LUFKIN, TEXAS — Seven junior professed Dominican nuns gathered at the Monastery of the Infant Jesus in Lufkin from July 11 to 25 for the third cycle of the four-year Monastic Theological Studies Program (MTS).
Sponsored by the Association of Mary, Mother of Mercy, the program brought together sisters from the Dominican monasteries in Girard, Illinois; Lufkin, Texas; Menlo Park, California; and Summit, New Jersey.
During the first week, Fr. Peter Hannah, OP, of the Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, taught a course entitled “Reading and Praying the Psalms.” Fr. Peter is assistant professor of biblical studies at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California.
Fr. Thomas Schaefgen, OP, of the Province of St. Martin de Porres and Regent of Studies of the province, taught “Introduction to St. Thomas and the Summa Theologiae.”
Over the previous two years, the sisters studied logic and rhetoric through a course on tools for monastic study, as well as introductory philosophy, theology and patristics, with particular attention to Christology and Mariology. Following each year’s courses, the sisters prepare papers, which they present when the program reconvenes the following year.
The final year of the current cycle will include courses in Thomistic moral theology and Church history, together with a formal disputatio.
Established in 2010, the Monastic Theological Studies Program offers Dominican nuns a systematic formation in theology, history and philosophy. Its purpose is to provide a solid intellectual foundation for their continuing personal study, an essential element of Dominican contemplative life and the Order’s search for truth.
Sr. Mary Rose, OP, and the Lufkin community extended a warm Texas welcome to the participating sisters and to the program’s coordinators, Sr. Joseph Marie, OP, of Menlo Park, and Sr. Judith Miryam, OP, of Summit. That welcome proved warmer even than the weather, as the heat index reached 117 degrees Fahrenheit on one of the days.
Alongside lectures, study and the presentation of papers, the sisters enjoyed time for recreation and fraternal life, both within the monastery and on its spacious grounds.
—Sr. Judith Miryam Boneski, OP
Associate MTS Coordinator
