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The Carmelite Sisters of Mother of God Monastery in San Rafael will leave the monastery in pairs March 1 for separate monasteries in the Midwest after a decision was made to close the San Rafael monastery last year. Sister Teresa Francis, OCD, left, Sister Anna Marie Vanni, OCD, center, and Mother Dolores Sullivan, OCD, are pictured at the monastery Feb. 2 after Candlemas Day Mass in the chapel. Not pictured is Sister Mary Anne Biata, OCD. (Photo by Christina Gray/Catholic San Francisco).
Feb. 3, 2021
Christina Gray
Catholic San Francisco
Mother Dolores Sullivan, OCD, just learned she’ll be leaving the Carmelite monastery she has called home for more than 55 years in less than a month.
“I feel brokenhearted,” Mother Dolores, 98, the original prioress of Mother of God Monastery tearfully told Catholic San Francisco after a Candlemas Day Mass Feb. 2. “The Lord is giving us a whole new beginning.”
Her sisters at the San Rafael monastery have tried to shield the frail-but-attentive 98-year-old nun from the full weight of their worries after a degree of closure was issued to the monastery last May. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life cited dwindling new vocations as the cause of the closure. The complications of moving four aged nuns into group housing or another monastery in the midst of a pandemic were acknowleged in a moveout date of March 1, 2021.
The multi-room suburban monastery was built on 45 wooded acres by Archbishop Joseph T. McGucken in 1965. Mother Dolores was one of the 10 nuns who first occupied the self-supporting monastery and she has worked hard to sustain its life of prayer and presence to the local community ever since.
Sister Anna Marie Vanni, OCD, who has lived at the monastery for all of her 44 years of consecrated life, said that finding another monastery or home that could take all of the sisters together “proved impossible." The four will be separated for the first time in years on March 1 and possibly forever when they leave in pairs to separate Carmelite monasteries in the Midwest.
She said she doesn't know what plans the archdiocese might have for the property after the sisters are gone.
“We are very grateful,” said Sister Anna Marie, 69, who with Sister Teresa Francis, OCD, 82, will drive their minivan the nearly 2,000 miles north to North Dakota where the Carmel of Mary Monastery in the town of Wahpeton is waiting for them. Mother Dolores and Sister Mary Anne Biata, 60, will go east to join the Carmelite Monastery of St. Therese in Clinton Township, Michigan.
“We’ve visited many times,” Mother Dolores said of her new monastery home. “That’s a consolation.”
Ever-cheerful Sister Teresa Francis said she has only seen a small picture of the North Dakota monastery and "it looks lovely." After living in four previous monastery settings, though, she had hoped Mother of God would be where she would spend her final days.
The momentary dark cloud passes from her face when she suddenly remembers, “they have kitties!,” and reaches over to grab Mother Dolores by the hand. The monastery in Clinton Township has them too, she tells her. The monastery matriarch grins.
Mother Dolores, whose memory has become shorter and her hearing weaker, doesn’t understand why she and the sisters must leave their beloved monastery. Neither do many of the neighbors and friends who have treasured their presence here.“It’s hard for me to be OK with it,” said Shelly Milsap, a local mother of five who has been Mother Dolores’ devoted part-time caregiver for eight years. “I see the way they live. I know what they mean to the community here.”
Supporters of all ages, some good friends, others near strangers continue to come say their goodbyes to the sisters, said Sister Anna Marie.
Sister Teresa Francis summed up the essence of what will be lost to the community when they leave, especially in these uncertain times.
“We were something they could count on,” she said.