Category Archives: Women’s Communities

Women's Communities

With Zeal for the Lord of Hosts

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In 1925, the Bishop of the Diocese of Monterey-Fresno happened to be in Rome for the canonization of St. Therese of Lisieux and was so moved that he asked Pope Pius XI for permission to found a Carmel in Carmel, California. Five months later on the Feast of the Archangel Raphael, 5 nuns established their home in the diocese. There are currently 9 members in the community.

The first Carmelite foundation in this country was established at Port Tobacco in Maryland in 1790, and the Carmelite Monastery in Carmel traces its origin back to this monastery. But what is interesting is that the name “Carmel” was given to the area much earlier, in 1602, by Carmelites who were chaplains aboard the Don Sebastian Vizcaino expedition. They were struck by the similarity between that area of the coastline of California to that of the coastline of Mount Carmel in the Holy Land. And so, as the Patroness of the journey was Our Lady of Mount Carmel it was only fitting, and all agreed, that the area should be called Carmel.

The Carmelite motto is: “With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of Hosts.” May the Carmelites around the world be renewed with zeal for the Lord of Hosts on this feast day of the Little Flower.

Cloistered life, News, Women's Communities

Carmel of the Holy Family and Saint Therese

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The IRL welcomes the Carmel of the Holy Family and Saint Therese of Georgetown, California, as a new Affiliate Community. There are 12 sisters in the Carmel with one in temporary vows and 2 novices. They joined the Diocese of Sacramento in 1935.

They live the traditional Carmelite life of prayer and penance seeking union with Christ in order to participate in His salvific mission

A second Carmel is also part of the IRL family as a our last Board Meeting: the Carmel of the Assumption in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. They were established in  1961 and have 13 solemnly professed nuns. The land for the monastery was purchased because of its proximity to the Benedictine Archabbey of St. Vincent. The monks have served as chaplains, confessors and spiritual directors to the community from the very beginning.

The Carmel of the Assumption is self-supporting.  The community supplies altar breads to the parishes of the diocese, and supplement their income by rosary making, icon plaques and bee keeping.

Cloistered life, Women's Communities

A Carmel in the Desert

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I once went out of my way to go to Mount Carmel, Utah, thinking that a Carmelite Monastery might be nearby, only to discover that it hosted a three way stop sign and a motel. That was about it. It was beautiful country though.

As it turns out, there is a Carmel in Utah that happens to be in Salt Lake City. This IRL Affiliate Community recently hosted a Fair which provides them with their main source of income for the year. The sisters also make altar breads, carmels, peanut brittle, fudge, toffee, note cards and Carmelite dolls. There are 11 nuns living at the Carmelite Monastery of the Immaculate Heart of Mary which was founded in 1952 as a foundation from the monastery in Alhambra, California. The purpose was to establish a Catholic presence in a state where Catholics were a distinct minority.

The reason for the Carmelite life, its prayer and austerity, its silence and enclosure, is to allow the Carmelite Sister to devote her entire energy to the worship, the contemplation, and love of God.  A Carmelite Sister is dedicated to pray for the needs of the Church, the Pope, Bishop, Priests, religious, laity, and especially for the diocese in which the Carmel is located. She prays for the return of lapsed Catholics to the spirit and practice of the Faith, for the conversion and salvation of all peoples, and recommends to God their needs in all circumstances of life.

 

God gives Himself wholly to the soul

which gives itself wholly to Him.

(St. Teresa of Jesus)

Women's Communities

Celebrating 150 Years

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On August 8, 2012, the Feast of St. Dominic, the Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception concluded a year-long celebration in honor of the 150th anniversary of their founding.Earlier in the year they also celebrated the first professions of Sr. Maria Rosaria Freeland and Sr. Maria Vianney Kysely who exchanged their white veils for the black.

The community was founded in 1861 in Poland by Róża Białecka (Mother Maria Rose Kolumba) to combat illiteracy and poverty. Besides seeing to their spiritual needs, Mother provided sacramental assistance so that all the people could live and die reconciled to God.  The first Sisters came to the U.S. over eighty years ago, and for over seventy-five years they have served the elderly in Justice, IL. The Sisters also teach in St. Fabian Polish School in Burbank, IL and in the parish of St. Walter, in Blue Island, IL. The retreat house run by the Sisters opens its doors to many groups that come for one-day, weekend, or week-long retreats and formation meetings.

Outside of Illinois, the sisters have homes in Wisconsin, Arkansas, Canada, Europe and the countries of the old Soviet Union.

To read more about the foundress, please visit their website where Mother Kolumba is featured in an ongoing blog. You can also watch a short video in which singer and songwriter Sarah Bauer visits the sisters to find out about their life and to spend a day living their life.

Cloistered life, News, Women's Communities

Help Wanted: Long Hours, Hard Work, No Pay

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The Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Roswell, NM, put out a funny vocations brochure in 2009 which just came to my attention. Here are some tidbits from their brochure:

Hard Labor: If you have ever secretly supposed that the contemplative life to be a leisurely round of devotional exercises, punctuated by strolls in the garden and a spot of embroidery now and again, FEAR NO  MORE!….Here you will be given ample scope and freedom to pursue an ambitious career as a fully-certified, full-time lowly servant of God.

Long Hours: Imagine the joy! Each night you will leap from your sleep at the enchanting hour of 12:30 a.m.!!

No Pay: Yes, say goodbye to that jingle in your pocket for there are no salaried positions to be had in the monastery, no payroll, no wallets, not even a piggy bank.

For as there can be never be labors too hard, nor hours too long in the service and praise of God and in the life and death struggle for souls, it follow that…

THERE CAN NEVER BE TOO MANY POOR CLARES!

The Roswell Poor Clares were established in 1948  as a foundation from Chicago. Since then they have established 6 daughter-monasteries over the years including one in the Netherlands and one back in Chicago. There are currently 23 in the community.

 

Women's Communities

A Moo-ving New Vocation for the Benedictines of Mary

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The Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, continue to welcome new members into their community, though one is of the four-legged variety! Sweetpea was born in June to Ephy, the Sisters’ dairy cow, who gives them up to 8 gallons of milk a day!

The sisters also rejoiced on September, 15, 2012, when three postulants received the habit: Sr. Gina, Sr. JoAnna and Sr. Margaret Mary. That same day they welcomed Regina Shannon as a new candidate.

Aspirants are welcome to visit, usually staying for a week at a time. As the sisters say, “We surely don’t mind bumping elbows at the refectory in order to help them discern their own vocations.” They also welcome priests and seminarians who want a quiet place for a retreat.

Please pray that God who has begun His work in them may bring it to fulfillment!

 

News, Women's Communities

Uniting Suffering to the Cross

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Mother Mary Salvador, CP, of the Passionsist Nuns of Ellisville, MO, thinks it is no accident that her bout with pneumonia and hospitalization occurred on the same day that President Obama announced his “compromise” for religious employers who objected to the HHS health Care mandate.  The Passionists, along with seven other contemplative communities in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, have joined together to pray for religious liberty.

There is value in suffering, she says, and it is important to take all of our suffering and turn it into prayer. The Passionist motto is:  “May the Passion of Christ be always in our hearts.”Sister Veronica says, “As the mystical body of Christ, we can unite to Jesus on the Cross.”  In the Gospel of John, Jesus prayed that “they may be one, even as We are one.” Mother Mary Salvador says it is important to pray together. The impact of prayer is greater when “we all speak together. It’s important that we do this unanimously.”

The entire article is available from the St. Louis Review.  Let us join them as we pray with one voice to the Father:

Almighty God, Father of all nations,

For freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1).

We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty,

the foundation of human rights, justice, and the common good.

Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect and promote our liberties;

by your grace may we have the courage to defend them, for our­selves and for all those who live in this blessed land. We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness, and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign,

one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

Women's Communities

I Meet Him Every Day

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Sr. Mary Mercedes, PVMI, of the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate tells a beautiful story in this month’s The Parish Visitor about meeting Christ (She says she meets Him every day in His children, old and young) in an elderly man she saw hobbling down the street. From his shabby clothes and thin face, she could see that he had not had a good meal in a long time. She came to find out that he had been evicted from his apartment and was sleeping in a hallway where a kind neighbor gave him a little food.

The man was not Catholic but when asked if he would like to live with the Little Sisters of the Poor, he said, “I’d be glad to go and live with them!” That very day, they went to the Little Sisters who fussed over him, gave him a warm coat and hat and invited him to their home. He went back to collect his meager belongings but said to Sr. Mary Mercedes, “You know I still have my pride. I never lost it.”

A year later, Sister Mary Mercedes visited the Little Sisters and was told that the man was still with them, was happy and was going to daily Mass.

What wonderful ministries these 2 communities have. One seeks out the lost and forsaken and the other gives them a home.

 

Cloistered life, Women's Communities

Monastic Stillness and Life

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Our website, www.cloisteredlife.com, has a beautiful description of a “Day in the Life” of a cloistered Carmelite nun. The nun is from the Carmelite Monastery of the Holy Cross in Iron Mountain, MI, which has a community of 17 nuns, including externs.

How beautiful to hear first thing every morning: “Praised be Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, His Mother. Come to prayer, Sisters, come to praise the Lord!” As Sister says, “These few words capture the essence of what a Carmelite’s whole life is all about; namely, prayer and praise of God.”

One handy feature of our website is a glossary of terms for the cloistered life. I have to admit that Sister’s use of the term Hebdomadary threw me for a loop. A hebdomadary I come to find out is the sister (or monk) whose duty it is to begin and end the Hours of the Divine Office and the Solemn “Salve,” and to lead the prayers at the graces before and after meals. A hebdomadarian is the one who carries out this task.

Also, please say a prayer for the repose of the soul of Sr. Elizabeth Marie of the Holy Trinity, OCD, who died at the monastery on August 30th at age 70. She is survived by six brothers and seven sisters including Sister Pauline Marie, OCD, and Sister Verone, OSF. What examples the parents must have set before them to nurture these vocations to the Church!

Women's Communities

How Altar Breads Are Made

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The Passionists in Erlanger, Kentucky, make altar breads as a means to support their apostolate of intercessory prayer for the congregations of Passionsists, for the Church and for the world.  When a 2nd grade class made a visit to the monastery ahead of their first Communion, they wanted to  know all about the process altar bread-making. Because the nuns are cloistered, the children were not allowed into the work area so this video was made to open a door into this very prayerful manufacturing “facility.”

The video is a useful educational tool for a first communion class but very interesting for adults as well. The sisters pray for all the recipients of the hosts, that the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ that they receive may truly bring them more in likeness to our Savior.

By the way, their diocese is celebrating a Year of Women Religious and the Passionist Nuns will be hosting an open house on Sunday, October 14, 2012, from 1:00 to 4:30. They will be available in their parlor to greet visitors and to  answer any questions.