Dear Parishioners:
Father Tim Deely
We welcome Fr. Tim Deely for a Mass of Thanksgiving this Sunday. As you know Fr. Deely was recently ordained a priest of the Diocese of Pittsburgh but he has lots of connections at OLM and here in RI. He is Fr. Connors former college roommate at Boston College and is a frequent guest at OLM. He also taught for nearly a decade at Bishop Hendricken High School before entering the seminary. I thank you for your warm welcome offered to Fr. Deely. Pray for him as I know he is praying for our parish!
I ask you to continue to pray for more vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life especially in the Diocese of Providence. Fr. Brian Morris, an OLM parishioner and graduate of OLM School, is the Vocation Director for our diocese, please keep him in your prayers too.
We have more good news about vocations from OLM! On August 8th, the Feast of St. Dominic, Laura Makin, an OLM Parishioner, completed her Postulant Year with the Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia in Nashville, TN. Laura is the child of Tom and Elizabeth Makin and now she enters her Canonical Novice Year. At the Reception of the Habit ceremony on August 8th she was given her new religious name, Sister Anna Josephine.
Sister Anna Josephine of the Nashville Dominicans.
The ceremony took place at the Motherhouse in Nashville in the presence of the entire community of some 300 sisters. Mother Anna Grace, OP, the Prioress General, conferred the habit and gave Sister Laura her new religious name. The tradition is that the Postulants submit three choices of religious names that take significance from their chosen Feast Day. Sister Anna Josephine's feast day is the Feast of the Presentation, February 2nd.
Sister Anna Josephine received the habit along with five other young women. We give thanks to God for Sister Anna Josephine’s vocation to the consecrated life as it is truly a great honor for our parish family. We also offer Sister and her family our heartfelt congratulations and prayerful best wishes.
The Nashville Dominican Sisters were founded 150 years in Nashville, Tennessee. They are a growing congregation with some 300 sisters. Their primary mission is teaching in Catholic Schools and in fact, they administer and teach at St. Pius V School in Providence. Please keep Sister Anna Josephine and the Nashville Dominican Sisters in your prayers!
The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia stand in stark contrast to the decline of many religious congregations over the last fifty years. While many congregations of women religious have grown older and smaller, the Nashville Dominicans have seen a boom in vocations and overall interest in recent years. As reported in Regina Magazine, the community has grown 46% in just the past 14 years, and with 300 sisters currently, are the largest they have ever been.
The reason for the continuing growth of the order is as simple as it is sincere. Contrary to a contemporary culture which is so morally confused and indifferent to God, the Nashville Dominicans offer a life of timeless truths and selfless service. If you have ever encountered Nashville Dominican Sisters or visited their Motherhouse in Nashville, you discvoer holy and happy religious sisters who are filled with the joy of the Gospel and a zeal for the Catholic Faith.
Sister Peter Marie O.P., vocations director for the Nashville Dominicans, observes:
“Many are hearing the call to give everything and are seeking an authentic religious life that is joyfully lived. They have discovered that true happiness is realized in doing the Lord’s will and have come to recognize the invitation of the Lord in the silence of their hearts. If you have heard the Lord’s gentle invitation to religious life, it may have taken you by surprise. Fear is not an uncommon response to the first stirrings of a religious vocation. However, if one is called to the religious life then, with time and prayer, fear turns to conviction and we can begin the first steps to finding and accepting his will. This conviction brings a peace and joy that nothing else can match. A young woman open to the call to give her whole life to Christ will find that she can only surrender to this irresistible prompting that He has placed within her heart.”
Pray for more vocations! Be well. Do Good. God Bless! Go Pats! Oremus pro invicem!