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Wednesday, January 14, 2009

A New Daughter of Charity!


The Daughters of Charity welcomed a new sister on January 11 at the Shrine of St. Elizabeth Seton! Sister Salvatrice signed on the dotted line! She will now enter the seminary (not THE seminary). 

We call our novitiate the seminary. The Daughters of Charity are the first community of non-cloistered Sisters. We are a Society of Apostolic Life. Terminology for the Daughters is often different from other communities so that back in the 1600s we could remain outside the cloister in order to serve the poor.

Sister Salvatrice will leave in a couple days for Evansville, Indiana where our seminary is currently located. She will be there for a year and a half. It is a time of intensive prayer, study, and reflection. Her studies will include that of the Church, the heritage of the DCs, the vows (we make 4 annual vows), spirit of the community, and personal development. Once a week, Sister Salvatrice will have an apostolic day (service). She will leave Evansville for a period of about 6 weeks for an extended apostolic experience "on mission" with a local community of Daughters of Charity, then she will be "sent on mission" once her seminary experience is over. She is sent forth in the name of the community. She is not only serving in her name, but also that of the Daughters of Charity and the Church. Our mission to serve Christ in the poor is a corporate mission, one we accomplish together. Sister Salvatrice will not make her vows for the first time (first time since she will redo them every year) for another 5-7 years. So, there is the basic process once a woman signs on! I pray that many women have the courage to take that step in faith to follow the call of Christ in this radical way!

1 comment:

  1. Congratulations Sister Salvatrice, you and all the daughters are in my prayers.

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