Saturday, February 19, 2011

Sisters of Mary

The wonderful order who runs the school in our parish—noted in the last two paragraphs of the excerpt—is planning to build a priory that will last 200 years, as reported in this article from California Catholic Daily.

An excerpt.

“The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, plan to construct a $30 million priory on a 38-acre parcel of land in Loomis capable of accommodating 100 sisters.

“With the extraordinary rate of vocations coming to the Dominican Sisters of Mary, the building of a new priory is a timely response and a tremendous opportunity to expand the teaching apostolate of the community,” says a statement on ‘Our California Expansion’ on the order’s website.

“The land on which the new priory will be built was donated to the sisters by Fred and Joan Cordova, which permitted the order to open a mission in Loomis in 2007.

“Sister Mary Samuel Handwerker, who is overseeing the construction project, told the Loomis News the new priory will be a two-story, 135,000-square-foot structure with a chapel in the California Mission style of architecture.

“We’re going to build something that will last 200 years,” Sister Mary Samuel told the newspaper. “Most of the property will remain in a natural state.”

“Because of the price tag – an estimated $30 million – the priory will probably be built in phases as money is raised, Sister Mary Samuel told the News.

“After receiving permission from Bishop William K. Weigand to send Sisters to teach within the Diocese of Sacramento, the Sisters accepted the 38-acre land donation in Loomis for a future priory,” says the statement on the order’s website. “Upon receiving an invitation by Bishop Jaime Soto to administer and teach in a diocesan school, the community assumed the administration of Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary school in the fall of 2010.”

“Five Sisters presently serve as a principal and four teachers at the Sacramento school,” the statement continues. “Three additional Sisters are continuing the community’s presence in Loomis by working on expansion plans and fundraising through a new branch of the Sisters’ Mission Advancement Office.”