London: a time of rejoicing for Franciscan community

Sr Philomena Hynes, Sr Hazel Buckley, with Lorna Diesta

The Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood have recently celebrated a very important week!

On Sunday, 7 February, the Congregation accepted a new Postulant, Lorna Diesta, to their Clapham community. Exactly one week later, on Sunday 13 February, Sr Hazel Buckley celebrated her Golden Jubilee of Religious Profession.

Sr Hazel grew up in a warm, deeply-committed Anglican family, but became a Catholic at the age of 19. Four years later, in 1956, she entered the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood at Ladywell Convent, the Congregation’s Motherhouse in Godalming, Surrey. Sr Hazel took her first vows on 13th February 1961 and made her Final Profession five years later in New York State, where she was missioned as a teacher to a small parish school. After Final Profession she became Novice Mistress before going out, first to Australia and then to New Zealand. Nowadays, the Golden Jubilarian spends much of her time in Spiritual Direction. She is also the one whom the Congregation has appointed to walk with Lorna during the coming months of her Postulancy, an important time of discernment for both Lorna and the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood.

The Golden Jubilee celebrations took place at Mass in Holy Ghost parish in Balham where, at the end of the Liturgy, the parish priest, Fr Stephen Langridge, presented Sr Hazel with a framed Papal blessing, acknowledging the many years dedicated to the Lord.