Monastic Immersion Experience - Sinking in!

I have been here at Visitation Monastery in North Minneapolis for three weeks now - and this past Wednesday a little commitment ceremony was held in which I made my promise to live with the community - to live their way - for the next six months. They asked me to write my own statement of commitment.

Since I am the first person to come to Visitation for the Monastic Immersion Program, there was no model or example to follow. I ended up writing several drafts - the process or narrowing down what I wanted to say was surprisingly meaningful to me - and this is what I ended up saying:

• I would like to begin by sharing what has been my favorite scripture for all of my life:

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that have I sought after:

To live all the days of my life in the House of the Lord,

To behold the Beauty of the Lord,

And to inquire in his Temple.

I always wanted to live in the house of God – which I originally associated with finding my right place in the Church – although I see it more broadly now.

Another important thought has resonated in me since my late teens or early 20's – from the existential philosopher Soren Kierkegaard: Purity of heart is this: to desire only one thing. I've spend many decades trying to unwrap what that means.

And it seemed to me that the key to living with singleness of heart, embedded in the House of the Lord, would be to practice what Brother Lawrence taught about the Practice of the Presence of God by continually refocusing my attention on Him. I have tried all my life to do this – and I always wished I could do it within a house of prayer – with others of like mind.

When I came here last summer, I discovered that this is the place my heart has hungered for – a place where everyone lives every moment of every day oriented toward the presence of God - where all the activities and concerns of each day are infused with prayer.

I remember asking Sister Katherine last summer when I first visited here: "What do I not know about you that makes you the way you are?" I know now what it is. It is the way you live these monastic rhythms, the way you have learned to be with each other and with the neighborhood.

That recognition awakened in me a fierce longing to live this way – I believe that longing was God's call to me to leave what I have known and receive the gift I have so long sought.

I am deeply grateful to you for inviting me to share this way of living.

I commit to you that I will try to live out of the spirituality of Saints Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal. I will cultivate gentleness and quiet within myself. I will enter willingly and eagerly into the rhythm of your common and private prayer. I will try to be observant about what I can do to serve the needs of the community. I will try to set aside my own agendas to work wholeheartedly toward your goals. I will look for Jesus in the faces of the neighbors and friends who come to your houses. I will listen and value what you have to teach me about living this way.

I have a great concern that your presence here shall continue after you. I will do everything I can to tell your story and to encourage others to come see for themselves and to consider whether God is calling them to this unique way of iife. If it is too late for me to join your community, I will look for others who are younger and more able.

The better I know you, the more I love you. And I am so grateful for the love you have shown me.

I will try to make each day of these next six months the fulfillment of that old longing – to live every day – all day – in conscious awareness of the Presence of God in prayer, service, and community. I can't imagine any place where that might be more possible than right here.

I commit myself, with God's help, to share your life in this way.

Then, each of the sisters took one of the specific elements of Salesian spirituality, gave me the "word or phrase from it," and prayed a prayer of blessing for me to obtain that specific quality or virtue. Here are some of those words of blessing:


Sister Mary Frances chose the word Hope. Sister Mary Virginia word was Interiority . . . (and she said we'd talk about its meaning in one of our conferences soon.) Sister Katherine said she chose, "We are companions on the journey." She added that she chose that because "I feel that you already carry so many of our Salesian words are already  in your Salesian heart and it was appropriate to acknowledge that, by saying, "Let us walk together, encouraging each other on this journey."

Sister Suzanne chose Salesian simplicity: ". . . something i pray for you to really delve into while you are on this phase of your journey. I know you have greatly had to simplify your life in order to even come here for the 6 months immersion...no easy task. i greatly appreciate how you have done that and how you have/are managing to do all you do and keep all your materials and computer stuff in the third floor suite at Girard."

Sister Mary Margaret was not able to be there for the ceremony - but later told me her word of counsel for me was Optimism - and she reached up and traced the sign of the cross on my forehead as she said it.

So with those words, I am expressly admitted to the community - for these six months. I am embraced by lovingkindness. It was a deeply meaningful experience. I was surprised. I didn't expect it to be so moving. The next day I was still resonating with it, so I went out onto the back porch for some time for reflection. I looked up into the sky - and took the picture which is at the top of this post - this is a place which fosters contemplation.

So what is this Salesian spirituality that underlies Visitation life? I have known bits and pieces of it from the past: the phrase "it's easier to catch flies with honey than with vinegar" is extrapolated from the writings of St. Frances de Sales. He is sometimes called the Saint of Common Sense because what he taught is within the grasp of any sincere Christian: to live gently, trust the mercy of God, seek the presence of God within ordinary life, and let that gentleness extend to oneself as well as to others. Radical teaching - especially given the time period (17th Century, when Luther was roaring, Calvin was fulminating and the Catholic Church was anathematizing everything Protestant.

Years ago I kept this quotation under the glass on my desk at school: "There is nothing so strong as gentleness, and there is nothing so gentle as real strength." I didn't know they were the words of Frances de Sales.

For all their gentleness, the Visitation sisters aren't easy on themselves - they don't live the kind of austerity and perform the penitential practices that were common in in religious life in the era of Francis and Jane. Instead they practice an interior austerity where they internalize the teaching of their founders. Their practice of Holy Poverty is so complete that they own nothing at all individually. The large crosses which they have worn these 400 years are exchanged yearly so that there is no attachment even to this religious symbol - and they trade their bedrooms every year - also in imitation of the Lord who had no place to lay his head.


Everything that happens all day is immersed in love - and failures in charity are dealt with simply and gently by returning to the intention to "live Jesus."


One of my favorite quotes from Francis is this: If you happen to do something you regret, be neither astonished nor upset, but having acknowledged your failing, humble yourself quietly before God and try to regain your gentle composure. Say to yourself, "There, we have made a  mistake, but let's go on now and be more careful." Wow!


 A young married man who lives next door was given a booklet of quotes from Frances de Sales. He grew up in a a religious home, but has rejected his childhood faith in adulthood. After reading Francis, he came to one of the sisters and told her - his eyes filled with tears - "I never heard of a God like this one . . . "



In spite of the monastic "routine," every day is different because every day brings new people, new needs, new insights, new tasks to do. I have just come from Fremont House where neighbors are gathering to leaflet the neighborhood with posters advertising the "Neighborhood Night of Peace," coming up on August 1st. About 500 people are expected at Ascension Parish for this night of wholesome fun and neighborliness: there will be food, games, prizes, and sharing life. The event is co-sponsored by Christian churches and the neighborhood Mosque. This video shows what I expect to happen Wednesday night:  I saw that video last year - and that was one reason I came here - to see for myself.

In the middle of the day a woman came looking for help. She and her family have just moved here from St. Paul. She and her four daughters have been the victims of violence in their previous home - they were robbed at gunpoint. The oldest daughter was raped savagely and sustained injuries which will prevent her from ever having children. The perpetrator has been tried and is awaiting sentence of 36-50 years in prison. But the daughter couldn't endure living in that neighborhood any more. So they are getting settled here - and they need "everything." So the sisters found some hygiene kits left from camp - toothbrushes, combs, soap, shampoo, etc. and are helping them find other resources.

Today two young women worked most of the day at Girard House, helping the sisters  with cleaning and preparing for the big doings on the 1st. There were stacks of blue special-event T-shirts that needed to be folded and stacked by size. They came over to Fremont and joined us for Evening Prayer at 4:45.

Two small boys, 8 or 9, showed up, too. They sat on little stools, held the prayer books and hymnals, and at time for petitions, they asked prayer for a relative, Charles, who is in jail. They clearly understood little of what they heard - but they like to come and be here with the sisters. Sometimes they get treats. Sometimes they help out - I think they swept the back porch today.  I think they really come because they know they are loved.

So I am back at Girard House now (I delivered lemonade to be served by the leafleteers when they return from their task). And in a few minutes, I'll join Sister Mary Frances in the kitchen and we'll chop up vegetables for tonight's stir-fry dinner.  So stir-fry veggies and chicken for dinner tonight. We're having a guest for dinner - a judge who presides in juvenile court - an old friend of all the sisters. And after dinner, time for a visit.


And then we'll come upstairs here at Girard for Night Prayer (Compline) in the little chapel. (Which is now my charge. That means it's my responsibility to keep it clean and tidy and to change the decor from time to time.)






I was pleased to see that outside the chapel there is a little holy water font and a plate that reads "Peace to All Who Enter Here." It is identical to the one that is part of my door-knocker at home in Forks - the one that has been on my door for 38 years this month. It was a welcome sight - sort of bringing together two parts of my life.

Tomorrow is Sunday. We'll have Morning Prayer at 8:30 rather than at 7 AM. And then we'll go to the local parish for mass. Then we'll see what comes next.

We're having fish for dinner. We went to Pearl Lake on Thursday (the monastery's weekly "shut down day." We visited friends of the sisters who have a cabin on the lake - and we went out in a pontoon boat and fished for "sunnies," beautiful little fish with yellow and blue markings. It was the first time in years that I'd fished - and a very different kind of fishing than I am used to, indeed. It was the first time ever for Sisters Mary Frances and Mary Virginia. Mary Frances caught seven! I think we caught about 20 in all that afternoon. So tomorrow we'll eat 'em up!

So this is my attempt to share what it feels like to be "immersed" in monastic life! If I were younger, I'd ask to stay forever. And for now, I'll just live it one day at a time.

You can run, but you can't hide . . .

They say you can run, but you can't hide. And that is true for me. I think one reason I wanted to live with the Sisters was because the church as I have been living it is driving me crazy. I became a Catholic because I love the Church. And I have based my life on that choice. My identity is Catholic. There's no place else where I can be me. But it isn't always easy to live with the shifting currents of ecclesiastical politics - and we are living right now in a time when it sometimes feels that the aggiornamento of Blessed John XXIII is being crushed by a conservative/restorationist movement within the church. Sometimes it seems like others are drawing lines to define who can "be Catholic" in such a way that they draw me out . . . and these issues followed me from Forks to Minneapolis.

In April of this year, the LCWR, or Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents the leadership of 80% of American sisters and nuns was presented with a Doctrinal Assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious by the Vatican's Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.  The LCWR came into being in the 1960's at the request of the Vatican office for religious life. It is made up of the leadership of the major congregations of nuns and sisters in the United States - representing about 80% of all American religious women.


Since then there has been a great deal of conversation (furor) concerning this doctrinal assessment and it's purpose, meaning, legitimacy, etc. on the national level. There has been a great deal of pain in my heart over this controversy.
One of the reasons I have been drawn to want to be with religious sisters, to stand with them in their mission and life-style, is that I see them "being church" in the way I believe the Spirit has led us in our time - to inclusiveness, to empowerment of the roles of the laity in the church (and nuns and sisters are considered laity), to "engagement with the world," to the "spirit of Vatican II," -- all that captivated and drew me to the church in the early 70's. Since I have founded my whole life since 1974 in the church, these tensions within the church are very significant to me. I didn't "inherit" my Catholic identity - I chose it. I believed everything I learned at that time about what it meant to be a member of the Body of Christ, a part of the People of God, and a lay person called to full participation in the Church, to a "lay apostolate." And I bought into it whole-heartedly.

It seemed logical to me, after Don died in March of 2009, that I should renew my self-offering to God - and that started something I didn't anticipate. Knowing full well that I am entirely too old to be a consecrated religious sister, I began to long for that anyway. And so began my "vocational adventure" which has led me to two different expressions of that hope. Knowing that there was no way I could become a Visitation sister, I still wanted to experience what it would be like to live this monastic life-style, embedded in a poor - and violent - neighborhood of North Minneapolis. So I came for the "monastic immersion experience." And I hope to find some permanent relationship with the IHM sisters after that.

There have been two key experiences for me this summer which are at the heart of my adventure. I was privileged to attend the Mass of

Newly elected President Jane Herb
installs the new Vice President,
Sharon Holland.

Transition of Leadership this summer at the Motherhouse of the Immaculate Heart Sisters in Monroe, MI. I was very touched by the great wisdom, spirituality, and the charisms manifested in that event - and by the homily given there by Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany in which he gave great encouragement to the IHM Congregation (and to me): that they have done exactly what they were asked to do by Vatican II -- and that they are carrying forward the spirit of that church council. His talk has left me with renewed hope.

The IHMs have been part of LCWR from the beginning, and several of their members have served as Presidents of that organization. I was encouraged by what the retired sisters had to say about me concerning this issue of conflict between the hierarchy and the nuns. They stand confident in what their lives have meant and why they traveled the road they have traveled in the last 50 years. They believe that the Holy Spirit has and will continue to lead the church. I left Monroe encouraged and my spirits lifted by the spirit and stories of these great women of the Church.

(borrowed from their website)

Then I came to Minneapolis to stay with the Visitation Sisters - who share a similar confidence in the guidance of the Holy Spirit. They left their cloisters in traditional Visitation Monasteries more than 20 years ago to found this urban monastery - under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, with the documents of Vatican II and its emphasis on the "engagement with the world" in mind (and a document issued from the U.S. Bishops concerning the "preferential option for the poor")  and through a process of mutual discernment with their own Visitation leadership. Their Federation of Visitation Monasteries helped them to found their work here.

I had the opportunity to join them on a trip to the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, MN to attend a "Study day" for LCWR's Region 11 (which includes North and South Dakota and Minnesota). Dr. Richard Gaillardetz, of Boston College, was the speaker. He is a historian who focuses on the history of Vatican II and the use of authority in the Catholic Church. His presentation was wonderful for me - since Vatican II ended before I became a Catholic, and I know its history mainly through watching TV and reading newspapers and magazines during the time of the Council. So what I learned was illuminating and helpful. (And I am now reading the books I picked up there: Gaillardetz and Clifford's, Keys to the Council, Massimo Faggioli's, Vatican II: The Battle for Meaning, and Yves Conger's huge My Journal of the Council. (Whatever topic engages me, I dive in all the way - I want to know what I'm thinking about, talking about.)

There were about 3-400 sisters present at the conference (based on my mental math: 40 tables of 7-8 persons at each table). I felt very privileged to be part of their day - to listen to their speaker, to listen and share in their table conversations between sessions - and to observe their graciousness and lack of rancor, their deep faith.

Some of you may have been following the "Nuns on the Bus" as Network, an organization of religious women who work to lobby for social justice in the political arena. (I missed seeing them when they came to Detroit and Monroe, but a friend is sending me one of their T-shirts!) These Nuns impressed me because they spent their energies SUPPORTING the bishops in their lobbying of congress for a budget which will provide adequate care for the poor and the marginal. Click below to hear Sister Simone Campbell explain.


This one below of Pat Farrell, President of LCWR responding in an NPR interview on Fresh Air is crucial to understanding the difficulty that exists if there is not to be real dialogue:  (It is audio only - and lengthy - but full of crucially important information.






It is clear to me - after reading the Doctrinal Assessment - and listening to Sister Pat Farrell speaking above - that if any real dialogue is going to occur, someone better notice that the "real" LCWR views have been misrepresented in the assessment. My own bishop, Archbishop J. Peter Sartain heads a committee of three bishops appointed to supervise the "reform" of the LCWR. The other two: Bishops Leonard Blair of Toldeo and Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, IL have already made it clear that they aren't interested in dialogue. Sartain has a reputation of being pastoral and of being a listener. God help him. He's got his work cut out for him.

And - great irony - my psychotherapist, Fran Ferder, who helped me to survive a personal crisis prompted by the pedophilia scandal in my own parish, has written this article about some of the dynamics that appear to be operating in the way this is being handled.

For a person who's been a Catholic only a little more than half my life and who has lived it out in an obscure outpost in the north woods (i.e St. Anne's Parish in Forks, Washington), I am sooo enmeshed in these ecclesiastical politics! I need to be with the sisters at this point - to stand with them in solidarity - and to watch them live the Gospel of Jesus in the Spirit of Vatican II. Thank God for his kindness in giving me this milieu in which to live through these times . . .

So I go to prayer four times a day - and chat the psalms and do the readings - and gain some distance and needed perspective. They meet Jesus at the door sill, invite Him in for dinner, peel potatoes, have meetings, pray for special needs of friends and strangers. And it all seems quite all right. I'm glad I am here.

*NOTE: There is another group of religious superiors, the CMSWR or Congregation of the Major Superiors of Women Religious which split off from the LCWR early on and which represents a smaller group of American women religious who have a very different vision for religious life.


Note: I am also helped by reading Notes from Stillsong Hermitage - 

Sunday morning - Mass at Ascension Parish

Mass is said here at Visitation Monastery about three times a week. Other days the sisters go out to parish masses in the neighborhood. On Sundays, they most often go to Ascension Parish, just four blocks away. I went with them last summer and loved it. And I went again today for the second time since my arrival on July 5.


Ascension Parish is "doing church" in the way I believe it's meant to be done: it's inclusive, vibrant, down-to-earth, REAL. The music group is superb - a pianist, drums (of more than one kind), and a group of singers who are g-o-o-d! Including a young boy who is amazing.


There is no air-conditioning in Ascension Church and it's HOT in Minneapolis! Two big fans blow through open doorways up by the front - and that's where the sisters have headed both of these past two Sundays. Right next to the fan and the music group. This Sunday the pew in front of us was filled with children who, I believe, have parents in the music group.



I look around the church and I see diversity everywhere - old people, young adults, families, lots and lots of children, a truly multi-cultural church. The sign out in front reads, All are Welcome! and it's obviously true!




The pastor here is Fr. Michael O'Connell, who has served in some very important roles in this diocese: he has been Moderator of the Curia for the Archdiocese of Minneapolis-St. Paul (which he calls a fancy title meaning CEO of the diocese); he also served for many years as Rector of the Basilica of St. Mary, an enormous edifice which serves as spiritual home to 5400 families. In recent years, he chose to become pastor of relatively small Ascension Parish in N. Minneapolis where he has created a place of safety and welcome for all people in this neighborhood which is rich, diverse, and a place where violence is commonplace.

The church itself is old - it is lovely, old-fashioned, has ornate statuary and beautiful stained glass windows and Stations of the Cross. The picture at the right was taken as the the procession was beginning in the back of the church - the pews filled up simultaneously with the arrival of the priest, servers, and lay ministers.

The service began with the baptism of a baby: Caedon George . . .  (apologies to the family if I've misspelled his name here). Father Michael reminded us - as he instructed this lovely little boy - that in our baptism we are annointed Priest, Prophet, and King. He built on that idea in his homily later - in which he reminded the community, quite solemnly and quite simply, that a man had been attacked and killed on the sidewalk outside the door of the church where the fan was sitting, just a few days ago. Two weeks ago a five year old boy was shot at 8:30 in the morning as he lay on the sofa in the livingroom as a volley of gunfire was sprayed into the house - part of a feud between gangs. And a little farther back in time, a 3 year old was shot when stray bullet came through the wall of his house as he was carrying his dinner upstairs to a "safer room." Father Michael spoke with sorrow and told people, we must be prophets. Our children are killing each other.

Blessing of the children

At the conclusion of each service, it is customary here for the priest to call up all children and youth to the altar. They gather around Father, and all the people in the church raise and extend their hands over the children as he blesses them. Then the recessional begins, with the children leading the way out of the church, followed by Father, the servers, and the ministers. What a lovely custom. These children will grow up knowing that they were acknowledged and loved by the whole parish every Sunday of their lives.


This Sunday there is to be "blessing of gardens," so they all process out the side door into the church yard, where everyone follows, and all gather once more, as Father explains that every year, these "memory gardens" are blessed once more.

Linda and her fellow lay minister carry the holy water and sprinkle it liberally in every part of the garden as the priest and people pray the blessing.


Then it's time for the ice-cream social! 


So now it is Sunday afternoon, and I have some time to write - but not everything I wanted to write!  There is so much I want to share!  I'll save for another day some of the other experiences and impressions of these first days at Visitation Monastery. I'll have to choose from some of these:

• I attended an all day meeting on Saturday with some of the sisters in St. Cloud, MN - Region 11 of the Leadership Council of Religious Women. Richard Gaillardetz, a professor of theology at Boston College who specializes in "questions of ecclesiology" (or how authority works in the church). He presented a fascinating review of Vatican II and related it to current church events.Morning Prayer as we drove north. I got a quick drive-around tour of St. Johns at Collegeville on the way to the meeting. And I won a door prize at the meeting! (Note paper - for those little paper notes we used to write before email. Remember?)

• We had a young couple and their Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy - and a young woman who has been on a retreat at Jane House - for dinner last night. There has been someone for dinner nearly every night. Lots of tables to set, meals to cook, and dishes to wash. 

• Today two of the sisters are going to a baseball game (don't ask me who's playing).

• Another sister left this morning for a family reunion out of state.

• Another sister is returning tonight from a family visit.

• Sister Karen made peach/banana sorbet for dessert tonight. (I might even learn to cook here!)

• One of the sisters had news today of a death in her family.

I am thinking of St. Anne's and yesterday's memorial service for dear Richard Haberman. 


And my daughter-in-law MaryBeth who is running a 5K in Ocean Shores today - in the rain.  They will be starting back to California later this week. I am missing them already - and I'm not even there.

My life is amazingly rich - and I am extraordinarily happy.

Looking Back at Week 1 - Visitation Monastery

I can't believe I've been here only one week - such a kaleidoscope of impressions and experiences. How do I begin?

First, to clarify: Visitation Monastery is one foundation,
one community - but life here is spread out over three houses: two that make up the monastery proper: Fremont House (the original foundation - see above/right)  and Girard House, down the street and around the corner. That's the one shown in the large picture at the top, where I am staying these six months.

(It really is like one big house with a long hall between the two parts.)

And then there is St. Jane House, which the sisters rent and use as a spirituality center and retreat center. It's in easy walking distance also.

"Monastic Immersion Experience" - a very apt phrase for what is happening here! When I made my other two visits here - a week last summer, a few days in March - I sat on the edge of the pool and wet my feet and watched. Maybe walked out ankle deep in the pool. This time I've plunged in, gone in over my head, bobbed around, gasped for breath, floated briefly from time to time, splashed and rejoiced!

I haven't begun to get my bearings - but I am so full of joy and gladness! This is a community that is vibrant with life. Neighbors are stopping by all day. The house is full of children, babies, teenagers, young adults.

One evening we had visitors - more than 20 young adults who work with a ministry associated with Urban Homeworks - a group which buys and renovates derelict houses in the neighborhood.  These young people - Urban Neighbors - live together in Christian community in these houses which they share with people in need of housing and to whom they minister.

They come each year one evening to (in their own words) sit at the feet of the elders, the Visitation sisters. They ask the sisters to share what they have learned about living in community and sharing their lives with the people here in what they call the neighborhood of Old Highlands (or Near North) . This year some of these young people were just completing their term of service; some are staying on. They talked about problems of burn-out and how overwhelmed one can be by the needs one sees here.

It's hot here. Especially the first few days - they were brutally hot - suffocating humidity. Then a few thunderstorms and showers came, and it became much more pleasant.  I'm grateful to discover that my 3rd floor bedroom is very cool - good air-conditioning here. I'm making my way up and down the three sets of staircases that one navigates in this house with relatively little difficulty, and I'm trying to learn to think ahead about what I will need from one hour to the next.

I arrived here last Thursday. Thursdays are "shut down days" here at the Monastery. There is a sign in the windows that the sisters are not available today. Each sister chooses how to spend the day, how to include their own private prayer time; there is no common prayer.  We will meet for dinner at Fremont house.

I don't have a car here, but Fremont house is right on the city bus line. Sister Suzanne spent the day introducing me to riding the bus - and exploring the downtown. Minneapolis is a BEAUTIFUL city! I hadn't known that! A vibrant, well-planned urban area with all kinds of interesting things going on. I'm not a city person, so I was grateful for a guide. That's her above. I'm trying to keep up!

I loved being on the streets of Minneapolis! Wonderful place for people-watching! We had lunch on the sidewalk - and then I picked up my needed office supplies at Office Depot and bought a bus pass -
and we found our way back to the Monastery. I may get brave enough to take the bus on my own one of these days. Stay tuned. Anyhow, dinner tonight at Fremont - and until then, blogging, journaling, and putting away my new supplies!!

'Taint dull here! More later.

And now I'm here! At Visitation Monastery in North Minneapolis

I left Washington on June 29th, to begin a great adventure. For several months I've been making preparations to leave the home that has been mine for 38 years this August. I have had a wonderful life in Forks, and not one day has ever passed that I didn't thank God for the life that was mine there: the beautiful forest and rivers, lakes and ocean, my 27 years of being on the faculty of Forks High School, my beloved St. Anne's and all my friends there.

I never thought to leave there. I thought it was God's plan for my life to live out the second half of my life there (the first half having been lived in California in the Sacramento Valley), and to die there. I used to joke about Don and I having take some sort of accidental "vow of stability" once we were in Forks. We did feel that was where we were called to be. And I think it was true. We "belonged" to St. Anne's. We "belonged" to Forks. We helped to raise two generations of young people there - and we watched those teenagers turn into adults and then into parents and grandparents! They became our friends.

And then I found myself moving into new and unknown territory.

My first stop on my journey this summer was to the campus of the MotherHouse of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Monroe, MI. I attended the Nuns Life Community Summit there at the beginning of July - a wonderful weekend with amazing women. I'll tell more about that later.

And then, on the 5th of July, I came here to Visitation Monastery where I will stay for the next six months - my long retreat - my "monastic immersion experience."  Another homecoming, another set of loving greetings. I have spent the last three days getting unpacked, settled in, and re-integrated into the life of these monastic sisters who live among and share the lives of the poor in this neighborhood.

I'll continue this as I can - without losing my place in the rhythms of monastic life as it is lived here. Stay tuned.