Threshold Fall/Winter 2008

Benedictine Sisters, Benedictine College
by Thomasita Homan, OSB

We overlap!
Mount St. Scholastica and Benedictine College share people, prayer, time, fun, and life’s journeys. We become community in countless ways.

Prayer Partners

One way is the Prayer Partner program, in its 28th year. Over 80 students signed to have a sister-partner this year, many were returnees, and several were second-generation prayer partners.

“We’re All Family!” reads the sweatshirt Nathan Harkins often wears to the Mount when he comes to meet his prayer partner, Sister Mary Ann Dice. Nathan thinks it is“terrific and important” for college students to know the sisters, co-founders and sponsors of Benedictine College, and “to grow spiritually with the sisters.” He remarks, “The silence held between psalms is very reverent and sacred and helps me to listen to what God wants of me in life” and “the food is always great.” Family-minded Nathan even discovered he is distantly related to four sisters: Sisters Angela Ostermann, Mary Ann Fessler, Gertrude Nagel, and his prayer partner!

Cindy Lackey and Sister Cecilia Olson are partners. Cindy says she “draws strength” and encouragement in praying “soft evening vespers,” asking questions, and sharing a meal with the community. She, like many prayer partners, looks forward to the annual Christmas cookie baking at the Mount. Her partner, Sister Cecilia, delights in sharing the beauty of community and providing concrete experiences of monastic life. Echoing Sister Cecilia, Sister Linda Herndon admires the energy and hope of the students, emphasizing that the program is “an incredible way to have college students get to know our community, especially now that we are no longer on one campus.”

Leah Willis calls it “a blessing” to share five years of prayer, meals, and cookie baking with Sister Joachim Holthaus. She and her husband, Simeon, say Sister Joachim has seen them through “many an adventure – our engagement, marriage, graduations, and the birth of our first child.” Sister Joachim, “an extra grandma,” says the “addition of baby Agnes brings a certain joy to Thursday vespers and dinner.”

Alumni

Past prayer partners continue to be our partners. Cy and Junko Anderson thank the Mount for making them feel a part of the family. Cy writes, “Early in my freshman year I realized I could and should be an active member of the family. One of my first weeks on South Campus I decided to go to Mass at St. Scholastica’s chapel. Sister Faith walked up as I was praying and said, ‘Good afternoon. You have a wonderful face. I’m sure you would like to do the first reading for us today.’ I couldn’t say no. Two years later, Sister Thomasita and Father Benjamin informed me I would be a good campus minister. I couldn’t say no. My senior year, Sister Celine and Dr. Coronado suggested a leadership role in the hunger coalition. I couldn’t say no… Junko and I continue to think of the Mount community as family and look forward to our return visits. As we raise our children and grow in our marriage, we think of the sisters and the advice you would give when we go through a difficult time or an important decision is to be made.“

And even more ways we find to overlap…

Ministry at BC

The Mount and Benedictine College have years of layering, of community, of journeying together. Since the 1971 merger with St. Benedict’s College, Mount St. Scholastica remains one of the sponsoring institutions. Forty sisters presently living have taught or worked in administration at BC, ten are faculty emeritae; many more are alumnae. Three sisters serve on the board of directors; five serve on the faculty. The Mount sponsors the Fellin Lecture Series at the college.

Benedictine College has honored the Mount by developing St. Scholastica Plaza and in the naming of two residence halls: St. Scholastica Hall, and Kremmeter Hall in honor of Mother Evangelista Kremmeter, first prioress.

This year marks the sesquicentennial of the college and various special activities have been planned throughout the year. On homecoming weekend, the two founding communities were honored with a luncheon and special recognition at halftime of the football game.

At the opening celebration for the sesquicentennial in September, college president, Steve Minnis, praised the Benedictines for their role in the long and successful history of the college, saying:
The sisters came to bring the light of Benedictine education to women ... [W]e must follow the lead of those who have gone before us. We are all called to transform the world through a commitment to excellence in the Benedictine tradition. Each and every one of us has been given a priceless gift, preserved over centuries, and it is up to us to live up to that great legacy.

Community Sharing

In formal and informal ways, the monastic and college communities share their lives. Several sisters walked with students and local people in the Breast Cancer Awareness Walk organized by students. Sisters delight in music, theatre, and sports events, and invite the BC men’s basketball team to the Mount for prayers and a meal. Just a phone call away, Coach Wilcox’s football players are quick responders to emergency heavy lifting of furniture and equipment at the Mount. Other students fill positions at the switchboard or volunteer services in Dooley Center. For the Mount and for BC, there is continuity, joy, and blessing in living this tradition of overlapping, of sharing the journey that continues. Indeed, as Nathan Harkins’ shirt reminds us, “We’re All Family.”

For over 25 years, the sisters have welcomed our family, accepted us unconditionally, gently affirmed our efforts, and made us feel comfortable and valued…I am truly thankful for being surrounded by great Benedictine women who prepared the way for me and who continue to inspire me. Their example has influenced me to welcome others as Christ and live a life that models peace, striving to live the Benedictine way. I think that is why I so enjoy seeing students succeed. By helping them, I am able to give something back.
Linda Henry, Vice President of Student Life at Benedictine College

Being a prayer partner put me on a deeper level of faith than I ever could have imagined. It is a lifetime bond with a community of women, and assurance that I am never alone in my journey, no matter where it may take me; it is a constant reminder of the love God has for all of us.
Jen McClaflin, former prayer partner

As a woman finding my voice and my values, both personally and professionally, these Benedictine women have served as great mentors and role models. I count being a member of their Benedictine family among the great blessings of my life.
Kelly Vowels, Vice President. for Advancement at Benedictine College

[My work] brought me close to so many of the sisters. Lifetime memories remain in lessons learned for ways to work and live and treat others in our daily encounters. There was a common factor of inclusiveness for all levels of college employment.
Pat Asher, Administrative Assistant at Benedictine College

Being a prayer partner provided me with many graced moments: laughter shared at table, stillness to think and pray, petitions offered to God during times of trouble. Sister Anne said at our end-of-the-year celebration that one does not stop being a partner in prayer. There is a sister in Atchison praying for me. I continue to pray for her, too.
Lauren Murphy, former prayer partner

Sister Mary Ann Dice with prayer partners
Theresa Higson and Nathan Harkins


Participants in breast cancer fundraiser: Sisters Thomasita Homan,
Rose Marie Stallbaumer, Susan Barber, Barbara Smith, Elizabeth Carrillo,
Linda Herndon and Mary Palarino with (front) alumnae Catherine Schoeneke
r and Jen McClaflin


Sisters Laura Haug, Delores Wagner, Marie Ballman,
JoAnn Fellin and Mary Margaret Kean admire the roses
received at an appreciation luncheon for all the sisters on
homecoming weekend

Sister Angela Ostermann
and her prayer partner Maria McDonough look at some of the Mount memorabilia displayed in the lobby of St. Scholastica Hall. The young women who live there are encourgaged to maintain a special connection with the sisters and with the memory of Mount St. Scholastica College.

The Reincarnation
of Kremmeter Hall

The dorm’s past life must have been a very good and holy one because her next incarnation is a definite step up. These apartments, with their air conditioning, private baths and full kitchens, are a far cry from the previous version of Kremmeter, but the spirit of the young women residing there is just as good as ever. Rachel Eberle, who works as a receptionist and telephone operator at the Mount, is one of the residents.






Forever Yours
I had been raised as a Benedictine child, with aunts, uncles and cousins in the Benedictine order, so my parents were eager for me to attend the Mount. I will always be indebted to the sisters, however, not only for my education, but because at the end of my freshman year, I had run out of money. They opted to provide a full scholarship for me to continue my studies, and that has made all the difference in my life. I will always be a faithful Mountie!

Janelle Knoedell Lazzo, MSSC, Class of 1956
(lazz.tif)