Leaving Life Of Silence No Cross To Bear
Newcastle Herald
Monday July 14, 2008
SISTER Marie Van and Sister Dominique Savio left their convent in Taiwan for the first time in six years to come to World Youth Day celebrations in Australia.
The pair, who are staying in the Hunter, are cloistered nuns and are two of only three who live in a convent in southern Taiwan from the Community of St John order.Traditionally, the sisters spend most of their time praying, covering leather Bibles and doing candlework.As "partially cloistered" nuns they left their convent to supervise 80 Taiwanese youths staying in the Hunter for World Youth Day events."Our life is a life of prayer, silence and solitude," Sister Marie Van said."We have exemptions, we can go out in the world when there's great need and there was a need." On Friday Sisters Marie Van and Dominique Savio were enthusiastic about taking part in youth day events in the Hunter, including the Stations of the Cross on Fernleigh Track.The pair both took turns carrying the three-metre cross.Sister Marie Van said some of the youth who had come with her to World Youth Day had not yet been baptised and she was hoping the event would inspire them to make the sacrament.In Taiwan, Catholics are a minority."I pray that they may really encounter God deeply here," Sister Marie Van said.
© 2008 Newcastle Herald