Sister Stories

After my sophomore year of college, I entered the monastery with the expectation that I would be a teacher. And so, it happened. Over the course of 55 years, for varying degrees of duration, I taught at every level except…

After 40 plus years as Food Service Director and Lecturer at Mount St. Scholastica College, and then Benedictine College, I am involved in part of my life-long community ministry as a consultant dietitian for our Dooley Center nursing home.  My…

What a journey this has been! I entered the Community in 1960, having just been a Catholic for two years.  Although I had been raised in the Methodist Church with a deeply faith filled family, I had much to learn…

My life in ministry started the day after I finished the Novitiate.  In February 1958, I was asked to go to Council Bluffs, Iowa, to complete the year for one of the retired teachers.  Because I had some musical ability,…

I am the Director of Computing for our monastery. I make sure our network is running smoothly and repair our computers and mobile devices. I am one of our community cantors, a member of the monastic schola, and I play…

As I ponder the meaning of my ministries, the word that best explains my life is “hospitality.” This is true through my childhood, living in a large family who spent time in preparing meals and welcoming family, relatives, friends and…

I have two primary ministries: I am the editor of Threshold and Benedictines magazines, and I am the director of the Atchison oblate deanery. For Threshold, I write and compile stories of our Benedictine life at the Mount to share with family, oblates, friends,…

During my years as a Benedictine Sister, I have served in many capacities, among them as a high school teacher and as associate director at Keeler Women’s Center in Kansas City. Since returning to Mount St. Scholastica in 2020, I…

Over the years, my ministries focused on either teaching or coordinating liturgies, both at Mount St. Scholastica and for six years in a parish. I can honestly say that I loved both worlds! Now, in my “senior years,” I find…

My primary ministry is being present for the Liturgy of the Hours, the Eucharist, and being obedient to my Sisters. That truly is my PRIMARY ministry. As for “labora,” I am a gardener inside the monastery and outside the monastery.…

My ministries continue to be centered on books, perhaps because that’s all I know. English, especially literature, was my field of study, and is what I taught for most of my teaching years until I retired from the seminary college…

Since 1984, my work has been mostly in spiritual ministry: spiritual direction, teaching and leading retreats. The areas of most concentration have been contemplative prayer, the mystics, dreamwork, the Enneagram, and Benedictine spirituality. I’ve led classes and retreats on these…