Meet Our Novitiate |
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Sr. Elizabeth Love OSB Holy Angels Convent Final Profession Date 2008 |
Sr. Virginia Baltz OSB Holy Angels Convent Final Profession Date 2008 |
I was born in McGehee, Arkansas and was a member of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Little Rock when I felt called to the religious life. My three children were grown and had families of their own. They were very supportive of my decision and are proud to tell their friends about “Sister Mom.” Through Eucharistic Adoration, my involvement in parish and diocesan ministries, and my theological studies, God filled my heart with an intense desire to serve him with my whole life. The inspiration of St. Elizabeth Seton and much prayer and discernment led me to |
I was born into a large family having 7 brothers and 5 sisters, and received a good Catholic education in St. Louis, Missouri. I then spent many years as a teacher, doing office work, being involved in parish ministries and taking care of my aged mother. I moved to Pocahontas, Arkansas where I worked as the parish secretary. God called me in a very unexpected way. After a severe car accident in which my life was spared, my confessor advised me that perhaps the Holy Spirit was calling me to be a religious sister. At my age, I was quite apprehensive. But with encouragement, much prayer, and listening to the Holy Spirit, I realized God was asking more of me. So I contacted the Benedictines of Holy Angels. I am so blessed to be living this life of complete union with God in prayer and work. I hope to make perpetual vows and give my whole life to God according to the Rule of St. Benedict. |
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Sr. Deborah Coffey OSB Holy Angels Convent Final Profession Date 2008 |
Sr. Therese Marie Dunn OSB Holy Angels Convent Final Profession Date 2009 |
Before entering religious life, I worked primarily in hospital administration as a planning assistant as well as in a variety of positions in the medical environment. My last position before entering was as an office manager for a physician in Homosassa, Florida. I entered Holy Angels Convent in Jonesboro and made my first vows on August 6th, 2004. I am now in my fourth year of teaching Religion at St. Michael’s School in West Memphis. I am also studying Iconography with a Master Iconographer. I write these Icons both for private veneration and for the Church. I look forward to my final profession, with our Olivetan Benedictine Community, in 2008. |
I am the 7th child in a family of 15 children. When I was a child, my parents said the family rosary every night and prayed for vocations. From grade school through junior high, I thought that I would become a sister. But in high school, I never thought about it again. I got married and had four children, and as my children started to leave home, my spiritual life started to grow. I wasn’t even aware of how much I was growing spiritually until my son was about to graduate from high school. Two of my children lived close to me in Fort Collins, Colorado, and we went to several conferences with Scott Hahn. This caused me to want more information about my faith, the Saints, the Church, and everything that pertained to God. My sister gave me the conversion tape of Fr. Corapi. At the end of the tape, I was in tears and decided that I wanted to become a sister. I found |
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Sr.Cecilia Nguyen OSB Holy Angels Convent Final Profession Date 2009 |
Sr Mary Beth Hackley OSB Holy Angels Convent Final Profession Date 2011 |
When I was 7 or 8 years old living in Vietnam, I prayed that someday I would become a boy so that I could go to a Seminary, become a priest, and work as a missionary in poor countries. I knew that my country was not rich, but those were my wishes. Later on, when I was about 12 or 13 years old, I told my grandmother that I wanted to enter the Time passed and my family left Vietnam to go to the United States. I ignored God’s call by telling Him that I was not worthy. I kept busy in school and spent most of my weekends at Church for all kinds of works (joining in choir, teaching CCD, and Eucharistic youth society). Yet all of this did not satisfy me; I still longed for something Finally, I listened to the call and answered. In 2003, when I was 30 and living in Chanhassen, Minnesota, I decided to enter Holy Angels Convent. |
In May 2004, I graduated from a three year Spiritual Christian Living Course wherein I explored my personal relationship with the Lord through different forms of prayer. From that experience, I felt that the Lord was calling me to him through Scripture. I put the Lord off for a year, and during that time I had a longing that I could not satisfy. In Spring 2005, my sister and mother asked me what I was going to do with my life. I knew that the Lord was speaking to me through them. This was the turning point for me. I knew than that I would make the step to enter religious life. While I was looking at different communities, the vocation directress from Holy Angels Convent called me and told me that she was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, which was where I was living. I knew right then that Holy Angels was On August 1st, 2005, I entered Holy Angels Convent at the age of 48. |
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Sr. Mary Clare Bezner, OSB Holy Angels Convent Final Profession Date 2011 |
Novice Maria Christi Cavanaugh Holy Angels Convent Final Profession Date 2012 |
It took me about 10 years to accept the Lord’s call. My first clue was when I was 18. The next time I remember thinking about it was when I got out of the Air Force. I was in college and teaching high school Bible study in Lindsay, Texas. I kept telling the kids that they needed to give religious life some thought if they really loved the Lord. Of course, I didn’t want to believe that I was being called. After graduation, my sister and I went on a mission trip to Honduras for one year. One night, I was reading a spiritual Catholic novel, and suddenly knew God was calling me. The feeling was so strong that I started crying and jumped out of bed and told God Two years later, when I was 27, the women in my rosary prayer group kept praying for vocations and then looking at me (at least that’s what it felt like). I finally got the courage to ask questions to find out if you are really called. Within a few weeks, I had to tell my family which was very hard. I was very close to them and never wanted to leave North Texas. But my mother said she had been telling people that I was her little nun for years. I wish she had let me in on the secret. After visiting many communities, I entered the Olivetan Benedictines in 2005, at the age of 29, because I felt that is where God wants me to be. |
In 1988, I began to sense the Holy Spirit calling me, and this call continued to intensify. In 1997, during a weekend in prayer, I felt that God spoke to me that my ministry call would be in my late 40’s. So I was content to wait. In 2003, I felt an increased thirst and hunger for prayer and God, along with a growing dissatisfaction of my job and possessions. During the Mass on Corpus Christi Sunday in 2005, I experienced an overwhelming sense of passionate desire to serve the Lord, and told God I was even ready to die for him. When I met with my parish priest, he suggested I consider religious life and visit some communities. When I attended a discernment retreat in September 2005, I was praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament when I felt a burning shaft of Jesus’ love come through my head and into my heart. I asked Jesus and he said “I am giving you the gift of religious life, it is yours if you want it.” I said yes. In November 2005, after a 30-day discernment visit at Holy Angels Convent, I felt for the first time in my life great happiness and a holy contentment like a great void that was being filled. I went back to Texas and did what Jesus instructed in the Gospel. “Go sell what you have, give to the poor and follow me.” I sold my house, gave away my car and possessions and entered the convent in January 2006. |
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Novice Frances Mure Holy Angels Convent Final Profession Date 2012 |
Novice Gloria Knaggs Holy Angels Convent Final Profession Date: 2013 |
I was raised as a Roman Catholic and tried to live my faith as well as I could. However, I never felt that what I was doing was all I was supposed to “BE” for the Lord. It was that “little voice”, so to speak, that kept encouraging me to look beyond the physical world for my calling in life. After attending a young adult retreat on life choices, which covered religious life too, it still took me 10 years to start the process. I started writing to different places for information, and also joined a religious life discernment group at my parish. I was 36 years old at the time when, after looking at the Dominicans and feeling called to a more contemplative lifestyle, I asked for entrance into the Olivetan Benedictines. I have recently transferred, from one of our houses in the Southwest to Holy Angels Convent and with 10 years in religious life already, am looking forward to becoming an integral part of this growing community. |
Over the last ten years I have found myself wondering “What does God want for my life?”. With my wide range of interests and desires I remained open to many possibilities. During High School, I was interested in pursuing missionary work or some kind of music ministry. In college, I studied Theology and discovered my great passion for it, as well as a desire to know God more. As a result of this “ discovery” within myself, I began to seriously consider the religious life. I visited several religious communities, prayed and spoke with several religious and my spiritual director. In March 2007, during my fourth visit to Holy Angels Convent in Jonesboro, God gave me peace about entering this particular community. On August 3, I arrived from my home in Jackson, Michigan to take the next step in discerning a vocation to the religious life. |