Mother Dolores Sullivan, OCD, recently learned she’ll be leaving the Carmelite monastery she has called home for more than 55 years in less than a month.
“I feel brokenhearted,” Mother Dolores, 98, the original prioress of Mother of God Monastery tearfully told Catholic San Francisco after a Candlemas Day Mass Feb. 2. “The Lord is giving us a whole new beginning.”
Her sisters at the San Rafael monastery have tried to shield the frail-but-attentive 98-year-old nun from the weight of their worries after a degree of closure was issued to the monastery last May. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life cited dwindling new vocations as the cause of the closure. The complications of moving four elderly nuns into group housing or another monastery in the midst of a pandemic were acknowledged in a moveout date of March 1, 2021.
The multi-room suburban monastery was built on 45 wooded acres by Archbishop Joseph T. McGucken in 1965. Mother Dolores was one of the 10 nuns who first occupied the self-supporting monastery and has worked to sustain its life of prayer and presence to the local community ever since.
Sister Anna Marie Vanni, OCD, who has lived at the monastery all her 44 years of consecrated life, said that finding another monastery or home that could take all of the sisters together “proved impossible.” The four will be separated for the first time in years on March 1 when they leave in pairs to separate Carmelite monasteries in the Midwest.
She said she hasn’t been told what plans if any the archdiocese has for the property after the sisters are gone.
Full story at Catholic San Francisco.
Wow this is very sad
I thought these traditional, conservative orders were claimed to be booming with vocations by the trads.
Yes they still wear their habits thank God, however this is what happened to dozens of convents across the world after Vatican II, so it is hard to feel sorry for these poor sisters, I’m not saying its their fault in any way shape or form I cannot speak for them, yet they have become another DEAD order do to Vatican II which promised us the New Springtime yet it turned into the New Dark Cold Winter of closed convents, closed seminaries, closed schools, closed hospitals and of course closed Roman Catholic Churches and Mass attendance at 8%now and in 1962 it was 75%!!!!! FACTS all FACTS
Post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy.
Amen, Romulus!
Who holds title to the property? I hope it is the sisters congregation, not the Archbishop as a ‘corporation sole’.
45 Acres in San Francisco. I’m sure the developers are salivating over that opportuinity.
I hope some hard nosed legal eagle makes certain the sisters are financially secure for the rest of their lives.
As a man who has had a very special bond with the Monastery I am sad to see it close. As a former Pentecostal minister I attended my first Mass in the chapel. I entered into Full Communion later with Mother Dolores as my sponsor. I went on through formation to be ordained as a Permanent Deacon. The closure, again is sad, yes painful. But to blame Vatican II as the cause is misplaced. It was the windows opening of Vatican II that welcomed this former Protestant into the Church and enabled my service for our Lord to grow as a deacon. . Changes such as this tempt us to blame and judge but would ignore the reality that life changes. This in no ways diminishes the ministry and place of the sisters work in Marinwood. Jesus is still Lord. And that He would lead these dear sisters to another place testifies to His being the Good Shepherd and the need of their apostolate elsewhere. The Presence and peace of God will be with them. I am sure.
Deacon Harry: What a wonderful story! Thank you for sharing it.
Harry Martin, God bless you. God bless the sisters. God bless the Church.
These sisters should have been allowed to stay at the monastery until their deaths. This is incredibly sad and as one other poster suggested the decision to close the monastery may be about the almighty dollar. Undoubtedly the monastery property will fetch a handsome sum of money.
“Presence in the local community?” The Extraordinary Form Mass has been offered for more than ten years at St. Stephen’s School for Boys just a mile or two from the monastery. I have attended that Mass in Holy Rosary Chapel for more than ten years and I have never seen one of them there in all that time.
They are cloistered nuns, which means they don’t leave their monastery. They don’t publicly interact with much of anyone outside the cloister. They live a life of seclusion and prayer.
Correction. It is St. Vincent’s School for Boys with the beautiful Holy Rosary Chapel and a TLM at a convenient hour on Sundays and Holy Days that is just a mile or two from the monastery in Marinwood.
Plaintiff online photos and story and they are “cloistered”? Why do they need, then, the large facility and the acreage?
Being cloistered isn’t solitary confinement. When the community was larger, they had need of many rooms/cells and large common areas. A large plot of land is needed for gardening, farming and enjoying the peaceful beauty of nature. They don’t get to hop in a car and go to the beach or the lake or the woods. Give em a break.
These nuns originally desired to give their lives to help Christians in Russia, suffering under Communist atheist rule. They learned the Byzantine Rite of the Mass, ancient and beautiful Russian hymns, and had Byzantine Rite priests say Mass for them. They hoped to someday establish a monastery in Russia. Bless them. The Byzantine Rite is in union with Rome, but the Russian Orthodox Church is not. Anyway, I am sure that the poor, suffering Russian Christian people have gained many helpful graces, from the prayers, sacrifices, and all the good spiritual work that these dedicated nuns have done for them.
Thank you Anon for that added bit of info., very helpful.
Please cite which Vatican II document you say caused this? The documents are beautiful. If some people went in wayward directions following Vatican II, that was not called for by the Council, but those wishing to change or destroy the Church Christ founded. So please show some documentation.
Marie, after the Council, all the religious orders were called to update their Constitutions and way of life, and “modernize” it all, in accord with the wishes of the Fathers of the Council. At that time, it was announced that a priest shortage was imminent. And soon, nuns also began to leave their calling by the thousands. During that turbulent time, over 200,000 priests and bishops left their vocations. Many religious orders completely collapsed. Some orders that tried to radically change and adapt to the desired post-Conciliar changes, limped along, with only a few nuns left– and then finally collapsed. And now, this poor group of Carmelites has met a similar fate. The Fathers of Vatican II desired to shift the emphasis of the Church from a primary focus on religious life, prayer, contemplation, penance, and sanctification, holiness, preparation for Heaven, Salvation– to lots of worldly, secular types of involvements, in helping to improve the sufferings of people in the world, by such means as social and political action. Whereas, Christ primarily taught Salvation, a conversion and transformation of life spiritually, and sanctification of the soul, first and foremost. That is the very heart of spiritual life– and the very core of all our lives, too– Salvation of our souls. When we are close to God, God can bring about many wonderful blessings, healings, and miracles– and relief for human suffering! Miracles from God in Heaven will happen for the suffering world, by means of the prayers, religious devotions, and sacrifices of authentically-holy priests and nuns!
The Catholic Church has helped people in need, for centuries– it is the original “Social Services,” in Western Civilization. But Christ must always be at the heart of helping people! A bowl of soup for the poor, medical help for the sick, a safe place for refugees, education and job skills for the poor, reform institutions for juvenile delinquents, prostitutes, criminals, (etc.)– right along with Jesus Christ, prayer, penance, preaching, and conversion of souls for Christ! From Christ, comes all we need, for body and soul. In today’s Church, St. Mother Teresa’s nuns have an active “social services” kind of work, but not at all like modern, secular, social and political action endeavors of many in the post-Conciliar Church, devoid of adherence to Catholic teaching and deep commitment to Christ. They emphasize a more traditional religious life of prayer, penance, silence, simplicity, giving all for Christ, and giving Christ’s teachings with love, to all the “poorest of the poor,” whom they serve, for Christ. They seek to help those trapped in lives of sin, to reform their lives for Christ, while providing them with necessary help, such as food and medical care. And they pray for the dying, giving them Christ’s Love, sending souls of the dying to Christ’s Loving Arms, in Heaven. If a gay man suffering from AIDS were to ask their help, he might get medical care, food– and lots of prayers, invitations to attend Mass, Catholic religious teaching, lots of prayers and persuasion to give up the “gay lifestyle” and live a chaste life, and lots of love and care. By contrast– the worldly, secularized, apostate, post-Conciliar-type “Nuns On The Bus” — champions of Obamacare– don’t do this. They have abandoned Christ for mere worldly, secular social action endeavors. They have secular views of “helping people” and “doing good.” If abortion, birth control, “LGBT” agendas, etc. are a part of the programs they champion— they do not care, they do not view things from a religious perspective, rooted in Christ.
A most excellent post, Anon at 11:25 pm , Feb. 7th.
Some good things about the post-Vatican II era– lots of emphasis on God’s Love and Mercy, seeking to end any kind of abuses, ending cruel statements about Jews and Protestants, more kindness to those of different faiths.
I agree with Romulus, the destruction of the old Latin Mass was a terrible thing. Very happy for Pope Benedict’s “Summorum Pontificum,” though.
There were no “cruel” statements about Jews or Protestants. Jews were simply asked to convert to save their souls and Protestants were and are heretics, they abandoned the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Faith and created “man-made” sects.
This kind of Catholicism repels
No, Romulus– Jews were considered as “unbelievers,” and the “killers of Christ,” and this was a part of the prayers in the liturgy of the Good Friday services, before the Council– and was amended a little in the Council’s liturgucal revisions. The Church stated in her Catechism that “there is no Salvation outside of the Catholic Church,” and it was considered a sin to visit any non-Catholic church or religious institution of any kind. There were various statements in the 20th century from the Vatican, to try to change the attitudes to be more positive towards the Jews, especially in regards to Good Friday prayers– most notably from Pope Pius XII and Pope John XXIII. And Pope Benedict finally did permanently change the wording of the Good Friday prayers for the Jews, for both the New Mass (Novus Ordo) and the old Latin Mass. So, today, both Missals have the revised prayers. There have been strong tensions between the Catholic Church and non-believers– Protestants, Jews, and all other religions– for centuries! But now, things are much, much better!
The teachings were always more nuanced then that. Not all Jews were considered Christ killers, except in the sense that we all killed him (Jew and Gentle) by our sins. The idea of Jews being Christ killers often came when some Jewish people turned Christians into the pagan Roman authorities to be killed. I am sure a differences was made in the Christian communities at times for those who were not living truly Christian lives. Case in point, a Christian has no more right to commit adultery with a Jewish person’s spouse than a Jewish person has a right to commit adultery with a Christian’s spouse. Both still prefer marrying ones own.
These Carmelites had such a beautiful dedication, giving their lives of prayer and sacrifice, to help suffering Russians, severely persecuted by atheist Communists! Why couldn’t there have been a few wealthy donors, to help them continue their spiritual work, until they all left for Heaven, to perhaps continue it there?? For starters, why couldn’t locals Nancy and Paul Pelosi (net worth estimated at perhaps $200 million)– very bad Catholics! — why couldn’t they willingly support these wonderful nuns, instead of filthy, immoral, crackpot “LGBT” agendas, feminism, and Planned Parenthood??