Sisters Gisélia and Suzanne Celebrate Their 25th Jubilee 

On July 26, sisters of the Mount and family and friends of Sisters Suzanne Fitzmaurice and Gisélia Inacio Morais celebrated their 25th Jubilee with a Mass in St. Scholastica Chapel, followed by a luncheon. Here is a glimpse of how their lives as Benedictine sisters have unfolded.

As a young adult, Sister Suzanne led a very active life. She spent a year in Seattle, Washington, with the Jesuit Volunteer Corp (JVC); graduated from Creighton University with a dual degree in education and ministry and earned a national certification in youth ministry; worked with the JVC in Texas for three years; and was a parish youth minister in the Houston area for six years. Still, she said, “I always felt something was missing, but I wasn’t sure what that was.” Then, signs started pointing to religious life. 

Quietly, she began exploring apostolic communities. An uncle who was a Benedictine monk suggested that she look at Benedictine monasteries. In 1997 she contacted Vocation Director Marcia Ziska via a website and came to the Mount for a visit. She said, “My world was very busy all the time; the stillness of Benedictine life attracted me, along with the chanting and prayer life.” 

Sister Suzanne entered the Mount as a postulant in 1998, began her novitiate in 1999, made her first profession in 2001, and made her perpetual profession in 2004. She has engaged in a wide variety of ministries, with roles as a teacher and campus minister (at Notre Dame de Sion High School and Cristo Rey Kansas City High School); associate director of Keeler Women’s Center; and at the Mount, vocation minister, director of monastic temporalities, technology advisor, spiritual director, and retreat leader/presenter. She also has served on the Independent Review Boards for matters related to clergy sexual abuse and misconduct in both the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas, and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri. 

Along the way, Sister Suzanne earned a Master’s in Theological Studies with a concentration in multiculturalism from the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley, California, and a Master’s in the Beginnings of Irish Christianity at University College, Cork, in Ireland, along with a certificate in spiritual direction from Sophia Spirituality Center. Her travels include a six-week trip to Tanzania in 2011 to teach sisters there and a two-week pilgrimage to visit Benedictine sites in Rome (see article on page 18) in spring 2026. 

In reflecting on her life as a Benedictine, Sister Suzanne said that highlights include working at Cristo Rey, where she loved the students; her study in Ireland; the chance to offer talks and retreats; and the many opportunities she has had to meet other Benedictines throughout the United States and the world. “I’m grateful for so many things!” she said.

The seeds of Sister Gisélia’s vocation were planted during her childhood, at a time when her father had to travel to work in another city and her family faced many hardships. Sister Gisélia says, “There were some nuns who helped us a great deal, and to this day I am very grateful to them. My vocation was born from that living example set by those holy women; I was 7 years old at the time. They visited my mother often and helped us with food, clothing, and prayer.” 

Today Sister Gisélia serves in the liturgical music ministry at St. Benedict Parish in Mineiros, where she teaches, forms new liturgical music groups, and is the guitarist at some of the Sunday Masses. She notes, “Mineiros is a city with many Catholics — the church is always packed, and the people are welcoming, generous, and deeply devoted to prayer.” Sister Gisélia also oversees a small farm owned by the sisters. 

Sister Gisélia says, “From the very first moments I was introduced to the Rule of St. Benedict, I identified deeply with it, and my heart was already burning with the desire to seek to live according to St. Benedict’s teachings. I have never had any doubts about the life I chose to live. Yes, there have been good times and bad times, but my trust and hope in God have always calmed me, and the storms have subsided. Little by little, I have learned that living in community is an art — knowing how to live together with great wisdom and love for my sisters and for God.” 

Sister Gisélia offers her deep gratitude to Bishop Quirino, OSB, her spiritual director throughout his time in Brazil; Bishop Rui, OSB, with whom she studied the Bible; Bishop Joaquim Carlos, OSB, and Sister Ursula Worringen, OSB, her instructors in the Rule of St. Benedict; Angelita Sousa, a friend who has provided constant support; Sister Eliene, “because it is through her efforts that I am who I am as a person and as a religious sister;” and Mount Saint Scholastica, “for the tremendous support throughout every stage of my formation and for accepting me as a member of this great community.”