Celebrating 25 Years as a Redemptoristine Nun
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October 14, 2021Sr. Maria Celeste P. Kay, O.Ss.R. recently celebrated her 25th jubilee of profession to the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer at Our Lady of the Desert Conventual Church in Tucson. Fr. Bill Bueche, her spiritual director of many years, presided at a joyful celebration of her contemplative vocation.
Born in Thailand, Theresa Petcharat Peugpoonpon was blessed with a quick wit, a cheerful disposition and a beautiful voice. She developed a love of nature as a child, and enjoyed singing, dancing and sports. She and her mother faithfully attended Mass at St. Anthony Parish every week, and she felt a call to religious life when she was only seven years old. She was quite active in her parish, serving as lector and cantor through her formative years.
She earned the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree in secretarial studies and remained active in several Catholic organizations, including the Legion of Mary, the Cursillo Movement, Family Life Promotion, and the Charismatic Renewal. She was a translator and secretary for the United Nations and involved with a variety of social service projects, but the call to contemplative religious life persisted – and won.
While she was waiting to join the Redemptoristine Nuns in Liguori, Sr. Maria Celeste met Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin at Holy Redeemer Church in Bangkok, where she was very involved. At that time, he was serving as General Consultor of the worldwide Congregation, accompanying Father General Juan M. Lasso de la Vega on a General Visitation of the then-Vice Province of Bangkok. Cardinal Tobin has remained a source of spiritual support and assistance ever since.
Sister Maria Celeste entered the monastery in Liguori in 1993 and made her first profession as a Redemptoristine Nun on August 1, 1996. She loves the solitude, silence and prayer of the contemplative life, and professed solemn vows in 1999. Her favorite scriptural passages are “God is Love.” (1 Jn. 4:8) and “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Live on in My love.” (Jn. 15:9).
Sr. Maria Celeste has served the Liguori community as Councillor, assistant Novice Mistress, Novice Mistress and Sub-Prioress. In 2011, Sister was selected as a founding member and was appointed Sub-Prioress and Novice Mistress of a new Redemptoristine Foundation whose temporary monastery/residence was in Minburi, Bangkok.
Upon a request for assistance by the Redemptoristine Nuns of Maitland, Australia in 2016, Sr. Maria Celeste was sent and briefly served there as Formator. Sister returned to Liguori, and in the year 2019 went back to Thailand to serve as Sub-Prioress and Novice Mistress in the new permanent monastery in Korat. Some months later, she was appointed Prioress of that community. She served 0ne year before she returned to Liguori in January of this year. One month later, she began her discernment as a hermit in Tucson.
Grateful to God for the blessings of her faith and vocation, Sr. Celeste believes that God has used the blessings and challenges along the way to mold, strengthen and help her along her spiritual path and in her spiritual growth.
“I thank God, Our Mother of Perpetual Help, my dear family, relatives and friends, the Redemptorists and Redemptoristines – especially the Liguori and Korat communities – for their love, support, prayers and encouragement through the years.
I am ever grateful to Cardinal Tobin, Father General Michael Brehl and Fr. Bill for his spiritual guidance, Sr. Joan, O.Ss.R., for the kind permission, and the assistance of Father Provincial Stephen Rehrauer and Sr. Ann Marie, O.Ss.R., who have made this process possible for me. I also want to thank Fr. Anthony Nguyen and the Redemptorist community and Renewal Center staff, and Fr. Brian Johnson and the parishioners of Our Lady of the Desert in Tucson, for their generous hospitality during this time of discernment.
I ask for prayers that God will make His will abundantly clear to me,” she said.
(Courtesy of DenverLink.)
