Originally published at National Catholic Register
Today, there are nine sisters and one American postulant in the order, all looking to St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and St. Benedict for spiritual guidance.
As the U.S. Church celebrates National Vocation Awareness Week Nov. 3-9, a prioress of a contemplative community in France remembers how it took years for the Church to recognize the religious vocations of women with Down syndrome.
Now, almost 40 years later, Mother Line says the Little Sisters, Disciples of the Lamb community is thriving, welcoming religious sisters with Down syndrome and able sisters alike.
“God speaks to the hearts of all,” Mother Line told CNA.
The community is based in Le Blanc in the Indre region of France, where it has been since 1995. The Little Sisters reside in a priory in the French countryside and live a life of prayer and work. It is the first community in the Catholic Church to invite women with Down syndrome to join religious life.
The community was founded in 1985. Sister Veronique, who has Down syndrome, had been turned away by several religious communities but continued to feel called to religious life. Then she encountered Mother Line, who remembers that before she became
