Lockport Dominican Nuns

[laetitia crucis]

How absolutely WONDERFUL!!!

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

I just realized that Kayla said she would be entering the Lockport Dominicans on April 29, the Feast of St. Catherine of Siena. That's today! (Well, it is for me, since it's just after midnight here.)

From the Web site pictures, it looks as if there is a ceremony where the aspirant is formally welcomed into the community and given her postulant's habit.

My thoughts and prayers will be with Kayla all day (since I don't know when the ceremony takes place). I'm sure she is excited and happy for this "formal beginning."

BTW--I'm basing the April 29 official entrance date on Kayla's original post giving the date. However, we know that she arrived safely in Lockport late last week, so if someone has different information, for example, that Kayla has already received her postulant habit, please correct me.

No one has told me what goes on--I'm simply guessing based on the recent pictures of the entrance ceremony when the last postulant entered Lockport.

[MIKolbe]

glad to here she is there safely!!!

[sistersintigo]

If this link works, it will bring up a video/with/audio interview of Mother Mary Henry of Jesus OP, the founder of the Lockport community of cloistered Dominican nuns in Louisiana. I can't measure the time duration of this interview but it appears lengthy.

http://catholicmediainternational.org/archive/593-twh-090503-mother_mary_henry.wmv

[Luigi]

I was taken by surprise .

I had no idea that Lockport supported the charismatic movement (Loud praise? I've never heard it called that. And people being slain in the spirit by preaching?). Mother Mary Henry doesn't wear a guimpe? Her own monastery in Lufkin (when she was superior?) pioneered polyester liturgical garments?

As I said - I was taken by surprise I just didn't know.

[sistersintigo]

Only the first nine minutes or so of this interview, did I have time for --
will have to listen to the rest of the interview at some other time.
The introduction is very long, it is fully two minutes on the timer, into the interview, by the time Mother Henry Mary of Jesus begins talking.
Am I the only one who hears Mother choking back sobs, her voice going high and tearful, early in her story?
And pulling up a chair in the cloister hallway of the monastery, to hear a disembodied voice....yes, that is as far as I got, first listen.

[DiscerningSoul]

It's a half hour program.
and I am so happy to have seen this.

Edited June 28, 2010 by DiscerningSoul

[krissylou]

I found it fascinating too. I've only ever heard of the Lockport Dominicans here on phatmass, but I would not have guessed the charismatic openness.

(Although the more I study the more parallels I'm seeing between Catholicism and the Pentecostal traditions and I tell you I am fascinated! Who would have thunk it? But that is another conversation.)

But what struck me is that these two people clearly had a longstanding relationship. Whether or not they would have attached this word to it, Mother Mary Henry seemed to have a spiritual director role for him.

Admittedly every order, every community, every person is different. But is this sort of thing common for cloistered religious? I'm trying to think about how one would strike up such a relationship. (This wasn't a friendship that predated her entering -- I would see how that could be continued.) Is that common? I have called cloistered monasteries for prayer before -- it seemed a quite businesslike sort of thing where I got onto their list and off the phone within a couple minutes.

How would one initiate a relationship with a cloistered religious? (An actual person -- I could see having a sense of a relationship with a COMMUNITY via visiting their chapel, being a supporter, etc., but that is different from having an actual flesh-and-blood person in the cloister who knows you by name, knows your story, etc.)

[Cherie]

[quote name='krissylou' date='30 June 2010 - 05:31 PM' timestamp='1277933482' post='2136323']
How would one initiate a relationship with a cloistered religious? (An actual person -- I could see having a sense of a relationship with a COMMUNITY via visiting their chapel, being a supporter, etc., but that is different from having an actual flesh-and-blood person in the cloister who knows you by name, knows your story, etc.)
[/quote]

Just my two cents, but I think it would be vastly different for a nun who is a foundress than one who is simply in a cloistered community.

A foundress, of necessity and because of her role, has to spend a great deal of time outside the cloister in order to start a new foundation. This requires making many contacts, networking, appeals to benefactors, meeting supporters along the way, etc. So a foundress has much more contact with the outside world than would a nun who stays in her cloistered monastery all her life. Many of these people, because they are either benefactors, spiritual directors, or zealous supporters, become close to the foundress--after all, they are putting a great deal of monetary, temporal, and/or spiritual support behind her; this type of friendship is not at all inappropriate and happens quite often in that situation. Many Saints have been in similar friendly relationships. A zealous supporter would know the history of a nun's vocation story because it would come up often in the course of her describing why she is founding a new community or monastery. And these people, although they may not be able to help monetarily, are inspired by the Sister's story and may have contacts who could help the Sister in founding her community. And it would make sense for a supporter inspired by a particular nun's vocation story to look upon her as a spiritual mother or spiritual director of sorts. I know a foundress (although not cloistered) for whom many "outside" people consider her a great friend and a great source of spiritual advice.

Anyway, just a few thoughts on the subject that might help you understand it a bit better.

[sistersintigo]

[quote name='Luigi' date='27 June 2010 - 01:05 AM' timestamp='1277611517' post='2134772']

I had no idea that Lockport supported the charismatic movement (Loud praise? I've never heard it called that. And people being slain in the spirit by preaching?). Mother Mary Henry doesn't wear a guimpe? Her own monastery in Lufkin (when she was superior?) pioneered polyester liturgical garments?
[/quote]

The "loud praise" thing, in this interview, is introduced not by Mother Mary Henry, but by Mr. Bobbie Cavnar, the interviewer. I am thinking this whole charismatic thing is more about Mr. Cavnar and his world outside the cloister than it is about Mother Mary Henry, who spent most of her adult life in the enclosure. So it is an interesting disclosure to be told how Mother encouraged Mr. Cavnar when he brought to her his experiences and his encounters with others, but not really relevant outside of their interpersonal relationship.
There are many people who know more about Mother Mary Henry McKanna OP than I know (aka Mother Mary Henry of Jesus OP). She entered in Detroit, Michigan, I guess before the Dominican nuns left the city of Detroit for the more peaceable suburb of Farmington Hills. Her name is mentioned once in the Farmington Hills history of the Monastery of the Blessed Sacramant. YOu have to look at their files on the website, look for "Century of Adoration." The website is http://www.opnuns-fh.org and then look for the chapter that describes how the Michigan monastery founded the Lufkin, Texas community of nuns. Back then she was Sister Mary Henry and, according to the history file, she was extremely young when she was sent from Michigan to Texas. So young, that when the first Lufkin prioress suddenly died and had to be replaced, Sister Mary Henry was still underage to succeed as prioress; yet she must have been the most promising replacement as the history says that the nuns went through all the red tape needed to get the permission, or dispensation, or whatever, so that their next prioress could be this very young woman.

[sistersintigo]

bumping to the top

[sistersintigo]

I'm really sorry to report this.
The website in the link below has expired. The video in the link appears to have vanished into cyberspace, I can find no other trace of it. Bye-bye Mother Mary Henry.

[quote name='sistersintigo' timestamp='1277594730' post='2134645']
If this link works, it will bring up a video/with/audio interview of Mother Mary Henry of Jesus OP

http://catholicmediainternational.org/archive/593-twh-090503-mother_mary_henry.wmv
[/quote]

[sistersintigo]

[quote name='sistersintigo' timestamp='1278171952' post='2137351']
There are many people who know more about Mother Mary Henry McKanna OP than I know (aka Mother Mary Henry of Jesus OP). She entered in Detroit, Michigan, I guess before the Dominican nuns left the city of Detroit for the more peaceable suburb of Farmington Hills. Her name is mentioned once in the Farmington Hills history of the Monastery of the Blessed Sacramant. YOu have to look at their files on the website, look for "Century of Adoration." The website is [url="http://www.opnuns-fh.org"]http://www.opnuns-fh.org[/url] and then look for the chapter that describes how the Michigan monastery founded the Lufkin, Texas community of nuns. Back then she was Sister Mary Henry and, according to the history file, she was extremely young when she was sent from Michigan to Texas. So young, that when the first Lufkin prioress suddenly died and had to be replaced, Sister Mary Henry was still underage to succeed as prioress; yet she must have been the most promising replacement as the history says that the nuns went through all the red tape needed to get the permission, or dispensation, or whatever, so that their next prioress could be this very young woman.
[/quote]

Nothing new here. But I felt bad that the above link was so indirect. So, here is the link within the website for the Detroit/Farmington-Hills monastery of cloistered Dominican nuns, in which Sister Mary Henry of Jesus OP was initially clothed and professed in her youth. This new link will go straight to the online history of the monastery, "Century of Adoration." You will still have to scroll DOWN once the link connects you, and go through the paragraphs looking for Mary Henry of Jesus. She also appears in one group photograph to the extreme left, the photo is clearly labelled.

[url="http://www.opnuns-fh.org/html/century-of-adoration.htm#PartVI"]http://www.opnuns-fh.org/html/century-of-adoration.htm#PartVI[/url]

Again, for those who are as slow in thought as I -- not to speak of, slower than --

Sr Mary Henry of Jesus OP (family name McKanna) entered the Dominican monastery in Michigan as a very young woman. She was then sent with the first group of nuns to the newly founded Dominican monastery in Lufkin, Texas, where unexpectedly she became Mother Prioress while still very young.
When the Monastery of the Heart of Jesus is founded in the Diocese of Houma Thibodaux, in the town of Lockport, Louisiana, Mother Mary Henry of Jesus OP is one of its co-founders, I think in 1981. There, eventually, she would die of metastasized lung cancer; presumably she is buried in the little cemetery behind the monastery.

[sistersintigo]

[quote name='DevotedtoHim' timestamp='1272120011' post='2099194']
My friend told me that you can always tell if you are home because you will feel warm and cozy! So if you are feet are warm at night, and you are warm and cozy, you know the Virgin is covering you with her mantle. Once I visited a Monastery I was so cold I didn't think I would make it so I had to borrow another set of pajamas and it was all good but I knew, it wasn't for me! But I think you already visited with them and you must have just fallen in love all over again with Our Lord.

God bless you on your journey.

Katherine
[/quote]

Yes, I know, this is an older post. I'm just looking at this warm-versus-cold part and thinking:
LOUISIANA, cold?! you gotta be kidding....
I would love to visit and see for myself, but NOT when humidity and heat are at their annual peak.

[sistersintigo]

This is more old stuff, nothing new and updated.

I used an external Google search to see the Lockport Dominican monastery threads on Vocation Station phorum.

And what struck me, apart from all the information, was the quantity and quality of photographs!

Here are links to older VS threads on the Heart of Jesus Monastery of Contemplative Dominican Sisters --
one of the threads, I forget which one, has a photo of the present Novice Mistress's solemn profession, with one of the ailing foundresses literally on a sickbed behind the grille. Riveting.


[url="http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/33228"]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/33228[/url]

[url="http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/102215"]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/102215[/url]

[url="http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/105144"]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/105144[/url]