das8949 Posted June 11, 2013 Posted June 11, 2013 I am copying with permission my latest email from Faith which was received today! She is doing well as you will read and is very happy! Its been too long again! I hope you are well? All is good here, though the novitiate is down to 3 (from 5), but Sr Maria made her Simple Profession the other week which was lovely! We also now have 21 rescued hedgehogs, including 2 elderly, blind ones - video on our website. My asthma is still pretty dreadful, but otherwise life here is going really, really well and I am extremely happy. I am feeling more and more settled and comfortable, and am beginning to be able to give myself more fully to God in the life I believe he has called me to. We go up to Dysart for the formation meeting in a couple of weeks. Its a nursing home Carmel and as care of the elderly is a real passion of mine I am very much looking forward to seeing the set up and meeting some of the sisters. As always, I must rush! Lots of love Faith xxx
TheresaThoma Posted June 11, 2013 Posted June 11, 2013 It so good to hear from Sr Faith. I do miss having her around as the "older sister" for us on VS but I'm so happy to hear that she is settling in more and more and is happy. Hedgehogs! So wonderful! (I also enjoyed seeing Sr Faith in the video.) And I do say they are appropriately "dressed" for a Carmelite convent :hehe2:
Gabriela Posted June 11, 2013 Posted June 11, 2013 Can we have link to the video? I want to see the hogs. :hehe2:
TheresaThoma Posted June 11, 2013 Posted June 11, 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VTecRIM2WHI There you go
TheresaThoma Posted June 11, 2013 Posted June 11, 2013 21 hedgehogs???? Yes! No more slugs and snails in their garden!
Gabriela Posted June 11, 2013 Posted June 11, 2013 Huh. Sounds like a win-win arrangement. Thanks for the video! It made for a good dinner movie. ;-)
beatitude Posted June 12, 2013 Posted June 12, 2013 21 hedgehogs???? I saw Faith on Saturday and got the scoop on the hedgehogs. :P Notting Hill Carmel has a beautiful large orchard in its enclosure (unusual for inner-city London) and a conservation group has been giving the nuns advice on how to look after it. When a local animal charity was looking to rehome some disabled hedgehogs that they'd been treating (normally the animals would be released back into the wild, but obviously that's not possible for blind and three-legged hedgehogs) they heard about this monastery, surrounded by a high wall, that has a big beautiful orchard where the hedgehogs couldn't possibly come to any harm. The wall means no predators can get in, and also the hedgehogs will feel secure. So they contacted the prioress and Notting Hill Carmel agreed to give sanctuary to these aging and slightly broken hedgehogs - twenty-one, the perfect Carmelite number. :P The nuns don't actually get to see many of the hedgehogs, as they're nocturnal, but there are two who are out often in the day as they can't even tell light from dark. The nuns have named this pair Osborne and Henrietta. The rest don't have names.
AuthorOfMyLife Posted June 15, 2013 Posted June 15, 2013 Oh my goodness, that video is wonderful! The hedgehogs are pretty cute (they remind me of nicer-looking possums!)--and how lovely they now have a safe home (although 21 seems like a LOT of hedgehogs). I cracked up laughing near the end of the video because of the cats being introduced to the hedgehog drinking from a water bowl. The cats were so terribly nervous! It was like they were thinking, "What IS this thing?" I never got to meet Sister Faith, but I'm so happy for her. God bless her and the other Notting Hill Carmelites!
Chiquitunga Posted June 15, 2013 Posted June 15, 2013 Cute video!! :raccoon: It was great to see Sr. Faith in it a bit too! & to get this little update :)
Sr Mary Catharine OP Posted June 16, 2013 Posted June 16, 2013 di Ricci, the last name of St. Catherine di Ricci means Hedgehog! This February I flew to our new monastery in Squamish, BC for a formation meeting. I met another nun at the airport and then we drove to the monastery. We had to stop for some lunch and on the menu was Hedgehog gelato. It was the day after St. Catherine's feast so we just had to have some!
Sponsa-Christi Posted June 16, 2013 Posted June 16, 2013 We had to stop for some lunch and on the menu was Hedgehog gelato. It was the day after St. Catherine's feast so we just had to have some! My first thought upon reading this: I hope the gelato wasn't made with real hedgehogs???
the171 Posted June 16, 2013 Posted June 16, 2013 Could you tell her I haven't forgotten her letter? I've been terribly busy.
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