‘The grace will be there’: Sister Catherine Elizabeth’s story

Sister Catherine Elizabeth has begun her two year novitiate with the Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia in Nashville, Tennessee. A former student at St Andrews University in Fife, she recently completed her postulancy and received the Dominican habit and a religious name.

The Archdiocese of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh shared her story as part of Vocations Awareness Week to highlight young people exploring religious life. Sister Catherine Elizabeth explained that her first year, the canonical year, focuses on prayer, silence, and studying the evangelical counsels and vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Her studies include theology, Scripture, the community's rule, constitutions, and history.

During the second year, known as the apostolic year, novices immerse themselves in the community's work of teaching. This stage includes education and teaching classes, visiting missions, and participating in the order's apostolate.