75th Jubilee – Dominican Life on Lotus Lane

A Jubilee 75 Years In The Making

Sr. Mary Veronica of the Holy Face, O.P., recently celebrated 75 years of profession as a cloistered Dominican nun!

Sister Mary Veronica, herself

The celebration was so big it stretched over several days. Everything began on the evening of June 18, when we had a gift table for Sister.

Sister has always had a strong devotion to Our Lady of La Salette.

She received all kinds of unique and creative gifts, most handmade by the sisters.

Many of these she was able to give as gifts to her friends and relatives who attended the jubilee Mass the next day. Which was just perfect!

June 19 was the Mass itself, celebrated by Bishop Eduardo Nevares, auxiliary bishop of Phoenix AZ and a good friend of the community for many years. His concelebrants were Fr. Ian Bordenave, O.P., our chaplain, Fr. Denzil Vithanage, pastor of St Patrick’s parish here in Lufkin, and Fr. Ron Foshage, M.S., one of our confessors.

You can see a video Fr. Denzil made of the Jubilee Mass here!

Sr. Mary Veronica and Sr. Mary Margaret bringing up the gifts

Most of the community (with the priests and bishop) following Mass

On Saturday, June 24, we had our day of community celebration in honor of Sister’s jubilee.

Sister Mary Veronica greeted with her jubilee song, “Jubilate Deo”

The novitiate band: Sr. Maria Goretti on accordion, Sr. Mary Pauline on guitar, Sr. Marie Augustine playing the drums, MIchelle playing the cymbal, and Sr. Mary Christine on xylophone and bamboo.

It’s a soup pot! The novitiate also sang and danced to a fun song called, “We’re Swimming In The Same Soup” about getting along harmoniously–very appropriate for our multicultural and multiracial community!

Sr. Maria Cabrini shared some puns and jokes.

We never get tired of hearing Sr. Maria Goretti play the accordion!

After a talking meal and some time to rest, we returned in the afternoon for a treat and games.

Sr. Mary Jeremiah tries her luck!

To finish the day, we watched the movie “Hidden Figures” during evening recreation. This true story of Black women at NASA during the 1960s was inspiring and enjoyable. We finished it on Sunday evening. Then, we showed some old home movies on Monday night!

Whew! It’s been quite a time! But after all…how often does one celebrate her 75th jubilee? Here’s hoping you make it to your 80th–and even beyond!

Jubilee Pictures!

Wow! We apologize for being so long in getting this up. All we can blame it on is “the monotony of the cloister”…you know, nothing ever happens at the Monastery…But without further ado, pictures!

Fr. Tom Condon, our provincial, with all the active Dominican sisters who joined us!

All our religious guests–the Dominican sisters, friars, and friar-novices, plus two diocesan priests and Bishop Eduardo Nevares of Phoenix, AZ

Enjoying recreation with everyone in Gate Parlor

It was a most wonderful and blessed day, and we are grateful to God for all the many graces He showered down! May His name be forever praised!

Jubilee Mass!

One of the priests who attended (and concelebrated) our 75th Jubilee Mass recorded it, and you can see it here (it starts about 9:07) https://www.facebook.com/stpatrickslufkin/videos/1025853264863968/

We hope to have more pictures and other good things to post next week! It’s been busy (as usual) here but it will happen!

75th Jubilee Mass!

We’re celebrating our 75th Jubilee! Finally…after postponing it a year (thank you COVID) we’re having our Mass of thanksgiving for 75th years in the Piney Woods of East Texas, praying, praising and interceding. If you’re in the Lufkin area on November 9 at 10:00 AM, you’re welcome to join us! We do ask that you wear a mask. If you can’t be with us in person, please join us in prayer!

Celebrating Our 75th Jubilee!

Today marks the 75th anniversary of our monastery\’s establishment here in Lufkin! We had big plans for today: a Mass with numerous concelebrants, a reception, visits, souvenirs…but all that went by the wayside when COVID-19 came along. We hope to reschedule these events later, but for now our celebration has been scaled back a lot. Nevertheless, we are still celebrating!

We published a long and informative article on the history of our monastery in the latest issue of our newsletter, “Monastery Bells”. If you don\’t receive the Bells, you can read it here.

(By the way, if you\’re interested in receiving our newsletter in your snail mailbox, please go to the email address on our website and send us your name and address! It\’s free!)

We also want to share just a few pictures that didn’t appear in the Bells:

This is another view of the first incarnation of the Monastery of the Infant Jesus. Note the statue of the Infant Jesus in front! We still have this statue in our infirmary yard. In 1945, the Monastery was right on Lotus Lane, instead of up the hill as it is today.

This photo was actually taken in the late 1940s, but it shows the growth the Monastery experienced in a short amount of time.

The sign on Lotus Lane directing visitors where to turn onto the access road to reach our Monastery today.

Part of the front of the Monastery today.

And finally–another version of our latest community picture!

We give joyful thanks to God for the past 75 years, and pray we will be here for many years to come!