On Sunday, August 29, 2010, at Evening Prayer, Sister Gretchen Johnston and Sister Mary Carla Flood made their First Monastic Professions.
Novice Sister Gretchen Johnston signs her First Profession at the altar.
Upon satisfactory completion of the one-year novitiate, candidates may request to enter the Community by making a public monastic profession of stability, fidelity to the monastic way of life, and obedience for a period of three years.
Novice Sister Mary Carla Flood reads her First Profession to the Community.
The document, written personally by the novice, is read aloud before the Prioress and Community. It is then signed at the altar by the candidate, the prioress, and two witnesses.
Sister Lois Eckes, Prioress, blesses Sister Gretchen (left) and Sister Mary Carla.
The newly professed members are then blessed by the Prioress and the Community.
The Community blesses the newly professed members.