters in Nashville, I felt they were my family,"she said.
Sister Mary Elizabeth Liederbach, who entered the Nashville Dominicans after her April graduation from the University of Pittsburgh, said her plans left some students speechless.
"They just didn't know how to react because it's such an unknown thing," she said.
She can relate. She felt called years before she understood it.
"It was a very mysterious call for a long time because of my minimal exposure to religious life," she said. "I was captivated by the idea of belonging to Jesus, without having any concept of what that would mean for me."
She majored in civil and environmental engineering, hoping to bring water to drought-stricken lands. She knew of religious orders that would sponsor such work. She also seriously considered the Sisters of Life. But she felt drawn to the Nashville Dominicans, whom she encountered when two sisters visited her campus Bible study.
"As I grew in faith, I stopped asking 'What am I going to do?' and started asking 'Who am I going to be?' Instead of asking myself, I started asking God," she said.
"It wasn't a call away from the poor, but to look to a deeper, hidden spiritual poverty that is all around us."
As she looked at orders' Web sites, she rejected those in which the sisters wore street clothes.
"I think most women feel that our clothes matter. When you are consecrating your whole life to God, that is part of the consecration," she said.
Most of the 1,200 sisters in the Diocese of Pittsburgh are in orders where habits are optional. When Sister Teresa Baldi became a novice with the Sisters of the Holy Spirit in Ross in 2006, she had to decide whether to wear a veil and habit, as about half the 40 sisters in her community do.
"I was really torn, and I prayed about it for a long time," she said.
She was moved by a sister in her 90s, who encouraged her to wear it as a witness for Christ. But she chose street clothes, with the medal that is the sole visible mark for many sisters today.
"In contemporary society there need to be contemporary ways of witnessing to the gospel," said Sister Teresa, who teaches at Immaculate Conception in Bloomfield.
She would never have chosen a community with a full habit.
"I sweat too much in the summer," she said, laughing.
Now 47, Sister Teresa resisted her call for decades. But she served the church full time as a youth minister at St. Bernard in Mt. Lebanon. An encounter with a Holy Spirit sister at a retreat center changed her life.
"She had a great devotion to the blessed sacrament, and would go and sit in front of the tabernacle for an hour," she said. The sister had such a peaceful radiance "that when I sat with her I thought, 'This is what I want.' "
Her life is governed by monastic traditions that some communities have abandoned. Although her wishes are taken into account, community leaders decide where and how she will serve. In her novice year, she could have only two family visits.
Now she has more freedom than would a Nashville Dominican but must clear outside visits with her immediate superior.
"It's like a family. You don't leave your family every night," she said.
Many orders have diverse ministries, and want new members to try several. The Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities have 530 sisters in education, health care, pastoral care, social services and serving as missionaries worldwide.
Moon native Sister Laura Hackenberg, 33, was an administrative assistant at FedEx before entering the Millvale Franciscans in 2006. Since then she has worked with the homeless and at two retreat centers. Speaking just before her temporary vows, she expected to move next to a health care setting.
A growing thirst for life with God led her to respond to a brochure for a retreat to consider religious life.
"I came to see that religious women ... have a great love for one another and, like St. Francis, are advocates for the poor and marginalized and are promoters of peace and justice. The sisters bring the depth of God's love to all that they minister to," she wrote in an essay on her decision.
Avalon native Sister Amy Williams, 37, recently took first vows alongside her. The former legal secretary has done hospice ministry and worked in day care for the elderly. She loved it all, and expects to attend nursing school, specializing in pain relief for the seriously ill.
"I found a sense of belonging with this community that I had never experienced before, and my life suddenly felt full and complete," she said.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Nashville Dominicans Attracting Most U.S. Postulants
From The TennesseanBy Bob Smietana
When it comes to ultimate Frisbee, the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia don't mess around.
On a recent afternoon, a dozen young sisters, dressed in full-length habits or in postulant uniforms — white shirts, black skirts, black vests — and wearing sneakers and blue aprons, gathered at the edge of the convent's playing field.
Then they screamed at the top of their lungs, and rushed another group of nuns as a white Frisbee flew overhead. "Did you see that?" said Sister Mary Emily, watching over her young charges. "They're trying to intimidate the other team."
There are 23 postulants this year at the Motherhouse of Nashville's Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia. It's the largest group of new nuns in training in the United States.
While many religious orders in the United States are declining, the Nashville Dominicans are flourishing. Most of the new sisters are in their 20s and want to be traditional nuns — wearing full habits and living in a convent. They say that life as a nun offers more than the secular world could ever give them.
The new sisters, known as postulants during their first year, are a diverse group. Sister Maria, from Pennsylvania, is 17 and straight out of high school. One, a nurse of Vietnamese descent, came from Sydney, Australia. Another sister is from the Ivory Coast. Others are from Ohio, Michigan and other Midwestern states. One is from Knoxville. Three were engineers before coming to the convent.
They love Pope Benedict XVI and the retired nuns at the convent, as well as Christian rock bands Third Day and Jars of Clay. And they've left everything behind — families, friends, careers, even their iPods, cell phones, laptops and Facebook accounts — all for the sake of Jesus.
"God showed me that everything I longed for in my heart was here," Sister Angela said. "My vocation was a romance with the Creator."
These sisters are younger
The 1940s and '50s were the glory years of American convents, says Sister Mary Bendyna, senior research associate for the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, which studies American Catholicism.
"In the '40s, '50s and '60s, we saw large numbers of people in the Catholic Church going into religious life," she said. "That was unusual.''
By 1965, there were 179,954 nuns in the United States. Today, there are 59,601. Most are senior citizens, said Sister Mary, who recently completed a study of American Catholic religious orders.
"There are more over 90 than under 60. That was particularly striking," she said.
By contrast, the average age of the 252 Nashville Dominican sisters is 36. And they have 54 candidates in their training program, known as the novitiate.
It takes seven years to become a full-fledged sister. The postulant year gets the incoming sisters accustomed to life at the convent. Then they become novices. In their third year, they take temporary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, followed by permanent vows at the end of the process. At that point, most go out to teach in Catholic school through the order's 22 missions, each with about four to five nuns.
Those first two years are a kind of spiritual boot camp.
"They get up at 5 a.m. and begin the day in the chapel, with prayer, including meditation, the Divine Office, and then the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass," Sister Mary Emily said.
Breakfast is at 7 a.m. Then they are off to class until 12:30 p.m. at Aquinas College, or, if they are novices, in silence meditation or study at the Motherhouse until 12:30 p.m. In the afternoon, they have recreation and classes at the Motherhouse, followed by vespers.
All the nuns eat in silence, while a sister reads from the Bible or a spiritual book — currently they are listening to a biography of Cardinal Stritch, a Nashville native who became archbishop of Chicago. There's another hour of recreation in the evening, followed by spiritual reading, night prayer and an evening service, and then silence. Lights out at 10 p.m.
Postulants and novices are not allowed to make phone calls. Their only contact with family is through twice-a-month letter-writing days or a family visiting day. There's no going home for the holidays.
"It's a real immersion," said Sister Mary Angela, who oversees the novices. "They can't live one foot in and one foot out. They have two solid years where they are really separated, and they can see, 'Can I do this with God alone?' "
Driven by love of God
Life at the order has changed a great deal since Sister Mary Angela first entered the convent 49 years ago. She and many of her peers came straight out of high school, inspired by the nuns who taught them as Catholic schoolchildren.
Sister Mary Angela is encouraged to see all the new sisters coming to the order. Like many Catholic religious orders, they went through a hard time in the 1970s, after Vatican II had modernized many church practices. Some sisters left. But unlike other orders, many of which abandoned wearing the habit, the Nashville Dominicans retained many of their traditional practices.
John Allen, senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter newspaper, said that in the 1970s, many nuns rebelled against the Catholic culture they had grown up in, which was seen as stifling and over-controlling.
"That world no longer exists," he said.
The young nuns in Nashville don't seem driven by conservative theology or ideology. Instead, they seem driven by a love for God.
Sister Mary Emily said that the nuns are glad to have the young women join them.
"We love our life, and we want to share it with others," she said.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Radical Love: The Sisters of Summit New Jersey
I posted about this before, but this is the final version...
"Radical Love: The Sisters of Summit, NJ"
Click on the photo above to vist the Time website and view this beautiful slideshow.
H/t to Deacon Dan Gallaugher
and
Sr. Mary Catharine, O.P., Vocations Director for the Dominican Sister of Summit, NJ
Photo by Toni Greaves
"Beloved" - Salt + Light Documentary on the Nashville Dominicans
From Salt + Light Television
"The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, commonly known as the Nashville Dominicans, continue to expand into new territory with a message of hope that the springtime of the New Evangelization is indeed in bloom. For almost 150 years, in the heart of the Bible Belt in Tennessee, the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia have embraced God's love in the living of their vows and apostolic vocation in the field of education. Now, with a median age of 36, the 235 Dominican Sisters of this congregation bring generations of young people the message of Christ in over 30 schools, throughout the United States and Australia.
Like the virgin martyr Cecilia, Nashville Dominicans promise their hearts to Christ. The Lord’s voice fills their ears and secures their promise to be Christ’s alone. Nashville Dominicans show the world a love that is different and unique. It is a love that is eternal. Nashville Dominicans are indeed beloved by God, as you will witness in this documentary. You will be taken inside a religious congregation that continues to offer the world and the Church a compelling model of religious life that is beautiful, hopeful, joyful and alive. "
Fr. Thomas Rosica, C.S.B.
C.E.O., Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Purchase: Order your DVD copy from the Salt + Light online store or call Salt + Light at 1.888.302.7181
H/t to Deacon Dan Gallaugher
"The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, commonly known as the Nashville Dominicans, continue to expand into new territory with a message of hope that the springtime of the New Evangelization is indeed in bloom. For almost 150 years, in the heart of the Bible Belt in Tennessee, the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia have embraced God's love in the living of their vows and apostolic vocation in the field of education. Now, with a median age of 36, the 235 Dominican Sisters of this congregation bring generations of young people the message of Christ in over 30 schools, throughout the United States and Australia.
Like the virgin martyr Cecilia, Nashville Dominicans promise their hearts to Christ. The Lord’s voice fills their ears and secures their promise to be Christ’s alone. Nashville Dominicans show the world a love that is different and unique. It is a love that is eternal. Nashville Dominicans are indeed beloved by God, as you will witness in this documentary. You will be taken inside a religious congregation that continues to offer the world and the Church a compelling model of religious life that is beautiful, hopeful, joyful and alive. "
Fr. Thomas Rosica, C.S.B.
C.E.O., Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Purchase: Order your DVD copy from the Salt + Light online store or call Salt + Light at 1.888.302.7181
H/t to Deacon Dan Gallaugher
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
"The Most Heroic Thing I Have Ever Witnessed"
From Mark Shea's blog "Catholic and Enjoying It"
Fr. Tom is one of the sweetest and holiest men I have ever known. A thoroughly priestly man with a profound sense of his vocation, a deep love for the poor, a beautiful humility and just a sheer radiant goodness that shines out of him.
He is also dying. We've been praying for him for months, but God has made it clear that he picks the fruit when it is ripe. So Fr. Tom ended his chemo-therapy some weeks back, went to Spokane to say goodbye to his loved ones, and returned to us at Blessed Sacrament to spend his last days surrounded by brother priests in the rectory, cared for by Jesson Mata, our valiant liturgy guy--and to say goodbye to all of us.
Fr. Daniel had to give a brief report on finance junk, but then he gave (as he had done at all the previous Masses) a report on Fr. Tom. He was as astonished and moved as the rest of us to see Fr. Tom there, so much so that his normally dry and imperturbable Norwegian demeanor was shaken, as were we all. His voice trembled a couple of times and he said the beautiful truth about Fr. Tom: that he was one of the finest and most beloved priest Blessed Sacrament has ever had (which is saying a lot, because we've been blessed with extraordinary men, some of whom I believe will be canonized someday). Fr. Tom, with typical humility, cried as the people spontaneously applauded him. Well done, thou good and faithful!
But that was not all. This supremely loving man who could barely sit up through the Mass actually stood and assisted at the consecration. You could barely hear his voice, a thin, papery whisper that demanded everything of him (the cancer has metastasized to his lungs). But he did it, gripping a chair to keep his balance and then leaning on the altar itself. "Through him, with him, in him". I've never seen the meaning of the priesthood so clearly incarnated before my eyes before. Alter Christus. Priest. Victim. Sacrifice. This man and his Lord were standing so close together it was hard to tell them apart, especially from my seat up in the Nosebleed Section of the Human Race, so very far from that kind of sanctity.
They made it through the consecration and Jesson hurried to Fr. Tom's side to help him. I thought to myself, "For the love of God, go sit down, Fr. Tom. You've done enough."
But instead, this great man insisted on coming down with the Body of his Lord and distributing communion to us. He gave every last bit of himself out of love for God and for us. I was very tempted to change communion lines and receive from him (and I know others who actually did) because I knew I was looking at a saint. But instead, I just went up in my line, bawling, grieving, moved and grateful beyond words for what I was witnessing.
After it was all over, Fr. Tom processed out and even stood on the steps of the Church in the cold, greeting people, blessing them, giving (as much as any soldier at Gettyburg or Normandy) "the last full measure of devotion". I had the great honor shaking his hand, thanking him (and telling him he should really go lie down and rest). He said, "This give me energy." Later, I'm told, he asked the Dominicans to take him for a car ride around town. They marveled--and complied.
My eyes blur with tears as I write this. Jan said afterwards that she thought of Henry V's speech, "We few, we happy few." I felt so privileged and honored to be able to witness what I saw yesterday. A friend of mine said, "I have been to Mass at the Garden of Gethsemane. I have prayed at the tomb of Christ and seen Holy Week in Jerusalem. But I have never been as moved by a Mass as I was today."
Father, thanks be to God for your holy servant, Tom. We know he has to go soon, but we also know he will be happy with you.
God bless you, Fr. Tom, for your beautiful gift of your heart. We love you."
Mark Shea wrote the post below on his blog. Read it. You'll be glad you did.
"The Most Heroic Thing I Have Ever Witnessed"
Fr. Tom is one of the sweetest and holiest men I have ever known. A thoroughly priestly man with a profound sense of his vocation, a deep love for the poor, a beautiful humility and just a sheer radiant goodness that shines out of him.
He is also dying. We've been praying for him for months, but God has made it clear that he picks the fruit when it is ripe. So Fr. Tom ended his chemo-therapy some weeks back, went to Spokane to say goodbye to his loved ones, and returned to us at Blessed Sacrament to spend his last days surrounded by brother priests in the rectory, cared for by Jesson Mata, our valiant liturgy guy--and to say goodbye to all of us.
Fr. Daniel had to give a brief report on finance junk, but then he gave (as he had done at all the previous Masses) a report on Fr. Tom. He was as astonished and moved as the rest of us to see Fr. Tom there, so much so that his normally dry and imperturbable Norwegian demeanor was shaken, as were we all. His voice trembled a couple of times and he said the beautiful truth about Fr. Tom: that he was one of the finest and most beloved priest Blessed Sacrament has ever had (which is saying a lot, because we've been blessed with extraordinary men, some of whom I believe will be canonized someday). Fr. Tom, with typical humility, cried as the people spontaneously applauded him. Well done, thou good and faithful!
But that was not all. This supremely loving man who could barely sit up through the Mass actually stood and assisted at the consecration. You could barely hear his voice, a thin, papery whisper that demanded everything of him (the cancer has metastasized to his lungs). But he did it, gripping a chair to keep his balance and then leaning on the altar itself. "Through him, with him, in him". I've never seen the meaning of the priesthood so clearly incarnated before my eyes before. Alter Christus. Priest. Victim. Sacrifice. This man and his Lord were standing so close together it was hard to tell them apart, especially from my seat up in the Nosebleed Section of the Human Race, so very far from that kind of sanctity.
They made it through the consecration and Jesson hurried to Fr. Tom's side to help him. I thought to myself, "For the love of God, go sit down, Fr. Tom. You've done enough."
But instead, this great man insisted on coming down with the Body of his Lord and distributing communion to us. He gave every last bit of himself out of love for God and for us. I was very tempted to change communion lines and receive from him (and I know others who actually did) because I knew I was looking at a saint. But instead, I just went up in my line, bawling, grieving, moved and grateful beyond words for what I was witnessing.
After it was all over, Fr. Tom processed out and even stood on the steps of the Church in the cold, greeting people, blessing them, giving (as much as any soldier at Gettyburg or Normandy) "the last full measure of devotion". I had the great honor shaking his hand, thanking him (and telling him he should really go lie down and rest). He said, "This give me energy." Later, I'm told, he asked the Dominicans to take him for a car ride around town. They marveled--and complied.
My eyes blur with tears as I write this. Jan said afterwards that she thought of Henry V's speech, "We few, we happy few." I felt so privileged and honored to be able to witness what I saw yesterday. A friend of mine said, "I have been to Mass at the Garden of Gethsemane. I have prayed at the tomb of Christ and seen Holy Week in Jerusalem. But I have never been as moved by a Mass as I was today."
Father, thanks be to God for your holy servant, Tom. We know he has to go soon, but we also know he will be happy with you.
God bless you, Fr. Tom, for your beautiful gift of your heart. We love you."
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Beautiful Slideshow about Cloistered Nuns
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Intereview with a Dominican vocations promoter
The post below is from Fr. Gerard Dunne, O.P. originally posted on his blog "Irish Dominican Vocations""Recently I gave an interview to Pat O' Leary, a journalist with the Irish Catholic. It was published in that paper on Thursday last. I am grateful to Pat O' Leary for the exposure given to the Irish Dominicans. The context of the interview is important because tomorrow (Sunday September 14th), in our novitiate house in St. Saviour's, Limerick, three men will be clothed in the Dominican habit and begin their novitiate year. On the following day (Monday September 15th) at Saint Mary's Dominican Priory church in Tallaght, Dublin 24, three of our brothers who have completed their novitiate will take simple (or temporary) vows for three years, while during the same ceremony, three of our student brothers will make solemn (or final) profession. These events are a source of great joy for the Irish Dominican friars. It is because of this good news that the interview was published."
Here are some excerpts from the interview:
On Vocations 'Crisis'
It seems that when it comes to vocations, we have only one word to offer: crisis! Maybe it's because we have only heard that one word 'crisis' that we really believe it! Yet, those involved in vocations ministry have to be the most optimistic of people and must not have that word (crisis) in their vocabulary. Why? Because we (vocations promoters and directors) really must believe and be convinced of the call of God in people's lives and also that we be true to the founders of our orders, congregations and societies, who did not set them up to die.
On Vocational Enquirers
My experience over these past eight years has shown that there are a significant number of young people who have a deep desire to follow the Lord. I meet them on a regular basis. Often they feel inhibited - thinking that they lack the qualities needed to become priests and religious. For me, it has been imperative to have a care and concern at a pastoral level for individuals who enquire about vocation to religious life and priesthood. This means that a proper method of discernment be followed and that enquirers and candidates have a real and authentic experience of what our life is like. It is also important that they feel that we have a deep care and concern for them and that we are honoured by their interest in our way of life.
On Communication
Making ourselves known and visible is vitally important. We can no longer take it for granted that people know who we are and what we do. To this end it is vital that we be where our young people are looking - that means that we take communicating ourselves seriously. It is important, therefore, to have a good and vibrant presence on the internet and to have quality promotional materials in schools, churches and other institutions. This is necessary to encourage people to consider us as a serious option. This means being up-to-date and not slipshod in our approach to communicating ourselves. It turns people off otherwise.
Is there a Vocations Crisis?
There is if we want there to be one. There isn't if we make decisions and be bold and put out into the deep, make ourselves known wide and far, have a deep care and concern for those who wish to join our way of life and make the changes necessary to welcome new vocations. There is certainly no vocations crisis if we place our trust in the Lord and pray earnestly that God sends laboures to His harvest.
Here are some excerpts from the interview:
On Vocations 'Crisis'
It seems that when it comes to vocations, we have only one word to offer: crisis! Maybe it's because we have only heard that one word 'crisis' that we really believe it! Yet, those involved in vocations ministry have to be the most optimistic of people and must not have that word (crisis) in their vocabulary. Why? Because we (vocations promoters and directors) really must believe and be convinced of the call of God in people's lives and also that we be true to the founders of our orders, congregations and societies, who did not set them up to die.
On Vocational Enquirers
My experience over these past eight years has shown that there are a significant number of young people who have a deep desire to follow the Lord. I meet them on a regular basis. Often they feel inhibited - thinking that they lack the qualities needed to become priests and religious. For me, it has been imperative to have a care and concern at a pastoral level for individuals who enquire about vocation to religious life and priesthood. This means that a proper method of discernment be followed and that enquirers and candidates have a real and authentic experience of what our life is like. It is also important that they feel that we have a deep care and concern for them and that we are honoured by their interest in our way of life.
On Communication
Making ourselves known and visible is vitally important. We can no longer take it for granted that people know who we are and what we do. To this end it is vital that we be where our young people are looking - that means that we take communicating ourselves seriously. It is important, therefore, to have a good and vibrant presence on the internet and to have quality promotional materials in schools, churches and other institutions. This is necessary to encourage people to consider us as a serious option. This means being up-to-date and not slipshod in our approach to communicating ourselves. It turns people off otherwise.
Is there a Vocations Crisis?
There is if we want there to be one. There isn't if we make decisions and be bold and put out into the deep, make ourselves known wide and far, have a deep care and concern for those who wish to join our way of life and make the changes necessary to welcome new vocations. There is certainly no vocations crisis if we place our trust in the Lord and pray earnestly that God sends laboures to His harvest.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Vocations Update from the Anchoress
The Anchoress has posted another great list of vocations news from religious communities around the country. It starts with news that the Dominican Nuns of Summit New Jersey are beginning a capital campaign because they need more room for incoming sisters - yet another community that continues to grow! The picture below is their Public Chapel, Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary
New Principal for Cardinal Hickey Academy
From Southern Maryland Newspapers Online
By GRETCHEN PHILLIPS
Sister Mary Juliana Cox stepped out of her office for a few moments one afternoon only to return to a small piece of chocolate that had mysteriously appeared on her desk. These sweet surprises have helped Sister Juliana feel welcomed as the new principal of Cardinal Hickey Academy.
Sister Juliana comes to Cardinal Hickey Academy from her Motherhouse in Tennessee, the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia congregation. Before joining the private school in Owings, Sister Juliana taught for five years in the Tennessee area.
Sister Juliana said she has brought with her a focus on community, faith and excellence.
She said she is working to ensure that teachers at Cardinal Hickey are provided ample time in their classroom for instruction to take place.
Her first week of a school full of students has been a good one, she said, and in an interview she repeatedly mentioned the respect she has observed from both staff and students.
Prior to the students’ first days, Sister Juliana prepared for school with staff meetings and got acquainted with her new building.
Sister Juliana said one of her priorities was making sure the eighth grade students had a memorable last year at the school. She met with each eighth-grader’s parents and the class to get to know them. She said she was hoping to get ideas from students on how they can ‘‘be leaders and take an active role in the leadership of the school.”
During the first week of school, Sister Juliana visited classrooms and said she was ‘‘impressed with the eagerness of children to learn and do their best.”
‘‘In a classroom you see how God is working with your group of [students] and those families but as principal you see the Holy Spirit working in the school and it is so very humbling to recognize that God has placed these souls into my care to guide, nurture and challenge to greater heights,” she said.
Students at the school should not be intimidated by Sister Juliana’s Habit because she said she enjoys being outdoors as much as possible, including boat rides, playing ultimate Frisbee and soccer—all of which, she said, she does while wearing the traditional nun’s attire.
Sister Juliana said she also likes getting involved with the community and religious activity is on the forefront.
‘‘As a member of the religious community, my interests involve community prayer, activities and outings,” she said.
Sister Juliana said she is full of ideas for the coming year and eager to work with students and staff.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
"The Renewal of the Dominican Order is Flourishing"
The Dominican Order suffered after Vatican II, but the English province is at the center of a renaissance of Dominican life.From Catholic Online
By Anna Arco
The Catholic Herald (UK)
LONDON (The Catholic Herald) - From St Thomas Aquinas to Fra Angelico, St Dominic de Guzman to Meister Eckhart, the Dominicans have been a dominant force on the intellectual life of the Church.
Marked by a rigorous academic tradition matched with a duty to save souls, to be both apostolic and contemplative, the Order of the Friars Preachers has been around for almost 800 years. But in the period spanning between 1963 and 1984, it looked as though the Dominicans might be among the first casualties of the collapse in religious life that followed the Second Vatican Council.
Like many other religious orders, the Dominicans revised their constitutions and began to re-examine their charism. In that period, over 3,000 brethren left the Order, world-wide, and by 1975, over 700 priests were laicized, according to Fr Benedict Ashley, an American Dominican. They were in the midst of a serious identity crisis.
But today, in the English Province, the Order of the Friars Preachers, is witnessing a slow and steady resurgence. Over half the friars are under 40, while most of the older ones are over 60. The English Province has 75 friars at present and a small but constant trickle of energetic novices. Young and enthusiastic or older and experienced, they are all Dominicans. Whatever their differences as men, they see themselves as called to follow St Dominic's mission to preach and save souls.
A running catchphrase in their conversations is "that is typically Dominican" and a strong formation marks that identity. Fr Richard Finn, the Regent of Studies at Blackfriars, Oxford, says: "We are blessed with vocations and their educational backgrounds and interests are important to us. We don't take them to turn them into a standard Dominican product, but there is a strong Dominican formation and that is a strong intellectual formation.
"But of course, because truth is one there will be a common core of understanding and an appreciation of the economy of salvation in the Catholic Church."
Fr Timothy Gardner, a friar based at London's St Dominic's Priory, believes that the growth of the last two decades is the result of the order rediscovering its charism. It has returned to the intentions of its founder to be defenders of orthodoxy, through study, prayer and preaching.
"We were founded to combat against the Albigensian heresy, an essentially dualist heresy which separated the body from the soul. Our contemporary world suffers from a similar sort of sense of separation and the Dominican way of life, which offers a coherent whole, has never been more necessary," he says. "We are a hinge between the apostolic tradition and the monastic tradition, because we live together, pray together but also go out and preach the truth of the Gospel."
Fr Simon Gaine waits outside the Cotswold stone building that is home to 26 Dominicans, at once a priory, house of formation and an Oxford University permanent private hall. It is a Thursday morning during Oxford's Trinity term, just before Lauds. Habited in distinctive white and cloaked in black, enormous rosary hanging at his side, the tall, neatly bearded Dominican is the prior of Blackfriars, Oxford, elected by his peers to lead the priory. He gives a friendly greeting and strides into the austere gothic chapel, where the brethren are gathered in choir for the first Divine Office of the Day. Together the brethren sing the Office in English.
There are 12 Dominican students in the Studium at the moment, while the other 13 students include other religious and some lay people. Blackfriars Hall, which is the part of the priory attached to the university and caters to lay as well as religious members, has another 20 students, some of whom are Dominicans.
After the Office, the friars troop through the sacristy into the Hall, which is also the priory, to grab breakfast and go about their morning's work. For the younger ones in the Studium this means tutorials, lectures in philosophy and theology, writing essays in the overfilled library and remembering to take out the recycling or whatever individual duty in the life of the community they have been assigned to. Others are working on secular degrees at the University, like Fr Richard Ounsworth, who is working on a doctorate in New Testament studies, will work on his thesis, teach and fulfil duties to the community. The older friars at Blackfriars are on the whole teachers, either in the Studium or at the university or both.
For the young brothers the time in Oxford prepares them for their lives as Dominicans. Some may end up in Blackfriars teaching while others will be like Fr Gardner, working in priories in Edinburgh, Cambridge, Leicester, Newcastle and Glasgow. Here they will take on pastoral work as hospital, prison or school chaplaincies among others, as well as normal parish work. But regardless of what the Order calls them to do, they are all trained to preach and are subjected to an intellectually challenging formation.
Fr Finn says that the academic formation is necessary "because people deserve to have sense made or to be helped to make sense themselves of the faith that has been revealed to us.
"People deserve to hear a good sermon. For that to be done, it doesn't just take pastoral experience; it means hard thinking, hard studying about theology. To think well about theology requires the study of philosophy as well.
"As Dominicans we have a passion for truth, but that has got to involve learning that things are often more complicated than we think. And as a kind of fundamental Dominican asceticism which is detachment from that which isn't wholly true, actually surrendering some of our prejudices, our half-truths - the shorthand we often live by - we have to be prepared to give that up and focus on the truth of what God has revealed and thinking hard about it really."
This takes years of training, says Fr Finn, and being a Dominican involves a life-long vocation to study. For Dominicans dialogue is important too, he says, being patient and listening to hear what another person is trying to say even if the perspective seems different. "There's a kind of sympathetic hearing which then has to lead to critical reflection. It's not saying everything's true when patently some things are not but it serves to work out what the truth is," Fr Finn says.
"If you look at St Thomas's Summa, he is very much interested in the objections that are going to be put forward. It's allowing the objections to sharpen up one's sense of what the correct answer is."
Habits swish down the semi-cloistered corridor, beads clink. The smell of coffee fills the refectory and the sound of lively conversation floats through the hall. At the bursary, some of the brethren are queuing to apply for pocket money for the needs that aren't covered by daily life at the priory such as a new pair of trousers or a toothbrush.
At simple profession, an early step towards becoming a friar, they take a vow of obedience for three years which incorporates vows of chastity and poverty and there is no private property in the community. "Earnings", money paid in salaries to those who have jobs or received royalties or donations or Fr Ounsworth's grant, for example, are handed over to the domestic bursar who uses the money for the running costs of the community.
For Brother Robert Gay, who is the cantor at Blackfriars and holds a doctorate in plant physiology, the decision to enter the novitiate in Cambridge four years ago came after visiting the priory in Edinburgh. The 30-year-old convert from the Welsh Presbyterian church came to the Church by going to Mass with friends and later reading the works of Cardinal Basil Hume and other Catholics who had followed a religious life. After his conversion he had a strong sense of vocation and knew that he wanted to enter into religious life.
"The ideal thing about the order was the balance between the contemplative and the active. Because I'd approached Catholicism through the monastic lens, that sort of thing seemed very attractive to me, yet I recognised that I have that sort of extrovert side that I would really want to go out and do something with that contemplation," he says. He is due to make his solemn vows this September.
Alongside his academic formation as a Dominican, he works in a prison once a week where he takes a faith discussion group. He says that he tries to help the prisoners relate their experiences to the values of the Gospel and give them the message of hope and forgiveness. He relishes the challenge. It is definitely outside his comfort zone, he says, but that is a good thing and something that Dominicans are called to do.
"We all should be looking forward to the challenges. Going into a place like that takes you out of your comfort zone, but that's exactly what we are supposed to do, I really feel that. We wouldn't be effective in our preaching mission if we didn't do that," he says. This summer he will be in the prison five days a week as part of the pastoral placement all Dominican students are called to do.
Fr Vivian Boland, Master of Students at Blackfriars, says that the pastoral placement is an essential part of a Dominican student's formation. It exists, he says, "to help them see the connection between their studies and pastoral care. That the studies are not just for an academic purpose but that they are preparing them for the mission. The way we do it always requires study because it's a preaching and a theological mission wherever we do it."
Brother Robert says the prison ministry is important because it offers the prisoners something that they otherwise have no recourse to.
"We can preach a message there, that there is a way forward through Christ and we give them as much help as we can, if it's one-to-one catechesis that's required or something like that or just to generally talk about faith."
Brother Robert is realistic about life in the community. It's not always easy to get on with the brethren and tensions do exist and flare up, but he says he has relished the support he has received and the dynamic of a life based on Christian love. Learning from the others in the community has been an important part of his Dominican life, he says, and so has the English Province's dedication to saying or singing the Divine Office together.
Lunch, which follows sext, is a quick affair at Blackfriars the brethren prepare sandwiches or whatever they can find in the vast industrial kitchen.
The domestic aspect of life in a community becomes apparent later. Over coffee in the garden with Fr Gaine I spot Brother Daniel Jeffries, 25, who is the community's youngest member, immaculate white habit covered with a striped apron, lugging a recycling bin almost as tall as he is. Brother Lawrence Lew, another one of the young brethren who is sacristan, leans over a flowerbed cutting plants for the evening's Mass.
The evening meal is communal, a lively affair where the brethren sometimes argue about points of doctrine or liturgy or tell funny anecdotes.
The Dominicans have ambitious plans for Blackfriars which they see as a place of outreach and dialogue between the Church and the secular world. The Aquinas Institute, which is three years old, seeks to bring Aquinas scholars from around the world and the order is planning a centre for Faith in Public life at the Hall.
In the meantime the priory itself needs serious structural work. The friars have been hard at work raising money, but they need to reach £700,000 in order to pay for all the necessary changes.
By Anna Arco
The Catholic Herald (UK)
LONDON (The Catholic Herald) - From St Thomas Aquinas to Fra Angelico, St Dominic de Guzman to Meister Eckhart, the Dominicans have been a dominant force on the intellectual life of the Church.
Marked by a rigorous academic tradition matched with a duty to save souls, to be both apostolic and contemplative, the Order of the Friars Preachers has been around for almost 800 years. But in the period spanning between 1963 and 1984, it looked as though the Dominicans might be among the first casualties of the collapse in religious life that followed the Second Vatican Council.
Like many other religious orders, the Dominicans revised their constitutions and began to re-examine their charism. In that period, over 3,000 brethren left the Order, world-wide, and by 1975, over 700 priests were laicized, according to Fr Benedict Ashley, an American Dominican. They were in the midst of a serious identity crisis.
But today, in the English Province, the Order of the Friars Preachers, is witnessing a slow and steady resurgence. Over half the friars are under 40, while most of the older ones are over 60. The English Province has 75 friars at present and a small but constant trickle of energetic novices. Young and enthusiastic or older and experienced, they are all Dominicans. Whatever their differences as men, they see themselves as called to follow St Dominic's mission to preach and save souls.
A running catchphrase in their conversations is "that is typically Dominican" and a strong formation marks that identity. Fr Richard Finn, the Regent of Studies at Blackfriars, Oxford, says: "We are blessed with vocations and their educational backgrounds and interests are important to us. We don't take them to turn them into a standard Dominican product, but there is a strong Dominican formation and that is a strong intellectual formation.
"But of course, because truth is one there will be a common core of understanding and an appreciation of the economy of salvation in the Catholic Church."
Fr Timothy Gardner, a friar based at London's St Dominic's Priory, believes that the growth of the last two decades is the result of the order rediscovering its charism. It has returned to the intentions of its founder to be defenders of orthodoxy, through study, prayer and preaching.
"We were founded to combat against the Albigensian heresy, an essentially dualist heresy which separated the body from the soul. Our contemporary world suffers from a similar sort of sense of separation and the Dominican way of life, which offers a coherent whole, has never been more necessary," he says. "We are a hinge between the apostolic tradition and the monastic tradition, because we live together, pray together but also go out and preach the truth of the Gospel."
Fr Simon Gaine waits outside the Cotswold stone building that is home to 26 Dominicans, at once a priory, house of formation and an Oxford University permanent private hall. It is a Thursday morning during Oxford's Trinity term, just before Lauds. Habited in distinctive white and cloaked in black, enormous rosary hanging at his side, the tall, neatly bearded Dominican is the prior of Blackfriars, Oxford, elected by his peers to lead the priory. He gives a friendly greeting and strides into the austere gothic chapel, where the brethren are gathered in choir for the first Divine Office of the Day. Together the brethren sing the Office in English.
There are 12 Dominican students in the Studium at the moment, while the other 13 students include other religious and some lay people. Blackfriars Hall, which is the part of the priory attached to the university and caters to lay as well as religious members, has another 20 students, some of whom are Dominicans.
After the Office, the friars troop through the sacristy into the Hall, which is also the priory, to grab breakfast and go about their morning's work. For the younger ones in the Studium this means tutorials, lectures in philosophy and theology, writing essays in the overfilled library and remembering to take out the recycling or whatever individual duty in the life of the community they have been assigned to. Others are working on secular degrees at the University, like Fr Richard Ounsworth, who is working on a doctorate in New Testament studies, will work on his thesis, teach and fulfil duties to the community. The older friars at Blackfriars are on the whole teachers, either in the Studium or at the university or both.
For the young brothers the time in Oxford prepares them for their lives as Dominicans. Some may end up in Blackfriars teaching while others will be like Fr Gardner, working in priories in Edinburgh, Cambridge, Leicester, Newcastle and Glasgow. Here they will take on pastoral work as hospital, prison or school chaplaincies among others, as well as normal parish work. But regardless of what the Order calls them to do, they are all trained to preach and are subjected to an intellectually challenging formation.
Fr Finn says that the academic formation is necessary "because people deserve to have sense made or to be helped to make sense themselves of the faith that has been revealed to us.
"People deserve to hear a good sermon. For that to be done, it doesn't just take pastoral experience; it means hard thinking, hard studying about theology. To think well about theology requires the study of philosophy as well.
"As Dominicans we have a passion for truth, but that has got to involve learning that things are often more complicated than we think. And as a kind of fundamental Dominican asceticism which is detachment from that which isn't wholly true, actually surrendering some of our prejudices, our half-truths - the shorthand we often live by - we have to be prepared to give that up and focus on the truth of what God has revealed and thinking hard about it really."
This takes years of training, says Fr Finn, and being a Dominican involves a life-long vocation to study. For Dominicans dialogue is important too, he says, being patient and listening to hear what another person is trying to say even if the perspective seems different. "There's a kind of sympathetic hearing which then has to lead to critical reflection. It's not saying everything's true when patently some things are not but it serves to work out what the truth is," Fr Finn says.
"If you look at St Thomas's Summa, he is very much interested in the objections that are going to be put forward. It's allowing the objections to sharpen up one's sense of what the correct answer is."
Habits swish down the semi-cloistered corridor, beads clink. The smell of coffee fills the refectory and the sound of lively conversation floats through the hall. At the bursary, some of the brethren are queuing to apply for pocket money for the needs that aren't covered by daily life at the priory such as a new pair of trousers or a toothbrush.
At simple profession, an early step towards becoming a friar, they take a vow of obedience for three years which incorporates vows of chastity and poverty and there is no private property in the community. "Earnings", money paid in salaries to those who have jobs or received royalties or donations or Fr Ounsworth's grant, for example, are handed over to the domestic bursar who uses the money for the running costs of the community.
For Brother Robert Gay, who is the cantor at Blackfriars and holds a doctorate in plant physiology, the decision to enter the novitiate in Cambridge four years ago came after visiting the priory in Edinburgh. The 30-year-old convert from the Welsh Presbyterian church came to the Church by going to Mass with friends and later reading the works of Cardinal Basil Hume and other Catholics who had followed a religious life. After his conversion he had a strong sense of vocation and knew that he wanted to enter into religious life.
"The ideal thing about the order was the balance between the contemplative and the active. Because I'd approached Catholicism through the monastic lens, that sort of thing seemed very attractive to me, yet I recognised that I have that sort of extrovert side that I would really want to go out and do something with that contemplation," he says. He is due to make his solemn vows this September.
Alongside his academic formation as a Dominican, he works in a prison once a week where he takes a faith discussion group. He says that he tries to help the prisoners relate their experiences to the values of the Gospel and give them the message of hope and forgiveness. He relishes the challenge. It is definitely outside his comfort zone, he says, but that is a good thing and something that Dominicans are called to do.
"We all should be looking forward to the challenges. Going into a place like that takes you out of your comfort zone, but that's exactly what we are supposed to do, I really feel that. We wouldn't be effective in our preaching mission if we didn't do that," he says. This summer he will be in the prison five days a week as part of the pastoral placement all Dominican students are called to do.
Fr Vivian Boland, Master of Students at Blackfriars, says that the pastoral placement is an essential part of a Dominican student's formation. It exists, he says, "to help them see the connection between their studies and pastoral care. That the studies are not just for an academic purpose but that they are preparing them for the mission. The way we do it always requires study because it's a preaching and a theological mission wherever we do it."
Brother Robert says the prison ministry is important because it offers the prisoners something that they otherwise have no recourse to.
"We can preach a message there, that there is a way forward through Christ and we give them as much help as we can, if it's one-to-one catechesis that's required or something like that or just to generally talk about faith."
Brother Robert is realistic about life in the community. It's not always easy to get on with the brethren and tensions do exist and flare up, but he says he has relished the support he has received and the dynamic of a life based on Christian love. Learning from the others in the community has been an important part of his Dominican life, he says, and so has the English Province's dedication to saying or singing the Divine Office together.
Lunch, which follows sext, is a quick affair at Blackfriars the brethren prepare sandwiches or whatever they can find in the vast industrial kitchen.
The domestic aspect of life in a community becomes apparent later. Over coffee in the garden with Fr Gaine I spot Brother Daniel Jeffries, 25, who is the community's youngest member, immaculate white habit covered with a striped apron, lugging a recycling bin almost as tall as he is. Brother Lawrence Lew, another one of the young brethren who is sacristan, leans over a flowerbed cutting plants for the evening's Mass.
The evening meal is communal, a lively affair where the brethren sometimes argue about points of doctrine or liturgy or tell funny anecdotes.
The Dominicans have ambitious plans for Blackfriars which they see as a place of outreach and dialogue between the Church and the secular world. The Aquinas Institute, which is three years old, seeks to bring Aquinas scholars from around the world and the order is planning a centre for Faith in Public life at the Hall.
In the meantime the priory itself needs serious structural work. The friars have been hard at work raising money, but they need to reach £700,000 in order to pay for all the necessary changes.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Contemplative Dominican Nuns
From The Rambler (Christendom College's Student Journal)Monasticism to “Reinforce” Christendom
By Marc Solitario and Scott Lozyniak
Friday, 30 November 2007
Many around campus would joke (seriously) that Christendom is a product of the thirteenth century. If you’re actually one who likes this (at least a little bit), we’ve got good news for you! Just twelve miles away on a mountain top in Linden there’s a structure being built that resembles one of the best things to come out of the Middle Ages—and it’s supposed to be that way! After catching wind of this, a group of us from Christendom decided to go find out just what was happening in Linden.
A group of cloistered Dominican nuns have left their home in Washington, D.C., in search of a place more suitable for their way of life. While they are temporarily in Western Massachusetts at another monastery, they are patiently awaiting the completion of a dream become reality after many years of waiting—St. Dominic’s Monastery. So, over fall break we decided to visit these sisters at their temporary home and learn more about this new and exciting development in the life of both their community and the Arlington Diocese.
After 7:45 Mass on the Feast of St. Luke, we found ourselves in the small parlor of the Dominican monastery conversing with two of the sisters. Sr. Mary Fidelis, the novice mistress, and Sr. Mary John Thomas, who just last week entered the novitiate, eagerly met us to give us insight into their small, but growing community. After fussing with the tape recorder and getting settled in over some breakfast, we got down to business.
“So, Sisters, why did you pick Linden, Virginia for your new monastery, and are you anticipating growth in your community now that you have a permanent (and much larger) home?”
Sr. Mary Fidelis recalled being taken to the Linden site for the first time. “The view was breathtaking…in D.C. there wasn’t a lot of privacy, silence, or much solitude, so this property seemed to provide those things. We were able to get a large enough piece of property and build away from the road enough so that when the area develops we will still have that separation. The other monastery was just an old house [some laughter] that the sisters remodeled. In Linden it’s going to be a traditional monastery.”
In regard to growth, the Sisters are excited about the many inquiries they have received from the “rich Catholic area” that they will be living in.
“I think that some of the things that our community values are what young people are looking for in religious life: going back to the traditional habit, devotion to the Eucharist, fidelity to the Church and the Holy Father, and Marian devotion,” commented Sr. Mary Fidelis, “and it’s not an easy life. It’s a challenging life with a radical separation from the world.”
“I think another attractive thing about this community in particular is the desire to live the life authentically, as it is intended to be lived,” said Sr. M. John Thomas.
Sister M. Fidelis then spoke of the community’s movement in response to John Paul II’s “call to a new evangelization” and its revival of many ancient Dominican traditions, the absence of which after Vatican II left the community at a loss. For example, the Sisters said that they have returned to the 3:30 night office in the past few years as well as perpetual abstinence (no more steak, ladies!), the only exception being chicken on Sundays. Other small liturgical things within the monastery will also be re-appropriated. “When you think about it, these women 800 years ago were doing these same traditions,” reflected Sr. Mary Fidelis.
When we had begun speaking of their new foundation around Christendom, many thought we were talking about the new school being founded by the Sisters of St. Cecilia from Nashville, who are active Dominican sisters. The idea of a cloistered Dominican nun drew a few blanks, although ironically the nuns (fully cloistered) came first, founded by St. Dominic himself in the thirteenth century. Then we decided to put the question to the sisters, asking what exactly the difference between them and the active Dominicans sisters was.
“Actually, I was with the Nashville sisters for two years,” replied Sr. M. John Thomas, the youngest in a family of 14 children from Houston, Texas. “I can personally say it is very different. Some of the externals seem the same, and some of the monastic practices are similar, but our life has a fundamental difference in what it is ordered to, and I think for us as nuns it is sole union with God.” She explained that the nuns don’t have an external apostolate, such as teaching. “The other big difference would be the enclosure (separation from world). The very nature of consecration means being set apart, and for us it is for union with God.”
Then, really putting the young novice to the test, we asked her to explain what would distinguish Dominican nuns from other cloistered orders (Poor Clares, etc.).
“The emphasis on the search for Truth, Veritas [the Order’s motto], is part of every branch of the order, and so for us it is the search for Truth as a person. We come to know Truth as a person in God. It [our life] is very Eucharist-centered, with emphasis on the Incarnation of the Word, not only to know it in Scripture, but also through the Liturgy. Dominicans are known for their Marian devotion; the propagation of the Rosary was popularized by the Dominicans. We’ve had the tradition of singing the Salve every evening since the second Master General.”
I inquired into the meaning of the Dominican saying “Contemplare et contemplata aliis tradere” (“To contemplate and to share the fruits of contemplation”), and after thinking for a moment, Sr. M. Fidelis commented: “Study is an important part of the Order for the friars, sisters, and nuns. I know a lot of people would react with saying ‘why study, you’re not going to have to teach or preach’, but as Sister was saying, we’re not studying for anything external, but to get to know God because the more you get to know someone, the more you love them. That is the goal of our study.”
Sr. M. John Thomas then added that Dominicans are known for being at the heart of the Church, and especially for “promoting fidelity to the truths of the Faith, the Magisterium, and to orthodoxy.”
Now that you, dear Christendom student, have an idea of what this community’s charism and life entails, it is only reasonable to want to check it out in person and see these Dominicans in action, as it were. Sister M. Fidelis told us that though a permanent chapel has been planned in the next phases of the project, a temporary one will serve the sisters until the necessary funds are acquired. Also, there will be Eucharistic exposition and adoration, which will grow in length (during the day) as the community increases. Even before the permanent chapel is built, there will be a public chapel that will hold around 25 people (just enough for 2 Christendom van-loads!).
In regard to students visiting, Sr. M. Fidelis said: “we would always welcome the students at different (arranged) times.” The Sisters expressed a desire for even those who might not have a vocation to their community to be exposed to their way of life, even for future priests and fathers to know the life and come to appreciate it. As the Dominican Fr. Gabriel O’Donnell, long-time supporter of St. Dominic’s Monastery, recently expressed (paraphrased): the contemplative nun acts as a silent witness to us, who are caught up in the humdrum of everyday life, to the reality that ultimately, God is the Origin and Meaning of life.
There will be two guest rooms attached to the monastery for relatives and lay people who desire to make a retreat for a week or weekend- a sure “energizer bunny” for our spiritual life.
Many around campus would joke (seriously) that Christendom is a product of the thirteenth century. If you’re actually one who likes this (at least a little bit), we’ve got good news for you! Just twelve miles away on a mountain top in Linden there’s a structure being built that resembles one of the best things to come out of the Middle Ages—and it’s supposed to be that way! After catching wind of this, a group of us from Christendom decided to go find out just what was happening in Linden.
A group of cloistered Dominican nuns have left their home in Washington, D.C., in search of a place more suitable for their way of life. While they are temporarily in Western Massachusetts at another monastery, they are patiently awaiting the completion of a dream become reality after many years of waiting—St. Dominic’s Monastery. So, over fall break we decided to visit these sisters at their temporary home and learn more about this new and exciting development in the life of both their community and the Arlington Diocese.
After 7:45 Mass on the Feast of St. Luke, we found ourselves in the small parlor of the Dominican monastery conversing with two of the sisters. Sr. Mary Fidelis, the novice mistress, and Sr. Mary John Thomas, who just last week entered the novitiate, eagerly met us to give us insight into their small, but growing community. After fussing with the tape recorder and getting settled in over some breakfast, we got down to business.
“So, Sisters, why did you pick Linden, Virginia for your new monastery, and are you anticipating growth in your community now that you have a permanent (and much larger) home?”
Sr. Mary Fidelis recalled being taken to the Linden site for the first time. “The view was breathtaking…in D.C. there wasn’t a lot of privacy, silence, or much solitude, so this property seemed to provide those things. We were able to get a large enough piece of property and build away from the road enough so that when the area develops we will still have that separation. The other monastery was just an old house [some laughter] that the sisters remodeled. In Linden it’s going to be a traditional monastery.”
In regard to growth, the Sisters are excited about the many inquiries they have received from the “rich Catholic area” that they will be living in.
“I think that some of the things that our community values are what young people are looking for in religious life: going back to the traditional habit, devotion to the Eucharist, fidelity to the Church and the Holy Father, and Marian devotion,” commented Sr. Mary Fidelis, “and it’s not an easy life. It’s a challenging life with a radical separation from the world.”
“I think another attractive thing about this community in particular is the desire to live the life authentically, as it is intended to be lived,” said Sr. M. John Thomas.
Sister M. Fidelis then spoke of the community’s movement in response to John Paul II’s “call to a new evangelization” and its revival of many ancient Dominican traditions, the absence of which after Vatican II left the community at a loss. For example, the Sisters said that they have returned to the 3:30 night office in the past few years as well as perpetual abstinence (no more steak, ladies!), the only exception being chicken on Sundays. Other small liturgical things within the monastery will also be re-appropriated. “When you think about it, these women 800 years ago were doing these same traditions,” reflected Sr. Mary Fidelis.
When we had begun speaking of their new foundation around Christendom, many thought we were talking about the new school being founded by the Sisters of St. Cecilia from Nashville, who are active Dominican sisters. The idea of a cloistered Dominican nun drew a few blanks, although ironically the nuns (fully cloistered) came first, founded by St. Dominic himself in the thirteenth century. Then we decided to put the question to the sisters, asking what exactly the difference between them and the active Dominicans sisters was.
“Actually, I was with the Nashville sisters for two years,” replied Sr. M. John Thomas, the youngest in a family of 14 children from Houston, Texas. “I can personally say it is very different. Some of the externals seem the same, and some of the monastic practices are similar, but our life has a fundamental difference in what it is ordered to, and I think for us as nuns it is sole union with God.” She explained that the nuns don’t have an external apostolate, such as teaching. “The other big difference would be the enclosure (separation from world). The very nature of consecration means being set apart, and for us it is for union with God.”
Then, really putting the young novice to the test, we asked her to explain what would distinguish Dominican nuns from other cloistered orders (Poor Clares, etc.).
“The emphasis on the search for Truth, Veritas [the Order’s motto], is part of every branch of the order, and so for us it is the search for Truth as a person. We come to know Truth as a person in God. It [our life] is very Eucharist-centered, with emphasis on the Incarnation of the Word, not only to know it in Scripture, but also through the Liturgy. Dominicans are known for their Marian devotion; the propagation of the Rosary was popularized by the Dominicans. We’ve had the tradition of singing the Salve every evening since the second Master General.”
I inquired into the meaning of the Dominican saying “Contemplare et contemplata aliis tradere” (“To contemplate and to share the fruits of contemplation”), and after thinking for a moment, Sr. M. Fidelis commented: “Study is an important part of the Order for the friars, sisters, and nuns. I know a lot of people would react with saying ‘why study, you’re not going to have to teach or preach’, but as Sister was saying, we’re not studying for anything external, but to get to know God because the more you get to know someone, the more you love them. That is the goal of our study.”
Sr. M. John Thomas then added that Dominicans are known for being at the heart of the Church, and especially for “promoting fidelity to the truths of the Faith, the Magisterium, and to orthodoxy.”
Now that you, dear Christendom student, have an idea of what this community’s charism and life entails, it is only reasonable to want to check it out in person and see these Dominicans in action, as it were. Sister M. Fidelis told us that though a permanent chapel has been planned in the next phases of the project, a temporary one will serve the sisters until the necessary funds are acquired. Also, there will be Eucharistic exposition and adoration, which will grow in length (during the day) as the community increases. Even before the permanent chapel is built, there will be a public chapel that will hold around 25 people (just enough for 2 Christendom van-loads!).
In regard to students visiting, Sr. M. Fidelis said: “we would always welcome the students at different (arranged) times.” The Sisters expressed a desire for even those who might not have a vocation to their community to be exposed to their way of life, even for future priests and fathers to know the life and come to appreciate it. As the Dominican Fr. Gabriel O’Donnell, long-time supporter of St. Dominic’s Monastery, recently expressed (paraphrased): the contemplative nun acts as a silent witness to us, who are caught up in the humdrum of everyday life, to the reality that ultimately, God is the Origin and Meaning of life.
There will be two guest rooms attached to the monastery for relatives and lay people who desire to make a retreat for a week or weekend- a sure “energizer bunny” for our spiritual life.
H/T to Catholic Online
Monday, July 28, 2008
"3 Priorities for Promoting Vocations"
From ZENITInterview With Dominican Sister and Bishops
By Kathleen Naab
By Kathleen Naab
Photo by John Russell
NASHVILLE, Tennessee, JULY 27, 2008 (Zenit.org).- There are three high priorities in fostering vocations to the religious and priestly life, said a Dominican sister with 15 years of experience in vocational work.
Sister Catherine Marie Hopkins is now the executive director of the Dominican Campus in Nashville where the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia own and operate Overbrook School, St. Cecilia Academy and Aquinas College.
Recently named a member of the U.S. bishops' national advisory council, Sister Hopkins suggests the three highest priorities in fostering vocations: education, sacramental devotion and youth ministry that exposes young people to both prayer and evangelization.
ZENIT spoke with Sister Hopkins about supporting young women who are discerning a vocation to the consecrated life, and about how she discovered her own call.
Q: You worked for 15 years as vocation director for your order. What was the key to finding your own vocation? Did your own experience help you to aid other women in discerning theirs?
Sister Hopkins: The key to finding my own vocation was the realization that God had the plan and I just needed to discover exactly what that plan was. It began with inner turmoil at the thought that God could ask such a thing of me, but I very quickly found out that if he were calling, everything that I needed in order to respond would be provided by him as well.
That brought me tremendous freedom and my turmoil was replaced by a very strong attraction.
I was 24 years old and very happy, but not at peace since I couldn’t say for sure what God’s will was for my life. All I knew with certainty was that daily Mass had made me hunger for more, and so I went in search of where I could best root a growing desire to give of myself. I finally investigated religious life so that I could rule it out and marry with a clear conscience. When I actually visited our community and saw very tangible joy, youthful zeal and a long history of fidelity, fear was reduced by a newly formed conviction that this is what God had created me to do.
I would say that my own experience made me sensitive as a vocation director to the fact that successful discernment takes place apart from any pressure and within the challenging silence of prayer. When I looked for God’s will, I sought advice and asked lots of questions, but I wanted to make a decision that, while informed, drew strength from an interior conviction that I recognized as coming from God.
The Dominican Sisters in Nashville understood that it wasn’t a matter of recruitment but of exposure.
As a vocation director, I made it a point always to respect the delicate interior struggle through which most people must pass. My job was not to make a good sales pitch, but to convey the beauty of our life and to expose young women to it through a visit or retreat experience. I had to help those who had the inclination, but struggled with uncertainty, realize that the simultaneous fear and attraction they felt was normal; and that a sense of unworthiness is not a bad thing since really none of us is “worthy” of divine espousal! Making the choice entails a movement away from a career mentality to the realization that religious life is about giving yourself to a love that is without limit.
Q: You have three brothers that are priests. Do you think there is a different strategy for discerning and fostering the vocation of young women than for young men? In what ways?
Sister Hopkins: My experience has been that, in general, men take a lot longer in the discernment process, whether it regards marriage or religious life. Once a woman has “conviction” she is usually impatient to begin a process.
I wonder if men tend to intellectualize it in the beginning, whereas most women religious begin intuitively and very privately. They may struggle longer before admitting they are considering the idea, but once they discern, it is very much a matter of the heart and they are propelled past fears and natural ties to offer that gift of self without reserve.
Men need to balance their discernment with devotion and women need to consciously anchor the process with an intellectual understanding of the call.
In guiding women in discernment, the idea of espousal is a considerable attraction since we are all programmed by our feminine nature to love and to nurture in a unique way. I had aspirations of a big family and came to understand that God wasn’t asking me to deny that desire but to expand it!
Both men and women need to know that a desire to enter into the married state is not only good, but is even necessary if one is considering religious life. The absence of such natural desire may signal a problem of selfishness or difficulty in giving or receiving love. Such an emotional handicap would make happiness in the religious life impossible.
Regarding my brothers, each of them was different in his discernment. A discussion about them is a real study in temperaments. I used to hold them up as examples to illustrate that there is no "one type" that God calls, but that each of us with our unique characters can contribute in unique ways. And yes, my brothers are "unique characters." We weren’t born religious and occasionally have to remind people that we were in the mainstream in our youth and that none of us was voted “Most likely to become a religious” in high school. There is hope in that fact.
Q: There are certain orders of both men and women religious -- including your own -- that have enjoyed tremendous growth in the last decades. What do you see at the key to this growth?
Sister Hopkins: I believe the key to growth in vocations is found in the witness of joyfully living an ideal that is single-hearted, Eucharistic, faithful to the Church and her teachings. It is lived in the vibrancy of community life while rooted in prayer. That was what I experienced with the Dominican Sisters in Nashville.
I believe that young people today are as idealistic as they always have been and they are looking for a way to channel their zeal and to find support in a desire to grow in holiness. I do not think it is fancy programs or complicated spiritualities that attract, but rather simple fidelity.
There are movements of the Holy Spirit lighting fires in many directions today that are picking up significant momentum and should fill us with hope. The Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious is an organization of religious communities who are committed to living the essentials of religious life and are supportive of one another. I would recommend that young women exploring a religious vocation visit the CMSWR Web site to see the many communities which are growing today, in spite of reports to the contrary.
Q: There is much talk of the vocations crisis and whether or not it is nearing an end for priestly vocations. How about vocations for women religious? Is the crisis nearing the end?
Sister Hopkins: Women religious have been the backbone of social service, education and health care in this country. The drop in the number of women entering religious life has impacted these fields and it will take many years to see a significant return.
I am reminded, however that the Holy Spirit is not limited by Gallup Polls or the predictions of sociological studies.
Consider the simplicity and tenacity of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta at a time when the numbers of women religious were declining. Her response to God’s call yielded a new religious order that grew to over 4,000 sisters, an associated brotherhood of 300 members, and over 100,000 lay volunteers, operating 610 missions in 123 countries.
What our world needs is more Mother Teresas, people with zeal, humility and a fearless love. Over the past 20 years I have seen the numbers of women inquiring into the religious life grow both in numbers, quality and openness. Given the fact that our culture is not supportive of such ideas, nothing short of grace can explain it.
Q: You were recently named to the U.S. bishops' national advisory council. On the heels of Benedict XVI's visit to the United States, what do you see as the priorities for fostering vocations in the States?
Sister Hopkins: I think that in order to foster vocations to the priesthood and religious life the three highest priorities should be in the areas of education, sacramental devotion and youth ministry that exposes young people to both prayer and evangelization.
Young people are hungry to learn the faith and quickly recognize the unreasonableness of relativism. They have a natural desire to “know” God and will be more likely to devote themselves to a life dedicated to him if they have been educated in the faith. I think that this generation is quick to identify the need for such an apostolic focus since the lack of it has produced such confusion and suffering. It is important that the Church continues to strengthen Catholic education that is focused, faithful and rooted in excellence.
Devotion to the sacraments is key to discovering as well as nurturing a vocation. When young people benefit from regular reception of the Eucharist, confession and begin to develop a prayer life, then God’s call has a chance of being heard. Eucharistic adoration is drawing many vocations to the priesthood and religious life, a fact which makes sense if you consider that such time spent in God’s presence brings light and warmth to our souls.
There is a movement of the Holy Spirit in progress that increases in intensity whenever youth affectively influence one another. There is nothing more powerful than the witness of young people striving to know and do God’s will. Love is not meant to be contained, and so when we discover the Person of Christ, it is natural to experience an interior compulsion to share that discovery with others.
Substantial youth ministry which prompts conversion, devotion and exposure to positive peer influences has been successfully producing vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Of course, it is important for young people to be exposed to priests and religious who are joyfully and faithfully living that commitment.
Pope Benedict put it best to the youth he spoke to in Dunwoodie when he challenged them saying, “Strive for a pattern of life truly marked by charity, chastity and humility, in imitation of Christ, the eternal High Priest, of whom you are to become living icons.”
NASHVILLE, Tennessee, JULY 27, 2008 (Zenit.org).- There are three high priorities in fostering vocations to the religious and priestly life, said a Dominican sister with 15 years of experience in vocational work.
Sister Catherine Marie Hopkins is now the executive director of the Dominican Campus in Nashville where the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia own and operate Overbrook School, St. Cecilia Academy and Aquinas College.
Recently named a member of the U.S. bishops' national advisory council, Sister Hopkins suggests the three highest priorities in fostering vocations: education, sacramental devotion and youth ministry that exposes young people to both prayer and evangelization.
ZENIT spoke with Sister Hopkins about supporting young women who are discerning a vocation to the consecrated life, and about how she discovered her own call.
Q: You worked for 15 years as vocation director for your order. What was the key to finding your own vocation? Did your own experience help you to aid other women in discerning theirs?
Sister Hopkins: The key to finding my own vocation was the realization that God had the plan and I just needed to discover exactly what that plan was. It began with inner turmoil at the thought that God could ask such a thing of me, but I very quickly found out that if he were calling, everything that I needed in order to respond would be provided by him as well.
That brought me tremendous freedom and my turmoil was replaced by a very strong attraction.
I was 24 years old and very happy, but not at peace since I couldn’t say for sure what God’s will was for my life. All I knew with certainty was that daily Mass had made me hunger for more, and so I went in search of where I could best root a growing desire to give of myself. I finally investigated religious life so that I could rule it out and marry with a clear conscience. When I actually visited our community and saw very tangible joy, youthful zeal and a long history of fidelity, fear was reduced by a newly formed conviction that this is what God had created me to do.
I would say that my own experience made me sensitive as a vocation director to the fact that successful discernment takes place apart from any pressure and within the challenging silence of prayer. When I looked for God’s will, I sought advice and asked lots of questions, but I wanted to make a decision that, while informed, drew strength from an interior conviction that I recognized as coming from God.
The Dominican Sisters in Nashville understood that it wasn’t a matter of recruitment but of exposure.
As a vocation director, I made it a point always to respect the delicate interior struggle through which most people must pass. My job was not to make a good sales pitch, but to convey the beauty of our life and to expose young women to it through a visit or retreat experience. I had to help those who had the inclination, but struggled with uncertainty, realize that the simultaneous fear and attraction they felt was normal; and that a sense of unworthiness is not a bad thing since really none of us is “worthy” of divine espousal! Making the choice entails a movement away from a career mentality to the realization that religious life is about giving yourself to a love that is without limit.
Q: You have three brothers that are priests. Do you think there is a different strategy for discerning and fostering the vocation of young women than for young men? In what ways?
Sister Hopkins: My experience has been that, in general, men take a lot longer in the discernment process, whether it regards marriage or religious life. Once a woman has “conviction” she is usually impatient to begin a process.
I wonder if men tend to intellectualize it in the beginning, whereas most women religious begin intuitively and very privately. They may struggle longer before admitting they are considering the idea, but once they discern, it is very much a matter of the heart and they are propelled past fears and natural ties to offer that gift of self without reserve.
Men need to balance their discernment with devotion and women need to consciously anchor the process with an intellectual understanding of the call.
In guiding women in discernment, the idea of espousal is a considerable attraction since we are all programmed by our feminine nature to love and to nurture in a unique way. I had aspirations of a big family and came to understand that God wasn’t asking me to deny that desire but to expand it!
Both men and women need to know that a desire to enter into the married state is not only good, but is even necessary if one is considering religious life. The absence of such natural desire may signal a problem of selfishness or difficulty in giving or receiving love. Such an emotional handicap would make happiness in the religious life impossible.
Regarding my brothers, each of them was different in his discernment. A discussion about them is a real study in temperaments. I used to hold them up as examples to illustrate that there is no "one type" that God calls, but that each of us with our unique characters can contribute in unique ways. And yes, my brothers are "unique characters." We weren’t born religious and occasionally have to remind people that we were in the mainstream in our youth and that none of us was voted “Most likely to become a religious” in high school. There is hope in that fact.
Q: There are certain orders of both men and women religious -- including your own -- that have enjoyed tremendous growth in the last decades. What do you see at the key to this growth?
Sister Hopkins: I believe the key to growth in vocations is found in the witness of joyfully living an ideal that is single-hearted, Eucharistic, faithful to the Church and her teachings. It is lived in the vibrancy of community life while rooted in prayer. That was what I experienced with the Dominican Sisters in Nashville.
I believe that young people today are as idealistic as they always have been and they are looking for a way to channel their zeal and to find support in a desire to grow in holiness. I do not think it is fancy programs or complicated spiritualities that attract, but rather simple fidelity.
There are movements of the Holy Spirit lighting fires in many directions today that are picking up significant momentum and should fill us with hope. The Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious is an organization of religious communities who are committed to living the essentials of religious life and are supportive of one another. I would recommend that young women exploring a religious vocation visit the CMSWR Web site to see the many communities which are growing today, in spite of reports to the contrary.
Q: There is much talk of the vocations crisis and whether or not it is nearing an end for priestly vocations. How about vocations for women religious? Is the crisis nearing the end?
Sister Hopkins: Women religious have been the backbone of social service, education and health care in this country. The drop in the number of women entering religious life has impacted these fields and it will take many years to see a significant return.
I am reminded, however that the Holy Spirit is not limited by Gallup Polls or the predictions of sociological studies.
Consider the simplicity and tenacity of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta at a time when the numbers of women religious were declining. Her response to God’s call yielded a new religious order that grew to over 4,000 sisters, an associated brotherhood of 300 members, and over 100,000 lay volunteers, operating 610 missions in 123 countries.
What our world needs is more Mother Teresas, people with zeal, humility and a fearless love. Over the past 20 years I have seen the numbers of women inquiring into the religious life grow both in numbers, quality and openness. Given the fact that our culture is not supportive of such ideas, nothing short of grace can explain it.
Q: You were recently named to the U.S. bishops' national advisory council. On the heels of Benedict XVI's visit to the United States, what do you see as the priorities for fostering vocations in the States?
Sister Hopkins: I think that in order to foster vocations to the priesthood and religious life the three highest priorities should be in the areas of education, sacramental devotion and youth ministry that exposes young people to both prayer and evangelization.
Young people are hungry to learn the faith and quickly recognize the unreasonableness of relativism. They have a natural desire to “know” God and will be more likely to devote themselves to a life dedicated to him if they have been educated in the faith. I think that this generation is quick to identify the need for such an apostolic focus since the lack of it has produced such confusion and suffering. It is important that the Church continues to strengthen Catholic education that is focused, faithful and rooted in excellence.
Devotion to the sacraments is key to discovering as well as nurturing a vocation. When young people benefit from regular reception of the Eucharist, confession and begin to develop a prayer life, then God’s call has a chance of being heard. Eucharistic adoration is drawing many vocations to the priesthood and religious life, a fact which makes sense if you consider that such time spent in God’s presence brings light and warmth to our souls.
There is a movement of the Holy Spirit in progress that increases in intensity whenever youth affectively influence one another. There is nothing more powerful than the witness of young people striving to know and do God’s will. Love is not meant to be contained, and so when we discover the Person of Christ, it is natural to experience an interior compulsion to share that discovery with others.
Substantial youth ministry which prompts conversion, devotion and exposure to positive peer influences has been successfully producing vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Of course, it is important for young people to be exposed to priests and religious who are joyfully and faithfully living that commitment.
Pope Benedict put it best to the youth he spoke to in Dunwoodie when he challenged them saying, “Strive for a pattern of life truly marked by charity, chastity and humility, in imitation of Christ, the eternal High Priest, of whom you are to become living icons.”
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
"Sister Norbert celebrates 60 years of religious service"
Sister Mary Norbert McNamee will celebrate 60 years as a nun this Sunday with a Mass and reception at Sacred Heart Church in Monroe.MONROE — A feisty nun who has spent the last 35 years at Sacred Heart Church in Monroe will celebrate the 60th anniversary of her entrance into the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill this Sunday, June 1 with a Mass and reception.
Sister Mary Norbert McNamee, O.P., joined the Dominican Sisters on Sept. 8, 1948, and since that time has ministered to untold numbers of people and taught countless students. She’s one of three girls from the same family to become nuns with the same order within three years of each other.
Before joining Sacred Heart in 1973, Sister Norbert taught grades two through nine in schools in the Diocese of Syracuse and the Archdiocese of New York, including St. Paul’s in Norwich and at St. Paul’s in Congers in Rockland County. Though she has retired from full-time teaching, she keeps busy as the church’s sacristan and visiting students daily at the Sacred Heart School.
Sister Norbert isn’t used to being the center of attention.
“I don’t like the limelight,” she said. “I’d rather just do my thing helping others and let others be in the limelight. I’m a little bit nervous. It’s unexpected.”
But her friends feel the honor is a well-deserved one.
“She takes her vocation very seriously,” said close friend Kay Lamb of Monroe. “She’s an exemplary sister and she has a wonderful sense of humor.”
The Rev. Carl Johnson, Sacred Heart’s former pastor who is current pastor at St. Augustine’s Church in New City, will lead the Mass. The Rev. Tom Byrnes, Sacred Heart’s pastor, will give the homily.
The Rev. Jeff Mauer, a Sacred Heart priest, has worked with Sister Norbert for the past three years. “She’s part of the ‘greatest generation,’” Mauer said, ”with her dedication to Sacred Heart School and to her religious order and to her Catholic faith. She’s spent her life dedicated to others. She’s as sharp as a tack and as feisty as they come. You can’t pull one over on her.”
Sister Norbert has no intention of slowing down. She declined to give her age. “Let’s just keep that a secret.”
“Why would I want to slow down?” Sister Norbert said. “That’s when you become stagnant. God has blessed me with so many blessings that I can’t even count them.”
Sister Norbert’s lively demeanor took on a serious note when asked what advice she would give others.
“Spirituality is a personal thing and religious life is a personal thing,” she said. “But we all have to have a more prayerful life. We are holy when we do the right thing at the right time for the right reason. That encompasses your whole life day in and day out.”
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Another Good Book for the Vocations "Bookstore"
I received a request via the combox (on my previous "bookstore" post) from one of the good nuns at Moniales OP asking if I could plug their new vocations book. Of course! So here's the post, but "Vocation in Black and White" can also now be found in the "bookstore".
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Edited by the Association of the Monasteries of the Nuns of the Order of Preachers of the United States of America
"In this engaging collection, twenty-three contemplative Dominican nuns tell of God's call to the cloister. Includes contributions by Summit nuns Sr. Maria Agnes, Sr. Maria of the Cross, and Sr. Mary Catharine."
Editorial Reviews
"Within the Dominican Order, whose motto is Truth and whose mission is the proclamation of that Truth, some proclaim primarily through their contemplative 'tryst' with that Truth. Here some of these women of the Dominican monasteries tell of how they came to embrace this way of life which to many is such a mystery. Each is a story as unique and human as its author."
-Suzanne Noffke, O.P., Translator of the Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena
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"The life of the cloistered contemplative nun is one of the most hidden but also one of the most important treasures of the Church. The prayers and sacrifices of these holy women are so crucial to the Church's well-being that it behooves all of us to know them better. The stories in this splendid book help us to do just that, since they are authentic vignettes from the personal lives of 23 different Dominican cloistered nuns."
-Father Michael Monshau, O.P., Prior, Dominican House of Studies, Saint Louis, Missouri
-Father Michael Monshau, O.P., Prior, Dominican House of Studies, Saint Louis, Missouri
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"These remarkable personal testimonies demonstrate the power of God's fruitful invitation to a contemplative and cloistered life in the Dominican tradition. Though each testimony is unique, there is a common link among them that recalls Elizabeth's words to Mary: 'Blessed is she who believed that there would be fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord (Luke 1:45).' These testimonies, then, are not a history of the past rather they give confidence to all in the present who have the courage to accept God's invitation to Himself. Indeed, God has done great things. This book reminds all of us that God is still doing great things."
-Father Dominic Izzo, O.P., Provincial of the Province of St. Joseph
"These remarkable personal testimonies demonstrate the power of God's fruitful invitation to a contemplative and cloistered life in the Dominican tradition. Though each testimony is unique, there is a common link among them that recalls Elizabeth's words to Mary: 'Blessed is she who believed that there would be fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord (Luke 1:45).' These testimonies, then, are not a history of the past rather they give confidence to all in the present who have the courage to accept God's invitation to Himself. Indeed, God has done great things. This book reminds all of us that God is still doing great things."
-Father Dominic Izzo, O.P., Provincial of the Province of St. Joseph
Saturday, April 19, 2008
"Thinking of becoming a monk or nun? Look to the Web"
From North County TimesBy SARAH N. LYNCH
Sister Judith Miryam, the webmistress at the Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit, N.J., believes the monastery's blog has helped attract the interest of six aspiring nuns who have joined the community. Photo courtesy of Columbia News Service.
The day Lauren Franko was inspired to become a nun, she did what many people her age would do: She logged on to the Internet in search of answers. But first, the 21-year-old New Jersey resident had to break the news to her boyfriend, whom she had met in an online chat room a few years earlier and planned to marry.
"I didn't have the grace for marriage," Franko said. "I just couldn't do it. I needed to give myself entirely to God. That was the only way I would be happy."
She began her online search in the fall of 2006, and it eventually led her to a Web site and blog for the Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary, a cloistered community of nuns in Summit, N.J. Intrigued, she fired off an e-mail inquiry. A little more than a year later, she entered the monastery.
In doing so, she is also joining an unfamiliar world ---- one without cell phones and, ironically, the Internet.
The cloistered lifestyle may seem incompatible with the Internet. Unlike "active" communities of nuns and friars, which devote themselves to community service and are often seen in public, cloistered nuns and monks rarely leave the monastery. Typically, they also limit their use of mass media so that the outside world does not distract them from a life of silence and perpetual prayer.
But now, more cloistered communities are launching Web sites to increase their visibility and assist young people who are exploring religious life. And while there are no statistics to suggest that the Internet is bolstering interest in cloistered life, many cloistered monasteries that have embraced the technology say they are starting to receive more inquiries about their lifestyle through the Internet, and in some cases, are experiencing newfound growth.
The Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary got its introduction to the online world about eight years ago, when the sisters invited two aspiring priests to give a talk about the Internet's pros and cons. Despite some initial concerns, the women took a vote and decided it could be used in a positive way to educate interested women about their life, recalled Sister Judith Miryam and Sister Mary Catharine, two of the more Internet-savvy nuns.
In 2004, the two decided to launch a blog to engage people and take them inside the monastery walls. The blog is written from the cloistered community's perspective, and it talks about everything from the handmade soap they sell to the rabbits eating their garden.
"This is how these young women communicate, and this is how they want to be communicated to," said Sister Judith Miryam, who maintains the Web site and believes the blog has helped spur the interest of six new women there, all of whom found the monastery on the Internet.
Many people who find their monastery of choice on the Internet say they are happy to leave the technology behind them. While some cloistered monasteries like the one in Summit allow minimal Internet use to e-mail family or buy groceries, others prohibit it.
That is the case for the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming, a new monastery founded in Clark, Wyo., in 2003 and whose Web site has caught the interest of some aspiring monks. Soft chants begin to play as its site pops up, and visitors are greeted by a photo of three monks bathed in the glow of candlelight. The monastery has eight members and another six candidates on the way. The site was created shortly after the monastery's founding and improved several months ago. But if interested men wish to contact the monastery, they have to pick up the phone or write a letter.
That's because the community does not have Internet access, even though the Internet is the way that some men find their way to the monastery. The site is maintained by people outside the monastery.
"Why have the walls around the monastery when the Internet is literally the world at your fingertips?" asked Brother Simon Mary, 24, who found the monastery online, but does not miss the technology. "For us, those things kind of break down the integrity of the enclosure. We believe it's important to use these modern resources ... but at the same time in a way that will not be detrimental to the world we're striving after."
It's hard to say whether the Internet is helping to bolster growth in cloistered communities. But the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, a nonprofit organization affiliated with Georgetown University, a Catholic school, is planning to launch a survey that will look at recent membership patterns in active and cloistered communities. The survey will also include questions about the Internet's role in vocations, said Sister Mary Bendyna, the center's executive director.
Even without statistics, some monasteries that used to be reluctant about having a Web site are starting to change their position as they grow to understand the importance of the Internet in the lives of young people.
Several cloistered Carmelite communities, including the Monastery of Cristo Rey in San Francisco, said a Web site could be in their future.
"I accept the fact that times have changed," said Mother Elizabeth, the prioress at the San Francisco monastery, who added that the monastery is still trying to figure out the logistics of setting up a site. "This is where young people are going."
Despite the rise in Internet use, however, some monasteries are sticking to traditional ways.
In Alexandria, S.D., the Discalced Carmelite Nuns at the Mother Marie Therese of the Child Jesus have worked to preserve their more conservative lifestyle. They do not show their faces to the public and they do not have television.
The community did get permission from its prioress about a year ago to test the waters of the World Wide Web when one of its sisters enrolled in an online course. But ultimately, the nuns decided it was simply too distracting to their life of silence and prayer, and they got rid of it.
"If you've been eating organic food and you have been eating fresh things, and then go out and have something that's processed, after years of that it does something to your system," said Sister Mary, who is not allowed to reveal her full name to preserve the integrity of the enclosure. "That is the same thing we have found with the Internet. It's too invasive."
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Sister Servants of the Eternal Word
A special thank you to Sister Catherine Mary, SsEW, for bringing her community to my attention. The Sisters have a wonderful website that is well worth a visit. In particular, if you are looking for retreats, I would highly recommend checking out their retreat schedule - they have several OUTSTANDING retreat masters scheduled!From The Sister Servants of the Eternal Word website:
We, the Sister Servants of the Eternal Word, are a new order that follows the Rule of St. Francis of Assisi with St. Dominic and St. Francis as our patrons. Our foundress and superior, Mother Mary Gabriel, left her Dominican Congregation of Pontifical Rite through obedience in order to fulfill God's will by founding the Sister Servants of the Eternal Word.
"I envisioned a religious community whose structure would make possible a religious family rooted in a deep prayer life enabling its members to work from an enlightened and contemplative perspective. Our work of retreats and catechesis would necessarily focus in the Catholic Faith, thus nourishing the Sisters' spiritual lives as well as those of the people we serve."
"St. Francis and St. Dominic, examples of poverty and learning, as well as their heroic obedience to the Pope and to the magisterium of the Church, have been chosen as the patrons of the Sister Servants. The unity of their hearts in Jesus Christ and their loving devotion to His Immaculate Mother typify the unity, love, and zeal that gave impetus to and sealed their friendship."Mother Mary Gabriel taught and administered schools at both the grade and high school levels and served as superior, all of which prepared her for the joys and the crosses that are inevitable when beginning a new foundation. When Mother is asked about her studies and her earned degrees, she simply replies, "The letters after your name are worthless without the ST. [Saint] before it."
The Sisters take a correspondence course to obtain a Pontifical catechetical diploma from CDU in order to nourish their spiritual lives and to prepare them for teaching the Catholic Faith in a non-classroom setting.
Our habits reflect our Franciscan and Dominican heritage - brown capes and scapulars over white tunics, with the corded rope familiar to St. Francis and the fifteen-decade rosary for St. Dominic. Bishop Raymond Boland first gave us canonical status as a new community of consecrated women striving to live the evangelical counsels in religious life. On the solemnity of the Holy Trinity in 1998, Bishop David Foley approved our Constitutions.
We should never underestimate what it takes to be an effective religious both inside and outside the religious family. It is necessary that we practice the virtues of meekness, liberality, and charity. Our religious life has one goal: the perfection of charity within the framework of a life consecrated to God. Charity towards one's peers is easily discernable and always noticed. Charity towards one's superiors means cheerful, thorough, and prompt obedience. Learning this is the challenge and blessing of religious life.
Convent and Retreat House, Casa Maria, is located in Birmingham, AL. We have done much of the construction ourselves and with the help of volunteers. Led by Sr. John Paul, who was a general contractor before joining the convent, we laid the Spanish mission tile roof, because the roofing contractors' bid was too high.Our formation includes a one-year postulancy and two-year novitiate, followed by first profession of vows and five years renewal of vows. After eight years, the Sisters make their final profession of vows. Below are pictures from various ceremonies.
Perpetual Professions take place on the feast of the Queenship of Mary, August 22nd.
First Professions take place on the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, August 15th.
Reception of the habitASCETICAL PRACTICES GUARANTEED BY
OUR DAILY HORARIUM:
5:30 AM Rise 1:00 Lunch
6:00 Holy Hour 2:00 Apostolate/Convent Duties
7:00 Office of Readings 3:00 Divine Mercy Chaplet
Morning Prayer 3:10 Apostolate/Convent Duties
Other community prayers Recreation (Novitiate)
8:00 Breakfast 3:40 Spiritual Reading (Novitiate)
Cleaning Duties 5:30 Vespers
8:30 Class (Senior Novices) Rosary
9:15 Class (Postulants) Other community prayers
9:45 Study 6:30 Supper
10:00 Class (Junior Novices) 7:15 Recreation
10:45 Apostolate Duties 8:15 Rosary and Night Prayer
11:40 Daytime Prayer Other community prayers
12:00 PM HOLY MASS 9:15 Retire
Rosary 10:00 Lights out
We are, as yet, a small but enthusiastic community. We love our life, our habit, our vows; we love our obedience to the Pope and to the magisterium. We love the poverty that demands hard work. Everything seems easy when we consider the enormous spiritual benefits given to us by our loving merciful God.
If you feel called to authentic Catholicism by the Franciscan/Dominican way, this is the religious life for you. The road to Heaven is truly narrow. We've found the road. If you are interested in obtaining vocational information for yourself or others, please add your name to our mailing list.
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