News & Updates
Monastery News and Notes
Sisters Welcome Members of Amnesty International
Members of Amnesty International hold signs in support of ending the death penalty.
Nineteen members of Amnesty International from across the United States came to Sophia Spirituality Center for a working retreat from September 3-6, 2025. The focus of the retreat was efforts to end the death penalty in the United States. The retreatants came to Morning and Evening Prayer and shared meals with the sisters, and Sister Susan Barber planned a special Taize-style prayer service for the guests and sisters that was held in St. Scholastica Chapel.
Mount Hosts Donnelly College Board
Members of the Donnelly College Board learn about the history of the Mount on a tour led by Sister Judith Sutera.
The sisters hosted nineteen members of the Donnelly College Board on September 10, 2025. The Board members attended Mass and ate dinner with the sisters. After dinner, Sister Mary Elizabeth Schweiger gave a brief history of the Mount community, and the sisters blessed the Board members. They then were given a tour of the monastery by Sister Judith Sutera and went to Sophia Spirituality Center for a meeting and supper.
Sisters End the Season of Creation with Prayer
Sister Loretta McGuire leads a prayer at a closing service for the 2025 Season of Creation.
On October 1, 2025, the Wangari ecology committee conducted a prayer service to mark the end of the Season of Creation. Sisters were invited to bring various items from our garden into the chapel, such as squash, green beans, seed packets, flowers, and tomatoes. The service included a meditation with sounds of birds and animals from around the world. A reception afterward included harvest foods and beverages, including mead (honey wine) made from honey we collected from our beehives.
Mount Hosts I-CARE Mass
Musicians enhanced an I-CARE Mass celebrated in St. Scholastica Chapel with their spirited music.
On October 25, an I-CARE Mass for people with disabilities and their families was celebrated in St. Scholastica Chapel. It was the first time an I-CARE Mass took place in Atchison. The event was coordinated by Kevin Hill, a friend of the Mount, and Father Bill Bruning was the celebrant. Many families with children were present. Some attendees participated by singing in a choir, being lectors, offering petitions, taking up a collection, and carrying gifts in the offertory procession. There was great spirit among those who attended. After Mass, the Knights of Columbus hosted the guests for a meal and bingo at Maur Hill–Mount Academy.
LCWR Members Gather at the Mount
Twelve members of the Region 13 Chapter of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) gathered at Sophia Center for a regional meeting from September 27-29, 2025. The sisters came from Leavenworth, Concordia, and Wichita, Kansas; St. Louis, Missouri; and Colorado Springs, Colorado. Sisters Mary Elizabeth Schweiger and Rose Marie Stallbaumer attended from the Mount. As part of the gathering, Sister Elizabeth Carrillo led the group in a day of reflection on the care of creation.
Sisters Celebrate Christ the King with Abbey Monks
Foreground, Sister Barbara Smith; right side, L-R, Sisters Linda Herndon and Cecilia Olson and Father Jay Kythe.
The monks of St. Benedict’s Abbey invited the sisters to join them for vespers, a social, and dinner to celebrate the feast of Christ the King on November 23, 2025. After a wonderful meal, the sisters enjoyed a skit by Brothers Maximilian Anderson and Jean-Marie Hogan. The evening ended with a prayer by the abbot, a blessing of the monks by the sisters, and singing of the Ultima in Latin, English, and German.
