Catholic Universe Bulletin

Recipes

Blessings from the Kitchen
Carmelite nuns enjoy kitchen duty to their community
Andrea McGovern
Cleveland Heights
Sisters Vera Lea Virant and Bernadette Kamin both say their lives in the Carmelite Monastery have been exactly what they expected when they entered the community so many years ago. The sisters, who share the kitchen duties for the community of thirteen, exude the serenity and joy that is the fruit of a lifetime of contemplation and prayer.

ANDREA McGOVERN
Sister Vera Lea Virant and Sister Bernadette Kamin enjoy cooking at the Carmelite Monastery.

Truly countercultural in this society, they are not about the next big thing. Their lives, and those of their sisters, are dedicated to the biggest and oldest idea--that people are meant for the service of God.
The sisters’ monastery, or Carmel, is on Fairmount Bvd. in Cleveland Heights. The community itself was founded in 1923, but the sisters lived in several locations before they were finally able to build the Carmel in 1962. It is a peaceful oasis, neighbor to the Shaker Lakes Nature Center park, and its presence adds to the beauty of the East Side neighborhood.
Sister Virant joined the Carmelite Order in 1954, during the time she refers to as “the old days.” At that time, the sisters were still in full habit and lived a far more regimented life than they do today. When Sister Kamin joined, in 1962, some reforms had begun, but the bulk of them took place after Vatican II. The community eventually adopted street clothes, and today they wear simple dresses and skirts, although many of the sisters, including Sister Virant, still wear sandals, in honor of their order’s “discalced,” or “unshod” tradition. This indicates that they are part of the Carmelite branch that was created by the reforms of St. Theresa of Avila in the 16th Century.
In that tradition, the community’s central service to the Church is prayer, the sisters explain.

Their day of prayer consists of praying the Divine Office four times together and once in private at night. They also have two hours per day for personal, quiet prayer. This they can do while pursuing other contemplative activities, such as walking or biking through the park. They also spend time each day doing spiritual reading. Each evening, the community meets together for an hour of prayer which is led by a designated sister, who shares her own reflections with the others. They also have frequent lectures and retreat together twice a year. And central to their day is Holy Mass, celebrated at 9:00 a.m. on Sundays and at 7:00 a.m. all other days but Tuesday, when it is at 5:00 p.m. Their daily Masses are celebrated in their chapel and are open to the public.
Also during the day, the sisters have personal time and work time, devoted to their designated jobs within the community. Sisters Virant and Kamin spend those hours enjoying their special haven, the kitchen.
“I learned to cook here,” Sister Virant says. “At home, I had no interest in cooking at all.” She says when she was first assigned to the kitchen, the other sister who shared the duties would be asked to make a dish like scalloped potatoes and pork chops for lunch, while she was always assigned to make Kraft macaroni and cheese.
But time and experience changed things, and the sisters both agree she is now the more adventuresome of the pair. She also maintains that she had ten good teachers.
Sister Kamin came to the community with cooking on her resume. She had arrived in the U.S. from her native Slovenia in 1955, and one of the activities she had pursued was a cooking program, taught in Slovenian, at St. Vitus parish. She went in the evenings after her days doing piecework in a garment factory. When she first entered the community, as a lay sister, she was assigned to the kitchen, as were many of the non-English speaking sisters. Since she was unable to read the English recipes, she says she had many failed experiments at first. Today, she has mastered the language, but still prefers to cook by memory. She is an expert bread baker (attested to by Sister Virant) and an even more expert gardener. She manages a huge vegetable garden each summer, providing her sisters with an ample stock of summer’s bounty. She is also an avid composter and recycler.
For both of the sisters, life in the Carmel has been “wonderful,” and a gift that gave back to them many times over. They have seen many changes and experienced great sadness as they lose sisters from their community. Recently, their prioress, Sister Annamae Dannes passed away after a long illness. But the community gains solace from each other’s presence and caring.
“I wanted a life of prayer,” Sister Virant says. “I had read “Little Therese,” who said how love can do anything in the world. A life of love and prayer is what I found.”
Sister Kamin echoes the sentiment. “ I have been very, very happy here,” she says.
McGovern is a freelance writer.