News & Updates
Bilingual Retreatants Enjoy Benedictine Hospitality
Sisters Elaine Fischer (right front) and Patricia Seipel (center) take the retreatants on a tour of the grounds, including the beehives.
As soon as the 50 attendees of a Bilingual Women’s Day retreat arrived at Sophia Center on April 27 and were met with coffee and Sister Loretta McGuire’s homemade cinnamon rolls, they knew they were going to have a special day.
Past retreatants expressed a desire to learn more about the lives of the Mount sisters, so the day was designed to allow time for visiting and exploration of the sisters’ prayer and ministries.
Retreatants participate in Mass.
The Sunday Mass in St. Scholastica Chapel featured music, prayers, and readings in both English and Spanish, and Sister Helga Leija read a translation of Fr. Meinrad Miller’s homily in Spanish. The retreatants were touched to receive a blessing from the sisters at the end of the Mass.
Retreatants, most of whom were from the Kansas City region, were then divided into three groups. Throughout the afternoon they enjoyed the following activities:
- Sharing dinner with sisters in the monastery dining room
- Attending a talk by Sister Suzanne Fitzmaurice about prayer and the symbolism of the windows in the Choir Chapel
- Exploring displays with information about vocations, oblates, Benedictines for Peace, and Keeler Women’s Center
- Learning about Sister Barbara Smith’s efforts to bring clean water to developing countries through her work with the organization Water by Women
- Taking a tour of the grounds and learning about beekeeping from Sisters Elaine Fischer and Patricia Seipel
- Visiting the gift shop
The retreat ended with a closing prayer in the Choir Chapel.
The sisters were grateful for the opportunity to welcome this group of extraordinary women to the monastery, learn about their lives, and share our Benedictine prayer and heritage with them. We also appreciated the assistance of Karla Melgar from the Archdiocesan Office of Hispanic Ministry and Sophia staff member Mary Kay Whitacre, who coordinated the event, along with numerous oblates and Souljourners graduates who served as translators and helped provide hospitality to our bilingual guests.
