The Diocese of Bismarck in North Dakota has recently been blessed with the arrival of two very different religious congregations. As you can imagine, currently the diocese does not have many religious. However, Bishop David Kagan and his predecssor were eager for religious to come to minster to and pray for the people. Both will do the work of the New Evangelization in very differnt ways.

I posted months ago that the Carmelites in Alexandria, South Dakota, had decided to send four sisters to the diocese where they will live in a renovated farmhouse (“in the middle of nowhere”) in Emmons County. The four cloistered nuns arrived on March 19 and will have an open house from April 23-25 before they are permanently enclosed in the Carmel of the Holy Face. On April 26, Bishop Kagan will celebrate Mass at 11:00am then the nuns will be enclosed in their new home.

“Prayer is really the foundation for all missionary activity,” said Sister Mary Baptist, the Prioress. “You can talk to somebody and try to convince them, but if they don’t have grace, which is won by prayer, then it won’t be effective. So we really need prayer as the basis.”

The other group of four sisters coming to the diocese is from India. The Congregation of Teresian Carmelites is establishing their first mission in the Western Hemisphere in this most unlikely of places. They will minister to the people of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, assisting the priests and parishes and teaching at a mission school.

“It’s important to have the presence of holy people who can model what a life of faith should look like,” said a diocesan spokesman. “They’re also very obviously knowledgeable in the Catholic faith, and so they can evangelize to the people on the reservation and set a good example: that what is valuable to them … [is] a life that is for Christ and has meaning and purpose because it is lived for God.”

Visit the Diocese of Bismarck website or the National Catholic Register for more information.