St. Joseph Adoration Monastery Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration May May May –––June 2014June 2014June 2014

One Woman’s

VV ocational

Did you ever think your life would be

like a fairy tale? As a li�le girl I watched again

and again as Maria Von Trapp’s life unfolded on

the two hour tape: a desire to be a nun, a call to

leave, falling in love, having the nuns at her wed-

ding. Like Maria, I had that flicker in my heart

star-ng at childhood. Maria watched the nuns at

prayer and work, peering over the abbey wall

from her mountain. I admired Sister Helene and

the other Sisters of St Joseph who taught us.

A0er College, I made retreats with the Sisters of

Life while I lived in New York City. But, why did I

have no courage to take the voca-onal plunge?

In 2007, a priest gave me Fr. Stefano

Manelli’s Come and Follow Me. Good Father

Manelli—where I was looking for a mys-cal sign

about a voca-on, he brought me back to reality.

The Church needs voca-ons, he explained, so if

that li�le flicker is there, delay no

longer—enter!

I got the message loud and

clear, and to consider my next step,

off I went for a week to visit some

friars of his order near Binghamton,

New York. No, no, no, I wasn’t going

to be a friar! Rather, these good

friars gave me a rus-c cabin in the woods for

eight days where in silence, solitude and prayer,

I asked God for some guidance. The priest there

gave me another treasure—Fr. Manelli’s Jesus

Our Eucharis�c Love. My love for Christ grew

over those eight days. I was open to go any-

where, but the flicker in my heart said: Cloister

in Charlo�e, North Carolina. Very specific! But to

my confusion, there were no cloistered nuns in

the Diocese of Charlo�e at that -me. So I waited

and wondered.

On Holy Thursday 2008, a friend, her

brother, and I made St Philip Neri’s “Pilgrimage

of the Seven Churches” in Philadelphia where I

lived at the -me. At one point, he asked where I

was from. “Charlo�e,” I answered. Just as casu-

ally as before, he mused out loud, “Charlo�e!

That’s where the nuns are moving. They are go-

ing to live at St Ann parish.”

WOW! I had just

found my voca�on… and at St

Ann, the parish of my child-

hood! I had to find these

nuns!

In May, 2009, my

family took me to Ohio. We

went to Mass at the monas-

tery, then a0er breakfast, I changed into a white

shirt and brown jumper. I now owned nothing. I

happily knelt at the cloister door and knocked.

Mother Dolores and a group of happy nuns re-

ceived me.

The next nine months as a “postulant”

were unforge�able. Prayer, sewing, gardening,

reading, learning more about our Faith and the

religious life. And we had so much fun too! Puz-

zles, ping pong, two puppies, and a water fight

on 4th

of July. So much laughter and joy. I had

given Christ my life, but being a pos-

tulant—like Fr. Manelli said—is the

-me of real discernment. Then the

day came when I told the voca-on

directress that I didn’t think I had a

voca-on. So, back home I went.

Readjus-ng to the world

was rough emo-onally, though I was

well provided for by my family and

God. A job brought me back to Charlo�e. The

nuns had moved there by now. What next? I

wondered. My new boss gave me Trus+ul Sur-

render to Divine Providence by Father Jean Bap-

-ste Saint-Jure and Blessed Claude de la Co-

lombière, and therein I found peace and hope.

Two years—and many dates—a0er I

had moved back to Charlo�e, I casu-

ally introduced myself to a new

professor at the annual faculty/

staff picnic. We were insepa-

rable. A0ernoon became

evening, and we were s-ll

talking, making laps around the

park’s baseball fields. But he was-

n’t Catholic! He was smart, fun-

JJ ourney by Mary Beth Richardson

Exploring:Exploring:

Praised be You, Praised be You, Praised be You,

my Lord,my Lord,my Lord,

Through Sister Through Sister Through Sister

Water, which is Water, which is Water, which is

very useful and very useful and very useful and

humble and humble and humble and

Praised be You, my Lord,Praised be You, my Lord,Praised be You, my Lord,

through Brother Wind, and through through Brother Wind, and through through Brother Wind, and through

the air, cloudy and serene, and everythe air, cloudy and serene, and everythe air, cloudy and serene, and every

kind of weather through which You kind of weather through which You kind of weather through which You

give sustenance to Your creatures.give sustenance to Your creatures.give sustenance to Your creatures.

Thank you Brion & Bradley Thank you Brion & Bradley

at at

Speedpro Imaging!Speedpro Imaging!

Our good friends at Speedpro Imaging Charlo�e Center helped us to

spread the word about our building project with their generous

dona-on of a professional wrap for the back window of our van!

Brion is in the diaconate program for our diocese and in forma-on

for the Third Order Carmelites.

Introducing:

Tom Sanctis

Tom is VP of

Commercial

Construc�on for

Castle & Cooke

North Carolina,

LLC . He is lending

his exper�se to our

project advising us

in process and

procedure. Tom

will be ordained to

the permanent

diaconate May

31st, please keep

him and wife

Cindy Brown

Our good friend,

Cindy Brown has

done an incredible

job guiding us

through varied

aspects of our

monastery building

project. Cindy has

over 25 years of

experience in both

for-profit and non-

profit sectors and

she is working with

us in developing

communica�ons

rela�ve to the

More Ways to Give:

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♦ Organize a youth group fundraiser for

Our legal name:

Poor Clares of Perpetual Adora�on-Saint Joseph

Adora�on Monastery, Inc.

3452 Willow Oak Road

Charlo7e, NC 28209-1524

About our cover story:

We wanted to share with you the wonderful story wri�en by Mary

Beth to show how much the Lord loves each of us and desires our

happiness and holiness of life. It was beau-ful for us to see Mary

Beth’s openness to God’s calling and her one true desire to do His

Will. It has been a joy to our community to follow her journey .

Because of our “temporary home” situa-on, God provided that on

both of these landmark dates in Mary Beth & JR’s lives, we were

able to be present and witness the radiance of God’s grace working

in each of them. We give thanks to God for their voca-on to the

married life, for their friendship and support of our community,

and for their vibrant love for the Faith. We keep them and all

families in our daily prayers.

T;< S=>?@=@ABC BD @;< B><EE<F VAGHAC M=GI

Hail, O Lady,

Holy Queen,

Mary, holy Mother of God:

you are the virgin made church

and the one chosen by the most holy Father in heave

whom He consecrated

with His most holy beloved Son

and with the Holy Spirit the Paraclete,

in whom there was and is

all the fullness of grace and every good.

Hail, His Palace!

Hail, His Tabernacle!

Hail, His Home!

Hail, His Robe!

Thank you to all our benefactors!

We keep you in our daily prayers.

PG=I<G IC@<C@ABCE: