Ten sisters celebrated their silver jubilee on Sunday, July 13. Among the sisters celebrating 25 years of religious profession was Sister Mary Juliana Cox, O.P.

A native of Copperas Cove, TX, Sister Mary Juliana is the daughter of Bill and Marilyn Cox of Goodlettsville, TN. Sister Mary Juliana made her first profession of vows on Aug. 10, 2000. She has served in teaching and administrative roles in Murfreesboro, Oak Ridge, and Nashville, TN; Kennesaw, GA; Owings, MD; and Stillwater, MN. For the past eight years, she has served as the principal of St. Rose Academy in Birmingham, an elementary school owned and operated by the St. Cecilia Congregation. In the fall, Sister Mary Juliana will begin her ninth year as the principal. 

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in honor of the sisters’ silver jubilee was celebrated in the Chapel of St. Cecilia at the St. Cecilia Motherhouse in Nashville, TN, with the sisters and many family members and friends in attendance. Auxiliary Bishop Michael Izen of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis served as the principal celebrant of the jubilee Mass. Bishop Izen was formerly the pastor of the two parishes supporting St. Croix Catholic School in Stillwater, where Sister Mary Juliana once served. The homily was given by Father Andrew Hofer, O.P., of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph. Father Hofer is the director of the Diaconate Program and a professor of theology at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. Among the concelebrants was Father Paschal Pautler, O.S.B., a monk of St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman. Father Paschal is also an alumnus of St. Rose Academy.

In 1860, the Congregation of Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia was established in Nashville, where its Motherhouse is located. The Sisters of St. Cecilia are dedicated to the apostolate of Catholic education. The community of over 300 sisters serves in 55 schools throughout the United States and abroad, with mission houses in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia; Vancouver, British Columbia; Rome and Bracciano, Italy; Elgin, Scotland; Sittard, The Netherlands; and Limerick, Ireland. For more information on the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation, please visit their website at www.nashvilledominican.org.