Sr. Marie Duffy had it all planned out, she said.
Settled comfortably into her congregation s retirement facility, Camilla Hall, the 87-year-old Immaculate Heart of Mary sister, a former guidance counselor, would embrace the second calling in her life. I can t wait until I can have coffee, have time to pray and not to drive, and just be with God, Duffy said she remembers thinking. She enjoyed a year with friends on the independent living floor.
Then came the pandemic. After that, a fall. And on Sept. 11, 2020, Duffy entered a local hospital, where she had three surgeries on her leg and hip. For five months, she was bed bound.
The ceremony was held in the Chapel at St. Mary’s Dominican High School, New Orleans, LA, founded by the Congregation in 1860. Sr. Phuong ministers as an assistant in the school’s Guidance Department.
Sr. Dorothy Trosclair, delegate of the Prioress, received Sr. Phuong’s vows. Providing the music was the school’s Laudare Music Ministry, led by Lauren Bordelon with accompaniment by Kenny Lannes. Dominican Sisters of Peace Prioress, Pat Twohill, OP, and Formation Coordinator Pat Dual, OP, addressed attendees via video link from Columbus, OH. Fr. John Restrepo, O.P., St. Martin de Porres Province, presided at Eucharist.