Discalced Carmelite nun professes final vows during veiling ceremony at Holladay monastery

Friday, Jun. 20, 2014

HOLLADAY — Discalced Carmelite nun Mary Madeleine of the Child Jesus united herself to God as she knelt before the Carmelite prioress, Mother Maureen Goodwin, to profess her final vows during a Mass June 15 at the Carmel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Holladay.

Sr. Mary Madeleine then received the sacred black veil, a symbol of modesty and reverence, and a crown of flowers as a newly veiled nun. 

“I feel happy and I just want to do God’s will,” said Sr. Mary Madeleine of the Child Jesus, following the Mass. “God loves me so much, and I am sincerely grateful.”

The Mass was concelebrated by the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, and Discalced Carmelite Father Stephen Watson. Discalced Carmelite Brother Charles Nawodylo assisted during the Mass. 

In Fr. Watson’s homily, he said Sr. Mary Madeleine professed to foster family, the charism of the Carmelites.

“Saint Teresa of Avila had been in a convent of more than 150 nuns,” but when she reformed the order in the sixteenth century, she insisted that convents have no more than 13 nuns, said Fr. Watson. 

Sr. Mary Madeleine also promised to place herself under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary and “took the mystery of the Virgin’s life and union with Christ as her ideal model,” he said. She also committed her life to prayer and solitude. 

“God is worth it in our world today that is so focused on self and secularism,” Fr. Watson said. “God is worthy of our entire life and … the end to which we are created.”

To have Sr. Mary Madeleine take final vows is “a big day for us because a young sister will be here and we are very grateful to her for her commitment,” said Mother Maureen. 

“The Church received another cloistered nun who has dedicated her entire life to pray for priests, souls and the salvation of the whole world,” added Carmelite Sister Therese Bui.

Sr. Mary Madeleine grew up in Vietnam attending Mass every day with her family. She knew in high school that she wanted to be a religious, but wasn’t sure which order to join, she said. “I went with a friend to the Dominican order and told my mother I would be back in a couple of years and I stayed for 13 years, but I left a few days before I was to take my final vows. I asked the vicar general for help, and he introduced me to the Carmelite nuns the next day.” 

Sr. Mary Madeleine met the Carmelite nuns in 2003 and learned their charism and the story of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, she said. “When I became a nun, I just wanted to serve God and help patients in a hospital. When I left the Dominicans and entered the Carmelites, I felt happy and more at peace. Then I found out they needed more sisters in Utah and I wanted to help.” 

Although Sr. Mary Madeleine has had trials as she acclimates to a new culture and new language since she arrived in 2012, she feels “stronger about my life in Utah and I love the sisters and the benefactors here; they work so hard,” she said. 

As a Carmelite nun, “I will ask the Blessed Virgin to help me follow and console Jesus,” she said.

Following the Mass, many people greeted and congratulated Sr. Mary Madeleine and the other Carmelite nuns in the monastery’s parlor.

“I am very happy for Sr. Mary Madeleine and for our Church that she took her final vows on the Solemnity of the Trinity,” said one of her friends from Vietnam, Sister Theresa Ann Nguyen, a member of the Lover of the Holy Cross Sisters of Los Angeles. “This reminds me of the vows I took 15 years ago, to worship God and give glory to God.”