On March 1, 2021, the Carmelite Monastery of the Mother of God in San Rafael, California, officially closed its doors after 55 years in Marin County. The four remaining nuns were informed in May after a decree of closure was issued to the archdiocese by the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life. The sisters range in age from 59-98, the oldest being Mother Dolores Sullivan, OCD, 98, one of the founding sisters of the monastery, founded from the Carmelite monastery in Carmel, California.
The monastery resides on 45 acres studded with 400 redwood trees worth millions of dollars, all planted by Sister Vanni, the last Prioress. But when you have so few sisters, she said, “you really have to look at your vitality.”
The monastery has a distinctive “eastern” look about and for good reason, the sisters were entrusted with a very special mission – to pray for Russia. Here is how this came about:
We have a special call from (Jesus Christ) and from Mary, His Mother, to pray for our own Archdiocese and also for Russia. We were founded in 1965 in answer to a summons from Our Lady of Fatima, received by our Foundress, Mother Miriam of the Trinity. Our Lady has asked for prayers for the conversion of Russia. Mother Miriam responded to that call as though addressed specifically to her, and for those who would join her in founding his Carmel.
After the fall of Communism, two of our Sisters went to Russia to found a small “Carmel” in Moscow. However, it was eventually discerned that our vocation is to pray for Russia within our Carmel here in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Our former home in Moscow has since become the nucleus of a thriving Catholic parish, under the direction of the Divine Word Fathers. St. Olga’s Parish began there and now has expanded into a larger building nearby. There are already 350 parishioners who attend Catholic services there regularly.
It is obviously a very difficult and sad time for them and for the community who have loved and supported them. Two nuns will go to the Carmel of Mary Monastery in Wahpeton, North Dakota, and the remaining two will go the Carmelite Monastery of St. Therese in Clinton Township, Michigan.
We pray for the people of Marin County who are losing their beloved sisters, and we pray that the sisters will be blessed in and be a blessing to their new communities.
For more information:
https://catholic-sf.org/news/san-rafael-carmelites-to-resettle-in-separate-monasteries
https://catholic-sf.org/news/carmelites-pray-for-new-home-together