SOLT communities invite young women to Magnificat

By DAWN PROSSER
Director of Communications
 
The Society of Our Lady of the Trinity (SOLT) sisters are inviting young women from the United States, Mexico and Central America to join them on Oct. 3 for an evening with vespers, dinner and reflection.
 
Convents in Texas, Arizona, Michigan, Missouri, North Dakota, Belize, Guatemala and Mexico – and even Willey in the Diocese of Sioux City - are hosting a Magnificat night with the SOLT sisters. This is the first time the entire SOLT community has planned this type of event.
 
Sister Anne Marie Walsh, SOLT, said women between the ages of 16 and 30 are invited. The SOLT Vocations Office asked each of the community’s convents to host the Magnificat event on the same night.
 
“It’s just meant to be exposure – something to spark interest in praying the liturgy of the hours and see the sisters without the pressure of a vocation event or a ‘Come and See,’” she explained.
 
Sister Anne Marie said she, Sister Marie Hesed and Sister Jean Marie were looking forward to hosting a Magnificat night at their convent outside of Willey. They felt that it provided an opportunity for young women to have contact with religious women, which has become increasingly rare.
 
“When I was growing up, we were exposed to sisters all the time because all our teachers were sisters,” Sister Anne Marie pointed out. “Kids today – and people in general – they don’t see sisters as much. So, this is a way to allow for that encounter to happen with sisters.”
 The close proximity of the SOLT sisters to Kuemper Catholic School in nearby Carroll has provided numerous opportunities for students to travel to Domus Trinitatis Retreat Center and meet the sisters.

The students from Kuemper “are very used to coming here,” Sister Anne Marie said, noting they start visiting the nearby SOLT convent in grade school.
 
“The public school students don’t get that kind of opportunity or invitation unless they come with family or something,” she said.
 
Last year, Carroll Kuemper alumna and St. John Paul II parishioner Hannah Mescher brought a group of young women to Willey to meet the sisters. She was part of a group that met on Thursdays and planned various activities. Sister Anne Marie invited them to the convent.
 
“It was just a come over and hang out with the sisters and get to know us a bit. We had pizza or something like that. It was really fun. They had questions of course, but they were relaxed and had a good time,” the religious woman said, noting the Magnificat night would be something similar.
 
Any young woman who would like to attend the Magnificat night should RSVP to [email protected]. Participants would be able to pray evening prayer/vespers in the chapel with the sisters, followed by dinner in the convent, reflection and time to acquaint themselves with the three sisters serving in Willey.
 
“We enjoy meeting the young women and get to know them a little bit. Some we probably already will know,” Sister Anne Marie said.

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