Religious group takes next step in Church recognition

SUEANN HOWELL sahowell@charlottediocese.org

CHARLOTTE — The Daughters of the Virgin Mother, a Gastonia-based group of religious sisters committed to supporting the priesthood and vocations in the Diocese of Charlotte, is one step closer to formal recognition as a religious community of the Catholic Church.

Earlier this year, Bishop Peter Jugis presented a decree declaring the group a “Private Association of the Christian Faithful,” moving the Daughters along in the Church’s process of becoming a fully recognized religious community.

Bishop Jugis presented the decree to the group’s founder, Sister Mary Raphael of the Divine Physician, Jan. 12 at the closing Mass of the diocese’s 50th anniversary year in Charlotte.

Formed in 2015, the Daughters of the Virgin Mother tend to practical and spiritual needs of men preparing for the priesthood, as well as those already ordained. They serve in local parishes, assist pastors, prepare meals, and maintain the household for 21 seminarians and their formation leaders at St. Joseph College Seminary in Mount Holly.

The group also helps the diocese’s Vocations Office in organizing the “Duc In Altum” summer vocation discernment camp for young women at Belmont Abbey College. They encourage, advocate and pray for religious vocations throughout the diocese, and they teach and share the faith with young women each month at Belmont Abbey College and St. Ann Parish in Charlotte. In presenting the decree, Bishop Jugis noted, “After some discernment that it might possibly be the work of the Holy Spirit, we have granted her (Sister Mary Raphael’s) request that they be elevated to the next level, a Private Association of the Faithful, that grants special recognition in canon law.”

Bishop Jugis commended Sister Mary Raphael for discerning the will of the Holy Spirit in everything related to the group’s work, and he noted that other women have been attracted to that same mission.

“It’s been an experiment – you feel that. We knew we were in the experimental stage,” Sister Mary Raphael said. “Receiving the decree from the bishop, it felt like our father was saying, ‘I give you my blessing’ and the Church looks upon this now. She recognizes his daughters.”

The Daughters of the Virgin Mother have eight women in various stages of formation: one postulant, two novices and four who have taken temporary vows. Only Sister Mary Raphael has made final vows, giving her life in service to the Church as a Daughter of the Virgin Mother.

“The distinctive mission of the Daughters of the Virgin Mother…is to actively serve Christ the High Priest through His ordained priests, and those aspiring to it, by assisting in their spiritual and practical needs with an evangelical availability animated by a life of contemplative prayer in the image of Our Lady,” Sister Mary Raphael said.

Father Matthew Kauth, rector of St. Joseph College Seminary, serves as the Daughters’ spiritual advisor. He applauds the “joyful, balanced atmosphere that is created by the presence of the sisters” amid the flourishing seminarian program.

With its membership increasing, the Daughters of the Virgin Mother has outgrown its Loreto Convent in Gastonia, prompting the purchase of a second property in Belmont, called the Bethany Convent. Renovations are under way so that all of the members can live in community under one roof.

The Daughters’ growth, the bishop’s decree and the future convent have inspired the sisters to pray even more fervently for the diocese and for an increase in priestly and religious vocations, Sister Mary Raphael said.

Bishop Peter Jugis presented a decree Jan. 12 declaring the Daughters of the Virgin Mother a “Private Association of the Christian Faithful,” in the temporary chapel in the Family Life Center at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte. Founder, Sister Mary Raphael (at right of Bishop Jugis), and the sisters are pictured with him and their spiritual advisor, Father Matthew Kauth, rector of St. Joseph College Seminary in Mount Holly, after Mass.

TROY HULL | CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

As for the next step – petitioning Rome to become a religious community – that is up to the Holy Spirit, she said, and not on any specific timeline. “I will be docile to the Holy Spirit. I will be patient, always working in collaboration with our bishop, listening to his advice.”

Learn more

At www.daughtersofthevirginmother.com : Find out more about the Daughters of the Virgin Mother and their work