Vocations to the priesthood are very important, but there are also many others who give their lives for our Church in consecrated and religious life.  Following are some of the women from our diocese that give their lives each day as they live the rules of their religious communities.

    Some of the sisters highlighted in the following photos are from the Diocese of Madison!  Please continue to pray for them and for all women and men that dedicate their lives to our Lord in religious life.

    Our Founders, Saints Robert, Alberic and Stephen, were members of Molesme, a fervent and prosperous Benedictine community in France. They had become dissatisfied with Molesme’s increasing wealth, desiring instead, the spiritual gain of poverty. By common consent, these men and others, totaling 21, arrived at Citeaux to form a new community on March 21,1098. The Latinized form of Citeaux is Cistercium, hence our name: Cistercians. Our founders desired to be truly poor with the poor Christ, returning to the Rule of St Benedict in all its simplicity.

For more information:
        Contact
           Valley of Our Lady Monastery
           E11096 Yankee Rd.
           Prairie du Sac, WI  53578
        Telephone
           (608) 643-7986
        Email
           vocations@nunocist.org
        On the Web
           http://www.nunocist.org

      The grace of God led Elizabeth to give her life to the service of the Lord and of his holy Church. Therefore at only 16 years old, she entered the Convent of Perpetual Adoration at Maria Rickenbach. She was given the name Sister Mary Anselma. In this quickly flourishing house she would, after a year of probation, pronounce her vows on May 30, 1860. She so well adapted to the spirit of her new religious family that the confidence of the superiors and the love of her fellow-sisters soon made her assistant of the Reverend Mother. In this position she worked for the welfare and blessing of the convent until God’s providence wanted her in holy obedience to go to far away America.

    In August 1874 five sisters journeyed from Maria Rickenbach, Switzerland, to the United States, in response to requests of the Benedictine Fathers at Conception, Missouri for assistance in ministering to the immigrant population. Thirty-year-old Mother Anselma Felber was chosen as their superior. She died nine years later, having seen only the small beginnings of the Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.

For more information:
        Contact
           Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration
           Attn:  Sr. Ruth Starman, OSB
           31970 State Highway P
           Clyde, MO  64432
        Telephone
           (877) 632-6663
        Email
           vocations@benedictinesisters.org 
        On the Web
           http://www.benedictinesisters.org

     Monsignor John Zwijsen began his Congregation on November 23, 1832 simply to "establish a school where poor children could be taught reading, writing, sewing and knitting."   Monsignor John Zwijsen appointed Mother Michael Leijsen to be the first Superior of his new congregation. After two years of continued growth, Mother Michael was elected by the community to be its first Superior General. 

     Sisters of Charity of Our Lady Mother of the Church was founded in 1970 by Mother Marie Alma Lafond.  Mother Theresita Jeannotte, was appointed the first Superior General of The Sisters of Charity of Our Lady Mother of The Church. Papal Approbation placed the Congregation under the protection of the Holy See with the Sovereign Pontiff as the supreme authority in the Congregation.

For more information:
        Contact
           Mother Mary Luke, SCMC
           Office of Vocations
           Holy Family Motherhouse
           PO Box 691
           Baltic, CT  06330
        Telephone
           (860) 822-8241
        Email
           mml@sistersofcharity.com
        On the Web
           http://www.sistersofcharity.com

     We give ourselves to God through a covenant of love with Mary, the Mother Thrice Admirable, Queen, and Victress of Schoenstatt. She is our mother, sister, and the model of woman. She inspires us to form a family-like life coupled with spiritual formation. Serious self-education and cooperation with the covenant of love enable us to bring the presence of Christ wherever we are. The Schoenstatt Shrine is a place of grace and source of life for our spirituality and work. We believe we are called to see and reveal God's love in all of creation and in every event of our lives. We commit all our energy to help each person we meet to do the same.

 

    We serve girls, women, and families as Mary assisted Christ in building his kingdom. Our main focus is to be the soul of the international Schoenstatt Work founded in 1914 for the moral and religious renewal of the world. By a vital consecration of all elements of daily life we want to be Mary's instruments as lay leaders serving the Church. With generously serving love, members engage in a multifaceted array of professions and occupations, such as parish and missionary work, retreat centers, health care, education at every level, computer technology and business, etc. Our dynamic secularity allows each individual to unfold her talents to the fullest. The apostolic work is complemented by the prayer and sacrifice of our adoration branch members who intercede for all the intentions people entrust to us.

 

 

For more information:
        Contact
           Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary
           W284 N404 Cherry Ln.
           Waukesha, WI  53188
        Telephone
           (262) 542-4384
        Email
           vocations@schsrsmary.org
        On the Web
           http://www.schsrsmary.org

     When the religious life is lived in a way that is balanced and fully engages a person’s capacity to love and to be loved, the result is joy and a family spirit. Such a spirit is healthy and provides the support needed to transform the sacrifices that come externally, from the work of the apostolate, as well as those inherent internally as each individual strives for union with God. 

    Christian marriage brings two individuals together to become one by vow, but each must work at becoming one in spirit. The “community life” within the human family has many expressions, but all vocations require a death to self. As religious, we look for Christ in our sisters and, through prayer, strive to reflect Him in our own person as well. By becoming one by vow with our Divine Spouse, we live our religious life constantly seeking to please Him, and by dying to ourselves we hope to resemble Him.

    Our family is a large one, with no shortage of personalities! From our older sisters we seek encouragement, and admire the wisdom they have gained from years of prayer and experience. With our peers we share the bonds made in the novitiate, and with many other sisters we have common experiences from shared mission life and apostolate. There are also our “little sisters” who look to us for support, encouragement and good example. They in turn share with us a newfound sense of zeal and energy. All of the family dynamics are present, but with the help of grace and the power of a love that does not count the cost and seeks Christ above all things.

For more information:
        Contact
           Sr. Mary Emily, OP
           Vocations Office.
           801 Dominican Dr.
           Nashville, TN  37228
        Telephone
           (615) 256-0147
        Email
           vocation@op-tn.org
        On the Web
           http://www.nashvilledominican.org

     Our Community was formed in response to the call of Pope John Paul II in the Post-Synodal Exhortation, Vita Consecrata, regarding his belief that today it is opportune to establish new foundations which "bear witness to the constant attraction which the total gift of self to the Lord ... continues to exert even on the present generation." (VC, 12)

     Eucharistic Adoration is at the heart of our contemplative life. Through the profession of the evangelical counsels, our community seeks to embody the graces of the New Evangelization which Pope John Paul II announced as "the prelude to a new springtime in the Church." The spiritual identity of our fraternal life lived in community is shaped by Dominican spirituality with an emphasis on Eucharistic adoration and Marian devotion.

For more information:
        Contact
           Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist
           4597 Warren Rd.
           Ann Arbor, MI  48105
        Telephone
           (734) 994-7437
        Email
           not available
        On the Web
           http://www.sistersofmary.org

      Following the Rule of St. Benedict, we live in a cloistered monastery where we live a way of life, wholly ordered to contemplation. Monastic life is real life, structured according to a special rhythm of prayer, work and lectio divina, which continually calls us to conversion, love, and self-awareness as we grow in our relationship with Jesus. Lectio divina is the prayerful reading and pondering of God’s Word. Our manual work is the prayer of our hands. There are specific times for the Divine Office and for personal prayer. We are located on the bluffs of the Mississippi River, surrounded by our organic farm and rolling hills. Women 18-39 years of age may apply.

 

 

 

 

 

For more information:
        Contact
           Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey
           8400 Abbey Hill Ln.
           Dubuque, IA  52003
        Telephone
           (563) 582-2595 x21
        Email
           vocations@olmabbey.org 
        On the Web
           http://www.mississippiabbey.org