Two Franciscan Sisters of St. Elizabeth from Indonesia made their final profession of vows during a Mass in Joseph Chapel in Parsippany on Aug. 15, the Feast of Our Lady of Assumption. Sister Felixiana Mura and Sister Veronika Ndeang professed their vows before Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney who celebrated the Mass.
Two Franciscan Sisters of St. Elizabeth profess final vows
Two Franciscan Sisters of St. Elizabeth from Indonesia made their final profession of vows during a Mass in Joseph Chapel in Parsippany on Aug. 15, the Feast of Our Lady of Assumption.
The two sisters, Sister Felixiana Mura and Sister Veronika Ndeang, professed their vows before Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney, who celebrated the Mass. Concelebrating were 10 priests from around the Paterson Diocese and around the world. The two sisters both entered the religious order in 2011.
Sisters serving the order teach at its St. Elizabeth School in Parsippany, which is a Montessori school specializing in early childhood education. Many of the sisters in the order also serve in parish ministry as extraordinary ministries of the Eucharistic, catechists, and by visiting the homebound.
SISTER FELIXIANA MURA
Sister Felixiana Sister Mura was born in Lewodoli, Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia, a Catholic town. She and her five siblings were raised by devout parents. Her father died when she was five years old.
Since eighth grade, Sister Mura wanted to become a religious sister. She asked her mother, but she did not allow it. Four years later, she met Dominican, Franciscan, and Carmelite sisters, who came to her school. She contacted them and prayed to Mary.
After high school, Sister Mura spoke with her mother, who told her to talk with her older brother. He said it would not be easy to become a sister and suggested she go to college. She enrolled in college, but with her mother and brother’s permission, she visited a cousin who was a religious sister.
In 2011, Sister Mura entered the Franciscan Sisters of St. Elizabeth with her family’s support. The next year, she entered the postulant in Cebu, the Philippines. In 2014, she was invested as a novice and made her first profession of vows in 2016 in Manila, the Philippines. In 2017, Sister Mura was assigned to the St. Elizabeth Nursery and Montessori School in Parsippany as an assistant teacher.
SISTER VERONIKA NDEANG
Sister Veronika Sister Ndeang wanted to be a religious sister since fifth grade. She joined church activities — praying, reading Scripture, singing hymns, and participating in Mass — with friends, guided by teachers, sisters, and priests.
In her teens, Sister Ndeang forgot her dream of being a religious sister. But in twelfth grade, she saw several religious priests, brothers, and sisters come to her school to promote vocations. She had no interest until two Franciscan Sisters of St. Elizabeth later returned to her school. Then, she felt the call.
Sister Ndeang approached the sisters and told them that she wanted to become a religious sister. She joined the Franciscan Sisters of St. Elizabeth in 2011 in Ruteng, Indonesia. The next year, she moved to Cebu for her postulancy and, after that, moved to Manila as a novice. She made her first vows in 2016 in Manila. Within a year, Sister Ndeang came to the United States. Before making her final vows, Sister Ndeang was a junior professed sister.