Nuns will renew vows at special service

Press, 10 January 1987, Page 32

Nuns will renew vows at special service

Ten Catholic nuns from the Sisters of Jesus and Mary in Bryhdwr will celebrate the order’s twenty-fifth anniversary in Christchurch this month by renewing their vows together at a special service in St Matthew’s Church. Two of the original five Irish nuns who arrived in Christchurch from Dublin in 1961, Sister Eucharia and Sister Rita, will also be renewing their vows at the two-day celebrations at the church, beginning on January 24. The renewal of vows was unusual, but was intended to be an affirmation of the nuns’ work for God in the community, said the chairman of the St Matthew’s Parish Council, Mrs Veronica Pyle. “This is a personal time for the nuns, where they will renew their promises,” she said. The Irish nuns originally came to Christchurch to teach at St Patrick’s School, the school belonging to the parish of St Matthew’s Church Sister Rita was the only

one of the first five Irish nuns to still be teaching at the school, said Mrs Pyle. Sister Eucharia had been the principal of the school but had moved to Wainuiomata to start another convent. Sister Rita was now head of the Christchurch convent. The order of Jesus and Mary was mainly concerned with Christian teaching but also worked in the community with the poor and young people, said Mrs Pyle. The nuns were concerned with health care and pastoral teaching. Anniversary celebrations will begin at the church on Saturday, January 24, with a thanksgiving Mass at 2 p.m., after which a garden party will be held. A Mass with a special liturgy for the renewal of vows will be held on Sunday at 10 a.m. Past pupils who had attended the school, or anyone who had anything to do with the convent, were invited to attend the celebrations, said Mrs Pyle.