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What Ever Happened To.......?


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[quote name='Sr. Mary Catharine' post='1309555' date='Jul 2 2007, 04:53 PM']They disbanded in 1990 or there abouts. I visited them in 89. It was all before all the "Current' controversy.
They lived Franciscan poverty but I really disliked that they prayed the whole office in English (pre Vat II) recto tono!

I heard that many went to other Orders. I think some went to the Carmelites in CO[/quote]


First I'd heard of them.

Thanks, Sister, for answering for me!

Blessings,
Gemma

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[quote name='HollyDolly' post='1311148' date='Jul 3 2007, 03:05 PM']:saint: Thanks Gemma for the information.Do you know why they disbanded? I'm just curious.

The Sisters of Charity of Zams,Austria amalgameted with the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady,Mother of the Church in the 1970s.It was just their house in Wisconsin that did so.In fact I think that Wisconsin was their only convent here in America.
There was a community named the Catechist Missionary Sisters of St.John in the Austin,Texas diocese years ago,but don't recall seeing them listed on the diocese website.
Have to get downtown one of these days to the San Antonio Public Library and look at the Catholic Directory tocheck some things out.Some diocese websites I found don't always list the religious communities in the diocese.[/quote]

Since I deal mostly with the cloisters, I hadn't expended a lot of energy on the active orders--esp after all the discernment I did during college.

Perhaps Sr. Mary Catharine would know?

Blessings,
Gemma

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Sr Mary Catharine OP

[quote name='Gemma' post='1313368' date='Jul 5 2007, 09:39 AM']Since I deal mostly with the cloisters, I hadn't expended a lot of energy on the active orders--esp after all the discernment I did during college.

Perhaps Sr. Mary Catharine would know?

Blessings,
Gemma[/quote]

I think it was a number of factors. Their school had closed and they had lost a number of sisters not too much before I visited. Fr. Nelson, who was their founder had died and I think they didn't have anyone to step in his shoes and continue to guide the community. Also, they had a small rest home: St Olav's and the government passed new laws and they didn't have the money to make their little place up to code.

At the time I visited they had about 12 sisters. I used to laugh at their advertisements: Blue Franciscans: that's our habit not our faces!

They were really out in the middle of no where and as this was pre-Internet they were quite isolated.

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  • 11 months later...
sistersintigo

[quote name='Sr. Mary Catharine' post='1282620' date='May 28 2007, 02:43 PM']About 18 years ago they were all called back to France. They had about 7 in the novitiate in MA at the time. Two of the American sisters finally decided to come to the US and entered the Dominican Nuns in West Springfield, Ma. From what I hear they aren't doing too well in France.

Rumor Godden wrote a novel about them called "Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy"

I don't know about the Dominican Brothers of Bethany. There is a 3rd Order group out in CA that is for deaf vocations.[/quote]
Sr. Pia Elisabeth OP is the current Prioress General of the Dominicaines de Bethanie; she is a German-speaking Catholic of Swiss origin, and her home convent of Bethanien in Sankt Niklausen, Obwalden, Switzerland, is still going. The foundations in Italy, Belgium, Austria, and Slovenia were closed. In France, the few foundations which remain active, include:
Montferrand-le-Chateau, in Franche-Comte. This is the all-important Maison Mere, or motherhouse, and was for a long time the generalate, as is traditional. Today this old foundation does two things: care for the infirm and most elderly of their sisters, and custodians of the chapel and cemetery in which the FOUNDERS' remains are interred.
To the end of opening his cause for sainthood, many years ago the Dominican friar founder, Pere Marie-Jean_Joseph Lataste had his remains removed from his tomb, the centerpiece of the outdoor cemetery. Thus exhumed, his remains went through the standard procedure, in which examination and some samples were taken for the canonization process. And rather than return the corpse to the tomb, it was interred underneath the chapel itself, with a plaque on the floorboards directly above, in the sanctuary. The tomb (presumably empty) remains, and is a place of prayer in its own right.
Saint-Sulpice-de-Favieres, Essonne, Ile-de-France, not far from the Orly airport south of Paris, was built from the ground up for the Sisters within the last fifty years. This is the current generalate, and Sr. Pia Elisabeth, the Prioress with her General Council, function from here during their terms of office.
They have their own website, en francais, can't put the link here.

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Perhaps Sr. Mary Catharine would know?

Blessings,
Gemma
[/quote]

I thought that SMC had left the forum around March, when I mentioned that "the emperor had no clothes", if you get my message.

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[quote name='EWIE' post='1570710' date='Jun 13 2008, 09:38 PM']I thought that SMC had left the forum around March, when I mentioned that "the emperor had no clothes", if you get my message.[/quote]

She did. The post from Gemma that you are replying to was made on July 5 2007 - this is an old thread brought up from the archives.

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puellapaschalis

[quote name='EWIE' post='1570710' date='Jun 13 2008, 10:38 PM']Perhaps Sr. Mary Catharine would know?

Blessings,
Gemma
I thought that SMC had left the forum around March, when I mentioned that "the emperor had no clothes", if you get my message.[/quote]

Sr. Mary Catherine's post was written in [b]2007[/b].

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  • 1 year later...

[quote name='sistersintigo' date='13 June 2008 - 02:57 PM' timestamp='1213379852' post='1570632']
Sr. Pia Elisabeth OP is the current Prioress General of the Dominicaines de Bethanie; she is a German-speaking Catholic of Swiss origin, and her home convent of Bethanien in Sankt Niklausen, Obwalden, Switzerland, is still going.
[/quote]
Here is news that links together (alas, not online though) the Community of the Resurrection, superior Renata Camenzind OP, in rural Maine, with the Dominican Sisters of Bethany founded by Pere Lataste in France.
In addition to the Dominican community of contemplative sisters, the farm homestead welcomed residents who were not strictly connected to the vowed community...it is sr. Renata's dream to be more inclusive. Interestingly a choice was made by two Dominican women, Sr. Marguerite de l'Enfant Jesus OP, and sr. Marie Therese OP, about where to retire. The latter sister, a US native, met the French-born Sr. Marguerite in Florida and became her companion. Sr Marguerite was final-professed to the French motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters of Bethany. When the New England foundation closed, and the European sisters returned to France, Sr. Marguerite would have been welcomed home with them. However she chose exclaustration in order to remain in the United States. Here she asked to be addressed as Sister Margaret, she understood English well but had pronounced French accent.
Sr. Marguerite de l'Enfant Jesus OP died this summer, having lived past her ninetieth year. After the wake and the memorial mass, the funeral procession left the Catholic parish where she was a communicant, outside of Portland Maine, and drove from the parish to the Community of the Resurrection deep in the rural countryside. Sr. Renata's community has a patch of consecrated ground not far from the farmhouse, under the open sky, with mountains in every direction. I was privileged to join the mourners at the graveside, where the Dominican sisters sang the Salve Regina unaccompanied under a cloudy sky with drizzling rain. And thus Sr. Marguerite's mortal remains were laid to rest, while -- according to the Pere Lataste charism -- her soul was welcomed into "la Bethanie du ciel," the heavenly Bethany with all the sisters who preceded her to heaven.

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  • 2 weeks later...
PrayerSupporter

For those who are interested, an update from the Community of the Resurrection from their September 2009 newsletter.

Christine started her second year novitiate on May 1st and continues her formation.

As reported above, Sr. Margaret (who was once the superior of Sr. Martin and Renata in Millis, MA) died in July, two weeks before her 94th birthday. Sr. Mary Therese (who, like Sr. Margaret, received permission from their superior in France to retire and live in a mobile home on the grounds at the Community of the Resurrection) continues to live in the mobile home.

The Community made their retreat in August, led by Fr. Hugh Burns, OP.

There are approximately 30 members of the lay Dominican group that meets at the Community location each month.

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  • 1 year later...
PrayerSupporter

An update from their Easter 2011 newsletter:

"Then came November and with it on All Saints day our sister Christine made her first vows in our chapel. Fr. Brendan Harnett celebrated the Mass and Fr. John Gallagher assisted. It was a simple but beautiful ceremony and Sr. Christine was all beaming. It is a great joy for us that after so many years one gives her life to God in our Community."


Thanks be to God!

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  • 6 years later...

Question , does anyone know is this book Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy, what the French movie “Angels of Sin” (not originaL title) is based off of? 

Thanks! :)

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Oh it looks like both stories star the Dominican Sisters of Bethany, but aren’t the same or based off each other (although I wonder if whichever came first was an idea for the other) The plots seem similar. I haven’t read or seen either yet but just got the movie on eBay. 

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/evetushnet/2015/08/a-vindication-of-the-rites-of-whores-rumer-goddens-five-for-sorrow-ten-for-joy.html

Edited by Chiquitunga
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15 minutes ago, Chiquitunga said:

Oh it looks like both stories star the Dominican Sisters of Bethany, but aren’t the same or based off each other (although I wonder if whichever came first was an idea for the other) The plots seem similar. I haven’t read or seen either yet but just got the movie on eBay. 

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/evetushnet/2015/08/a-vindication-of-the-rites-of-whores-rumer-goddens-five-for-sorrow-ten-for-joy.html

Actually, from what I can tell, the movie predates the novel by over 35 years. There's a lot of similarities between them, but also enough differences that they are indeed their own stories. 

I love them both, although I found that the first part of the book was a bit slow. Don't be discouraged if you do too; it does pick up. 

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Oh wow thanks truthfinder! That is neat you have read and seen both! I really appreciate your sharing that. And how interesting the movie redates the book! I do wonder if by chance Rumer Godden had heard of the French movie.. The English subtitles version is on eBay now, by the way. It’s hard to find with those.

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There are copies of the novel for sale via Bookfinder.com for as little as $3.48  (including postage) in the US.

https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&ref=bf_s2_a1_t1_1&qi=sl2ZfH0y9GG0QKvO.FuNbYMzEWk_1497963026_1:2:3&bq=author%3Drumer%20godden%26title%3Dfive%20for%20sorrow%2C%20ten%20for%20joy

I've read it and it's very good--though not as good, in my opinion, as Godden's "In This House of Brede." That is AMAZING.

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