Novitiate

Novitiate

1964. Cathleen Harris, in her late teens, has resided at the Convent of the Beloved Rose in her home state in the American south for close to two years, first as a postulant for six months, before taking her first vows to become a novice. Unlike the other postulants and novices, Sister Cathleen was raised in a household without religion, let alone Catholicism. As such, her decision to become a nun, which went against her divorced mother's wishes, may be more secure in her mind than her colleagues for which this life course may be more bred within them. The convent is led by the Mother Abbess, Reverend Mother Marie Saint Clare, whose entire life is this convent off of where she not stepped foot in forty years. Reverend Mother believes she is the voice of God within the walls of the convent, and thus does not tolerate any of the sisters questioning her authority. She also believes that the Catholicism which she has known all her life is perfect. When she receives an edict regarding the Second Vatican Council - more commonly referred to as Vatican II - which, opened in 1962 as a process to make the Catholic church more open to modern ideals, she refuses to implement any of the changes, let alone discuss the edict with any of the sisters, especially with the likes of Sister Mary Grace, the Mistress of Postulants and Novices who has more contemporary views of the church. Sister Cathleen's drive to become a nun is set against this backdrop, her process which is not as easy as it appears to the others, and whether she makes it to nun is affected by the Reverend Mother's strict methods and refusal to modernize.