News & Updates
Holiday Celebrations Abound
From festive songfests and holiday gatherings to an Irish music concert and a community Christmas party, sisters, employees, and friends came together in joyful celebration. Discover the heartwarming traditions and events that made this season special at Mount St. Scholastica.
The Advent and Christmas seasons offered many opportunities for Mount sisters, employees, volunteers, and friends to prepare for and celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Advent Songfest
In anticipation of Advent, sisters gathered in St. Lucy Chapel on Friday evening, November 29, to practice Advent songs. This joyful occasion concluded with a pie fest, featuring more than 20 pies made by the sisters.
Keeler Women’s Center Christmas Party
On December 6, Keeler Women’s Center hosted a Christmas party at the Johnson County Museum for volunteers. Approximately 75 guests enjoyed the festive gathering.
Dooley Center Companion Christmas Party
At a St. Nick gathering in Dooley Center, sisters feasted on an array of cookies, candy, and popcorn provided by oblates from the Kansas City oblate deaneries. The sisters in Dooley Center also gathered on the afternoon of the 24th to receive Christmas greetings from the prioress, Sister Mary Elizabeth Schweiger, and presented her with a new clock for her office.
Employee Christmas Party
The Mount treated employees of the monastery and Dooley Center to a Christmas dinner on December 17. Sister Molly Brockwell organized the event, and Sisters Alberta Hermann and Loretta McGuire were the main cooks for the meal. Two videos from the Night of Dreams were shown, door prizes made by various sisters were distributed, and Sisters Susan Barber and Elizabeth Carrillo provided music on the piano and bells. The sisters blessed the employees at the end of the meal.
Irish Music Concert
On December 22, sisters and friends from the Atchison area gathered in St. Lucy Chapel for a concert of Irish music by Kieran O’Hare (bagpipes) and Liz Knowles (violin). Sisters Susan Barber and Marcia Ziska prepared a reception afterward. Liz also provided violin accompaniment at the Mount’s Christmas Eve Mass, which was followed by a standing-room-only reception in the monastery dining room with homemade pecan rolls and hot chocolate.
Community Christmas Party
On January 4, a community Christmas party was held. After a festive supper, sisters enjoyed a concert by the local Americana bluegrass band “Rudy and the Lost Boys,” featuring J.D. and Lauren Benning and Chuck Coleman.
