Sr Monica Shelverton PBVM still remembers lying prostrate on the floor of St Mary’s Cathedral 65 years ago at her profession of vows.
It was the night of Friday 18 March 1960, and after several years of postulancy and novitiate, she officially entered religious life as a Sister of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Sr Monica Shelverton PBVM, in the early days of her religious life, and now. PHOTOS: Supplied/Archdiocese of Hobart.
Reflecting on her vocation after all this time, Sr Monica simply describes her experience of religious life and vocation as a ‘yes’.
Her first ‘yes’ came under a tree which still stands strong on the grounds of the cathedral, during a silent retreat as a teenager.
“I remember sitting under the tree that’s still outside, and I just felt the urge, the grace, the call that Christ gave me,” Sr Monica said.
Sr Monica explained that she initially wanted to become a missionary Sister but was advised by a priest that she was needed in Tasmania.
Following her period of discernment through postulancy and novitiate with the Presentation Sisters, she was notified in early March in 1960 that her profession of vows would take place only two weeks later.
“I remember Archbishop (Guilford) Young saying to me, ‘Now, deary, don’t be afraid. It was so hard to describe how I really felt about it all in one sense, I knew it was quite serious but felt quite happy and at peace about it all,” she said.
“Lying prostrate on the cathedral floor there at my profession of vows, I said, ‘Lord, this is all of it, all of me, and it doesn’t matter what happens, I’m here forever’.”
Her 65 years of religious life has had its up and downs, its highlights and its challenges, but Sr Monica described it all as a gift.
In that time, she taught at various primary schools run by the Presentation Sisters in the early years of religious life, and lived in the Presentation Sisters’ houses in Hobart, Launceston, George Town and the Presentation Mission in Papua New Guinea.
She has also served in a variety of roles across Tasmania including parishes on King Island, Hobart’s eastern shore and St Mary’s Cathedral.
“I thought I was going to live and die in a classroom, but I’ve done a lot of other things that I never thought I would ever do,” she said.
“I learned a lot, met a lot of people, and I’m very grateful to God – it is all gift gifted when I look back.”
In 2022 Sr Monica was awarded the Guilford Young Medal for her contributions to the Church, and continues to serve as pastoral associate at St Mary’s Cathedral, a role she has held since 2016.
Reflecting on her 65 years of religious life, Sr Monica expressed her gratitude for the “love, prayers and support” of all her family and the Presentation Sisters.
“I’m grateful for the graces and whatever is ahead of me in the life to come is God’s business. We’ve got no control over that.
“In the end, I’ve got nothing and I’m nothing. I’m just me as the Lord has sent me.
“Everything through Him, with Him, in Him, for Him, because of Him; all glory be to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.”
This article by Josh Low was published on the website of the Archdiocese of Hobart.