Audra Turnbull professes final vows with IHM Sisters
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Audra Turnbull, IHM, professed final vows with the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, on May 21. The ceremony took place during the morning liturgy at Saints Peter and Paul Jesuit Church in downtown Detroit. A reception followed at the University of Detroit Law School. An additional celebration was held at the IHM Senior Living Community on Monday for the Sisters who were not able to attend in person. The Mass was also livestreamed.
Turnbull grew up in Monroe City, Missouri. She attended elementary school at Holy Rosary Catholic School, where she first thought about religious life.
“I felt like a spotlight was on me every time we prayed for religious vocations, but I never seriously considered it until college,” she said. She attended Monroe City R-1 High School.
During the summers, she attended Catholic Heart Work Camp, a week-long mission trip to different cities around the country where teens do service projects for the poor.
“That’s where I really fell in love with serving the poor,” says Turnbull.
After high school, Turnbull attended Quincy University, a small, Franciscan college in Quincy, Illinois. She majored in communications with a concentration in broadcasting. It was during this time that she found the IHM Sisters while Googling “nuns.”
“I found ‘A Nun’s Ministry’,” she said. “It was founded by IHMs, and I was invited to the IHM Motherhouse during my sophomore year in college. The rest is history.”
In 2013, she served at another IHM ministry, Compassionate Companions/Monroe County Guardians, advocating for those with physical and mental disabilities; she will continue in this ministry.
Turnbull said about her upcoming religious life, “It’s going to be smaller for sure, but it’s an exciting time to be in religious life. There’s so much changing, and we’re really able to be in solidarity with our sisters and brothers on the margins.”
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Audra Turnbull professes final vows with IHM Sisters
