While most people were hunkered down at home in self-isolation, a group of Dominican sisters who practise spiritual enclosure were thrust out of their monastery.
A rapidly-moving wildfire in Upper Squamish Valley last month had neighbours and RCMP knocking on the doors of Queen of Peace Monastery asking the 14 sisters living there to evacuate.
“We did not need convincing, because the smoke and strange light indicated that the fire was too close for comfort,” said prioress Sister Claire Marie Rolf.
She said the Dominicans grabbed the essentials – the “Blessed Sacrament, liturgy books, and toothbrushes” – and set a sprinkler onto the monastery’s roof before piling into cars and driving away. For four days, they lived in hotel rooms provided by the Red Cross and on bedding dropped off at St. Joseph’s Church in Squamish thanks to the hospitality of parishioners.
Sister Rolf called it their “exile.”
“We didn’t know what we would come back to,” she said. “What brought us peace amidst the chaos were times of communal prayer together.”
They even managed to physically participate in a Mass that was livestreamed at St. Joseph’s on the weekend.
When the Dominicans returned to the monastery, they found it unsinged, save for a small wooded area near the driveway. Three neighbouring families were not so lucky.
“There is no way Divine Providence saved us and not them,” said Sister Rolf. “I don’t think God wanted their properties destroyed. ‘The rain falls on the just and the unjust.’ It could have been us.”
She said sisters who stayed in the hotel met families whose homes were destroyed by the fire and offered prayer and consolation. Sister Rolf couldn’t help but hug one woman, a friend of the sisters who had lost her home in the fire, telling her she was deeply sorry.
Sections of the road to the monastery remain scorched and when Sister Rolf looks toward the mountains, she can see the devastation of a fire that once covered 203 hectares. The B.C. Wildfire Service suspects it was human caused.
Now, the sisters’ lives are back to “normal” – that is, what was normal before the fire but after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their chapel, guest house, and gift shop remain closed to visitors. With 14 sisters living in close quarters, one illness in the community could easily put everyone else at risk.
Since the fire was contained, their phone lines and internet were restored and their undamaged hydroelectric project is going forward as planned. Their large garden, which they rely on for much of their food, was also saved.
“We are so grateful to all the people who have shown signs of concern and helped us with their prayers.”
Sister Rolf had special thanks for the community at St. Joseph’s Parish, the emergency services in Squamish, and friends like Daniel Perren, who happened to be at the monastery that day and helped hose down the roof as the sisters fled.
“Everywhere we turned there was kindness and competence.”
