Tag Archives: Spokane

News, Women's Communities

The Best Version of Yourself

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The IRL is please to have Bishop Robert Vasa of Santa Rosa as our President and in the latest issue of the National Catholic Register, they are highlighting a community that he canonically established in his diocese: the Marian Sisters of Santa Rosa.

The sisters describe themselves as Ecclesial, Eucharistic and Marian. They celebrate the sacred liturgy in both the Extraordinary and Ordinary form. The sister’s mission is intercessory prayer and the communication of the truth, beauty and goodness of the Catholic faith. They teach CCD, RCIA, and Confirmation classes and work in the Chancery office amongst other things.

Mother Teresa Christe was originally part of a traditionalist community but the example and inspiration of Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Bishop (William ) Skylstad of Spokane drew her and 14 others into full communion with the Church. They wear a habit as a visible sign and witness of their consecration to Jesus. It is blue and white to symbolize Mary’s role in the mystery of salvation.

Because the sisters are growing and needed more space, they are now residing in the former bishop’s residence, renamed  Regina Pacis Convent. They are now welcoming potential candidates (and there is a lot of interest!) called to their way of life to “come-and-see” weekends.

Regarding her vocation, Mother says, “I thought it would entail sacrifice and be unhappy. What surprised me was happiness. If you follow your vocation, you will be the best version of yourself.”

News, Women's Communities

Embraced by Our Mother, the Church

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This evening, Friday, November 6, 2012, six Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church, will pronounce perpetual vows at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes in Spokane, Washington. The congregation will also witness the temporary profession of three sisters.

This was no ordinary journey for the sisters.

In 2007, 15 nuns from a schismatic convent in Washington State rejoined the Catholic Church by formally renouncing their state of schism and making a profession of the Catholic faith. Their former order holds to the position that popes elected since John XXIII are invalid and that Vatican II was a heretical council.

The new order’s title reflects its pilgrimage to full communion with Rome. “Mary is our guide. With a title so ancient and yet so popular today, ‘Mother of the Church’ she understands the need for unity in the Church,” explains Sister Mary Eucharista.

It all began in 2002 when a parish priest and his parishioners began a prayer campaign to bring the sisters back into the fold. They enlisted the help of the Missionaries of Charity who came to Spokane in 2006 in part to address the spiritual poverty of the sisters on “the Mount” (a former Jesuit scholasticate).

To a sister, they credit the witness of the Missionaries of Charity as their strongest motivation to return to Rome. They saw in the MC sisters “so much charity, so much love, so much goodness;” says Sister Kathryn Joseph. “They won us over with their prayer and charity.”