by Sr Tamsin Geach o.p.

‘Father, I think I may be going mad’

‘Have you ever thought of becoming a lay Dominican?’

This is more or less the beginning of my vocation story.  I was doing pro-life work full-time, and finding the relentless round of contemplating horror after horror was getting to me.  I finally thought: ‘So it’s true that killing babies is wrong, but that is not the Good News of Jesus Christ.’  Something had to be done!

Sr. Mary Valery Walker OP

At the time I was born my Father was the Catholic, my Mother was not.  A year or so later, after the birth of my first sister, Gillian, my Mother became a Catholic.  So I grew up in a practising Catholic family; a family that went regularly to Mass on Sundays, said night and morning prayers (not always together), went sometimes to Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

When I started primary school, it was a convent junior day school, of the Daughters of Wisdom, a French foundation.  I loved them very much, especially Sr. Angela.  It was in their chapel that our family attended Mass each Sunday.

PART  II of the clothing ceremony

After the reception of the habit and greetings by the Prioress General & the Community:

Having come this far I commit you now to the care of your novice mistress Sister Angela Mary who will assist you in adapting to our Dominican way of life by studying and observing the Rule and Constitutions.

However, I cannot let the saint of the day go unmentioned because St Vincent de Paul has a timely message for novices and all of us, especially as regards the priority of charity.