Katie Clemmer, who taught fifth grade at St. Joseph
School in Herndon for the past two years, entered the
Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary community
Sept. 8 as a postulant. This is her first year of the
formation process. She lives the life of a sister, gets to
know the community better and continues discerning the call
to religious life. Next year, she will become a novice for
two years.
She is working to eliminate her educational loans so she can
be free of debt to enter the novitiate. She is fundraising
with the Laboure Society.
Clemmer graduated from Atholton High School in Columbia, Md.,
in 2004, and earned a bachelor’s from Catholic University in
Washington in 2008, and a master’s in special education from
Providence College in Providence, R.I., in 2010. She taught
for two years in Fall River, Mass.
While teaching at St. Joseph, Clemmer was a parishioner of
All Saints in Manassas, where she was active in youth
ministry.
Sister Mary Agatha Hester, a former parishioner of St.
Anthony of Padua Mission in King George, was among 19 women
who professed the simple vows of poverty, chastity and
obedience as Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in Nashville,
Tenn., July 28.
Sister Mary Agatha is the daughter of retired Col. Wes Hester
and Nancy Hester. She is a graduate of King George High
School in King George and the University of Virginia in
Charlottesville, where she earned a bachelor’s in Middle
Eastern studies. She is studying at Aquinas College,
Nashville, in preparation for the teaching apostolate.
The Mass of first religious profession was celebrated at the
Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville. Auxiliary Bishop
Lee Piché of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis,
Minn., was the main celebrant. The homilist was Dominican
Father Albert Trudel of the St. Joseph Province.
The Congregation of Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia was
established in Nashville in 1860. The Sisters of St. Cecilia
are dedicated to the apostolate of Catholic education.
Sister Sarah Ellen McGuire, a former teacher at St.
James School in Falls Church, professed her perpetual vows in
the Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate
Heart of Mary Aug. 15 at Villa Maria House of Studies in
Immaculata, Pa.
Bishop John O. Barres of Allentown, Pa., presided at the
Mass, and Msgr. Joseph Marino of Philadelphia delivered the
homily. Sister Lorraine McGrew, general superior, received
the vows in the name of the church for the congregation.
During the rite of perpetual profession, Sister Sarah Ellen
lay prostrate as the litany of the saints was sung. She then
publicly professed her vows of chastity, poverty and
obedience to God in the service of the Catholic Church.
Sister Sarah Ellen entered the congregation in 2004 and
professed her first vows in August 2007.
During her formation period, she discerned her vocation as a
postulant and then explored it more formally as a novice. The
formation period includes growing in prayer, studying various
college courses, participating in the community life of the
sisters and serving in the mission of the congregation – “to
evangelize, to catechize and to teach.”
Sister Sarah Ellen attended St. Philomena Elementary School
in Lansdowne, Pa. She is a 2001 graduate of Archbishop
Prendergast High School in Drexel Hill, Pa., and a 2005
graduate of Immaculata University. Her brother, Father Tim
McGuire, was ordained a priest in May for the Philadelphia
Archdiocese. Sister Sarah Ellen taught first grade at St.
James from 2007 to 2009. She currently teaches second grade
at Trinity Academy in Shenandoah, Pa.
Sister Christiana Mickwee, a teacher at St. Thomas Aquinas
Regional School in Woodbridge, was among nine women who made
their perpetual profession of the simple vows of poverty,
chastity and obedience as Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia
in Nashville, Tenn., July 25.
Sister Christiana is the daughter of Rod and Dorothy
Mickwee, parishioners of All Saints Church in Atlanta. She
attended St. Jude the Apostle Elementary School and is a
graduate of St. Pius X High School in Atlanta. She attended
the University of Georgia where she earned a bachelor’s in
education.
The Mass of perpetual religious profession was celebrated at
the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville. Nashville
Bishop David Choby was the principal celebrant, with Bishop
John M. LeVoir of New Ulm, Minn., concelebrating.
Concelebrants also included Father David P. Meng, pastor of
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Lake Ridge. The homilist
was Dominican Father Albert Trudel of the St. Joseph
Province.
Sister Elizabeth Ann Sjoberg, a former parishioner of
Corpus Christi Mission in South Riding and member of the
Congregation of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de
Paul since 2007, made vows for the first time Aug.12 at the
Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in
Emmitsburg, Md.
Sister Elizabeth Ann had served in campus ministry at Mount
St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg since 2009. A native of
Chantilly, Sister Elizabeth Ann is beginning graduate studies
in social work at DePaul University in Chicago.
The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, founded in
1633 by St. Vincent and St. Louise de Marillac, is a Society
of Apostolic Life. The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de
Paul are dedicated to serving the poorest and most abandoned
in society. In the United States, they trace their roots to
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. The vows are private, annual and
always renewable.
Sister Elizabeth Ann is a member of the of U.S. province of
St. Louise, which includes 540 sisters who serve in 22 U.S.
states, Washington, D.C., Canada and in foreign missions on
every continent except Antarctica.
Sister Tracey Catherine Uphoff, a math and chemistry
teacher at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, Aug. 12
renewed the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience that she
made at her first profession as a member of the Sisters,
Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Sister Lorraine
McGrew, general superior of the congregation, received the
vows in the name of the congregation for the Catholic Church.
The renewal of vows took place at Villa Maria House of
Studies in Immaculata, Pa.
Sister Tracey Catherine graduated from Merion Mercy
Academy in Merion Station, Pa., in 2003 and Immaculata
University in 2007.
As part of initial formation in becoming a perpetually
professed sister, a young woman enters into a process that
spans eight to 10 years. Sister Tracey Catherine entered
community in 2008 and professed her first vows in August
2011. She will renew these each year until she makes her
perpetual profession.
