You’ve likely now seen Beloved, Salt + Light’s documentary about the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia—better known as the Nashville Dominicans—who have developed a young, growing community through their charisms of contemplative focus, active apostolate, strong community life and love of the Church. Here is their 10-minute vocations video, created by S+L.
It may have been raining all day, but the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia brought the sun with them to the Salt + Light studios. Three of them arrived on Friday from Nashville, Tennessee for Saturday’s “Meet and Greet with Toronto Youth” and the official screening of the documentary Beloved.
Sr. Catherine Marie (a member of the General Council) and Sr. Marie Vianney, two of the religious sisters featured in the film, were accompanied by Sr. Mary Emily (Vocations Director). They came bearing gifts, one of them being a painting (pictured) by Sr. Marie Vianney herself, who presented it to a very delighted Fr. Thomas Rosica. After a tour of S+L operations, they were quickly led to the studio. We kept them busy on camera, as we certainly couldn’t miss the opportunity to introduce them to our viewers in the rest of the country.
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As you know, Salt + Light Television recently produced a documentary on the Nashville Dominicans titled Beloved: The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia.
I have felt very blessed to hear stories of how this documentary is touching so many lives – of those discerning, those already in religious life, and married couples! I received a heartwarming e-mail from California about the documentary:
I am happy to report that we all watched Beloved last night — and found it both beautiful and inspirational.
While my 2-year-old son lost interest (as is typical for 2-year-old boys!), my 5-year-old son was rapt, and my 6-year-old daughter really seemed to love it. I think it was a powerful inspiration for her to see these women giving their lives to God this way. (Our baby had no comment one way or the other!) Meanwhile, my wife and I both really enjoyed it, too, and found ourselves repeatedly getting teary — seeing the joy in which the sisters live out their vocations helped to reaffirm us in our own. Thank you!
The beautiful witness of the Nashville Dominicans has certainly touched the hearts of many!
Perhaps it has even stirred the hearts of some young women, and had them asking ‘what is it that God wants for me in life?’
Salt + Light would like to invite people who may be discerning a vocation to the religious life, or are simply interested in witnessing life in this vibrant community of teachers and educators. Three sisters from the Nashville Dominicans are coming to Toronto, and you’ve seen them all in the documentary: Sr. Catherine Marie, O.P., General Councilor; Sr. Mary Emily, O.P., Vocation Director; and Sr. Marie Vianney, O.P.
They will be arriving in Toronto on Friday, April 3rd. On Saturday, April 4th, beginning at 2:30 pm, there will be a screening of the film at Salt + Light, after which everyone can participate in the meeting with the sisters. A light supper will be served, followed by the Archdiocesan celebration of the Palm Sunday Procession from St. Paul’s Basilica and Mass at St. Michael’s Cathedral with Archbishop Thomas Collins.
Space is limited for this event, so call Raymond Richings at 416-971-5353 x. 241 to reserve your place now!
Last Friday, soon after arriving in Nashville, Fr. Thomas Rosica and I had the tremendous pleasure of screening the documentary Beloved: The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia before an audience for the FIRST TIME! Around 50 novitiate sisters and 32 vocation visitors were there, and I couldn’t believe their reactions – their laughter, their tears, and the sharing that happened afterwards.
We had another screening the next day at 2 pm, with 85 sisters or so. Around 35 lay people were present — some local friends of the sisters, benefactors, and supporters of the Congregation and the Dominican Campus. They were very enthusiastic and were very moved by the screening.
Here are some words of appreciation from those present:
“The Nashville Dominicans are all about that which is hopeful and good. ‘Beloved’ does an excellent job of conveying the Sisters’ message of hope and good; a message of optimism which is always helpful to hear, but particularly so in these times of strife and economic distress.” – Michael Sheridan (Michael is the father of two children who attend an elementary school run by the Dominican Sisters. He is an attorney in Nashville and his mother graduated from St. Cecilia Academy)
“I wish there were words to express how moving the film is and how much it meant to see it. Thanks so much for including me, and for the DVD, which my 87-year-old mom (who lived at the St. Cecilia boarding school in the 1930s) is going to love! I was very impressed with the highly professional technical quality of the filmmaking as well as the contents.” – Michael Kurek (Michael is a son of a St. Cecilia Academy graduate. He is a professor at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt and is head of the Composition Department. He is presently working on the music for a ballet version of Macbeth!)
“… Beautiful portrayal of love…. Eyes watered seeing true love at work and being demonstrated in so many ways. Divinely inspired and very moving!” – Bob Rudman (Bob lives in Franklin, TN and is a retired marketing expert. He is active in the Serra Club where he met the sisters. He and his wife attend lectures at the College where they serve as friends and volunteers)
As for myself, I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity given me to work on this documentary. I feel renewed in my faith and I feel I have found so many great friends in the Nashville Dominicans! This documentary has a message for all of us, both lay and religious.
I think Sr. Catherine Marie Hopkins, O.P., Associate Producer for this documentary, says it best:
“We meet people all the time who are not aware that there are young people entering religious life and that congregations exist that have the age-old formula for spiritual success: love of the Church, a life that is prayerful, sacrificial, apostolic and joyful! It is wonderful to think that we can help to spread a message of hope for the future with consolation in the present. The message is not just about religious life but for all who strive for holiness. St. Catherine of Siena once said, and Pope John Paul II repeated, “If we become what God created us to be, we will set the world ablaze.” Isn’t it really all about lighting fires in whatever way we are called so that the Mystical Body of Christ is strengthened and can effectively grow?”
May God bless all of us who continue on our individual and personal journeys towards Him.
If you missed Beloved earlier this week on Salt + Light, tune in this Friday January 16 at 8:00pm, Saturday January 17 at 12:00am & 3:30pm, or Sunday January 18 at 1:30pm for encore presentations. All times ET.
I’m very excited to inform you of two things:
One, I’ll be going to Nashville with Fr. Thomas Rosica this coming Friday, January 9th, to see the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia (the Nashville Dominicans) once again. It will be my second visit to Nashville and this time I won’t be filming! I will simply go to enjoy their presence and be with our Lord in their Motherhouse. Fr. Tom and I are going there to premiere the film Beloved: The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia with all of the sisters there, so it should be an exciting weekend.
Two, the excitement can be shared by you this weekend as well! On Sunday, January 11th, Salt + Light will premiere Beloved at 9 pm ET. If you don’t have access to Salt + Light, watch it on-line! Simply go to our website’s main page, click on View Live at the top left corner, and watch it live with us! I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. And don’t forget, you can purchase DVD copies by phone or visiting the S+L Boutique.
Some of you may know of my excitement about the Nashville Dominicans (a.k.a. the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia), a religious congregation of Sisters based in Nashville, Tennessee. A few of us were able to travel to Nashville and meet them – you can read some of our blogs AND view the trailer by going to: http://www.saltandlighttv.org/prog_special_beloved.htm.
They are some of the most vibrant and dynamic Sisters I know! And they really see themselves as brides of Christ in everything they are and everything they do. What’s coming out of all these visits and excitement is the Salt + Light documentary “Beloved: The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia”, which will premiere on Salt + Light Television on January 11th 2009, at 9 pm ET.
Watch it and be inspired! Religious life has a lot to teach us about true love, specifically spousal love.
When I visited the Motherhouse of the Nashville Dominicans I learned that each Sister sews their own habit during postulant year. Their habit has three parts, and they say a prayer as they put on each part. Sr. Kateri Rose can put on all three in a matter of seconds.
I also asked, “How do you keep your habit so white?”
Sr. Bernadette replied, “So white? Well, you haven’t been looking so closely!”
It turns out that they may have three habits, since they wash their habits weekly. They also play sports in their habit.
“Don’t you get all sweaty with you running around in the same habit?”
“Oh yes, we do, we just wash the cap – that’s easy to wash,” Sr. Kateri Rose said.
And I love their long black veils that reach just below the waist. It looks like long, flowing black hair.
“You’re so lucky you can avoid bad hair day,” I said as I commented on how fluffy my hair looked in my pictures with them.
“Are you kidding? We get bad veil day, too!” Sr. Anna Laura laughed out loud.
One question I ask (aside from, How did you know He was the one) is, “Why’d you pick your name?” Each sister gives Mother three names that they are considering. Mother gives them the chosen name when she calls them to receive their habit at the end of postulant year.
As some of you may know, I have a little niece who is a little over a month and a half old right now, and her name is Emma. Naturally, when I was introduced to a Sr. Emma, I was very interested in her name.
“Oh, that comes from the story of Emmaus, when Jesus speaks to the two disciples on the way to Jerusalem after his resurrection.”
Anyway, I remember Sr. Emma from the documentary. In the footage she is pushing an elderly sister in a wheelchair and chatting with her. Sr. Emma was kind enough to give me a tour of the golden chapel. I call it the golden chapel because the light is usually warm in there and sets everything off in a golden light.
I noticed the stained-glass windows and was curious about them.
“Do you know the story of St. Cecilia?” Sr. Emma asked.
“Well, just the paragraph-long version of it.”
“These windows on ground level tell the story of St. Cecilia. Her story is told through the images in these windows and the Scripture passages underneath each one.”
As Sr. Emma took me on a tour of the Windows of St. Cecilia, I grew to love St. Cecilia more and more. The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia have her as their namesake. They want to live that undying virginal love for Christ, whose music was the eternal heavenly call of love that resounded in her heart and inspired her to give her life.
She was of noble Roman birth and converted to Christianity probably through the influence of her Christian nurse. As a child, she vowed her virginity to God, which was about to be challenged by the fact that her parents promised her in marriage to Valerian.
Sr. Emma told me of how Cecilia told Valerian that if he dared to touch her on their wedding night, her angel will strike him dead. Valerian didn’t believe her and said, “Well, I’d like to see this angel with my own eyes.” Cecilia told him he can’t see the angel unless he get baptized. And so he did and when he returned to their room on their wedding night, he could see the angel. And he decided never to touch Cecilia. He and his own brother Tiburtius eventually converted through the faith example of Cecilia.
Cecilia had a deep love for the poor and “squandered” her riches on them. Because she lived in a time when Christians were being persecuted, her husband and her brother were martyred, and so was she. The Romans attempted to suffocate her at first, but that failed. They decided to behead her, but after three strikes to her neck, she didn’t die, but lay bleeding to death for three days. She lived those last days with a vibrant faith, hope and love. In 821 AD, Pope Paschal I had Cecilia’s body removed from its burial place where it was found INCORRUPT! (bio info from the Nashville Dominican’s website)
The feast day of St. Cecilia was this past Saturday, November 22nd. She is praised as the model of the perfect Christian woman because of her virginity and the martyrdom which she suffered for love of Christ.
St. Cecilia, pray for us!
It is the classic question I have for every couple: “How did you know he/she was the one?”
It is the same question I have for every religious: “How did you know He was the One? And that this religious order was the one for you?”
I love love stories (especially with the way women tell them!). Who doesn’t? And that’s one of the many reasons I love the Nashville Dominicans and working on the documentary about them.
The Nashville Dominicans (or the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia) is a religious congregation of Sisters whose main apostolate is in education. They began with the establishment of a girls’ academy in 1860, just prior to the Civil War, at the invitation of the Bishop of Nashville, himself a Dominican. The four founding Sisters established St. Cecilia Academy with the patroness of music as their namesake. Within ten years, a novitiate officially opened and a congregation was born. Today, the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia number 225 and can be found in 33 schools in 13 states and Australia. With a median age of 36 they continue to expand into new territory with a message of hope that the New Springtime reference by Pope John Paul II is indeed in bloom.
Every Nashville Dominican I’ve talked to sees herself as a Bride of Christ. She has the most beautiful Husband! They are all so grateful to Mother Marie William for her fidelity to the Rules and Constitutions of the congregation and to the Church documents especially during the tumultuous times of Vatican II. After all, every yes is linked to a previous yes.
If you ever go to the Nashville Dominican website and go to Community, and then click onto Sister Profiles, you’ll be able to read some of their beautiful vocation stories.
Three of those Sisters whose vocation stories are on their website are in the Salt + Light documentary on the Nashville Dominicans.
Sr. Anna Laura of “Not Without a Sense of Humor!” is so vibrant, loud, and super-joyful! I loved listening to her in the documentary, but meeting her in real life was even better. We had breakfast together on my last day at the Motherhouse and I heard about her life before being a Nashville Dominican. She decided to take a course on “Christian Marriage” in her senior year at the University of Dallas, since she was contemplating marriage. But it was during that course, when the lay professor talked about the beauty of marriage and how religious life mirrors the Union with God that we are all called to, she was intrigued! She had never heard religious life explained this way before! She also showed me around St. Cecilia Academy, about seven minutes away, and showed me around the campus, where she is the current Academic Dean. Her love for the girls, her vocation, her love of life – these were so very apparent and over-flowing. God bless her!
Sr. Anna Grace of “With a Joyful Heart” was a professional ballet dancer for about 10 years, but her heart and soul were starving for God. I didn’t get to meet her at the Motherhouse, but one of the other Sisters said, “Oh, Sr. Anna Grace is so graceful. She can make even throwing out the garbage look like a beautiful dance!”
Sr. Marie Vianney of “Espoused to the Most Perfectly Beautiful” is a real treasure. She has these big bright eyes and youthful air about her that’s captivating! She has been a Nashville Dominican for 55 years now, and yet she speaks about her Final Vows as if it happened yesterday. She still goes into tears whenever she talks about the beautiful letter her mom wrote her on the day of her Final Profession. Sr. Marie Vianney is also an artist, whose father was a good friend of the Group of Seven. Sr. Marie Vianney is also Canadian, and so there was that immediate spark in her eyes when she saw us. She even took me to her art studio upstairs, and didn’t let me leave without giving me a large print of one of her paintings, and a box of cards with prints as well.
For two nights, I was able to have a guestroom to myself on the bottom floor of the Motherhouse. In that room, there is a binder with pages of an introduction to the Nashville Dominicans. There is a section with print-outs of these vocation stories that I love. Curiously enough, they had one vocation story of a girl whose name I was familiar with from my past. Remember that young woman from part one who told me about the Nashville Dominicans? She also told me about her sister who left professional basketball to become a cloistered nun, a Poor Clare. Her name is Shelly Pennefather. There was a photocopy of the article on Shelly Pennefather written by Alexander Wolff for Women Sport, Fall 1997. And here it was in full, in front of me at the Motherhouse of the Nashville Dominicans. It is such a beautiful and inspiring story. Shelly Pennefather renounced her worldly life, including a six-figure salary as a professional basketball star in Japan, to become a Poor Clare. I read the article and the final picture of Sr. Rose Marie of the Queen of Angels (Shelly Pennefather’s religious name) putting her palm on the glass that separated her and her friends, who put their own palms against hers, their faces looking to the camera with big smiles, almost pierced my heart. But mostly because Sr. Rose Marie looked so happy in her habit, with a crown of thorns on her head on the day she took her vows as a Poor Clare. The image of her looked so mysterious, so ethereal, and so beautiful. (Check out Shelly’s story HERE.)
I thank God that there are religious who are faithful to their calling and face the world conscious that they are married to the Beautiful One.
God works in mysterious ways, as you all know. The story I’m about to tell you now has a special link to my past….
About 12 years ago, I was living in a house full of consecrated women in the Regnum Christi Movement. I don’t remember exactly how it came up, but one young woman said to us, “Oh, have you heard of the Nashville Dominicans? WOW, they are DYNAMIC! And so many young women entering the order! … It’s incredible to watch them playing sports in their full habit, which is so beautiful…”
I don’t know what else she said, but I must have tuned out, because I had my own biases about religious life. Really? Dynamic young religious? Playing sports in full habit? What a crazy story!
And then, about two years ago, Fr. Glenn McDonald, a good friend of mine and a recently ordained priest, visited me in my little Salt + Light cubicle with a book in his hands and said, “Oh, Mary Rose, I have just visited with the Nashville Dominicans. Have you heard of them? They are amazing … I’m talking to Fr. Tom now about them. We have to do something about them! It’s all part of this vision I have of creating programs to help renew the religious life…” And then he proceeded to open up his book, which is a pictorial history of the Nashville Dominicans. There was such excitement in Fr. Glenn’s eyes, an excitement for a dream that carried over to reality: Fr. Tom was so moved by Fr. Glenn’s euphoria, a documentary on the Nashville Dominicans began to take shape (Fr. Tom has a history with the Nashville Dominicans, by the way, since some of them worked with him during WYD 2002).
In the summer of 2007, a crew went twice to the Motherhouse in Nashville, Tennessee and filmed two ceremonies (First Professions and Final Vows) as well as several interviews, under the leadership of Fr. Glenn McDonald and Sr. Catherine Marie Hopkins of the Nashville Dominicans. About a year later, I was asked to carry out the project to completion, and proceeded to watch all the tapes several times and have regular phone and e-mail exchanges with Sr. Catherine Marie, who filled me in on what I didn’t know. It was a huge challenge because not only had I not been involved in the pre-production and production process, I had never even visited the Motherhouse in Nashville!
I called on all the Dominican saints in heaven (St. Dominic, St. Cecilia, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Catherine of Siena, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati and the gang) and I said, “Look, this is about you. So please guide our every move, our every thought, and make this an inspiring and beautiful project. Amen!” I have been calling on heavenly Dominicans help ever since! I should mention that though they are commonly known as the Nashville Dominicans, their “official” name is the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, a saint whose feast we celebrate this Saturday… I’ll have more on her next week!
All the time that I had been working on the project, one thought that kept occurring was, Wow, I am working on this documentary and yet I have never even met these women. And then, surprise, surprise! Salt + Light agreed to book another trip to the Motherhouse for additional footage we needed to finish the rough cut of the documentary. And this time, I was going!
You have to understand how I felt about going to the Motherhouse in Nashville for the first time. I have watched and listened to the interviews on tape, and all this time, I have been so touched by the Sisters’ personal stories, their joy, and their fidelity to their vocation. Also, I have been in communication with Sr. Catherine Marie Hopkins, but we had never met! Oddly enough, she also has a link to my past. I had heard about her 12 or so years ago because her three brothers, who are Legionaries of Christ priests, had mentioned that they have a sister who is a Nashville Dominican – and that happens to be Sr. Catherine Marie! More than that, Sr. Catherine Marie and I share some Dominican roots together — we went to the same College, Thomas Aquinas College, in California!
On Tuesday, November 11th, 2008, I arrived at the Motherhouse. And I have been star-struck ever since. They all thought I was crazy, going around and saying, “Oh, Sr. Marie Vianney, thank you for your wonderful artwork — what’s that? You’d like to show me your studio? How exciting! Oh, Sr. Mary Peter, it’s you! It’s quite impressive that you were a lawyer with your own law firm before you entered! Oh, Sr. Anna Laura, I love what you said in the documentary, you were wonderful, I got chills up my spine whenever you talked! Oh, and you, I
recognize you, because you went through First Professions two summers ago! Oh! Oh!! Oh!!!”
Of course, none of them knew who I was, but I knew them all, heard their stories, watched them in their moments of spontaneity, and grew to love them! I asked if I could take their pictures so that I can tell everybody I’ve met these famous Sisters, and they just laughed. Nothing I said would get to their head, which was great!
I left the Motherhouse on Thursday, November 13th. It was such a short visit but oh, so wonderful! The documentary is nearing completion — stay tuned to Salt + Light for updates. If you’d like to find out more about the Nashville Dominicans check out their website: www.nashvilledominican.org.
Congratulations to the Nashville Dominicans!
Besides the final profession of 11 sisters, the first profession of 12 sisters, and five women entering the novitiate, the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation will start a mission in Sydney, Australia.
Three Dominican sisters spent the last year in Sydney helping with World Youth Day, and two will return to establish the community’s first permanent mission outside the United States.
Sister Mary Madelaine Todd told Nashville’s Diocesan newspaper the Tennessee Register that Australia’s Cardinal George Pell and Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Fisher, “were eager” to have the sisters working in Sydney, adding, “What we could offer and what they needed were complementary.”
Sister Mary Madelaine noted that though Australian society is quite secular there is a great interest in religious life,” and she was hopeful that the Dominicans could provide a witness to that life.
You can catch a Salt + Light documentary on the Nashville Dominicans in the late fall. To read about my experience with the Nashville Dominicans last year, click HERE. You can also read about Glenn McDonald’s (now Father Glenn!) experience by clicking the above photo.
