Update: Court Decision
Press Release, March 14, 2007

Mount St. Scholastica Decides on the Administration Building
November 25, 2005

“The Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica are adjusting to changing times,” announced Sr. Anne Shepard, Prioress. “While holding with unchanging faith to the principles of our monastic tradition, we have finalized a sad but necessary decision. In 2006, the Mount St. Scholastica Administration Building will be razed.”

“For the past 16 years, with assistance from Atchison civic leaders and through extraordinary dedication by members of our religious community, we have sought a viable means of utilizing this treasured landmark,” said Sr. Anne. To no avail.

Since 1990, costs of maintaining the under-utilized building have spiraled upward as overhead expenses mounted. For several years, expenses have exceeded income produced by the Administration Building. In addition to the financial drain, concern about the building has become a spiritual drain on the 182 members of the Benedictine Community.

“Our Community has decided that the thrust of the next six years will be to assess our human and material resources to assure a viable future of service, to strengthen our Sophia Center as the home of spiritual retreats and outreach, and to stay on course working for justice and peace as we extend compassion to the poor,” said Sr. Anne.

Full participation in the Community’s creative vision calls for releasing the burden of worry that has been part of trying to maintain the Administration Building beyond its time of useful purpose.

The five-story brick, 171,000 square foot Administration Building was built in 1924 to house dormitories, lounges, classrooms and facilities where the academy and college faculty and the Mount’s women students lived, learned, and prayed.

Over the past 16 years, the Community has explored many venues for using the historic site. Programs that were housed there included the retreat and spirituality center, bookstore/gift shop, fine arts programs, alternative education, business training, youth and children’s programs, a dance studio and a photography studio. These programs used only a portion of the building and many of them moved to the Feeney Memorial Building when it was vacated by the Mount Academy. Other ideas that were studied for the Administration Building included housing for the elderly, facilities for two different high schools, Atchison Catholic Elementary School, Northeast Kansas Vocational/Technical College, Highland Junior College, Benedictine College and others. None of these were able to adequately use the large building.

“The Administration Building will be revered in the memories of all who once lived and learned there, or who admired it as part of Atchison’s heritage. It is now time to let it go. As members of a monastic community, we are called to be stewards, not merely of buildings, but of hearts and souls,” said Sr. Anne.

The actual date of the razing is still being decided.

The community of Benedictine sisters of Atchison was founded in 1863 when seven Benedictine nuns opened Mount St. Scholastica Academy for girls at the request of Benedictine monks who were already in Atchison teaching school for boys.

Some frequently asked questions and answers regarding the Administration Building - http://www.mountosb.org/adminbuilding/

Criteria for proposals for use of the Administration Building

For more information, contact:

Sister Anne Shepard, Prioress
email: anne@mountosb.org
phone: (913) 360-6200


Sister Mary Agnes Patterson, Director of Development & Communications
email: patterson@mountosb.org
phone: (913) 360-6200