Nottingham: Sisters of St Joseph of Peace welcome novice

The Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace (CSJP) received Sister Elizabeth Anne (Liz) Dodd as a novice on Saturday the 16th of October at a Ritual of Reception held at the St Joseph House of Hospitality in Carlton, Nottingham.

The novitiate program, which extends over a period of two years, is an opportunity for the novice to deepen her experience of God through prayer, reflection, study, community life, and times of ministry. It is also a time to deepen her understanding of the Congregation's history, spirit and mission as peacemakers.

"I want to become more like myself, as God sees and has always seen me, without the masks of defences and walls and scaffolding that age and experience force us to construct," said Sister Liz. "The novitiate feels like a rare, safe space to explore that, to feel held by my community and the wider congregation while I ask big questions, both of God and myself."

The newly opened St Joseph's House of Hospitality has been designated as the Congregation Novitiate. Sister Liz will join two finally professed Sisters of St Joseph of Peace in community there. "The call to practise radical hospitality is really intertwined with my call to Religious life," said Sister Liz. "My hope is that I will learn from the asylum seekers, refugees, and homeless people I live with as well as from my sisters and associates."

Liz, 35, was born and grew up in Oxford, England. She studied Theology at Magdalene College, Cambridge, before embarking on a career in journalism: first as a music journalist, then as a travel writer for National Geographic (Traveller UK), The Guardian and Independent. She was home news editor at The Tablet, the International Catholic weekly, between 2016-2021, with a brief sabbatical to bicycle around the world. She became a Candidate for the vowed life with the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace in November 2020.

Congregation Leader Sister Andrea Nenzel joined the small community of Sisters at St Joseph's House of Hospitality for the Ritual of Reception, where she welcomed Sister Liz as a novice and presented her with a Peace Cross, a special symbol of identity with the Congregation.

The rest of the Congregation in the United Kingdom and United States witnessed the ritual virtually via Zoom. "Carrying out this important ritual via Zoom is not our normal practice, said Sister Coralie Muzzy, Congregation Formation Director. "Yet Zoom stretches across borders to allow Liz's family and friends and sisters and associates from across all CSJP regions to witness this important next step Liz is taking."

The Sisters of St Joseph of Peace, founded in 1884 in Nottingham, England by Margaret Anna Cusack, are an international community built on a rich heritage of promoting social justice as a way to peace. Sisters and Associates minister in education, health care, religious education, parish ministry, social justice, spiritual direction and peace ministry in the US, UK, Haiti, and El Salvador.

For more information, visit the Congregation website: www.csjp.org