Fr Tony Rogers earns MA on Catholic Funerals
November 4, 2024
Two Sisters from the Community of Our Lady of Walsingham took important steps in their vocation journeys on the Vigil of the Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham. Sr Catherine reports.
On September 23 we had the joy of welcoming Valentina into Novitiate and witnessing Mairead make her First Profession of Vows with the Community. Novitiate is where one truly starts religious life after a time of discernment as a postulant. During novitiate one enters more deeply into prayer and studies related to religious life. If it is sensed that this is part of God’s calling, and with the consent of the community, a request can be made to take the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience for one year with the Community. These promises are then renewed annually for between three and six years, until it is discerned whether to take them for life at one’s final profession.
After welcoming Valentina into Novitiate during Vespers we then had a beautiful Mass, presided over by Fr Mark Hackeson and attended by family and friends of Sr Mairead. Before those gathered, she made her vows according to the particular formula used by this community.
Sr Mairead reports on the day: “It was amazing! I never thought the day of my first vows could be filled with so many graces and blessings. It was wonderful to share the occasion with some of my family from Ireland and France, friends from around the country, and of course, with my Sisters in COLW [the Community of Our Lady of Walsingham]. All have been part of the journey to this every special day. I really feel that I am answering a call from God and trust Him in the path He is leading me on. It is hard to pinpoint one moment in the past when I first thought God was calling me to religious life. I would think “No, He can’t be, so I’ll ignore it!” But God had other ideas and, over the last seven years in particular, He led me to an ever deepening desire to know more about my faith and COLW, helped me overcome my fears and gain the courage to take the steps leading to my first profession.”
We thank God for the gift of Sr Mairead and Valentina and ask you to keep them in your prayers. Please pray for us all as we start a major fundraising project to purchase a mission house in Walsingham, our spiritual home. With the community growing, the need for a second base from which we can help spread the joyful message of Walsingham is real! To find out more please go to: www.walsinghamcommunity.org/maryshouseappeal and consider supporting this cause!
Pictured above are the Community of Our Lady of Walsingham in the Slipper Chapel.
