August 7, 2024 // Bishop

Two Daughters of the Diocese Profess Final Vows as Franciscan Sisters

Kasia Balsbaugh

On Friday, August 2 – the feast of Our Lady of the Angels, which is of special significance to the Franciscan order – two women professed their perpetual vows to the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration. It was a particularly special day for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, because both Sister M. Fiat Staley and Sister Marie Thérèse Lolmaugh are not only daughters of the diocese but also daughters of the same parish: St. Pius X Catholic Church in Granger.

“All throughout the liturgy, I just felt so at peace and present to every moment happening at the liturgy,” Sister Fiat told Today’s Catholic. “In the saying of my vows, I felt the conviction of every word.”

Sister M. Magdalena Schmitz, General Superior of the order, received the professions of both sisters in their Mishawaka convent. Bishop Rhoades celebrated the Mass with many other priests from the diocese, which Sister Marie Thérèse said was also special because of Bishop Rhoades’ encouraging presence in her vocation journey.

The profession of perpetual vows, which is the commitment to be a lifelong member of the community and the bride of Christ, comes for each sister after eight years of life in the community and an even longer spiritual journey.

For Sister Marie Thérèse, her journey to her vocation began in third grade, when she was picked to play the Blessed Virgin Mary in her school Christmas pageant.

“I fell in love with Our Lady at that age and wanted to be just like her,” Sister Marie Thérèse said. Sister Marie Thérèse remembered that in prayer as a child, “the Lord put on my heart that sisters are just like Our Lady.”

Just a couple years later, in fifth grade, some of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration taught Sister Marie Thérèse at the Cathedral School of St. Matthew, and later at Marian High School. Looking back, Sister Marie Thérèse is grateful for the sisters’ gift of “spiritual motherhood” to her, remembering “growing up thinking of them as my role models, an image of where I wanted to come. Now I live with them every day.” Sister Marie Thérèse began postulancy in the community a year after graduating high school.

On the other hand, in elementary school, Sister Fiat didn’t plan on being a sister. She wanted to be a mom, describing herself as “the baby-hog kid” and spending her time nannying. In high school, Sister Fiat “fell in love” with her relationship with the Lord and eventually took a year after graduation to serve with NET Ministries. Sister Fiat said she learned the importance of three main things during NET: daily prayer, community, and preaching the Gospel to the young – all three of which she has found in her religious community. During college, Sister Fiat worked part time at the convent and gradually became more and more convinced that this was where she was meant to be – and the Lord’s calling to her became stronger and more frequent. She began postulancy after graduating college.

While the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration engage in active apostolates (Sister Fiat serves on their vocations team, while Sister Marie Thérèse teaches elementary school), the primary focus of their lives is still on adoration and their relationship with Jesus.

As Sister Marie Thérèse said: “Our vocation, it is a relationship, it is a spousal relationship with Jesus Christ. All people are called to that deep relationship, but we live what all will experience in eternity. It sounds kind of abstract, but it’s so real.”

As Sister Fiat echoed, the vocation of a sister as the bride of Christ is her representing the Church. “We live the life of heaven down on earth,” Sister Fiat said. “In heaven, everyone will be poor, chaste, and obedient. … Getting to live that mystery here on earth is humbling and mind-blowing and so beautiful. Jesus is such a bridegroom.”

Both sisters talked about their perpetual profession in terms of gift: receiving the gift of the Lord’s love and giving the gift of themselves back to Him.

During a Mass and profession ceremony that bears some similarity to that of a wedding
ceremony – including the blessing and wearing of rings, the saying of vows, and readings from the Song of Songs – Bishop Rhoades reiterated these truths of religious life, calling it a “specific path of love.” “Sisters, we need your witness of a passionate love of Jesus Christ,” Bishop Rhoades told Sister Fiat and Sister Marie Thérèse.

Bishop Rhoades also reminded the sisters that Jesus’ “yoke of love” may not always be easy to live out in community life and their apostolates. However, “those who take up this seemingly difficult burden of discipleship will find rest and life,” Bishop Rhoades said.

Both Sister Fiat and Sister Marie Thérèse expressed deep gratitude for the diocese. While they had looked at religious communities elsewhere, they both said they were so blessed to end up staying in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. They assured the diocese of their frequent prayers. “This is home,” Sister Fiat said.