Texas OP Nuns

October Surprise

Well, we had our “October Surprise” on October 15, the feast of St. Teresa of Avila. During the Mass, shortly before Holy Communion, our Chaplain, Fr. John Lydon, OP, had a heart attack. He was not able to continue the Mass, and our Sacristan distributed Communion.

Father John when he first arrived just a year ago.

He was rushed to the hospital and the doctors found he had “multiple blockages”. The Dominican Provincial decided it would be best to go to Houston for surgery. There are a number of Dominican Friars there and he is assigned to Holy Rosary Priory there. It was difficult to get him stabilized but he was eventually transported to a hospital in Houston where he had triple-bypass surgery yesterday.

This emergency has left us without a chaplain. It also occurs at a straining point in our diocese. Our Pastor celebrated Mass for us a number of times. But he has been transferred to the Cathedral in Tyler and is no longer in Lufkin. Fortunately, we had the joy of “meeting” him and visiting for an hour before he left. Father Hank Lanik has only been in Lufkin for 8 months; but the Bishop needs him elsewhere, so we are all trying to cooperate. Father Hank is originally from San Antonio and has lived all over the state of Texas. The people are very sad to see him go. He has truly endeared himself to everyone. He promises his replacement will be here in a week.

We trust in you, Jesus!

The Dominican provincial has also been trying to find a replacement for our chaplain. Every day we never know who will be in chapel to say Mass for us, or what time the Mass will be.

One of the volunteers the provincial found to help us with Mass was Fr. John Restrepo, OP, the Pastor of St. Dominic in New Orleans. The Church is very large and was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina. Father John has shown himself a true brother!!! He drove from New Orleans to Houston to see our chaplain, Fr. Lydon, then drove up to Lufkin to celebrate the Liturgy with us, before making the return trip. About an hour after Mass were able to visit in the Parlor with Fr. John and it was delightful. He confessed that he “loved to talk and tell stories”. Our prioress assured him, “we love to listen”!

Our Lady of the Rosary

Although today is celebrated as the 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, it is also (though not celebrated this year) the feast Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.

Our Lady of the Rosary giving the rosary to St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena
in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel at Santa Sabina.

It is also the travel day for Sister Mary Rose to return home from Italy and the important meetings she attended. We share with you a few concluding photos of this important event.

A group picture of those attending the International meeting of Dominican Nuns.

The English-language group at the Macro-Meeting.

Sister Mary Rose “officiating” at the organ for the Liturgy.

Spiritual Power-House — Dominican Nuns take to the streets!

A peek into a courtyard at Santa Sabina (Dominican Headquarters).
According to tradition, St. Dominic brought the orange tree to Rome from Spain.
Many places throughout the world now have cuttings from “St. Dominic\’s Orange Tree”… including ourselves.

Dominican Nuns\’ Meeting in Rome Conclusion

The International Meeting of Dominican Nuns concluded on October 2 with a tour of Santa Sabina, the headquarters of the Dominican Order, which included the Church, St. Dominic\’s cell, and other areas.

Then they joined the Community of Friars there for Mass and Vespers, followed by refreshments in the cloister.

Here is a photo of (right to left) Sr. Maria Christine, Sr. Mary Catharine, and Sister Augustine from the Dominican Monastery in Bocaue, (Bulacan) Philippines, touring Santa Sabina.

Dominican Nuns’ Meeting in Rome Part 3

We have received some photos of our Sisters at the special meeting in Rome, which will soon be over.

Our Master General, Fr. Bruno Cadore, OP

The Promoter General of the Dominican Nuns, Fr. Cesar Bajo Valero, OP

President of the Association of North American Dominican Monasteries, Sister Maria Christine, OP

Lufkin Sister Mary Rose speaking with Fr. Cesar.

Sister Mary Rose of Lufkin speaking to the Assembly of Nuns.

Sister Paola of Italy, a member of a new monastery near Turin.

Dominican Nuns Meeting in Rome part 2

We received a video of the meeting room for our Dominican nuns in Rome. It opens with a shot of Fr. Cesar Valero Bajo, OP. He is Spanish and the Promoter General for the Nuns in the world. Then the camera moves to the right. There is later a nice shot of our American Nuns. Sister Mary Rose has a laptop open taking notes, to our right is Sister Mary Catharine and Sister Maria Christine. From 0:52-48 is Fr. Bruno Cadore, the Master of the Order of Preachers. He is French. You can see our three American nuns here— 0:09-:07, also Sister Mary Rose is at 0:39-37.

There are 31 Dominican nuns from throughout the world meeting in Rome to discuss in depth the new Vatican document on enclosure, Cor Orans. In addition to the plenary meeting there are language group meeting: 1 English, 1 French, 3 Spanish.

Stay tuned for more news!

Annual Retreat 2018

One of the nuns has a private conference with Father.

Last week we had our annual retreat preached by Fr. Marty Iott, OP. He is currently the Prior of Holy Rosary Priory in Houston, TX. He graciously drives up to our monastery once a month to hear confessions of any Sisters who wish to take the opportunity.

The theme of the retreat was the Beatitudes. It was very insightful. We love retreats. They give us space to set aside our work and focus more time on prayer and reading to nourish our spiritual lives.

Each year we have an 8-day retreat, once a month we set aside the First Sunday as a retreat day, and also each month each Sister may have a day of personal retreat. Each Sister has a 3-day private retreat for the anniversary of her Religious Profession.

These special times are not only important for us, but for everyone. In our frantic world everyone needs to stop and step back in God\’s presence for a period of time and take stock of how one\’s life is unfolding.

Try it, you\’ll like it!

Dominican Nuns in Rome

Dominican Nuns from all over the world have been called to Rome for a special meeting concerning the new Vatican rules about the Enclosure.

From the United States, we are represented by the President of the North American Association of Dominican monasteries, Sr. Maria Christine, OP of Corpus Christi Monastery in Menlo Park, CA (on the left); the representative to the International Commission of Nuns, our own Sr. Mary Rose of our Monastery of the Infant Jesus in Lufkin TX (on the right); and, Sr. Mary Catharine, Vice President of our Association from the Monastery of the Holy Rosary in Summit NJ (in the middle).

We received news today that they visited the Angelicum yesterday… and we have some photos! The Angelicum is the nickname for the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, that is the Dominican university in Rome. It was originally built in the 16th century by Saint Pope Pius V to house the Dominican Nuns moving from their original buildings where St. Dominic (+1221) set them up.

The nuns in front of St. Albert the Great, OP, one of the patrons of the university.

The nuns in front of the university.