Four women consecrated as virgins to serve Christ and the Church

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit

At a March 25 liturgy for the Solemnity of the Annunciation of Our Lord that celebrated the Blessed Virgin’s fiat to become the mother of God, four archdiocesan women gave their yes to serve Christ their bridegroom and his Church as consecrated virgins.

The consecration is personal, but it is for the Church, said Pam Schleicher, 54, of St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony, who was consecrated along with Rosalynn Graf, 85, of Transfiguration in Oakdale; Lynn Kemmetmueller, 53, of St. Michael in Pine Island; and Jan Terhaar, 75, of St. John Neumann in Eagan.

“It is for our local Church and the broader Church, so I think the four of us doing it together kind of sets a different tone than on your own,” said Schleicher, who, with the other women, wore white and carried candles reminiscent of the Scripture parable of the bridesmaids carrying lamps and oil.

For the first time in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, four women in the same ceremony were consecrated as virgins living in the world. The women were consecrated by Archbishop Bernard Hebda at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis before 415 family members, friends, other consecrated virgins and women preparing for consecration.

The newly consecrated virgins joined 10 others in the archdiocese, which the archbishop called a “great blessing for our Church at this challenging time.”

In his homily, Archbishop Hebda recalled Our Lady’s fiat, noting the four women’s gift of self and being the image of God’s love for all people.

“The Holy Spirit through baptism has already made each of you a temple of God’s mercy and a child of the Father,” he told the women. “Today he is anointing you with new grace and consecrated you to God by a new title. He gives each of you the dignity of being a bride of Christ and binds you to the Son of God in a covenant that will last forever.”

Consecrated virgins offer the gift of their physical virginity to Christ as a sign of dedicating their entire being, according to the United States Association of Consecrated Virgins, a Miami-based voluntary association of consecrated virgins living in the world. In their mystical spousal relationship with Christ, they serve the Church in the world.

Consecrated virginity dates to the early Church but fell into disuse for centuries before the Church restored it in 1970.

During the consecration rite, the women resolved to persevere for life in virginity and service of God and his Church, and to accept solemn consecration as Christ’s brides. They did not profess vows as those in religious life do. The archbishop consecrated them as sacred persons and an “eschatological image of the heavenly bride and of the life to come,” according to the Vatican’s 2018 instruction on the Order of Virgins.

Symbolizing the women’s “new permanent status in the Church,” the archbishop presented them with a veil, a ring, and, exhorting them to “pray without ceasing,” a book of the Liturgy of the Hours.

The archdiocese’s 14 consecrated virgins may be the most of any U.S. diocese, said St. Joseph of Carondelet Sister Carolyn Puccio, archdiocesan delegate for consecrated life who oversees formation of consecrated virgins. Two women in the archdiocese are preparing for consecration this summer and another two are in formation, she said. From the women in preparation to those consecrated, ages range from late 20s to 80s, she said.

Worldwide there are an estimated 4,000 consecrated virgins, including 254 in the United States, according to the USACV.

The archdiocese’s three-year formation program includes meeting with the archbishop, study of Vatican and other documents, and other spiritual support, Sister Carolyn said.

Terhaar, a retired nurse, said her life’s focus will be on prayer, especially for the mission of the Church and archdiocese. Citing words of the Our Father, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” she said, “I want to battle on my knees for the kingdom to come.”

Schleicher said she also feels called to intercede in prayer for the Church’s needs. Schleicher, who works for an apparel company, said consecrated virginity suits her better than religious life because of where she is in life and because she can “live this vocation in the world and to try to be an example to people in a way that a sister in a habit might not be able to do.”

Graf said she joined two religious communities before discerning her call to consecrated virginity, and God gave her peace about it. “He didn’t say it in so many words but it’s in the calmness and peace that I would have after I would pray about it,” said Graf, who had a career in government. She also plans to focus on prayer.

Prayer in eucharistic adoration has played an important role in Kemmetmueller’s discernment of her vocation, said the home care and hospice nurse. “He speaks loudly to the heart at adoration and gives special graces to those discerning his will for their lives,” she said.

The women will live out their vocation individually, but they will be living witnesses to the call everyone has to belong to Christ, Sister Carolyn said.

The world needs the leaven these women bring to the dough of society, said Father Thomas Margevicius, director of the Office of Worship who helped with the liturgy. “To come across four women (being consecrated), it certainly challenges the presumptions of a world that’s spinning far out of the orbit of Christendom,” he said.

Because the vocation of consecrated virgins is lived in the world, it resonates with people, said Jessica Oftelie, 43, of Holy Trinity in South St. Paul, who attended the consecration and is preparing to become a consecrated virgin. “One of the beautiful things about (the vocation) is that it does speak to people, not just women, but to men and women of all ages of our calling to Christ, and I think it speaks to all of us in a way.”

Terhaar said she believes being consecrated as a virgin living in the world is her most important vocation and the pinnacle of what God wants her to do.