What a jubilee year this has been for us! August 23 was a grand day, as we celebrated THREE golden jubilees together: Sr Gail Fitzpatrick, Sr Carol Dvorak, and Sr Lillian Thomas Shank all celebrated the 50^th anniversaries of their religious profession. And back in May we had the celebrations for the silver jubilees of Srs Kathleen and Louise, whom we wrote about in our last newsletter.

Sr. Gail Fitzpatrick needs no introduction for most of our readers, as she was our abbess 1982 -2006. Her calling to religious life goes back to her early childhood in Fairfield, Connecticut, where she was taught by the Sisters of Mercy. Their life of service to God and to people inspired her with a desire to give her own life to God. "Then I read St Therese and felt drawn to contemplative life," she says. "It seemed a very full way of loving God - nothing for oneself, but loving God with one’s whole being."