Tag Archives: Texas

Dominican Sisters of Mary in Texas – Expansion Plans

The Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist are hoping to build a new religious house outside of Austin, Texas.  Eight sisters arrived in Texas in 2009 and are now teaching in two elementary schools and a high school.

In 2011, they purchased almost 61 acres of land, ideally located for the community to serve schools throughout Central Texas. By 2013, they completed the construction of a temporary mission convent on the site, allowing the Texas Sisters to live in community and work on-site to oversee the larger Religious House project. The sisters are currently in three cities: Buda, Austin and Georgetown, home of their future Religious House.

Sister Elizabeth Ann O’Reilly, OP, said that whenever God opens a door, “He definitely lets you know.”

“In Texas it happened so fast it seemed He was shoving us through,” she said. While they have missions in six other states, Texas will have the second priory for the education and formation of new sisters.

As foreseen in our managed growth plan, the Motherhouse in Ann Arbor is now at capacity, and it is necessary for our community to add a facility in another location in order to fully provide for the spiritual and temporal needs of our Sisters. We are moving forward with plans to build the first phase of a Priory in Texas which will house, form and educate up to 50 Sisters ready to live our Dominican vocation of preaching and teaching the Gospel of Christ across our nation.

To fund our growth, particularly the first phase of our Texas Priory, we are asking old friends and new to join us in supporting the young women who are responding with an all-embracing “yes” in service to the Church. Those who support our mission will be sharing in an effort than can only be measured by the many lives that will be changed through our work in Catholic education for years to come. We invite you to prayerfully consider helping us in this faith-filled effort for the Church in the United States by becoming a member of the Circle of Faith.

If you would like to make an donation to support this important apostolate of teaching and evangelization, please visit their website. Or consider one of their upcoming Vocational Discernment Retreats (February, April and November).

Today I Begin

Br Joseph-Solemn Vows 339One of the rarest vocations in the United States seems to be the call to be a hermit.  In fact, there seem to be only two Carmelite men’s communities of true hermits in the United States. Therefore, it is with rejoicing that one hears about the profession of a man or woman to this most ancient of vocations.

The Carmelite hermits trace their lineage back to the 13th century when a group of hermits living on Mount Carmel in Palestine came together under a formula vitae which developed into the Carmelite Rule. Because of the Prophet Elijah’s association with Mount Carmel, the hermits adopted him as their spiritual father. A colony of hermits is called a Laura in which each hermit has an individual hermitage.

Paul Wathen was living in Colorado when he became interested in the writings of St. Teresa of Avila and felt drawn to the contemplative life. As a graduate in electronics and computer science from Indiana State University, Paul was living a good life. Then the 40 year-old made a trip to the Hermits of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel in Christoval, Texas, and received special graces that weekend. “God let me know this was where He wanted me to be. I found a lot of peace.”

Brother Joseph Mary MotherPaul, now Brother Mary Joseph of the Holy Rosary, says the life is not for everyone. But with God calling him, he could not say no. Telling his mother was easy. she was not only supportive, but overjoyed!

The story of the founding of the Christoval hermits is a miracle in itself. Fr. Fabian Rosetti located the isolated land that he wanted for a hermitage but the owner wouldn’t part with it for three reasons: Fr. Fabian was Catholic,  he was a priest, and he was Hispanic. But God’s plans with prayers and sacrifices could not be stopped. Father got his 200 acres with many Protestant workers assisting in the building of the hermitage. In fact, a good number of their regular visitors and friends are Protestant!

See the complete story in the Southern Indiana Catholic newspaper.

Every day I must say to myself: Today I begin –  St. Anthony of the Desert

 

bear witness to the passing nature of the present age by the inward and outward separation, from the world. By fasting and Penance, they show that man does not live by bread alone but by the work of God. Such a life “In the Desert” is an invitation to their contemporaries and to