Bishop John Dolan celebrated a special Mass on Thursday afternoon (Aug. 6), to welcome three women into the next stage of their religious formation at the Carmelite Missionaries of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus in Scottsdale, Ariz.

During the Eucharistic celebration, Sr. Jessica de Jesús Corona Hernández, Sr. Genesis de la Divina Misericordia Ubarri Martínez and Sr. Cristina de María Esquer Alcántar entered the novitiate through the Rite of Investiture.

Also known as the “Clothing,” this traditional ceremony takes place immediately following the Gospel reading and marks a postulant’s transition into a two-year novitiate. As part of the sacred rite, the three women were clothed in the traditional Carmelite habit — including the white veil, brown scapular, cincture and white mantle — and received their new religious names to signify their new life in Christ. Members of the religious community, family, and close friends gathered to witness the milestone event.