The monastery has worked very hard to make 1,000 mission rosaries for the beatification ceremony of Archbishop Fulton Sheen.
The beatification will take place on September 24 in St. Louis, MO, and organizers have called on the faithful to make rosaries for those participating in the celebrations. It’s particularly fitting that they be mission rosaries, because Sheen designed the World Mission Rosary in 1951 while he was National Director for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. These beautiful rosaries have a different color for each decade, representing different continents of the world.
Sr. Mary Pauline, Sr. Mary Jeremiah, and Sr. Mary Christine with the finished rosaries.
May Our Lady of the Rosary bless all those who participate in the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen!
We were recently blessed with a visit from the Dominican Promoter of Nuns, Fr. Cristobal Torres Iglesias, O.P. In his role as the promoter, his job is to liase between the nuns and greater Dominican order. He lets the Master General know what’s going on with the nuns and gives us the help we need, so we were very excited to get to know him and let him get to know our community.
Fr. Cristobal prays in chapel with Sr. Maria Guadalupe and Sr. Maria Rosario
Fr. Cristobal was with us for a few days, so we let him come inside the cloister and experience our lives with us.
We met with him as a group several times, and he told us about his life and about the state of Dominican cloisters throughout the world.
Fr. Cristobal was very interested in the state of our monastery and our contemplative life. We also enjoyed hearing stories about his life and experiences with the Dominican order.
We also took him on a tour of our monastery and grounds.
We also had Fr. Cristobal come in to eat with us, and we were able to have more casual, informal conversations with him.
Fr. Cristobal has dinner with Sr. Mary Rose, Sr. Mary Margaret and Sr. Mary Therese in the community room
We greatly enjoyed our visit with Fr. Cristobal and look forward to seeing him again. We’re very blessed to have such a wonderful friar as our promoter.
Fr. Cristobal with a parting gift from the monastery
This May we were blessed to have Fr. Don Goergen, O.P., give us a retreat on Dominican spirituality.
Fr. Don Georgen, O.P.
This year for our annual retreat we invited Fr. Don Georgen, a Dominican friar of the Central Province, to give us some conferences. Right now he’s the chaplain at our sister Dominican Monastery of Mary the Queen in Girard, IL. He gave us some very interesting talks on spirituality and contemplative life and we greatly enjoyed our time with him.
Sr. Martin Marie of the Eucharist, O.P. (Carolyn Mill) was born on March 28, 1946, in Philadelphia, PA. She studied psychology, reflexology, and homeopathic medicine, and also worked as a prep and short order cook at Howard Johnson’s.
After she converted to Catholicism in 1976, she joined the Dominican Nuns of the Perpetual Rosary, Monastery of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Lancaster, PA, in 1978. She served the monastery as community secretary, sacristan, librarian, cook, and sub-prioress. Skilled in calligraphy, painting, metalwork, sewing, embroidery, counted cross stitch, and crochet, Sister Martin Marie took artwork orders for the community and sewed altar linens. She had a remarkable capacity for friendship, attested to by her voluminous correspondence.
When the Monastery of the Immaculate Heart of Mary closed in 2021, Sr. Martin Marie asked to come to the Dominican Monastery of the Infant Jesus in Lufkin, TX; formally transferring to this monastery in 2022. She went to her eternal reward on May 13, 2026.
Rosary for Sr. Martin Marie will be held at the Monastery Chapel at 7:00 PM on Sunday, May 17, 2026. The funeral Mass with be celebrated by the Most Rev. John Gregory Kelly at 10:00 AM on Monday, May 18, 2026, at the Monastery Chapel with internment in the Monastery cemetery immediately following the Mass.
For Mother’s Day this year, the community celebrated with an Alice in Wonderland themed tea party. We had special tea and treats, Wonderland-themed games, and watched the Disney cartoon version of Alice in Wonderland in the evening.
In the (golden) afternoon, we gathered in the community room to enjoy a delicious tea party. After we got our treats, the Mad Hatter Twins (Sr. Mary Gabriel and Sr. Mary Therese) crowned our prioress, Sr. Mary Rose, as Queen.
Then we divided into three teams to play the Wonderland games.
Then the sisters enjoyed a variety of games that led us to the Wonderland Tea Party. For each game, we won stickers that we enjoyed displaying on our capes!
The first game was to find the key to unlock the door into Wonderland. Sisters from each team searched the community room, finding many small heart keys but only one large rose key.
Can you see the key hidden under the tea pot banner?
Sr. Bernadette Marie finally found the right key!
To get into Wonderland, the sisters had to follow the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole.
Sr. Mary Pauline throws the bean bag rabbit into the rabbit hole.
Sr. Maria Rosario was so close!
After going down the rabbit hole, the sisters had to pin the grin on the Cheshire Cat so he could give them directions to the tea party.
Sr. Mary Therese ties the blindfold on Sr. Mary Margaret.
Good try!
Sr. Mary Giuse gives Sr. Mary Rose directions for where to pin the grin.
Sr. Mary Pauline got very close!
Sr. Mary Jeremiah and Sr. Mary Therese give their best Cheshire Cat grins.
Once at the Wonderland Tea Party, the sisters played musical chairs to see who could get a seat at the table.
“The Unbirthday Song” was the soundtrack. Sr. Mary Giuse won!
We all had a wonderful time eating delicious tea treats, playing the Wonderland games, and collecting stickers. We also greatly enjoyed watching Alice in Wonderland after spending an afternoon in our own wonderland world. Happy Mother’s Day!
Dominican Life on Lotus Lane 