Podcast episode recounts journey from casino to Carmel

Sister Lauren of the Cross spoke about growing up in Temuka, attending Mass and going to a Catholic school, but later not practising the faith for a time.

As an adult, Lauren Butler worked for many years at the Christchurch Casino, first as a croupier on the tables and then in surveillance, becoming a shift manager and a training manager.

Lauren reconnected with her faith around this time. She saw a TV advertisement featuring the then-director of the Catholic Enquiry Centre, Fr Allan Jones SM, which sparked her interest.

After some hesitation, she started to go back to Mass and eventually became drawn to go to Eucharistic Adoration and Mass after work each day. Then-Fr John Adams loaned her a book on the Carmelite martyr St Edith Stein, who found truth in the person of Jesus Christ and following him more closely.

This sparked ideas of a religious vocation for Sr Lauren. She wanted to give more of her life to God, but thought she was “the most unlikely candidate”, but “nothing is wasted. I have had relationships, I have worked at the casino, I have done lots of interesting things, travelled . . . but it all forms you and prepares you for God’s master plan”.

She was particularly attracted to a life dedicated to prayer.

She entered the Christchurch monastery in 2013 as a postulant to be an enclosed Carmelite, but struggled with a personal “dark night” and left after six months. However, she trusted that God still had a plan for her, and she worked as a pastoral assistant at Papanui and gained qualifications.

She found that she missed the Carmelite life, and the COVID lockdown led to a deeper prayer experience. She decided to explore – and eventually follow – a call to be an extern sister.

Now she is the link between the world and the sisters at the monastery, where she meets visitors and is on the “public side” for Mass. She takes sisters for medical appointments. In the interview, she recounted an amusing anecdote of taking a monastery chicken to the vet.

“What I love is I have a mixture of a deep prayer life inside . . . and sort of a vocation within a vocation of being able to share this warm Gospel welcome with everyone that comes.”

Now part way through her Carmelite formation, she said she has found a deep peace and contentment. 

During the interview, Sr Lauren of the Cross discussed life in the monastery where “prayer is our work”, and where a “living closeness with the Lord” permeates the whole day. She also stressed the importance of silence for the spiritual life, and discussed being a spiritual director.

FULL STORY

Catholic Kiwi Podcast: Season 1, Episode 5 — Sr Lauren of the Cross (NZCBC)