Photos of Sr. Mary Ana’s Perpetual Profession
On November 23rd, Sr. Mary Ana of the Divine Mercy, O.P. professed perpetual vows as an extern sister of our monastery. Our auxiliary bishop, Bishop Elias Lorenzo, O.S.B. offered the Mass with thirteen concelebrating priests, including Fr. Allen Moran, O.P., the provincial of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph (the Eastern province), and Abbot Marc Crilly, O.S.B., the abbot of St. Benedict Abbey in Still River, MA, near where Sr. Mary Ana grew up. The pastor of her home parish in Massachusetts was the planned homilist for the Mass, but he had to cancel at the last minute due to illness. Bishop Elias put together a beautiful homily on short notice.
Sr. Mary Ana professed her perpetual vows before a chapel filled with many friends and family members. A group of friends from Sister’s alma mater, Ave Maria University, attended the profession, as well as many relatives from Sister’s home state of Massachusetts. As an extern sister representing our community to the outside world, she has also had the opportunity to get to know many people from around Summit, many of whom attended the ceremony. Following the Mass, after signing the Book of Professions, Sr. Mary Ana greeted her guests in our reception hall.
“The extern sister specific vocation is to serve the cloistered sisters’ life of withdrawal and silence by caring for the needs outside the enclosure and to offer charity and monastic hospitality to all those who come to the monastery.”
We are grateful to the Mater Ecclesiae Fund for Vocations and its donors, who made Sr. Mary Ana’s vocation possible with a grant covering her student loan debt. Their support of religious life is a real gift to the Church, and our community would not be the same without the sisters who received their help to enter religious life. Thank you as well to all of you who continue to make our vocations possible by supporting our monastic life of prayer!
The photos of Sr. Mary Ana’s profession were taken by Jeffrey Bruno, who also wrote an article about the profession for the National Catholic Register, which you can find here: https://www.ncregister.com/blog/mary-s-yes-becoming-a-bride-of-christ
