Sister Michelle Dosch, Sister Elizabeth Farias, Prioress Lois Eckes, Sister Paule Pierre Barbeau, and Sister Donna Schroeder
Sister Elizabeth Farias from Iowa and Sister Paule Pierre Barbeau, from Canada but most recently South Carolina, made their First Monastic Profession at a special ceremony on Thursday, July 11, during Evening Prayer.
In the opening hymn the assembled sang of gratefulness to St. Benedict for the monastic way of life. The reading of the Prologue of the Holy Rule of St. Benedict, was a reminder that the road is narrow at the beginning and then “as we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run the path of God’s commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love.”
After the singing of the psalms, Sister Lois Eckes, prioress, called the novices and their witnesses forward for the Rite of Monastic Profession in which they publicly made their promises of obedience, stability and fidelity to the monastic way of life, which by monastic tradition, includes celibate chastity and monastic poverty. They made their promises for three years.
Pictured above with the prioress and two newly First Professed, are Sister Michelle Dosch who serves as the Postulancy and Novitiate Director (first left) and Sister Donna Schroeder (far right), First Monastic Profession Director, who will take the two new Sisters under her wing for the next three years. Sister Donna received a special blessing and prayer for her extended commitment to Sister Elizabeth and Sister Paul Pierre.