On the Feast of Bl Diane and Bl Cecilia (two of the first nuns of the Order) we are hosting a Q&A session for young women who wish to know more about our contemplative monastic life.

To mark this year's 'World Day for Consecrated Life' (2nd February), we decided to share this Vocation Story from one of our Sisters.

“There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised in the Gospel by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and speak to others of our friendship with Him.” Pope Benedict XVI.

One can say the same about a vocation to religious life and it is this which prompts me to share my own vocation story!

Wishing you all every blessing this Christmas and in the coming year.

We drew the winning ticket for our 'Noah's Ark' Raffle yesterday evening. The winning ticket, which was drawn by our Novice, Sr Leonie, and announced by our Prioress, Sr Mairéad, belonged to Helen McArdle, who is delighted with her prize. We would like to thank everyone who contributed to our Raffle, which raised €630.

We now have beautiful Christmas Candles for sale in our Online Shop. Also, some handmade 'quilling' Christmas CardsIn addition to our more standard, printed Christmas Cards.

Our 'kitchen sister' carved a very nice pumpkin head and, as you can see from the photos below, we had a lot of fun with it. But because today (November 1st) is the Feast of All Saints, I was also thinking about what Vatican II speaks of as, "the universal call to holiness". This feast is a reminder that we are all destined to become Saints, to share in the divine life of the Trinity.

On the 7th October our community rejoiced and celebrated with Sr Maria Breidge as she made her first Profession as a Dominican Nun. Due to Covid 19 restrictions her family and friends from County Donegal were unable to be with us and many of our Dominican brethren and sisters – who would normally join us – could not be present. Fr Gerard Dunne, vicar of the Master of the Order for our monastery, officiated at the ceremony, assisted by Fr Paul Clayton-Lea, our good and loyal friend from the diocese.

This is the time of the year when we are usually planning our Vocation Weekends for the Autumn/Winter. Unfortunately due to COVID-19 we are unable to host any Vocation Discernment Weekends for the present. If, however, you are interested in exploring more about our way of life we would be happy to answer your questions or accompany you via (Zoom etc). Depending of the level of interest we could organize a virtual Vocation Weekend with Conferences (Questions and Answers) via Zoom (or Googlemeet).

We are raffling this lovely hand-knit 'Noah's Ark Set' as part of our ongoing fundraising efforts in respect of our Funding Appeal to recover the costs incurred in replacing the Monastery Roof (in 2019) and necessary work on our heating system (including replacing the 230kw central heating boiler in 2020).

The raffle tickets are €5 each and the draw will be held on the Feast of Christ the King (22nd November; in time to make a nice Christmas present for someone).