Novitiate Announcement from Fr. Robinson

Dear faithful,

On this feast of the Epiphany, I want to pass on to you some wonderful news. With the permission of Bishop de Galarreta and Fr. Fullerton, the Consoling Sisters of the Sacred Heart will be constructing a novitiate in Watkins.

What does this mean?

This means that the Sisters have chosen St. Isidore’s and Watkins as the place where they want to build a house of formation for future Consoling Sisters coming from North America. A novitiate is the equivalent of a seminary for nuns. Thus, once the novitiate is established, all of the young ladies in North America who wish to become a Consoling Sister will come to Denver.

The Consoling Sisters have experienced explosive growth in the past few years. They currently only have one novitiate, located in Narni, Italy. Because their novitiate is overflowing and also because there is a lot of interest in the Consoling Sisters among American girls, they have decided to open a second novitiate in the USA and, to be more precise, in Watkins!

Their goal is currently to construct the novitiate in time for the 2027/2028 academic year.

Why did the Sisters choose Watkins?

One of the main reasons is that the Linnebur family, and by that I mean the six children of Gene and Shirley Linnebur, are donating five acres of land to the Sisters, for them to use as the location of their novitiate. These five acres will be a patch of land east of the church. The Sisters saw this generous offer of land by the Linneburs as a sign of Providence that it was God’s will for them to come here.

The Sisters also have a great devotion to Mother Cabrini. Their order has its origin in Italy and it has a devotion to the Sacred Heart, like Mother Cabrini’s order. When the Sisters visited the Cabrini Shrine during their visit in March, they immediately felt a special connection to this location.

And while I don’t want to speak for them, yet I think they would surely appreciate the fact that St. Isidore’s is not in the midst of the city but rather is in a rural area. That makes our location more suitable for a novitiate, which needs to be in a place of quiet rather than in the midst of city noise.

Will the Sisters only be involved in the novitiate?

While the primary focus of the professed sisters will be to form the postulants and the novices in the religious life, they will also be able to dedicate time to our parish and school. This would include things like working in the sacristy, teaching, and visiting the sick.

Where will the money come from?

The Sisters will call upon their benefactors from around the world in order to acquire the funds necessary to build the novitiate. Because a novitiate is something that concerns the whole order (in that it is the source of new nuns entering the order), the construction of a new novitiate will interest everyone who wants to promote the interests of the Consoling Sisters.

I want to mention this in order to emphasize that our parish will not be expected to provide the money necessary for building the novitiate, and so that project will not interfere with our ongoing capital campaign. At the same time, of course, any and all parishioners who would like to make a contribution towards the novitiate are welcome to do so.

What is the next step?

Later in this month, some of the Sisters will be making a return visit with their chaplain, Fr. Emmanuel Du Chalard. They will be attending Mass on Sunday, January 18, and will be giving a presentation to the parish after the Mass. In the presentation, they will explain their plans for the novitiate along with its significance for our parish, and they will answer any questions you might have.

They will also be determining exactly where they would like the novitiate to be constructed, discussing the plans for the building, and returning to the Cabrini Shrine to ask for the intercession of Mother Cabrini for this important project.

What is the significance of this project for our parish?

The choice of Watkins by the Consoling Sisters for the location of their American novitiate is an immense grace for our parish, a grace that will bring many, many blessings over the years. We must already thank God for His great generosity towards us.

At the same time, we are only at the beginning and there are very many things that have to happen for the novitiate to be constructed and to open in the fall of 2027. I ask your prayers to Mother Cabrini and St. Joseph that the planning may go well, the needed funds may be raised quickly, and that the construction may happen in a timely fashion.

God bless you,

Fr. Robinson