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Manassas millennial becomes professed Dominican nun

Zoey Maraist | Catholic Herald Staff Writer

Dominican Sr. Mary Grace of Jesus makes her solemn vows during Mass the St. Dominic’s Monastery in Linden Jan. 25. SPIERING PHOTOGRAPHY | COURTESY

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Dominican Sr. Mary Grace of Jesus receives a kiss through the cloister lattice from her nephew. SPIERING PHOTOGRAPHY | COURTESY

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Dominican Sr. Mary Grace of Jesus greets her fellow Dominicans. SPIERING PHOTOGRAPHY | COURTESY

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As with anyone facing a big commitment,
Sister Mary Grace felt a little daunted contemplating her life as a cloistered
nun. But on the day she made her solemn vows in front of her family, friends, priests
and the 10 other women whom she lives with at the St. Dominic’s Monastery in
Linden, she felt freed. “Now that I’m here, I’ve been struck by how freeing it
is to be bound to God,” she said. “If people knew how happy God wanted to make
them, they wouldn’t be so afraid.” 

Sister Mary Grace, born Grace Van de Voorde,
believes she first felt called to be a nun at age 5 or 6. While in high school
at Seton School in Manassas, she sought spiritual direction from one of her
parish priests, Father Juan A. Puigbo, parochial vicar of All Saints Church in Manassas.

“He asked me to write down my dream list
for religious life, what (I) would you look for if (I) could pick. He was like,
‘Do you want to nurse, do you want to teach? and I was like, ‘I could if I had to
but it’s not like I really want to,’ ” she said with a laugh. “I just wanted to
belong to God and that was the present and central thing for me. So he said, ‘Why
don’t we look at contemplative life?’ ”

Many of the orders she reached out to
wanted the 17-year-old to wait a few more years before seriously discerning
with them. But the prioress of St. Dominic’s Monastery in Linden encouraged her
to visit, and she liked what she found. “It just struck me how normal it felt
to be in the monastery, so I asked if I could come back,” said Sister Mary Grace.
After several visits, she began the process all the nuns go through. The September
after she graduated high school, she made her aspirancy, a six-week trial period
where she still wore her everyday clothes and was called her nickname, Gracie.

Then she spent a few months with her family,
preparing to fully enter. She filled out paperwork, got character references,
went to the doctor to ensure she was healthy. Then she became a postulant. She donned
a blue jumper, white blouse and a small veil and became Sister Grace. After a
year, she entered the two-year novitiate. She received her new name, Sister Mary
Grace of Jesus, along with a white tunic, white scapular, a rosary and a white
veil. 

At the end of the novitiate, a nun makes
her temporary vows, leading to a four-to-nine-year period of discernment. After
four years, 25-year-old Sister Mary Grace made her solemn vows Jan. 25. As with
an ordination, she made her vows during the celebration of Mass. After the
homily, given by Dominican Father Thomas Petri from the Dominican House of
Studies in Washington, she affirmed her desire to be consecrated to God to her
prioress, Sister Mary Fidelis of the Pierced Side. 

Sister Mary Grace prostrated herself as
they sang the litany of saints. Then she knelt with her hands in the hands of
the prioress and promised obedience to her, her successors and to God. After Sister
Mary Grace received the sign of peace from Sister Mary Fidelis, Father Petri
extended his hands over the newly professed nun and blessed her. She then
received a blessed veil and a blessed ring — her grandmother’s wedding ring. 

She felt especially blessed to have her
father, Deacon James R. Van de Voorde, serve at the Mass. “It was very special to
have him so close,” she said. “It’s going to take a long time, probably the
rest of my whole life to soak it all in. The only emotion I could express was this
immense relief, not so much as to finally arrive as to finally begin. It was
very humbling. I was so grateful for the gift of God, the gift of my community,
the gift of my family and the gift of our diocese.”

Dominican Sr. Mary Grace of Jesus poses with her family after making her solemn vows the St. Dominic’s
Monastery in Linden Jan. 25.  SPIERING PHOTOGRAPHY  |  COURTESY

 

CR FAMILY PHOTO

 Afterward, she was able to greet guests
through the cloister lattice. It was the first time she, her parents and her six siblings were all together in eight years. “The whole day was a nice reunion,”
she said.

She’s not the only religious in her family — in addition to her
deacon dad, one of her sisters is a Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother
in Valencia, Spain, another is a lay consecrated woman with Regnum Christi.

Read more about Sister Mary Grace’s vocation-filled family. 

Her family is able to visit the monastery
six times a year, and as some of her siblings live overseas, her mom jokes she’ll
see Sister Mary Grace more than her other children. They know where to find her
— “and I can’t leave,” she said with a laugh. 

“I don’t know if this is going to sound
weird but I’m so excited to be stuck here. I am so in love with our life as Dominican
nuns,” said Sister Mary Grace. “I’m excited for it to be normal from now on.”

 

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