Nun's journey leads her to Utah

Intermountain Catholic

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Discalced Carmelite Nun Mary Lucie Nguyen professes her final vows and receives her black veil at a Mass on Nov. 8, 2011 at the Carmel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Monastery in Holladay. Courtesy photo/Carmelite Monastery

HOLLADAY — Discalced Carmelite Nun Mary Lucie Nguyen professed her final vows at the Carmel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Monastery in Holladay during a Mass last Nov. 8. The Mass was concelebrated by Father Dominic Thuy Dang Ha, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Kearns, Father Peter Do, associate pastor of Saint Catherine of Siena Newman Center in Salt Lake City, and Father John Dao from Seattle, Wash., a friend of Sr. Lucie. All three priests are from Vietnam.

Sister Lucie was born in Vietnam, where Catholic schools do not exist because the country is Communist, she said. "My family was very religious and I always enjoyed praying in silence and praying for the salvation of all souls. My father was very sick and died in his sleep when I was 16 and away at school, which delayed my graduation a few years."

After Sr. Lucie graduated from high school in 1997, she started to visit the Carmelite monastery in Hue, Vietnam to discern the Carmelite vocation.

"I did not live at the monastery but visited the sisters once a month, which is typical," she said.

In 1999, Sr. Lucie entered the Carmelite monastery and became a postulant for 18 months. During her two-year novitiate, she received her brown Carmelite habit and a white veil.

"Then I took the temporary vows for the next six years in Vietnam. In 2009, the Mother of the monastery in Vietnam received word from Mother Maureen Goodwin from the Immaculate Heart of Mary Monastery in Utah that there was a need for sisters to come to Utah, she said.

After much prayer, Sr. Lucie arrived in Utah on May 15, 2010. "I felt like I wanted to help this monastery where there were only 10 nuns," she said. "I came from a monastery of 45 nuns."

When Sr. Lucie arrived in Holladay, she began to receive instructions from Mother Maureen about the Carmelite traditions and customs in the United States. "They are not really different, it’s just that each community is different from one another," said Discalced Carmelite Sister Therese Bui, also from Vietnam, who translates for Sr. Lucie and helps her learn English. "Sr. Lucie spoke Vietnamese in her home country and everything is in English here, so it was a shock and a big difference for her."

"The schedule is similar, but not the same," Sr. Lucie said. "The spirituality is the same and the way of life is the same. In Vietnam everything is in the Asian culture, where everything and everyone are more together. In this country everyone is more independent. The beautiful lesson I learned here is that Mother Maureen and the elderly sisters work very hard and do whatever they can. In Vietnam, the elderly sisters retire and the younger sisters do the work. The first time I saw Mother Maureen working hard, it really touched my heart."

Because of the difficulty she had adjusting, Sr. Lucie prayed night after night to God and Saint Joseph to help her, and for guidance from Mother Maureen and Sr. Therese. After a time, she found peace in her heart and was voted in by the other nuns to stay in the new community in Utah.

"Now I feel like God has called me to stay here in Utah," said Sr. Lucie. "And I pray to learn English."

"The Carmelite vocation is love and we pray for priests and the salvation of all souls," said Sr. Therese. "The vocation is very simple, but not easy. It’s the small acts of love that count."