Meet Our Newest Member!

MEET FRED our new dog who "entered" today!

Fred is a 16-month old lab/beagle mix and full of fun, affection and energy! This evening he even had Sr. Joseph Maria and Sr. Lauren exhausted as he had them following him all over the monastery enclosure as he made his acquaintance with the flora and fauna. Every bird, rabbit and wood chuck needed to be chased!
Dogs are very appropriate pets for Dominicans as our name means "Hounds of the Lord!"

Fred is also the appropriate colour for our white habits!

The novitiate sisters have been begging for a dog for months. At Christmas they even left a "Dear Santa" letter among the cookies and cocoa in the kitchen so that Sr. Mary Martin would find it when she came in after Midnight Mass for Gaudeamus. Come to think of it, Fred looks pretty much like the dog drawn on that letter.

This afternoon, Sr. Mary Martin, Sr. Mary Jeremiah and Sr. Judith Miryam went over to the Animal Rescue League in South Orange to pick out a dog. For several days since Sr. Mary Martin made the announcement at Chapter we've been pouring over the pictures on the Internet--21 nuns each trying to convince the community to get a certain dog pictured.

However, Divine Providence intervened and Fred was just brought to the shelter and his picture hadn't even been posted. At first the Sisters didn't want him as they thought he was too small. However, as they were about to leave, Fred placed his paw on Sr. Judith Miryam's sandaled foot, grabbing hold of her toes and he began to cry.

That did it! Fred was ours!

Or maybe we should say that WE were Fred's!