Threshold Winter 2007

Around the Mount...

Sister Margaret Del Debbio (r.) was received as a novice in a ceremony on August 12. She is spending the year in the intensive study and discernment leading to profession. As a symbol of this, Sister Cecilia Olson (l.), director of novices, presented her with a copy of the Rule of St. Benedict and Sister Anne gave an instruction and blessing.

The long and the short of it
Sister Mary Ethel Burley greets Dan Van Dyke, one of the Benedictine College basketball players who come at the beginning of their playing season to solicit the support and prayers of the sisters.

Graduation
Sister Mary Elizabeth Schweiger, subprioress (r.), attended the graduation of Sister Suzanne Fitzmaurice as she received her master’s degree from the Franciscan School of Theology at Berkeley, California. Sister Suzanne has now taken up her new duties as vocation minister for the Mount.

Starting Young
A record number of Partners in Prayer from Benedictine College are pairing with sisters for regular attendance at vespers and other activities. This year, the Mount welcomed its youngest prayer partner as well. Agnes Willis was three weeks old when she began coming to vespers weekly with her parents, Simeon and Leah Willis, and their prayer partner Sister Joachim Holthaus.

Visitors from Brazil The sisters enjoyed a visit from the monks of Mineiros, Brazil, as well as one of the sisters from there, Sister Maria das Gracas, (top) when St. Benedict’s Abbey celebrated its 150th anniversary. They are with Sister Mary Mel (l.) who lived in Mineiros. The monks held various celebrations throughout their jubilee year. On another day, the sisters of Mount St. Scholastica swelled the ranks of the abbey choir when they were invited to vespers and a festive dinner in the abbey refectory (see below)


In the News
Two sisters have recently been the subjects of features by Joe Bollig in The Leaven, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas.

“Nerd Nun” in the November 9 issue describes Sister Diana Seago’s unique ministry in building and maintaining the monastery’s computer system. (pictured at right)









"Sudden Death" in the September 21 issue tells the amazing story of Sister Rose Marie Stallbaumer (pictured at left), whose life was saved by a priest and his defibrillator when her heart suddenly stopped during a relative’s wedding Mass.