A Former Phatmass Takes Her First Vows

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

A few pictures are up already of the first profession of Sister Maria Teresa of the Sacred Heart, a nun with the Monastery of our Lady of the Rosary, a Community of cloistered Dominican Nuns in Summit, NJ. Sister Maria Teresa posted on Phatmass, but before I came. I do know her given name is Lauren. Someone else perhaps can fill in her Phatmass user name.

Here is the link to the pictures, with the actual pictures below. There are only two photos for now, but the Web site promises more to come.

[url="http://www.monialesop.org/"]http://www.monialesop.org/[/url]


[img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Uxr1s_65ejI/TMNS-IUqYiI/AAAAAAAADAk/GkxOUP1LMrM/s640/family+crop.jpg[/img]

With her family.



[img]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Uxr1s_65ejI/TMNS8ID48OI/AAAAAAAADAg/Fe2iOjzMsoc/s640/_0011225.JPG[/img]

The Novitiate, including the Community's new dog, Sabina.

Edited October 23, 2010 by IgnatiusofLoyola

[DameAgnes]

[quote name='IgnatiusofLoyola' timestamp='1287875176' post='2181918']
A few pictures are up already of the first profession of Sister Maria Teresa of the Sacred Heart, part of the Monastery of our Lady of the Rosary, a Community of cloistered Dominican Nuns in Summit, NJ. Sister Maria Teresa posted before I came to Phatmass, but her given name is Lauren. Someone else perhaps can fill in her Phatmass user name for me.

I'm going to post the pictures from the Web site, but while I'm doing that, I'll give you the link to the pictures. There are only two photos, but the Web site promises more to come.

[url="http://www.monialesop.org/"]http://www.monialesop.org/[/url]
[/quote]

Her handle here was, I think, Blessed Imelda, Pray for Us. And she looks as happy as I've ever seen anyone look! Thanks for the link.

[LaPetiteSoeur]

So wonderful! I think I may have to see the Summit Dominicans at some point...

Sister Maria Theresa was also part of Time magazine essay/photo/speech thing about the cloistered religious life. I believe it's still on their website.

[ksterling]

The dog made me think about pets - I am a HUGE animal person. I always had dogs growing up and my mom raises and shows English Pointers. I have cats now because I work so much I'm not home enough to have a dog. However, I volunteer at my local SPCA and help train the dogs up for adoption. I never thought about pets in the convent but it would be SO awesome if the community I entered had a pet. Obviously the Summit Dominican do but I feel no call to the cloistered life. Do any other communities have pets? Any black and white kitties running around Nashville or Ann Arbor?

[DameAgnes]

I know the Capuchin Sisters of Nazareth have German Sheps.

[Chiquitunga]

I think I know more cloistered communities that have pets than don't! (okay, not raccoons, but that's the only animal emoticon we have here) Big dogs are pretty common in Carmel. They are also there for protection. Valparaiso [url="http://www.lasvegasmariancenter.com/images/carmel_pets5.jpg"]has one[/url] .. Alexandria has two and two cats (along with a bunch of other animals in there, like goats!)

Congratulations to Sr. Maria Teresa! She looks so happy! Yes, I saw that Time magazine article with her .. and few other articles/sites I think, that used her picture. She is very photogenic! Again, congratulations to her!!

[philosophette]

I was there, with another Salesian, and it was a beautiful ceremony. Sr. Maria Teresa was extremely happy!

[MithLuin]

I agree it's extremely common for communities (both cloistered and noncloistered) to have pets, though not all of them do. I know, because my sister is highly allergic to both cats and dogs, so she took note of the pet situation when visiting communities . As long as it wasn't really an inside pet that was given free range of the place she could make it work, but otherwise? She'd just sleep all the time!

[vee]

:DOMINICATION:
congratulations to her!!!



We have a kitten emote too

edited for typo

Edited October 25, 2010 by vee8

[holly.o]

Kitty parade for Sr. Maria Teresa! Really it should be dogs for St. Dominic, but I'm sure he won't mind since he has another awesome daughter now.

[Starets]

It is always good to see another First Vow :monk:

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='Staretz' timestamp='1288054797' post='2182548']
It is always good to see another First Vow :monk:
[/quote]

It IS good. Very good. Although the Summit Dominicans obviously have a nice size novitiate for a community of roughly only 20 women (give or take a few), and obviously, from the picture, have some aspirants waiting in the wings, it's been a long time--maybe even 10+ years(?--not sure) since their last solemn vows. I've never heard of problems with the community--it's just the way things go sometimes. (There was a Sister in first vows, who would have been due to take solemn vows in roughly a year or so, but she left the Community this summer apparently due to health problems.) The other Sister in first vows, Sister Joseph Maria, only took her first vows last winter, so the next solemn profession won't be sooner than 2 1/2 years or so. I'm sure the Community (and the Sisters themselves) can hardly wait.

It's been almost 3 years now since Sister Maria Teresa (previously Sister Lauren) was featured in a Time magazine photo story a couple of months after she entered as a postulant, and it feels like that wasn't very long ago, so the time will probably go by quickly.

By my very rough count, we've had at least 7 or 8 Phatmassers (maybe it was more) enter religious life just in the time I've belonged to Phatmass, which is a little over 7 months. So, over the next few years, it will be fun to see the photos of all the clothing ceremonies and temporary professons.

[HisChild]

She looks so happy!

When I was at St. Joseph Monastery in Portsmouth, OH (the PCPA monastery that just moved), we had a dog and a cat. I loved that.

[Lumiere]

More [url="http://www.monialesop.org/"]pictures[/url] are up...

[Piccoli Fiori JMJ]

Wow... reading from an earlier post, [url="http://www.monialesop.org/2010/10/i-thank-god-every-time-i-think-of-you.html#links"]Mater Ecclesiae Fund for Vocations received 33 applications this year[/url]! Wow! I had no idea... I how many PMers are part of that 33?