Thus rooted in Christ and His Church, St. Cecilia is known as a joyful, dynamic community, a city “built on the mountain,” a sign of hope and encouragement for the faithful and an attraction for young women who generously join its ranks. St. Cecilia’s has been faithful to the Lord, to His Church, and to the many committed to its apostolate in education, evangelization, and prayer. (Cardinal Augustin Mayer, OSB)
For the Congregation, the preparation for the year 2000 began in 1997. For a number of years the entire community had studied major documents of the Church which dealt with Church teachings in general (for example, The Catechism of the Catholic Church) and on religious life in particular (such as Vita Consecrata and Fraternal Life in Community). During the 1994 Synod on Consecrated Life, Pope John Paul II recommended that religious orders celebrate the Jubilee by revisiting the charism of their founders. The Great Jubilee was to be an opportunity for grace and renewal for religious. For three years prior to the Jubilee of 2000, our community formally studied in stages the person and charism of St. Dominic, the history of his Order and the saints and blesseds who lived faithfully the call to promote truth. This reimmersion in the heritage of our Order, a direct response to the Great Jubilee, was entitled “Behold the Heritage,” alluding to a deathbed exhortation in which St. Dominic is said to have encouraged the friars to “Behold the heritage I leave you.”
Another dimension of this call to “Behold the Heritage” was the opportunity to travel to the lands in which St. Dominic had lived, preached and founded the Order. After years of savings, Mother Christine and her Council made it possible for the sisters in the community to make a pilgrimage to Spain, France and Italy to experience the Order on native soil. The summer of 2000 would long be remembered as a time of renewal and rejoicing in all that is Dominican.
The call of the new evangelization has been constant and compelling. In recent years there has been a resurgence in the mission field of Catholic education. Many of our schools have waiting lists, and numerous requests are made each year for our sisters to open or assume administration of schools across the United States and overseas. Beginning in the fall of 1996, during which period the number of sisters grew sufficient to accept new missions, the Congregation began once again to accept invitations from bishops, sending sisters to new schools. Since 1996, the Congregation has added the following schools to its apostolate:
- 1996: St. Vincent de Paul School (Archdiocese of Denver)
- 1997: Cardinal Hickey Academy (Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.)
- 1998: John Carroll High School (Diocese of Birmingham)
- 2000: St. Rose of Lima School (Diocese of Nashville)
- 2002: St. Croix Catholic School (Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis)
- 2003: Cathedral Academy (Archdiocese of New Orleans); Sisters join the faculty of Bishop Machebeuf High School (Archdiocese of Denver)
- 2004: St. Pius V School (Diocese of Providence); St. Catherine of Siena School (Archdiocese of Atlanta); St. John Vianney School (Diocese of Nashville)
- 2005: Our Lady of Mount Carmel School (Diocese of Lafayette, IN); Sisters join the faculty of Knoxville Catholic High School (Diocese of Knoxville)
- 2006: St. Mary’s School (Diocese of Charleston); Sisters missioned in Rome for graduate studies in Theology
- 2007: St. Joseph School (Archdiocese of St. Louis); Pope John Paul the Great High School (Diocese of Arlington)
- 2008: University of Sydney and Trinity Catholic College (Archdiocese of Sydney, Australia)
- 2009: St. Jude School (Diocese of Joliet, IL)
- 2010: Notre Dame High School (Diocese of Knoxville)
Such expansion has been made possible by the blessing of many vocations to the community. Since 1988 the community has increased by 156 sisters with our current number of sisters over 230, the largest number in our history. The median age is 36, and 61% of the Congregation is under the age of forty. The novitiate has an average of fifty sisters a year. For this blessing of growth and the call to give ourselves in service, we thank God.
At the end of her term in 1976, Mother Marie William wrote prophetic words that we can see are coming to pass in this new era of hope.
Hopefully, many of those who come after us will enjoy the fruit of our suffering—a new springtime in the Church and a reflowering of authentic religious life. As recipients of a marvelous heritage, we have so much to offer those who will be daughters of the Church in the twenty-first century.
Her statement seems a fitting conclusion of this historical summary of St. Cecilia Congregation, as do the words from Vita Consecrata:
You have a glorious history to remember and to recount and a great history still to be accomplished! (110)
The graces which were visible in the souls of the foundresses are visible yet in the community…The Holy Spirit is with the Congregation today. When we are placed in touch with the spirit of St. Dominic and with the spirit of the foundresses and their generosity and faith, we are made more aware of His presence, and we are moved to a deeper attachment to the Church and a greater personal generosity and fidelity. St. Cecilia has affectionately watched over the Congregation since 1860. A good end will be seen in a good beginning. (Sister Rose Marie Masserano; The Nashville Dominicans)
