| "This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true." John 21:24 |
| "The Catholic Miscellany" September 15, 2005 “Two Bishop England graduates become novices” By Paul Barra The Catholic Miscellany |
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Two Bishop England High School graduates have entered the religious life. On Aug. 6, the feast of the
Transfiguration, Katie Vaughan and Katherine Melton were received into the novitiate of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia. In the
ceremony, 16 postulants received the Dominican habit and new religious names in the motherhouse chapel in Nashville, Tenn.
“It was a wonderful day for us,” said Sister Mary Emily Knapp, vocations director for the congregation. “Our congregation is humbled to see
the generosity of these young women, who with their habit symbolize their witness of Christ in the world.”
Vaughan is now Sister Maris Stella; Melton’s religious name is Sister Marie Chrysostom. The novices now enter a yearlong period of
formation, according to Sister Mary Emily. Their college work is temporarily put on hold, and they concentrate on learning the practice of
their new vocation. The novitiates study the Dominican constitution, the Rule of St. Augustine, the Church documents on religious life and
the true meaning of the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. They prepare intellectually and spiritually for their future life as Dominican
religious.
“They live quietly in the novitiate,” the vocations director said. “We call it their cloister year. All of this is a process, during which the
Church gives them time to prepare for their vows. It really is an important year for the sisters – one that is meant to form a strong foundation
for their religious life.
At the end of the first year (officially known as their canonical year), the novices take their first vows and resume their studies in the world-at-
large career in Catholic education.
The order is, perhaps, one of the more successful ones in the United States. The average age of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia is only
36. The sisters dress in distinctive habits, so there is no mistaking their purpose in life, and they adhere to traditional Catholicism. The
constitution of the 145-year-old congregation calls for respect for the priesthood and the magisterium of the Catholic Church, claims fidelity
to the faith and reveres Mary as both mother and model.
The Dominican website calls the order of St. Cecilia a teaching order with a contemplative dimension. The nuns live in cells, eat most meals
in silence, chant the Liturgy of the Hours three times a day – as well as compline and vespers – and their prayer life revolves around the
Eucharist.
Sister Mary Emily cited that authentic Catholicism as the reason for the congregation’s appeal.
“Young women want to be authentic witnesses,” she said. “They are responding to God’s call and are very generous in giving their lives for
what they believe.”
The vocations director called them the John Paul II generation and said that the late pope challenged them to live countercultural lives in the
service of the faith.
Jeffrey F. Kirby, a seminarian for the Diocese of Charleston, first introduced the Charleston novices to the countercultural Dominicans of St.
Cecilia. Kirby was one of their teachers at Bishop England, the diocesan high school of the Lowcountry. He is a third year theology graduate
student at the North American College in Rome who hopes to be ordained a priest in 2007.
When he went off to the seminary after the girls’ junior year at Bishop England High School, he referred them to their pastor for continuing
counseling and further discernment of possible vocations. But he kept in touch.
When the girls had become women and felt a real call to a consecrated life, Kirby talked to them about the different charisms and apostolates
available in the Catholic Church.
“I suggested they look around and try to find ‘their place,’” he said. “One possible place I brought up was Nashville. For Katie, it was an
immediate fit.”
Melton, who converted to the Catholic faith from Greek Orthodoxy during her senior year at Bishop England, looked around some more but
determined God was calling her to the St. Cecilia Dominicans, the real community of the convent and the apostolate of Catholic teaching.
They both liked the idea of wearing a distinctive habit.
Sisters Maris Stella and Marie Chrysostom are supported in their calling by their parents, Carol and John Vaughan and Toby Melton and
Eugenia Kolkas, respectively. Both were parishioners of Stella Maris Church on Sullivan’s Island.
Transfiguration, Katie Vaughan and Katherine Melton were received into the novitiate of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia. In the
ceremony, 16 postulants received the Dominican habit and new religious names in the motherhouse chapel in Nashville, Tenn.
“It was a wonderful day for us,” said Sister Mary Emily Knapp, vocations director for the congregation. “Our congregation is humbled to see
the generosity of these young women, who with their habit symbolize their witness of Christ in the world.”
Vaughan is now Sister Maris Stella; Melton’s religious name is Sister Marie Chrysostom. The novices now enter a yearlong period of
formation, according to Sister Mary Emily. Their college work is temporarily put on hold, and they concentrate on learning the practice of
their new vocation. The novitiates study the Dominican constitution, the Rule of St. Augustine, the Church documents on religious life and
the true meaning of the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. They prepare intellectually and spiritually for their future life as Dominican
religious.
“They live quietly in the novitiate,” the vocations director said. “We call it their cloister year. All of this is a process, during which the
Church gives them time to prepare for their vows. It really is an important year for the sisters – one that is meant to form a strong foundation
for their religious life.
At the end of the first year (officially known as their canonical year), the novices take their first vows and resume their studies in the world-at-
large career in Catholic education.
The order is, perhaps, one of the more successful ones in the United States. The average age of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia is only
36. The sisters dress in distinctive habits, so there is no mistaking their purpose in life, and they adhere to traditional Catholicism. The
constitution of the 145-year-old congregation calls for respect for the priesthood and the magisterium of the Catholic Church, claims fidelity
to the faith and reveres Mary as both mother and model.
The Dominican website calls the order of St. Cecilia a teaching order with a contemplative dimension. The nuns live in cells, eat most meals
in silence, chant the Liturgy of the Hours three times a day – as well as compline and vespers – and their prayer life revolves around the
Eucharist.
Sister Mary Emily cited that authentic Catholicism as the reason for the congregation’s appeal.
“Young women want to be authentic witnesses,” she said. “They are responding to God’s call and are very generous in giving their lives for
what they believe.”
The vocations director called them the John Paul II generation and said that the late pope challenged them to live countercultural lives in the
service of the faith.
Jeffrey F. Kirby, a seminarian for the Diocese of Charleston, first introduced the Charleston novices to the countercultural Dominicans of St.
Cecilia. Kirby was one of their teachers at Bishop England, the diocesan high school of the Lowcountry. He is a third year theology graduate
student at the North American College in Rome who hopes to be ordained a priest in 2007.
When he went off to the seminary after the girls’ junior year at Bishop England High School, he referred them to their pastor for continuing
counseling and further discernment of possible vocations. But he kept in touch.
When the girls had become women and felt a real call to a consecrated life, Kirby talked to them about the different charisms and apostolates
available in the Catholic Church.
“I suggested they look around and try to find ‘their place,’” he said. “One possible place I brought up was Nashville. For Katie, it was an
immediate fit.”
Melton, who converted to the Catholic faith from Greek Orthodoxy during her senior year at Bishop England, looked around some more but
determined God was calling her to the St. Cecilia Dominicans, the real community of the convent and the apostolate of Catholic teaching.
They both liked the idea of wearing a distinctive habit.
Sisters Maris Stella and Marie Chrysostom are supported in their calling by their parents, Carol and John Vaughan and Toby Melton and
Eugenia Kolkas, respectively. Both were parishioners of Stella Maris Church on Sullivan’s Island.