Two women from Tonga, Sister Malia Cecilia and Sister Malia Makalita, were among six novices who took first their first vows as as Little Sisters of the Poor in the United States at the beginning of the month.
Cardinal Dolan presided at the Mass of Religious Profession at St. Ann’s Novitiate, Queens Village, New York.
He was keeping a promise he had made to one of them – Sister Elizabeth Mary de la Croix – when he met her in St. Patrick’s Cathedral shortly before her entrance into the Congregation. When he learned that she was originally from his home parish in Baldwin, MO, and had gone to Holy Infant Grade School, just as he did, he vowed to be present if and when she made first vows.
Sister Mary Richard Morris, who is responsible for formation at St. Ann’s, reported that the Little Sisters believe this was the first time that the Archbishop of New York has presided at one of their professions “since 1901,” when it was Archbishop Michael A. Corrigan.
The Pontifical Year Book, published May 13 and contains data from 2011, reveals a 21 percent drop in the number of religious sisters in Oceania over the last 10 years.
While the number of religious sisters rose in Africa and Asia over the past decade, Europe registering a 22 percent decline, and the Americas were down 17 percent.
World-wide the number of nuns has fallen from a million in 1973 to 710,000 today.
In the picture Sister Cecilia is standing at the far left and sister Makalita at the far right.
Source
- littlesistersofthepoorindianapolis.org
- aleteia.org
- Washington Post
- Image: littlesistersofthepoorindianapolis.org