Comments from Sister Anne Shepard, OSB
at her Installation Mass as the 11th Prioress of Mount St. Scholastica
July 10, 2005

Thank you all for joining our community today. Isn't this a beautiful liturgy! Thanks to each one who contributed to the celebration. I entered here because the Benedictine sisters and monks know how to worship meaningfully and prayerfully. If my father were here, he'd grab my hand on the way out and say "Honey, that was a VERY high Mass!"

It is an awesome responsibility to be called to be the prioress of this group of Benedictine women
who are so very earnest in prayer,
who are so authentic in character,
who have taught or worked with so many people in town and their parents and grandparents,
who approach ministry with a deep conviction that God is in charge if we would but cooperate every day,
who strive daily to balance prayer and work,
who are constantly learning.
What a blessed community!

My brother Paul reminded me last week that it was he who chose to come to St. Benedict's College in 1962. He persuaded me to follow him the next year to attend Mount St. Scholastica College. I'm indebted to my family for their love and support over the years. I'm also grateful for my cousins who are here and notably for three who came from Peru.

Our community decided that the thrust of the next six years will be to assess our human and financial resources to assure a viable future of service,
to strengthen the Sophia Center, the home of spiritual retreats and outreach,
and to stay on course working for justice and peace as we extend compassion to the poor. In our planning a few years ago, we said we will stay in Atchison.
We will never waver from our commitment to praying daily, to building community here and wherever we minister and to listening to the Spirit in these times to determine how and where we should serve. We are always striving to be authentically monastic. We are conscious of our call to contribute to unity, tolerance, compassion and life long learning in societal and sometimes ecclesial settings where division, narrow mindedness and getting answers before questions have been asked seem to dominate. We promise to be women of optimism and hope.

Help us stay real.

Anne Shepard, osb

Press release upon election of Sister Anne as Prioress, June 12.
Pictures from the Installation, July 9