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Women in Initial Formation
Counting Our Blessings
4/2/08
by Sister Mary Catherine Shambour, OSB, Director of Vocations
Each day at the close of Evening Prayer, our Community gives thanks to God for the countless blessings we have received and also asks God to inspire women and men to respond to His call to serve Him in religious life and the priesthood. God has blessed us with five women who are responding to that invitation, each at a different stage of the four steps along the journey to monastic profession.
While all these women are still in Initial Formation, the Community is nonetheless grateful and overjoyed that there are signs of new life and women willing to join us in committing their lives to God. As we count these blessings, let us continue to pray for their perseverance and for others to be inspired by their example so that "in all things God may be glorified."
Sister Dorene King
4/2/08
September 8, 2007: Sister Dorene King, originally from California, a former Lutheran pastor and convert, who completed the first stages of Initial Formation at Sacred Heart Monastery in Richardton, North Dakota, was granted permission to transfer and made her First Monastic Profession with St. Scholastica Monastery in a ceremony at Evening Prayer.
First Monastic Profession is a public expression of intention to seek and find God through the threefold promise of stability, conversatio, and obedience. Christian monastic tradition holds that celibate chastity and monastic poverty are also indispensable to the common life. The duration of First Monastic Profession is three to six years, after which the candidate and the Community decide if the Sister is ready to embrace Perpetual Monastic Profession.
During this period, Sister Dorene will continue to receive guidance in integrating Benedictine values into her life, while she serves as Senior Consultant, Spiritual Care for the Benedictine Health System.
Postulant Lisa Mauer
4/2/08
September 1, 2007: Having completed six months as an Affiliate, Lisa Mauer from Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, in a special ceremony at Evening Prayer, was received into the Community as a Postulant, the first stage of initial formation-a period of transition to monastic community life.
In the ceremony Lisa received the large Benedictine cross traditionally worn by Postulants, a set of the Community's prayer books for Liturgy of the Hours, and an apron (formerly known as a scapular) embodying the Benedictine motto "Work and pray." Lisa now lives in the Monastery and participates in the common life of the Sisters while taking classes in Scripture, Psalms, and Benedictine history. After a period of six months to two years, Lisa may request acceptance into the Novitiate.
Lisa graduated from Southwestern State in Marshall and has experience as both teacher and athletic coach.
Novice Luce Marie Dionne
4/2/08
August 22, 2007: After completing one year of Postulancy, Luce Dionne, a professional architect from Boston, Massachusetts, was received into the Novitiate in a ceremony at Evening Prayer, during which she was given the name Sister Luce Marie.
The Novitiate is a period of intense spiritual formation for commitment to the Benedictine way of life through prayer, study and discernment, as well as through community life and community service. As prescribed by Canon Law, the length of the Novitiate is a minimum of twelve months, after which the Novice may request of the Community to make First Monastic Profession.
Sister Luce Marie's ministry will be at the Monastery. Sister Luce Marie is originally from Boston and Maine and graduated from Catholic University of America with a degree in architecture.