One of the four pillars of Dominican life is study, and so we’re always looking for ways to continue our education. Recently, we’ve been having many interesting classes in our Monastery that have been fun and challenging.
Our chaplain, Fr. Thomas Schaefgen, is a philosophy professor, so we asked him to give us monthly classes.
He’s teaching us logic, particularly how to form a sound argument. We’ve had fun coming up with propositions and seeing if we can make a valid syllogism with them. In the new year, he’s going to teach us philosophy of the human person.
One of the most important things we do as nuns is sing, whether it’s singing hymns at Mass or chanting the Liturgy of the Hours. So we asked Dr. Deborah Dalton, a retired music professor, to give us voice lessons.
She works with us both as a group and individually, especially with correct breathing techniques, projection, and enunciation. We’re all working very hard on our singing and appreciate her expertise.
We’ve also started having art classes from Mrs. Faustina McPherson, a retired art teacher. She’s offered to teach us all kinds of creative art, such as pottery and painting.
First, she taught us how to make coil pottery, a special technique that uses rolled lengths of clay to make designs that come together to create a pot.
She gave us a special type of clay that doesn’t require a kiln. We just let it dry and admired our finish pots. We had fun learning something completely new and getting to work with our hands.
We are very grateful to everyone who is teaching us all these new things. We love having the chance to expand our minds and our talents.
