The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia

Sister Esther Anderson (second from left) leads the sisters in blessing Sister Rose Mary Eve Holter (second from right).

On Saturday, August 6, the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia gathered at the 4:15 P.M. Vigil Mass in Our Lady of Angels Chapel in Aston, Pennsylvania, to joyfully witness Sister Rose Mary Eve Holter renew her religious profession as a Sister of St. Francis. Over one hundred and fifty sisters, companions, and guests making retreat at the Franciscan Spiritual Center filled the chapel with prayer and song in celebration of God’s extravagant love and abundant goodness. Father Cyprien Rosen, OFM.Cap, presided at the Eucharist. Sister Esther Anderson, our congregational minister, received Rose Mary Eve’s vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. 

Sister Rose Mary Eve gathers with her Franciscan sisters and companions in OLA Chapel.

Since reentering the congregation in 2008, Sister Rose Mary Eve has resided at St. Stephen’s Convent in Kingsville, Maryland, sharing Franciscan community life with Sisters Barbara Carr, Kathleen Dauses, Angela DeFontes, Kathryn Dougherty, Margaret Xavier Romans, and our candidate Kathy Flood. Rose Mary Eve serves in spiritual and music ministries. During this third year of her temporary profession, she will be preparing to celebrate her perpetual profession next summer on Sunday, August 12, following the Feast of St. Clare.

In keeping with the theme of our June 2011 Congregational Assembly, From Blessing to Blessing, we have experienced many blessings within our initial formation program this summer. 

• On July 17, over one hundred sisters gathered in Aston to ritually receive Simona Botezatu and Sara Marks into our novitiate. A week earlier, Simona and Sara were welcomed to Canticle House, our congregational novitiate, in South Philadelphia, by Sister Mary Craig, our novice minister, and Sister Kathleen Gannon, who will form their local community during their two-year novitiate. Sara and Simona travel to St. Louis, Missouri, in mid-August, for a nine-month canonical experience with other Franciscan novices at the Third Order Regular Franciscan Common Novitiate. Watch this space for more news on our novitiate program in the future! 

  Sister Rose Mary Eve gathers with Sara Marks, Kathy Flood, Simona Botezatu and Sister Diane Tomkinson (left to right) following her renewal of vows.

• The days prior to renewal of vows were a time of prayerful preparation for the four women currently in our initial formation program. From Wednesday through Friday evening, Sisters Rose Mary Eve, Simona, Sara, and candidate Kathy Flood gathered with members of the initial formation team for a Franciscan hermitage experience, in the beautiful wooded setting of Clare House and its hermitages. The women came together each day for morning and evening prayer and meals prepared by Sisters Helen Budzik, Mary Craig, and Diane Tomkinson (directors of candidacy, novitiate and formation, respectively). The rest of the day was spent in prayerful solitude. This rhythm of contemplative solitude and sisterly relationship invited both the serving “Marthas” and hermit “Marys” to enter more deeply into the gospel spirit of Francis and Clare of Assisi, integrating service, contemplation, and communal relationship as sisters and brothers with one another and all creation.
• On August 7, members of our current and past formation teams, sisters currently and recently in initial formation and members of our congregational leadership joined in celebrating Sister Patricia Novak as she concludes eight years of service as codirector of our vocations program on the west coast. From her home in Portland, Oregon, Patty has traveled tirelessly throughout the Pacific Northwest and from California to Wyoming, offering vocation retreats and programs in schools, colleges, parishes, spiritual centers, and youth conventions. Sister Mary Beth Antonelli, who has ministered with Patty for the past three years as codirector of vocations programs on the east coast, led the gathered sisters in a beautiful prayer service celebrating Patty’s many gifts, followed by a festive luncheon at Clare House.
• As the formation team gratefully blesses Sister Patty for her service in vocation ministry, we also bless and welcome Sisters Christine Still and Elaine Thaden who will serve as part-time codirectors of our vocations program on the west coast beginning this fall. Sister Christine will be based in the Seattle/Tacoma area where she is also pursuing part-time graduate studies. Sister Elaine will be based in Spokane, Washington, where she also serves in spiritual ministry and spiritual direction.

Profession of Vows Most gracious God, I acknowledge with gratitude your loving call to religious life. Today, in faith, in hope, and in love, I confirm my response to you through the profession of these vows. I Sister (N), dedicate myself to you freely and unreservedly through the vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, according to the Rule and Life of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis and the Constitutions of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia (for one year/all the days of my life). In a spirit of continuous conversion, I bind myself in fidelity and love, closer to Christ and to the Church.  I place these vows in the care of Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, and in your hands, Sister (N), our congregational minister.