Double milestone for Sisters of Nazareth

The Sisters at their Perpetual Profession Mass and Sister Mary Lydia with Bishop Michael Campbell OSA on her Diamond Jubilee

The Sisters of Nazareth recently celebrated a double milestone in London. On 24th September seven sisters made their perpetual profession at Nazareth House in Hammersmith, and on 1st October Sister Mary Lydia marked the diamond jubilee of her vows at a ceremony in East Finchley.

The Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendia, presided at the perpetual profession Mass, and the vows were received by Bishop Michael Campbell OSA, retired Bishop of Lancaster. In his homily Bishop Michael said: "Dear sisters, your 'yes' today expressed in your final profession of vows, will by God's grace have an impact far beyond anything you can imagine."

The perpetually professed sisters come from Samoa, Zimbabwe, Vietnam and Australia. Noting this, Bishop Michael added: "On behalf of the wider Church, I thank you for the visible witness you give to us here today, and by your different backgrounds you represent the Church universal … You invite each of us here today to reflect on our own personal vocation from Christ, begun in the waters of baptism, and lived out in the following of Christ according to the grace given to us by the Spirit."

On the 1st October sisters and friends gathered again at Nazareth House in East Finchley, North London, to celebrate the 60 years in vows of Sister Mary Lydia Crow. Bishop Michael Campbell, presiding again, told Sister Lydia: "You will have seen many changes in the Church and in the world from the day you entered as a novice until the present day. Yet in all this change the call of the Lord to you and your response have remained steadfast. The Church today thanks you for your life of service to the sick and the poor, to whom when we minister we are ministering to the Son of God himself."

The newly perpetually professed Sisters are: Sister Madonna Annabelle Fido, Sister Pauline Roselyn Helu,Sister Rumbidzai Mutero, Sister Tram Bich Thi Pham, Sister Chitondezyo Nyoni, Sister Bulangizi Mugande and Sister Hanh Hong Tran.