Mass of Professions December 9, 2023

Lula Loor (Maria Catalina) and Sarah Fabry (Mary Raphael) cut the ceremonial cake after making their temporary professions on Saturday, December 9, 2023, at the Holy Rosary Monastery in Summit, NJ.

On Saturday, December 9, 2023, the feast of St. Juan Diego, the Holy Rosary Fraternity was blessed to celebrate a Mass of Professions at the monastery in Summit. Fr. Ignatius Schweitzer, OP, the Provincial Promoter for the Eastern Province of the Order, was the celebrant and homilist.

Two fraternity members, Sarah and Lula, made their temporary profession during the Mass. Temporary profession, the second to last of the stages of formation, lasts three years and is a period of fuller participation in Dominican life and deeper learning of the Dominican charism, in order to discern the possibility of a lifelong vocation.

Immediately after the Mass, five new members—André, Caridad, Gabriela, Joseph, and Julian—were received as novices, marking their entrance into the Dominican family. The novitiate, which ordinarily lasts about a year, is a time to become familiar with the Dominican way of life, especially through studies with a formation director, and so discern whether to make promises after that time.

As always, the Mass of Professions was an occasion both sacred and joyous, with the nuns’ choir adding a heavenly glory to the liturgy. The Gospel of the day, as Fr. Ignatius observed, could hardly have been more fitting for the profession and reception of the new lay Dominicans: “Ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest” (Mt 9:38). At the reception that followed in St. Dominic’s hall below, the fraternity rejoiced as a family for and with its newest members.

The next Mass of Professions will take place on Saturday, January 27, 2024, at 9:30 a.m. in the chapel of the Holy Rosary Monastery. All are welcome to attend!