Threshold - Winter 2005

New Monastic Council Formed

Do everything with counsel and you will not be sorry afterward.
(Sirach 32:24)

St. Benedict quotes this passage from the Old Testament as the conclusion of his chapter on calling the community together to make decisions. He notes that there are times when the superior may consult with everyone and other times when he or she receives advice from only a small portion of the community who are deemed to have the wisdom and experience needed to assist with the decision.

In today’s Benedictine monasteries, this smaller group is known as the monastic council. At the time of the election of a prioress, she appoints certain people as her advisors and the community elects others. Sister Anne has appointed Sister Mary Elizabeth Schweiger to continue as sub-prioress. Sister Mary Elizabeth has served in that capacity since she was originally appointed by Sister Mary Collins in 1999. Before that time, she worked for more than thirty years in education and pastoral ministry.

Sister Anne has also asked Sister Elaine Fischer to remain on the council. Sister Elaine, a member of the community since 1987, is the facilities manager at the monastery and has worked as an emergency medical technician/firefighter as well. The third appointed council member is Sister Lou Whipple. Sister Lou is an elementary teacher and has been in community since 1989. She currently teaches second grade at Visitation School in Kansas City, Mo.

At their fall community meeting, the sisters elected three sisters to the council. Sister Carol Ann Petersen has devoted nearly forty years to educational and administrative ministries as teacher, principal, superintendent of schools for the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese, and now as director of the Keeler Women’s Center in Kansas City, Kansas. Also elected by the community was Sister JoAnn Fellin, who has recently retired from the mathematics department at Benedictine College. Sister Gabrielle Kocour, the third elected council member, has spent more than fifty years in community, serving in schools, parish ministries and social services. She heads the Women’s Wisdom Center in Atchison.

Together, these sisters will study community issues, act as a board of directors in legal matters, and prayerfully consider the many decisions which will come before them. They will assist and support Sister Anne and the rest of their sisters through the next six years of the community’s journey. Sister Anne is grateful for their help, saying, “We are a community of gifted and talented members. I look forward to working with this particular group of community leaders.”


The new monastic council consists of (back) Sisters Lou Whipple, Anne Shepard, Jo Ann Fellin, Elaine Fischer; (front) Mary Elizabeth Schweiger, Gabrielle Kocour, Carol Ann Petersen


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