TV show reports Carmelite commitment

sr-catherine

“I was so happy, so happy, and I was filled with peace. It just felt right.”
That was how viewers of TVNZ’s Sunday show on August 14 heard Carmelite Sr Catherine of Christ describe taking her first vows at the monastery in Hoon Hay, Christchurch.

Sr Catherine (formerly Catherine Smith) had featured in a 15-minute Sunday piece on the Carmelites and life at their monastery, which screened on May 1.

In that piece, Sr Catherine explained her attraction to the Carmelite life, and her sense that God was calling her, but she was also frank about her misgivings.

“You give up the possibility of a career, the possibility of a life, a committed relationship with a man, the joys that come with that, the pleasures that come with that.”

Sr Catherine, a novice who had been at the monastery since 2014, admitted this was one of the things she had been thinking about.

“I feel sometimes the desire to be in the arms of a man,” she said, admitted that monastery life had its hard moments.

Asked if she may not stay, she agreed she might not.

But on August 14, she was happy to explain to the Sunday show why she had decided to proceed to her first vows.

“I decided to stay because, all along, I have had this deep certainty, and it has withstood the test of time.

“You know, I love it in the monastery, even though it can be difficult, and I want to stay here because it seems that this is what God wants for me.”

The vows that she has made now, of poverty, chastity and obedience, for one year, will be repeated annually for the next two years, Sunday explained.

Then she will be looking at final vows, a solemn profession, which is a commitment for life.

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Michael Otto

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