"Nuns on recruitment run seek single, young Sisters"

The Catholic Church in Ireland is increasing efforts to sign people up as nuns and priests as part of a special year of vocations

From the TimesOnline

By Gabrielle Monaghan

Fancy a weekend away with the girls, with free meals, board and no men to bother you? Look no further. All you need is a love of prayer, silence . . . and a devotion to God.

The Redemptoristine Sisters, an enclosed order at the St Alphonsus Monastery in Drumcondra, is looking for single women aged 25 to 45 to join in their life of “prayer, liturgy and work” next weekend. Guests, however, must be interested in “finding out more about a monastic vocation”.

If a more rural getaway appeals, the Sisters of Mercy will be holding a “vocation discernment” at the same time in Glenstal Abbey, Limerick and Spiddal, Co Galway. Potential nuns can also stay with the Poor Clares in Carlow the last Sunday of every month.

The invitations are part of increased recruitment efforts during the Irish Catholic Church’s special year of vocations, which runs through May 2009. Other steps to swell the ranks include targeting careers and graduate fairs.

“We have limited room so we usually take four women at weekends,” said Sr Gabrielle Fox, prioress of the Redemptoristine Nuns in Ireland. “There are no strings and we don’t chase after them if they are not interested in joining.”

In the past three years, five young women have joined the sisters, but Sr Gabrielle said prior to that the figure was “nil” for “some time”.

Sr Monica Boggen, 25, a former secretary and childminder from Co Meath, was one of three young women to join this year. She spent a weekend with the sisters in April 2007 after seeing a notice in Maynooth College and stayed.

“I felt called at the age of 12, but it took me a while to find the right place,” Sr Monica said. “I tried Mother Teresa’s order in Italy in 2006, but after three months I came home. It was a positive experience but I felt there was something missing.

“Because I was invited in by the Sisters, I felt they were really open. I joined in January. It’s an enclosed order, but I don’t feel closed in. I felt at home in the community.”

Sr Gabrielle is hopeful that new recruitment methods and the Catholic Church’s growing use of technology to give lay people an insight into life at religious orders — the monastery has a webcam in its chapel — will persuade more people to join religious orders.

In 2007, 228 nuns died but only two new recruits took final vows, the most recent figures from the Irish Catholic Directory show. Only nine men were ordained last year, while 160 priests died. “The year of the vocation is an opportunity for everyone to ratchet up their energy around the area of recruitment for religious life and priesthood,” said Fr Paddy Rushe, national co-ordinator of diocesan vocations, at his parochial house in Dundalk.

Recent initiatives from Vocations Ireland include an exhibition stand at the Fas Opportunities careers fair and the GradIreland graduate recruitment fair.

“We like to think our presence at recruitment fairs is getting the details out there. People see priests with fresher eyes than in the past,” Fr Rushe said.

Other initiatives include ads for priests in the Garda Review, the education sections of Sunday newspapers, personal ads in the Irish Times and advertising on the Eircom website.

“Because of the fast pace of life, people don’t take the time to listen if they are called to God,” Fr Rushe said. “Sometimes you need an obvious reminder, like a poster or an ad to prompt you to look within again. It’s like a little wake-up call.”

Three Sisters that are also Carmelite Sisters

"Sisters in spirit"

Separation hasn't dimmed the sibling relationship

The Advertiser
By Judy Bastien

The daughters of Joseph John and Margaret Seelaus have all been in the same place at the same time on only a few occasions during the past 60 years. That's because three of them are also Daughters of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Srs. Anne, Miriam and Vilma all belong to the community known as the Discalced Carmelites - meaning without shoes - a cloistered order.

Sr. Anne resides at the Carmelite monastery on Carmel Drive, Sister Miriam at the monastery in Covington and Sister Vilma, in Rhode Island.

Members of their order spend their time behind the walls of the cloister, with almost no direct contact with the outside world. On the rare occasions when visitors are permitted beyond the front office, they nuns speak to them from through the iron grille of the gate that encloses the cloister.

The Discalced Carmelites' mission is to spend each day in contemplation, praying for the well-being of others. The nuns offer their prayers in response to countless e-mails, letters and phone calls requesting their help.

For the first time in years, all three sisters have been reunited, if only for a few days to celebrate Sr. Miriam's 50th anniversary as a Carmelite, her golden jubilee. With special permission, they shared their story in a face-to-face interview.

Although they have had minimal contact with each other over the decades, the sisters still finish each others' sentences and talk over each other, as sisters do, the smiles rarely leaving their faces.

How do siblings whose lives are devoted to quiet contemplation of the spiritual spend their time together?

"Mostly gabbing," Sr. Anne said.

"Recalling memories," said Sr. Vilma, finishing the thought, "things like that. Looking at pictures of some of our growing-up years."

"And sharing community experiences," Sr. Anne concluded, "things that are going on in the (religious) community."

The three are part of a family of eight children born to a father of Austrian descent who spoke German to his children as they were growing up in Philadelphia, and a mother who came to this country as a child from Budapest, Hungary.

Sr. Anne, the eldest of the three, professed her vows in 1945.

Sr. Vilma, the youngest of the three, entered the order next, a few years later. She was perhaps the least likely of the sisters to become a nun.

"They told me I'd never make it," she said, laughing.

"When she was a little girl," Sr. Miriam said, "I remember one of our cousins - we were toddlers - Sr. Vilma talked a lot, and he used to call her 'sprech' machine,' which is German for ..." She hesitated a moment.

"Talk machine," Sr. Vilma said.

Sr. Miriam, between the two in age, entered the order last.

"She was a slow poke," said Sr. Anne, triggering another round of the sisters' frequent laughter.

"I said I'd never be a nun," Sr. Miriam said, " and then, God came along and he called me and I couldn't say no. And I'm so happy."

Apart from the sense of peace that seems to surround the women, they are all far from the stereotype of the cloistered nun who shuns the world. All three have outgoing personalities, firm, friendly handshakes and a shared sense of humor behind their serene gazes.

...

It may be unusual, especially today, for so many siblings to enter the religious life, it seemed just a natural outcome of their upbringing to the Seelaus sisters.

"First of all, it was God's call," said Sister Miriam.

"It was a very happy Christian home," said Sister Anne. "They encouraged our piety, you might say. Our father said his night prayers with us, took us to night benediction on Sunday afternoons and things like that. We had religious pictures at home, as usual.

"I think they were just good parents."

"Sisters in Solitude"

From Fort Collins Now

By Erin Frustaci

About 35 miles northwest of Fort Collins, life is quiet, peaceful and contemplative—a contrast from the fast-paced consumer-driven lifestyle found in other parts of the world. Tucked among rocky foothills and fresh country air, the tiny town of Virginia Dale is all but forgotten.

And yet, there is a certain timelessness for those who call it home. The natural landscape, free of distractions, serves as the perfect backdrop for a community of about 20 Benedictine nuns of the Roman Catholic Church whose life work and mission is prayer.

“The focus is not on all life’s accessories, but on life itself,” Mother Maria-Michael Newe said.

Despite the complexity of the modern world where people are attached to their Blackberries, email and iPods, Maria-Michael believes there is still a need for simplicity and peacefulness in society.

“I think people are seeking this, they are just afraid of it,” she said. “They are so used to being busy that they are not used to sitting still in the quietness.”

The nuns, who range from 23 to 93 years old and come from all over the world, build their days around the seven-day services which make up what is called the Divine Office or the Liturgy of the Hours. Maria-Michael said the premise is to be prepared at all times to praise God. And if the volume of mail, email and phone calls for prayer requests is any indication, their work is greatly appreciated.

Throughout the day a chorus of voices chanting prayers can be heard from the chapel. At other times the stillness and deep quietness reverberates all around. Then there are also more unconventional sounds of the Abbey: An 89-year old nun weeding her flower gardens, an industrial mixer blending cookie dough for fresh homemade cookies, a green Gator’s engine starting as three young nuns prepare to heard cattle to a different barn.

The nuns work within the monastery and valley to support themselves. They divide up daily housekeeping tasks including cooking, cleaning, laundry and maintenance, as well as operate a gift shop that sells religious books and handmade cards and craft items. They also run a small online altar bread distributing business.

As a cloistered community, they only go outside for necessary business purposes such as grocery shopping or doctor appointments. Tuesdays are usually the days when select nuns make a trip down to Fort Collins to run errands.

“Work is a blessing,” Newe said. “It’s such a joy when you can bring home the gifts of God and help sustain the table.”

Following in the footsteps of their pioneer sisters, the nuns also are active ranchers. They run a herd of beef cattle, grow hay, collect eggs from the chickens, milk the cows and tend to the vegetable gardens.

The Abbey of St. Walburga relocated to Virginia Dale in 1997 after outgrowing its former location in Boulder. When the abbey first came to Boulder in the 1930s, the area was spacious and open. But as the city built out with busy highways and new subdivisions, an expansion of the abbey became problematic. The nuns spent several years looking for a new home. A Denver businessman and his wife eventually donated the land in Virginia Dale to them.

It’s a much different way of life, but one that is rewarding for those who are meant to live it, the nuns said. Contrary to misconceptions and pop-culture movies like Sister Act, Newe said the community is not a shelter for people who are running away from their problems. In fact, she said the women who join monasteries do it because they are called in that direction.

“You have to be mature enough to live in a community and yet be alone,” Newe said.
A typical day begins promptly at 4:50 a.m. with Matins, or vigils. More prayer sessions, including Lauds, follow. From 9-11:30 a.m. the women are dispersed throughout the property for the first work session of the day.

Many of them change into denim overalls to work on the farm, though they still wear the traditional veils. On Tuesday this week Sister Maria Gertrude Read, 23, and Sister Maria Josepha Hombrebueno, 30, spent the morning painting the fence by the farm a vivid red. The fall is busy time for maintenance in preparation for winter.

“We’ve been painting it bit by bit,” Read said. “We’ve been doing it for a couple weeks.”

Read just made her temporary vows two weeks ago. She has been in the Abbey for three years.

“I felt called to some kind of religious life,” she said.

She grew up in Boulder and was raised Catholic. However, she said it wasn’t as meaningful to her when she was younger. When she was 14 years old, she had a specific experience while at a church summer camp when she knew she wanted to become a nun. Before that, she said she had pictured nuns as scary.

“It was this push,” she said. “It was a transforming moment. My whole life changed after that.”

She began looking at different monasteries and then decided to look closer to home. She admits that she could have gotten married and had a “normal job,” but it wouldn’t have been the same.

“I don’t think it’s fair to say I wouldn’t have been happy somewhere else, but I wouldn’t have had the same fullness and joy.”

At 11:30 a.m. Sister Maria Gertrude and Sister Maria Josepha quickly cleaned up from their painting project and slipped back into their black habits, the traditional religious costumes or robes. After another prayer session in the chapel, the nuns gather for their formal meal at noon.

“When you live in a community, you really have to serve each other. You have to,” Newe said.

During that time, scripture is also read aloud. After the meal, the nuns have quiet time, where they can rest, go for a walk or spend private time praying. The afternoon is dedicated to classes for the younger women and another session of work before afternoon and evening prayers.

Most women begin their quest by visiting a monastery. Once they decide it is something they want to pursue, they become a candidate for about the first three months. After that, she will receive a postulant veil and remain a postulant for about nine months. During that time, the woman studies the Benedictine rule, traditions and ways of prayer. From there, she will become a novice for two years. At the end of that period she will make her first vows of obedience, stability and fidelity to the monastic life. After another three years, she will make her solemn perpetual vows.

Sister Raisa Avila, 22, is in the earlier stages of discernment, having only been at the abbey for about a year. She is a postulant.

“It’s a lifelong commitment, so you want to make sure,” she said.

Avila is originally from Vancouver, B.C., in Canada. She was born and raised catholic but didn’t take it seriously until she was faced with challenges. She was in school and had a different life, but she knew there was more out there for her.

“My love for God drew me here,” she said.

She attended a monastic living weekend at an abbey in Canada and was hooked. But Avila admits the path wasn’t always smooth. The transition into the lifestyle at the abbey has been challenging, Avila admits.

“I’m still human,” she said. “I cried when I left home. I missed my family, but at the same time, you have to make sacrifices.”

She said God has brought her through the tough times. She said she eagerly looks forward to the next stages of the process. Avila has also learned more about farming than she could have ever imagined. Though she did not grow up on a farm, she now greets the cows and llamas as if it were second nature.

During her afternoon work last Tuesday, she helped two other sisters heard the cattle to get them ready to be sold in an auction in Centennial. With a smile on her face, she then headed back into the chapel.

The abbey has become a place for prayer for the nuns as well as volunteers and people outside of the community.

“Our place really is a house of prayer. You don’t have to be catholic to pray here,” Mother Maria-Michael Newe said.

And while there are areas of the abbey that are cloistered such as the dining and living quarters, the public is invited to visit much of the property. In fact, the nuns run a retreat house on the property where groups and individuals can spend some time away for a set fee. The retreat house, which can fit about 23 people, is designed to offer quiet withdrawal from the busy noise of the ordinary home and work world.

Newe said prayer can be a hefty job at times, but it is also extremely rewarding. She said she often receives prayer requests for troubled relationships, illnesses and financial struggles. She is happy to take the requests because she said it is part of her duty.

“Somewhere in the world someone is needing that prayer,” Newe said. “And we take them and their cause to heart. It’s a work of love.”

Visit their blog HERE.

Poor Clares - Galway, Ireland

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.

Cloistered Dominican Nuns of St. Dominic's Monastery, Front Royal, Virginia

H/T to Catholic Online

"In the Shadow of His Wings"

When you get a chance, stop by the blog of the Passionist Nuns of St. Joseph Monastery - In the Shadow of His Wings

They have two recent posts up about a young woman who recently entered their community.





Sharon's Entrance Day

and

Sharon's Story

Which I post here in it's entirety:

The reason I am speaking to you today has to do with the fact that I am joining a religious community, actually, I will be entering in about a week. I’ve been home for about four weeks now, after having lived with the community for three and a half months, discerning whether God wanted me to enter there. I do believe entering is God’s will for me.

I came to believe that He was calling me to religious life while I was a student at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio. After High School, while following in the footsteps of five of my siblings, I began attending Franciscan University to get a degree in Early Childhood Education. Franciscan had a life-changing impact on my personal relationship with God, which I know was influenced by my family and their faith and the Catholic community at St. Aloysius.

So back to Franciscan, I wish I could tell you about all of my experiences there and the beauty of our Catholic faith that is so present in the priests, students, and faculty, but it would take me a long time. And I only have a few minutes here. But to give you a couple of examples; there is a chapel with the Blessed Sacrament in almost every single building on the campus. And instead of being pressured into parties, drinking, and stuff like that, the community at Franciscan has called me on to greater holiness, through different ways such as attending daily mass, frequent confession, and prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament. This helped me to look at where I stood in my relationship with Jesus and I realized that He was calling me into a more personal relationship with Him and I began desiring to know Him and love Him more then anything else. At this point, I hadn’t been discerning whether it was possible for Him to be calling me to anything but marriage.

A year and a half ago I had the opportunity to study abroad for a semester in Austria and most of the students take advantage of this wonderful program to study and travel in Europe for four months. I mention this time because this is when God revealed to me that He was calling me to religious life. This was the first time that I put my future in God’s hands instead of just focusing on what I wanted. I truly began desiring what I saw Him asking of me. I confirmed with my spiritual director that God really was calling me to religious life. I was ready to seek out the religious community that was proper to the way of life God was asking me to live. I knew it wasn’t necessary for me to continue pursuing a profession that I may not have been able to use.

The community that I am going to be joining is called the Congregation of the Passion of Christ! They are a cloistered, contemplative community in Whitesville, Kentucky. They were founded by St. Paul of the Cross in Italy during the 18th century. As a Passionist Nun, which is kind of their nickname, I will be devoting my life to learning how to love Christ with an undivided heart. I will be taking five vows, three of which you have probably heard of and are called the evangelical counsels: Chastity, Poverty, and Obedience. The other two vows are to promote devotion to, and a grateful remembrance of, the Passion of Christ, and enclosure. The Passionists’ vow to look at everything in light of what Jesus has suffered through His Passion and death on the Cross. There has never been a greater act of love. And by remembering this we can learn to love as Jesus loves. It seems that by meditating on the Passion of Christ everyone would be walking around really sad all the time, however, they are a very joyful and loving community. Their mission in the Church is one of prayer and sacrifice.

I know this is the way God is leading me to heaven and how He is asking me to be a part of and to serve His Church, which is all of you…I really feel called to offer my life to God as a religious. God bless you all and please keep me in your prayers as well. Thank you.

"Cloistered nuns would welcome new vocations with open arms"

From the Times of Malta

by Claudia Calleja

As a young girl, Mother Superior Marija Tiralongo laughed at the idea of becoming a nun let alone a cloister nun but, almost six decades after setting foot in the monastery, she now cannot imagine any other way of life.

"If I were re-born I would do it all over again and join the same monastery... except that I would join younger," she smiles as she recalls the experiences that led her to join the Monastery of Santa Skolastika in Vittoriosa that has been her home for the past 58 years.

She is now the mother superior, or badessa as they call her, of the monastery that hosts 15 Benedictine nuns - aged between 36 and 80 - who dedicate their time to working and praying for the people in the outside world.

The nuns, who will be celebrating the feast of St Benedict on Friday, would love to welcome new additions to their monastery and are encouraging any girls or women who think they may have the vocation to contact them to learn more about their way of life.

Sr Marija explained that their day starts at 4.30 a.m. with the morning prayer session followed by Mass at 7 a.m. They continue their day with a series of timed prayer sessions, chores, recreational time and silent-hours until they retire back into their rooms at about 9.30 p.m.

Travelling back to her younger days, Sr Marija said that, as a bubbly young girl, she never considered becoming a nun. But, when her father passed away, she opened her eyes to the world's hardships and started hearing God's call.

She initially ignored the call and continued living life as a typical young lady who loved setting her hair and wearing jewellery and fashionable clothes. Various young men showed interest in her but she always found an excuse to turn them down. "I would say that one had big ears, another would walk in a funny way," she laughed as she added: "God was already keeping me aside and saving me for himself."

One day she went to Mass and the priest spoke about giving oneself to God. That homily marked a turning point in her life. She knew she was destined to become a nun and when she went home she removed all her jewellery and gave it to her younger sister. She immediately started on the path to her vocation and decided to be a cloister nun.

"Once I was going to give myself to God, I wanted to give myself to Him entirely," she said.

She was consecrated at the age of 20 and has never once regretted her decision since. Initially, leaving her family behind was tough but God helped her through it, she said.

Sr Marija then noted that some people questioned why they remained locked behind four walls rather than going out to help people in need. "We are not here for ourselves. We are here to pray for the people outside... The world needs prayer," she said with conviction.

Visiting a Carthusian Monsastery

Below are four parts of a documentary on life in a Carthusian monastery. It's an incredible look into the most austere monastic community, but you have to read fast. Enjoy.

My very good friend Alex just returned from a 30 day discernment with the Carthusians at St. Hugh's Charterhouse. Hearing him tell of his time with the monks gives me an entirely new perspective on their life. Perhaps the most beautiful thing he told me was the response of one monk to his question "what do like best about being a Carthusian" to which the monk replied joyfully "freedom".









Hat tip to Br. Michael Anthony at Immaculate Heart of Mary's Hermitage Video Collection

"A Monastery to Last 1,000 Years"

Traditional Benedictines Flourish in Eastern Oklahoma

From Zenit
By Jason Adkins

HULBERT, Oklahoma, JUNE 12, 2008 (Zenit.org).- It’s been said that when the revolution comes, you won’t read about it in the newspapers.

Indeed, when the history of this part of the world is written, it may point to the recent establishment of a monastery amid the rolling hills and lakes of eastern Oklahoma as an event of momentous consequence for fostering a renaissance of Christian culture.

On my return drive to Minnesota after living for a year in Texas, I chose to spend some time at Our Lady of the Annunciation of Clear Creek monastery where an order of Benedictine monks, known as the “Clear Creek monks,” is attempting to rebuild monastic life and Christian culture in America from the ground up -- literally.

There, along with sharing in the common life of the monks, I spoke to the monastery’s prior, Father Philip Anderson, about the history and mission of this new monastic community.

Foundation

Father Anderson told me the Clear Creek monks’ story begins at the University of Kansas. There, a Great Books program, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, gave students the opportunity to encounter the culture and ideas of Western Civilization.

This program run by John Senior was not a relativistic one -- allowing students to pick and choose among various philosophical viewpoints -- as is common among programs of that type.

Rather, the success of the program resulted from Senior’s willingness to propose answers to the deepest questions, and point to Catholicism as the source of the many fruits the West has produced. Senior also stressed the importance of the Latin language as the medium through which this common civilization and its achievements were bound together.

According to Father Anderson, the program became wildly popular and produced not a few converts to the faith; then some prominent university donors protested and the program was shut down. But Senior spawned a small movement among students that did not end with the closure of the great books program.

When some students, one of whom was Father Anderson, approached Senior about how to rebuild a civilization being lost to modern technocratic society, Senior suggested the students go find some monks in Europe -- for there were few, if any, left in America -- who were living a traditional monastic life.

The journey eventually led Father Anderson and his companions to the medieval French Benedictine Abbey of Fontgombault, where they were welcomed and received formation in the religious life according to the Rule of St. Benedict. All along, these monks intended to return to America to establish a new monastery on their native soil.

The wait would last almost 25 years, concluding in 1998 when Bishop Edward Slattery of Tulsa invited the monks from Fontgombault to form a foundation community of that abbey in his diocese.

According to Father Anderson, building the monastery in eastern Oklahoma was the result of a fortuitous combination of an enthusiastic bishop, a Midwestern location -- close to many of Senior’s original students who could contribute to the foundation -- and the right piece of property. Father Anderson described the rocky property as “perfect for the monastic life.”

Since 1999, the original American monks, along with some Canadian and French brethren, have lived at the Clear Creek site near Hulbert, Oklahoma, where they have slowly -- but quickly, in monastic terms -- been building a monastery.

Marking the Hours

The Clear Creek monastic life centers on liturgical prayer, particularly the Liturgy of the Hours, which the monks chant in Latin eight times a day. The monk’s life, says Father Anderson, is a life of prayer: “God exists, and we have been created for him.” Praying the hours as a community allows the monks to give constant praise and thanks to the living, creator God.

The monks use the traditional -- or extraordinary -- form of the Roman liturgy. Father Anderson told me that the monks believe the traditional liturgy is more suited to the type of traditional, contemplative monastic life they wish to live. It is a symbol and embodiment, he said, of the type of cultural and religious life the monks desire to preserve.

I asked Father Anderson how the monks financially support their quiet life of prayer and praise. He said that unlike some monastic orders that make only one product and often have to build an adjoining factory to mass produce their goods, the Clear Creek monks engage in a variety of tasks and trades. The monks earn their living by raising sheep, running an orchard and vegetable farm, and making cheese, clothes and furniture.

Because the monks can perform many of the tasks needed to run the monastery, operational costs are pretty low. But building a Romanesque church for their monastery, which will be able to last a thousand years, is another matter.

"Per omnia saecula saeculorum"

The Clear Creek monks are raising money to build their church -- one they hope remains a landmark on the Oklahoma landscape for ages to come.

The monks believe their new church will be a sign of contradiction in a consumerist culture where everything is transient or can be thrown away when no longer useful. Change seems to be the only constant. The destabilizing elements in our culture are “poison for the soul” Father Anderson said.

The monks believe that people will always need faith and a culture that derives from that faith. According to the monks’ informational pamphlet, people “need a place in which they can reconnect with creation and with the silent center of their own being where God awaits them. The monastery is such a place.”

“The church will represent something permanent,” Father Anderson continued. “Architecture can have a spiritual effect on people. We hope to build something beautiful that will give value to this region and the people can be proud of.”

Father Anderson hopes construction on the church can begin sometime in 2009.

I asked Father Anderson whether the Clear Creek monks desired to rebuild civilization in America. He laughed and said that the Benedictines had “built Europe without even trying.”

“We focus on prayer,” he said. “We can only see the effects of our life indirectly like we see the ripples from a drop in a pond.”

According to Father Anderson, the work of the monks operates like concentric circles. Everything is centered on the interior life. But that has an effect on everything else, particularly the work of the monks. And the monastic way of life fosters a more contemplative way of being -- a life that explores the important questions and expresses itself through art, music festivals and literature -- that is, true culture.

Already, people have moved close to the monastery to share in the life of the monks, just like in the Middle Ages. Many laity and families show up at all times of day for Mass and to pray the hours with the monks.

Father Anderson said the diocese hopes to erect a parish nearby to assist in serving the spiritual needs of these many newcomers.

The Clear Creek monks already number 30, with three or four more expected to enter this year. The new residence they built is already filled to capacity and new monks will have to be housed in sheds adjacent to the monastery.

Father Anderson believes that the Clear Creek monks’ focus on the traditional monastic activities of prayer and manual labor, rather than following the path that many monasteries took by limiting their liturgical life in order to focus on running schools, is the secret of the monks’ vocational success.

As he said, “the life of a monk, hands folded in prayer, is a sermon without words.”

Hopefully, the story of the Clear Creek monks will inspire not only a renaissance in monastic life in the United States, but inspire teachers to be like John Senior and educate their students in truth, beauty, and goodness -- even at great professional cost.

With more teachers like Senior, and monks like those at Clear Creek, the possibility of the renewal of authentic monastic and Christian cultural life in America looks brighter.

Mother Dolores Hart

Below is most of an article about Mother Dolores Hart. I have edited it down to just the portion in which she speaks of her vocation story.

"Hollywood star turned nun helps Waterbury group"
From Republican-American
By Tracy Simmons

Mother Dolores Hart speaks during a meeting of the Marie and Pat Ciochetti Foundation at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Waterbury on Friday. (Josalee Thrift / RA)

For the first time in 40 years Mother Dolores Hart spoke publicly about how her life evolved from the silver screen to the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem.

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As Mother Hart stood behind the podium, she looked across the crowd with her brilliant blue eyes and in a low, silky voice told the 80 or so people in the crowd, mostly foundation members, about how she entered the acting world as a teenager. A black and white portrait of her landed a meeting with a producer, and with Elvis Presley. Her first film was "Loving You" in 1957.

"From there on it was absolutely amazing," she said. A seven-year contract came next.

"I just fell right into it. The Lord just kept putting things right in front of me," she said. "Right now I look at kids who are 19 and I just wonder how the angel on my shoulder kept me from sliding off." Fervently she spoke about the talented actors she worked with, like Anthony Quinn.

In 1959, Hart was invited to perform on Broadway, where she won the Theatre World Award and a Tony Award nomination.

One evening, walking on Fifth Avenue in New York City, she found herself staring blankly at a flashing stoplight. She went home and a friend pointed out how tired she seemed.

"You look tired," he told her, "I know a place in Connecticut you should go for a little rest." When she learned that Benedictine nuns ran the place he was talking about, she was hesitant. In school, she had already learned about her faith, she said. But she went anyway, and the sisters she met caught her heart and encouraged her to continue to work hard as an actress.

"I went back and threw myself into my work," she said.

She went on to make "Where the Boys Are" in 1960 and "Francis of Assisi" in 1961. When she filmed "Lisa" in 1962, about a Jewish Nazi victim, Hart's life took a turn. She met a woman who survived the Holocaust and was moved by her story.

"This was going to be an offering to the Lord, who is Jewish, and his mother who is Jewish," she said. "I do feel doing that film, and praying through that film, was the seed of my vocation."

She found herself asking what life is about. Hollywood gave her everything she wanted, she said, she was even engaged to Los Angeles businessman Don Robinson. She told him, however, that she wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do and called the wedding off six months after the engagement.

"It would make a heck of a good movie wouldn't it?," she joked.

She told him she had to go to Bethlehem to visit the convent again.

"I walked up to the hill (on the 400-acre property) and I thought to myself this is it. I've got to do this," Hart said.

Six months later she announced that she "had an affair to take care of."

"They thought it was a guy," she laughed.

She arrived at the convent in a limousine. "I arrived at Regina Laudis in style."

But she said the transition wasn't easy.

"It was the hardest thing possible. The first seven years I wanted to quit, to turn around," she said. "But when the seed finally sprouted and I knew God was there and it was the right thing to do, I don't think there was anything in my life that made me happier and I would never, ever change my mind."

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

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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

"Thinking of becoming a monk or nun? Look to the Web"

From North County Times
By 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."

"Nuns to leave cloister to see pope at stadium"

From The Washington Times
April 13, 2008

By Sterling Meyers

Mother Virginia Marie will make a rare exception to her solemn ritual of rising every morning before the sun to pray in her hut inside the quiet monastery in which she lives.

On Thursday, she and 11 other Discalced Carmelite nuns who live in the Carmel of Port Tobacco monastery in La Plata will board a charter bus with excited parishioners to Nationals Park to celebrate Mass with Pope Benedict XVI and 45,000 others.

"We're apprehensive about being way up in the stadium and not being able to see him except for a little white speck on the field," said Mother Virginia Marie, 73. "But it's the Holy Father's first visit to America, and we're really excited to be a part of it."

Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Washington, said, however, "Every seat is a great seat at the stadium. ... You'll be able to see the Capitol over the Holy Father's shoulder."
She also said the archdiocese wanted to include as many people as possible in the Mass but also wanted to give "special attention to the religious clergy because they do so much for so little."

The cloistered nuns in the Carmelite Order, like the group at Carmel of Port Tobacco, center their lives on prayer for others.

Catholics often go to these secluded nuns for prayer, but for the women to leave their monastery to attend a Mass is rare. The group's list of recent excursions includes seeing Pope John Paul II in Baltimore in 1995 and celebrating Mass in 2000 in what is now the Verizon Center.

"We spend our days divided between prayer and work to maintain ourselves," Mother Virginia Marie said.

The group of 12 nuns — including one postulant, or candidate for the life of faith — came from Brazil, Japan, the Philippines and across the U.S. to live a life of contemplation in Maryland. They're alone for much of the day, except for meals, Mass and recreation time in the evening, which is spent "chatting with one another, doing craft work around a table and making items to sell at the gift shop," said Mother Virginia Marie.

The nuns said the pope's visit will alter their prayer ritual but not stop it.

"We'll try to squeeze out parts of that day where we'll try to keep up with our prayers during the day," said Sister Miriam John, 60. "We'll do the best we can — maybe up in the stands or wherever we are seated."

Sister John, an Ohio native, converted to Catholicism during her senior year of high school.

"It will certainly be a great grace and privilege" to see the pontiff, she said, adding that "it would be nice to meet him face-to-face."

Mother Mary Joseph, 81, met John Paul in Rome after her tenure as prioress at the southern Maryland monastery, Sister John said.

The current prioress, Mother Virginia Marie, said that her 16-by-20-foot hut and the other hermitages and buildings are on the site of the first monastery in the U.S., which was established in 1790 and inhabited until 1831.

The land was sold and farmed for about 100 years until a group of laypeople purchased the original property in 1933. The monastery was refounded in 1976, and Mother Virginia Marie and Mother Mary Joseph came six years later to help the community of nuns to grow.

"The contemplative life is as vital to the spiritual life of the church as the human heart is to the body," Mother Virginia Marie said.

She also said her group of nuns prays for people who "don't have time to pray for themselves."

Although the nuns will transplant themselves soon to a different world just 30 miles from their monastery — to a baseball stadium filled with thousands celebrating Mass with the pope — day-to-day, they would rather be "enclosed."

"The heart was made to function in an interior, hidden way," Mother Virginia Marie said.

Daughter Enters Carmel

As part of my daily routine I scan the internet for vocations articles and stories. This morning I came acros the post below. It took some doing to find the original source: the St. Thomas Aquinas College Alumni Website. In the process I have come to find out that at least 8 of the Benedictine Monks at Clear Creek Monastery in Tulsa, OK are graduates of St. Thomas Aquinas, and that at least two recent graduates have entered the Carmel of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in Valparaiso, Nebraska. Remarkable. Not only that but the school has had at least 25 graduates in the last 25 years go on to ordination to the Holy Priesthood.

What I post below is a letter from a graduates parents to her felow alumni about Kelly's entrance day. For those discerning cloistered religious life this may be a helpful read, for everyone else, I hope you will find it as fascinating as I did.

From the Thomas Aquinas College Alumni Internet Site:


On Ascension Thursday, May 17th, Kelly, Jeff and I and her aunt and uncle (Godparents) attended the Solemn High Tridentine Mass at the beautiful chapel of the Carmel of Jesus, Mary and Joseph Monastery in Valparaiso. The monastery is about 25 minutes north of Lincoln, Nebraska. During the Homily, the Monsignor gave special mention of Kelly’s forthcoming entrance. After Mass, 2 mothers of young postulant/novices who introduced themselves and offered to help us with the entrance process greeted us. These angel women were such a blessing! They gently guided us through the whole entrance and gave us much-needed pointers about where to stand and such for the best views. We were also told that we had only about 10 minutes to give hugs and say goodbye. (A short time, but I think it’s better than a prolonged goodbye—sort of analogous to ripping a band-aid off quickly to lessen the pain). We took a few final pictures, then went into the “Turn Room” to say goodbye. There were many hugs, kisses and tears from us and such a wide smile on Kelly’s face—she had been waiting so long for this day!

After our goodbyes, Monsignor rang the bell at the Turn and told the sister at the Turn that Kelly was ready. Then he and the Deacon gave Kelly a blessing and the door to the speakroom and cloister entrance was unlocked. Kelly went through the open door and waited at the closed Cloister door to enter. The first door was left open so that we could see Kelly being greeted by Mother Teresa. We were told that Mother Teresa, Mother Agnes (prioress of the novices) and the other 19 nuns would be lined up on both sides behind the door with lighted candles to greet Kelly. After what seemed like a very long time, Mother Teresa opened the door and Kelly knelt down and kissed the ground and the cross that Mother Teresa was holding. Kelly then walked through the door and into her new life.

She then went with the nuns into the Choir (the partitioned area on the right side of the Altar in the Chapel) and knelt at the Communion rail, while the nuns took their places in their Choir stalls. There are 10 stalls on the right and 10 stalls on the left side of the Choir and two stalls at the back—one for Mother Teresa and one for Mother Agnes. Since the Carmel is bursting at the seams, Kelly has the last stall in the Choir. We knelt at the Chapel Communion rail so as to get a good view of Kelly and the nuns in the Choir. Kelly then recited her Consecration and after that the nuns sang a beautiful hymn in Latin (or it could have been the Magnificat that they sang, I’m a bit fuzzy on those details right now, there was so much to absorb and we were very emotional). We saw Kelly cry during the recitation of the Consecration. When we asked her about it later, she said that they were tears of joy because she was so happy to be finally entering.

Then we went back to the speakroom to meet with all the nuns while Kelly got dressed in her postulant habit that the nuns had made for her. (She sent her measurements to them a few months back.) We were greeted by 21 of the happiest and most joy-filled women we have ever met. Some were very outspoken, some shy, but they all had on big smiles! There are currently 22 nuns (including Kelly), 10 of whom are either postulants or novices. Kelly is the “baby” right now, but not for long, because 2 more are set to enter in the next couple of months. A Carmel is generally limited to 21 nuns, so we think pretty soon a group of them will branch off and start a new Carmel somewhere else.

There was much good-natured ribbing, joking and laughing among the nuns and with us and that helped so much to dispel our tearfulness. I can’t remember all of their names, but I believe it is Sister Bridget who entered 6 months ago and graduated from TAC 2 years ago. She wanted to hear all about how the Chapel building at TAC was going and we promised we would send pictures of it when it was completed. One of the young Sisters came to the Carmel all the way from Australia, several are from small families like Kelly (2 are only children), and one even is a convert and her family is still non-Catholic. She said that the most her sister could say to her on the day of her entrance was “I’m sad that you are joining, but I’m happy for you that you are happy.” So, as hard as it was for us to let go of Kelly, we appreciate that for others it can be even more difficult, especially if they don’t understand or appreciate the cloistered contemplative vocation. Another older nun was so excited that we were from California, since that was where she was from. She was very quick-witted and many of the jokes and banter came from her (especially since she is from Southern California and Mother Agnes is from Northern California—the rumor that Northern California feels a rivalry toward and superior to Southern California is apparently alive and well). Sister Amy and Sister Juana Teresa were the two daughters of the mothers who came to the Mass to help us through the entrance process. We told them how friendly and helpful their mothers were to us.

After about 15 minutes our Kelly came in all dressed in her postulant habit. Her veil wasn’t tied tightly enough, so it kept trying to come off, but she looked so very beautiful and she was absolutely glowing! We honestly had never seen her as happy as she was at that moment. We visited with all of them for a few minutes longer, then they retreated for the Divine Office and we had Kelly to ourselves for a nice, long 1.5 hour visit before she joined her Sisters for lunch and picture taking (We had sent our camera through the Turn along with Kelly’s suitcase just before her entrance so that we could have a picture of Kelly in the Cloister.)

Lunch, which if you are curious, Kelly told us was veggie burgers, fruit, chips, punch and chocolate bars for dessert (Didn’t think nuns ate like that? Well, neither did we!). It was probably a bit different from their usual fare since they were celebrating a Feast Day and Kelly’s entrance. Then a nap for Kelly before we were due back for a final visit at 3p.m. By the time of our afternoon visit, everyone was exhausted and emotionally drained. Kelly told us that she actually slept after lunch, probably due to the fact that she had only been averaging 2 hours of sleep per night since graduation in an effort to get everything ready before her entrance. But she was still so very happy and grateful and full of love. She asked us to be sure to email you all and let you know that she sends you her love and prayers. Trust me on the prayers part—the prayer list she went in with was pages long!

It’s been very emotional for us since she entered—I’ve been used to talking to her every day and for the first few days I drove Jeff nuts because I kept looking at my cell phone—willing it to ring, I guess. We got our May letter in to her already, written 4 days after her entrance.

In closing, know that you have a serious prayer warrior on your side—she’s praying for each of you every day and probably all of the Sisters are as well. We know that they are praying for us and they have assured us that God is showering us with His graces. We’ve been feeling them, too; we both feel that we are enveloped in His sheltering arms as we go through this period of adjustment to a life without having our amazing, beautiful and loving daughter close by our sides.
In approximately 6-8 months, January or so, Kelly will have her Clothing. During Clothing she will receive the novice habit and be given her new name. As a postulant, she is called Sister Kelly, but that will change when she becomes a novice. We think that they take her suggestions for her new name into consideration, but Mother Teresa and Mother Agnes make the final decision. We’ll write to you all about it since we will be traveling to the Monastery for her Clothing.

"Cheery nun lifts the veil on life in a monastery"

From Ventura County Star

By Eric Parsons

Sunday, March 23, 2008

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VIDEO BELOW

I had expected to witness the culture clash of this new century at St. Mary Magdalen School last week.

It would be a spiritual smackdown between a woman of the old world and the children of a wired age.

I figured the pace of life Mother Maria Esperanza Jose de Sagrada Familia had chosen simply would not compute with children of an age in which instant gratification takes too long.

Mother Maria Esperanza not only is a nun but she is also a cloistered sister. Her job description: Pray. Her hobby: Pray. Her ambition: Pray some more. Mother Maria Esperanza has devoted the last 54 years to the contemplative life in a Dominican monastery in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The bishop granted her permission to leave the confines of the convent for 22 days so she can visit her 92-year-old mother, who is hospitalized in Los Angeles. It is the first time in more than a half century that the stoic nun has been away from the convent for Easter.

She came to the Camarillo parochial school for show and tell at the invitation of her niece Sophia Rodriguez, a second-grader at St. Mary Magdalen.

Once upon a time in a Catholic grade school, there would be a nun stationed at every chalkboard. But taking the veil has become far less of a habit for girls these days. In February the Vatican announced the number of nuns had fallen 10 percent in a single year of this new century. At the beginning of 2005, those living "the consecrated life," in the Vatican's words, numbered well over 1 million. By the end of 2006, their ranks had fallen to 945,210. The number of women entering the religious life is not keeping up with the number going to their reward or leaving under their own power.

Mother Maria Esperanza entered the Monasterio de Jesus Maria in 1954. For the first 20 years after she took the veil, she never left the monastery walls.

When she emerged, the world was a frightening place, she said. And it wasn't just those '70s disco fashions.

She saw poverty, starvation, deprivation. She saw stress in the faces of people trying to keep body and soul together.

"The convent is a little bubble of happiness," she told me in her native Spanish.

It's her Disneyland, her niece Petula Rodriguez explains. Mother Maria Esperanza, who speaks little English, nods in agreement. Note to Disneyland's marketeers: Ask boss for raise; even a cloistered sister knows about the amusement park.

And at least for Mother Maria Esperanza, her lifestyle appears better than Botox. She is 68 and her face carries little evidence of worry. And when her hands emerge from the pockets of her habit, they are strong and animated.

Last Wednesday, she was a nun on the run as she dashed from classroom to classroom.

Although she spends several hours in silence on a typical day at the convent, she was positively chatty.

(Photo at left: Rosa Placencia, left, watches as her sister, Mother Maria Esperanza, center, hugs her 7-year-old niece Sophia Rodriguez at Mary Magdalen School on Wednesday morning.)

Mother Maria Esperanza's calling, she told the students, came and went throughout her youth. At 15, and against her family's wishes, she entered the monastery. Today, she explains, a girl must be 18 to become a novitiate.

Mother Maria Esperanza had surprises up her wide, white sleeves. Thinking I knew the answer, I asked her if she had been on the Internet. She grabbed a pen and pad of paper to jot down her e-mail address. It seems as a mother superior she uses it to communicate with her peers at other monasteries. The order also provides her with online religious training videos.

And television? Sure, she watches it. But not for the reason most do — which is to second-guess the "American Idol" judges.

She watches only the news and then prays for all the people she sees on the screen, particularly the soldiers in Iraq and the politicians.

Mother Maria Esperanza volunteers if she had not become a nun she would have liked to go into politics.

I asked her if she knows Hillary Clinton.

Oh, yes, she nods. "I know her, and I pray for her."

That may be the best endorsement the presidential hopeful may ever get.

And me of little faith. Instead of zoning her out, the kids engaged. Hands shot up to ask her questions. In most cases, there were more questions than time to answer them.

And she connected so strongly, one little boy gave her Mexican coins so she could help the poor.

She wanted more, she confided. She hoped to plant the seeds so that even one girl would feel the pull of religious life.

To a Sister Maria Esperanza Jose de Sagrada Familia — a woman whose middle name is in fact hope — it is not out of the realm of possibility that the same hands that program digital devices also can pray the rosary.

"Former ‘globe-trotter’ plans to spend life as cloistered nun"

Leaving the world behind

By Maria Wiering
The Catholic Spirit

Mary Gibson plans to join the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles in Kansas City, Mo., June 11. The Cathedral of St. Paul’s Sacred Heart Chapel holds a special place in her heart. “It in particular is my home, and the part [of the Cathedral] I will miss the most,” she said. -Photo by Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit

Mary Gibson's childhood dream was to see the world.

She pursued global studies at the University of Minnesota for a year because she wanted a job that would take her abroad. In 2005, she moved to Italy for a year and visited Austria, France and Germany.

However, at age 26, her globe-trotting days are done.

Gibson, a self-described "information junkie" with two blogs, may never again have Internet access. She loves food, but will only eat one meal a day for much of the year. A gregarious talker, she'll spend most of her days in silence.

And, judging by the way her eyes sparkle, she couldn't be happier.

"I feel like an engaged person," she said. "I'm really awaiting my beloved."

On June 11, this Minnesota wo­man will join the cloistered life of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles in Kansas City, Mo.

Although the degree of strictness differs from one community to another, typically cloistered nuns and monks rarely leave the grounds of their cloister and limit their contact with the rest of the world.

The cloistered life

Gibson has been discerning God's will for her life since she started taking her Catholic faith more seriously in her early 20s. She was open to a religious vocation, but didn't expect to be called to cloistered life, she said.

However, during a 10-day discernment retreat with the nuns in November, she said she felt Jesus ask her to be with him there.

Before a year ago, she didn't know the community existed. She first heard of it from parishioners at St. John the Baptist in Excelsior, where she directs religious education. Some parishioners knew Sister Crystal Wirth, who joined the community last year.

Gibson stumbled across the community's Web site advertising the priestly vestments that members sew. After reading about the nuns, she said, she couldn't get the community out of her mind.

Following the rule St. Benedict wrote in the 6th century, the community's life revolves around liturgical prayer. They pray especially for priests.

Claire Roufs, religious life liaison for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, said young women joining cloistered communities is more common than most people think.

About one-third of women she's worked with who have joined religious life have joined cloistered communities, she said. That totals about five women in the last few years.

"Almost always they are very young and talented," she said. "It is such a mysterious vocation."

Discerning a call

Gibson grew up Catholic in Vesper, Wis. After she left home to become a paramedic, however, she stopped going to Mass. She still considered herself Christian, but faith didn't play a central role in her life.

She moved to St. Paul to work and take classes at the University of Minnesota. Within months, she was dissatisfied with her job, and her classes were forcing her to re-evaluate her beliefs, she said.

Her apartment was two blocks from the Cathedral of St. Paul, and the dome's golden cross was a constant reminder of what she had left, she said.

Gibson returned to Mass on a Sunday in February 2003 and spoke afterward with Father Joseph Williams, the associate pastor at the time.

A few weeks later, she called him to hear her confession. She wanted to come back to the church. For her penance, Father Williams asked her to say the Divine Mercy chaplet, which he prayed with her in the Cathedral's Sacred Heart Chapel.

Gibson helped to start the Cathedral's young adults group, attended daily Mass and transferred to the University of St. Thomas because of its Catholic studies program.

She also started asking God how she could serve him.

"Once I realized that he was truly there, I started realizing what I had to do is give back," she said. In October 2003 Gibson went on pilgrimage to Rome, where she "first encountered the fullness of the Catholic faith," she said.

She returned to Rome to study from fall 2005 to spring 2006 and ended her stay with a four-day retreat with cloistered American Benedictine monks in Norcia, Italy.

That's when she first thought about cloistered life, she said.

She realized she had many misconceptions of cloistered life. "You choose to be limited; you're not disconnected from the world," she said.

Cloistered men and women still receive and write letters to friends and family, and many receive visitors at least once a year. However, in choosing the cloistered life, they seek to detach themselves from worldly things. And that, for her, is true freedom, she said.

The invitation

Right now, the Benedictines of Mary live in a convent in Kansas City built for another order who had once taught at the adjacent Pius X High School. The community plans to build a priory on 120 acres of donated land in northwest Missouri. The sisters hope to be as self-sustaining as possible, raising bees, dairy cows and grain.

Peace engulfed Gibson during her 10-day stay with the nuns in November, she said.

"People think that people enter the convent because they're escaping something," Gibson said. That's not the case at all for her, she added. It was while she was thanking the Lord for all of the blessings in her life - her family, friends, travel, work, passions - that she felt the Lord ask her to give it back to him.

"He gave me the choice," she said - she could choose not to be a cloistered sister, but the Lord was inviting her to serve him in that way.

There, in the chapel, she said aloud, "Yes."

At 26, Gibson is at the average age of the community's 14 sisters, which doesn't surprise her. She's the oldest of the four aspirants who are expected to join the community in June.

Cloistered orders are gaining vocations, said Sister Therese, the community's prioress. "The young ladies of this world have had it. They're throwing away their lipstick and high heels and joining."

God also supplies the needs of the world at each age, she added.

"I think that's why the young ladies are finding us from all over the country - because the Lord wants this," she said. "What it's all about is that we have to get to heaven, and we have to take as many people as we can with us."

For more please check out Mary's blog - Veritatis Splendor, and consider helping her out by reducing her college debt through the Laboure Society.

"AMATA MEANS BELOVED"

From the Morris County Daily Record:

Sister Mary Catharine Perry, a cloistered nun, has written a novel called 'Amata Means Beloved,' offering a glimpse into the life of a monastery like the one she lives in. Photo by Bob Karp / Daily Record

A nun's story

By Lorraine Ash, Daily Record

Sixteen cloistered Dominican nuns in white habits and black veils lined the narrow hallway outside the refectory at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit. They faced each other and prayed for their benefactors in voices so practiced they seemed as one.

Precisely at noon, the nuns streamed into the refectory and before long were on a long and orderly line into the kitchen, where they filled their plates with food served family style. The menu: lentil loaf, roasted potatoes, mixed vegetables and thick homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Their friendly chatter came to a halt when they took their seats in the refectory. For 20 minutes they ate in silence while listening to part of a spirituality lecture.

Thirty-five-year-old Sister Mary Catharine Perry rose to point out the title of the lecture - "Philosophy and Religion in the West" by Professor Phillip Cary.

"Lots of time we take this opportunity to listen to a course on tape," she explained.

It's just the kind of glimpse into monastic life that Sister Mary Catharine, a novelist, wants her readers to have - an authentic one.

"Amata Means Beloved" (iUniverse, .95), her first novella, published last month, tells the story of Emily Barone from the day she enters the doors of the fictional Mater Christi Monastery, a simple white building with a cross jutting up from the roof. The plot follows Emily, destined to become Sister Maria Amata, as she acclimates to the life of a cloistered nun.

The young Emily, fresh out of college, wonders whether she is giving herself to God or running from her inability to forgive the man who murdered her brother.

The simple plot, which revolves around a new bell that arrives at Mater Christi, counterbalances the careful evolution of Emily's complex inner life and epiphanies as she adjusts to her new role. The book is a rare look into the cloistered life as told by one who lives it.

Nuns, insists Sister Mary Catharine, are as human as anyone else. Each has her strengths and weaknesses and each enters the convent with experiences and talents from her former life, which makes for interesting conversation and relationships inside the walls of the monastery. Sister Mary Catherine, who hails from Massachusetts, worked as a pharmacy assistant before entering the monastery 12 years ago.

She attended college for a little while, but not long, because she had a vocation in mind and did not want to pile up debts.

When asked why a novel by a cloistered nun has been so hard to come by, her answer came quickly.

"That's what I'd like to know," she said, eyes twinkling. "Cloistered nuns have written many books, but not novels, which are sometimes considered secular, maybe distracting. Some friars think, Nuns just don't do this. But for Dominicans, everything that's good has something of God in it and why not a novel? I like the novel form because I've always felt you can get more from a story."

She drew inspiration from the three-volume serial novel "Kristin Lavransdatter," the story of a 14th-century woman by Norwegian author and Nobel Prize winner Sigrid Undset. Sister Mary Catharine had other inspirations as well.

"I'm tired of stereotypes of monastic life," she said, citing two novels as examples - "Lying Awake" by Mark Salzman and "Mariette in Ecstasy" by Ron Hansen.

The first is about a nun who discovers her spiritual raptures and writings may be due to temporal lobe epilepsy, while the second is the story of a nun who, during ecstasy, experiences stigmata - bodily marks and sensations that correspond to the wounds Jesus endured during his crucifixion.

"Some books are written well but not true to life," Sister Mary Catharine explained. "They make nuns seem slightly infantile, and there usually are undertones of sexual repression in the story. They also make life in a monastery more dramatic than it is. There is a drama going on, but it's hidden."

The spiritual growth of her character, Sister Maria Amata, reflects just such a quiet drama, which culminates in a grounded yet joyful personal breakthrough for the fledgling nun at the end. But the life of perpetual prayer that the nuns enter is not so much about them as others.

"We are not just here for ourselves. We are here for other people in the world," Sister Mary Catharine explained. "People see us as removed from the world, but cloistered nuns are the most present in the world. God gives us empathy for the problems of others."

Often people walk in off the street to talk with one of the 16 nuns at Our Lady of the Rosary, meeting them in the parlor where several one-on-one conversations can take place simultaneously. The nun sits on one side of an opening similar in size and shape to a large window while the visitor sits on the other. People bring their personal and family problems and seek guidance, Sister Mary Catharine said. The conversations are a form of preaching, in accordance with the Dominican Order, known as the Order of Preachers and founded by St. Dominic in France in 1206.

The nuns also preach to each other, according to Sister Mary Catharine, who views her literary ability as another means to the same ends. She writes, she says, to glorify God.

Other nuns in the community helped with the production of the novel, and some like to tease about it. Sister Judith Miryam took the cover photo for the book, which shows a young novice, white veil flowing, her back to the camera, gazing out a monastery window. The novice photographed is Sister Marie Dominique.

Sister Maria of the Cross, who translates church documents, edited "Amata."

In the community room one recent day nuns darted in and out, picking up items at their individual desks, tending to daily routines.

"Is Sister Mary Catharine's novel any good?" said Sister Mary Daniel, laughing. She winked. "I don't know. I haven't had time to read it yet."

Another chimed in: "Sister Mary Catharine said she wanted to create a fictional monastery just like she would want a monastery to be."

"Our author is already cooking up another story, you know," said Sister Maria of the Cross.

The nuns do not watch news but do read a lot. Their community room, across the hall from the Choir at the center of the 1921 monastery, reflects both their devotion to each other, the church and the world.

Around the perimeter and in the middle of the room are desks and chairs, each a depository for an individual nun's personal belongings or for community property. There is a copy of the Bible and the National Geographic Atlas of the World, a stack of Yankee magazines, a box of Baci chocolates, a fax, a television and a computer to surf the Net and send and receive e-mail.

Someone's favorite blue recliner is positioned at the back window to oversee the snow-covered graveyard, filled with graves marked by simple crosses.

A large color photograph of a young Pope John Paul II looks over the room. A Time magazine special edition on the capture of Saddam Hussein is open, as if someone is in the middle of reading it.

All this is the better to fuel the nuns' knowledge of the importance of their prayers. They pray for the world all the time. Several times a day most of the nuns congregate in the Chapel and Choir for hymns and readings, a practice known as the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours. At least one nun is always there, 24 hours a day, so that devotion is perpetual.

"In Divine Office we are deputed to praise God for the whole world," Sister Mary Catharine said. "We have this realization of praying for people who are searching."

She, for instance, always has felt a pull to pray for alcoholics, she added. Only after she had been doing so for some time did she discover her birth father is a recovered alcoholic.

"The Lord is using my prayers," she said. "The people I pray for are unknown to me, but they're known to God. This is a mystery to me, but I love the Lord, and when you love someone, you trust them."

Life at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary requires most nuns to be up at 4:30 a.m. There is a lot to do, including washing and maintenance of the habits, meal preparations, prayers, cleaning and other duties. One recent day the nuns baked stollens for their close friends and benefactors.

Finding time to write on this structured schedule is not always easy, but Sister Mary Catharine found that the story of "Amata Means Beloved" poured out of her. She wrote it anytime she could.

"One of the first things you learn in a monastery is to use every minute you've got," she said. "You'd be surprised what you can do in five minutes."

She wrote while on doorbell and phone duty, interrupted, of course, by having to answer the bell and phone. Sometimes she would stay up past bedtime. For novices, lights go out at 10, but for the older, professed nuns, time is not monitored as strictly.

"It's assumed that you're a grown woman and can take care of yourself and that you know you have to be up at 4:30 a.m.," Sister Mary Catharine said. "I would sit up past 10 some nights and say, 'Oh, please, Lord, please.'"

This is the stuff of real life in a real monastery, and it's that reality that readers can expect from "Amata Means Beloved." The novella is filled with engaging scenes showing the industry of and interaction between nuns.

Nuns of the fictional Mater Christi Monastery raise sheep and weave blankets. One scene in "Amata" shows them sitting on the floor of a weaving house loft and cutting dried excrement off fleece. The conversation reveals one nun's life prior to entering the monastery.

"Can you imagine what Vogue would think if they saw Sister Regina now?" one sister says, referring to a nun who modeled before entering the Order.

Other elements of the cloistered life surface, too. For instance, nuns' parents at first tend to be furious at their daughters for their decision to be cloistered. Also, many people think the cloistered life is a waste, Sister Mary Catharine said.

"This is not an escape," she said. "When research scientists and artists separate themselves from the world, it's because they need to get more intense. Nobody thinks a scientist is escaping when he just needs to be removed from everything.

"No, this is not an escape. In fact, the biggest realization for a cloistered nun is that she cannot escape herself. Here you can't run off somewhere if you have a problem. You have to deal with things and each other. You can't even drop off the schedule of community life without special permission."

All the permission Sister Mary Catharine needed to publish her book came from her prioress.

"After Sister Mary Martin read the novel, she had some thoughts for me," Sister Mary Catharine said. "For example, she said that when my character, Sister Maria Amata, goes to the Hermitage - a hut with a dirt floor on the monastery grounds - for solitude and retreat, nothing happens. I told her that's fine.

"Everybody tends to think that when a nun goes on retreat she has this awesome experience of God. No. It may happen when she's doing the dishes."

Mundane as it is, that's how things go day in and day out in a monastery, a place demystified just a little more by a tale woven by one cloistered nun who, in articulating her experience, has made some history.