The Monastic Life

There is a pretty cool news story on two Palm Beach County residents choosing the monastic life via Moniales OP.

…At the same time, one of those worldly distractions – the Internet – has become a prime recruiting tool for religious orders, with Web sites for religious orders, FAQs, vocation blogs and “come see” weekends for the curious.

Sister Diana Marie gravitated toward the religious groups that had Web sites and away from those with no online presence.

“One convent, it took up to a month for the novice mistress to contact me. It was just too slow,” she said.

Many of Angela Rivieccio’s belongings still reside in her mother’s Boynton Beach house, in suspended animation until the day when she takes her final vows as a Dominican nun.

Angela Rivieccio became a novice, Sister Diana Marie of the Most Blessed Sacrament, on Feb. 11, joining the 801-year-old religious order called the Nuns of the Order of Preachers, founded by St. Dominic.

Among the abandoned belongings is her collection of “Star Trek” books, a remnant of her childhood.

“That’s like a whole lifetime ago,” she said with a laugh. “It’s dropped off my radar screen.”

The other story is about a retired parish priest Seamus Malvey (sounds like a character name in a Flannery O’Connor novel) who entered the Cistertian Abbey of Gethsemani made famous by Fr. Thomas Merton.