The following comes from a Dec. 14 story by Christina Bray in Catholic San Francisco.

Almost 100 people packed the chapel, hallways and vestibule of Mother of God Monastery in San Rafael on Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, to bear witness to the solemn profession of vows and veiling of Carmelite Sister Immaculate of Divine Providence and St. Therese.

Sister Immaculate, 34, was born Emmaculate Anyango Ager in Kenya. She entered a Carmelite monastery as a novitiate in Nairobi but came to Mother of God Monastery in Marin County in 2013. She is one of seven cloistered, contemplative Carmelite sisters living in the suburban monastery built by Archbishop Joseph T. McGucken in 1965.

San Jose Bishop P.J. McGrath was principal celebrant of the liturgy and was joined on the altar in the monastery’s compact chapel by 10 priests including Father Brian Costello, pastor of Our Lady of Loretto Parish in Novato, and others from Carmelite, Jesuit and Dominican orders. Sister Immaculate’s mother and aunt, who traveled from Kenya, also participated.

In his homily, the bishop said that Sister Immaculate, like Mary before her, responded “yes” of her own free will to God’s call.