Celebration of Poetry

Sister Anne Wambach, OSB, executive director of the Inner-City Neighborhood Art House, reports that “ Celebration of Poetry” on Thursday, April 17, was a tremendous success beyond any rhyme or reason!

You can get a sense of the rhythm of this creative and enjoyable event of presentations, performance and “Poem in Your Pocket” here.

Sisters to Participate in Pope Benedict's Visit to the United States

UPDATE! Sisters Dorothy Stoner, OSB, and Janet Goetz, OSB, were
interviewed several times by Erie Times-News reporter Dana Massing during their visit to NYC to see Pope Benedict XVI. You can read the stories and see video here.

Also, for a commentary by the pope summarizing St. Benedict's life and influence on the church in Europe, click here. Benedict is the patron saint of Europe.

Sisters Janet Goetz, OSB, vocation minister, and Dorothy Stoner, OSB, director of formation, will be leaving for New York City on Friday afternoon, April 18. They have tickets to participate in the 2:30 p.m. Mass at Yankee Stadium Sunday afternoon, and plan to be on Fifth Avenue on Saturday as Pope Benedict XVI rides down the avenue to interact with the crowd.

Sisters Janet and Dorothy will join the adults and youth from both Cathedral Center School and Cathedral Preparatory School (Erie) on Sunday to go from Manhattan to Yankee Stadium for the Mass.

Sister Janet's Reflection

I am eager to hear what Pope Benedict has to say to the youth in attendance at Sunday's Mass and to learn of their response to him. I know that as Cardinal Ratzinger, Pope Benedict has been to the United States at least five times. He has great respect for the United States, recognizing the country's diverse but essentially faith-based positions on social issues; yet we are able to maintain separation of church and state.

Pope Benedict suspects that religious conflict may be the greatest challenge of the 21st century and wonders what can be learned by the U.S. approach - intellectual discussion along with respect for religious values in a diverse yet modern culture. I think Pope Benedict will be able to convey his respect for United States citizens and culture; yet he will not be shy about challenging us on issues such as peace in Iraq and respect for all human life.

Sister Dorothy's Reflection

I also am interested in how the Pope is relating to youth.

Young people were attracted to Pope John Paul II; many of them even referred to themselves as the “John Paul II Generation.” Pope Benedict seems to continue to attract the attention of youth. I want to talk with these young women and men. I want to hear from them why they want to see and hear Pope Benedict. I look forward to engaging in conversation with students from around the country. I want to learn from them what they are looking for and I want to consider how we, as Benedictines, might respond.

I want to be in New York City to see and hear for myself what is happening and what is being said. Too often we receive partial messages; too often we hear how inadequate a person’s response or actions are. I want to experience as totally as possible, for myself, what happens at the Eucharistic Liturgy and hear the entire homily of Benedict at Yankee Stadium. I don’t want someone selecting for me the parts I will hear. The selection process has already begun by spokespersons for various groups; I want more.

One of the challenges Pope Benedict offers is very attractive to me. I appreciate the belief he seems to have in us that we can deal with the complexity that is life today -- that we don’t have to quickly resort to fast, easy reactions, nor need we be satisfied with the “sound-bite” style of communication that seems to make up our society. He calls us to think deeply, to grapple with history, to be rooted in one’s own identity while being open to others.

I may not always agree with him and his understanding of church but I do respect his desires that we all be intellectually responsible for what believe and what we say and that we be appreciative of our long and rich tradition that can continue to give meaning and depth to our present and shape our future.

Sisters Dorothy and Janet each were interviewed by the Erie Times News about the Pope's visit. You can hear the interviews here.

Poet? Know It!

April is National Poetry Month

Sister Anne Wambach, OSB, executive director of the Inner-City Neighborhood Art House, announces a Celebration of Poetry on Thursday, April 17; 7-8:30 p.m. at the Art House.

You can read all about this creative and enjoyable event of presentations, performance and “Poem in Your Pocket” here.

Groove to the Tunes!

Did you know that Saint Benedict Academy is alive and well? Although the East Tenth Street school closed in 1988 after 119 years, the SBA Alumnae Association, some 3400-strong, keeps the spirit going.

To support the Sisters’ Ministry Fund, the Alumnae Association Board is sponsoring a fun-filled evening of dancing to “Music of the Decades” along with games of chance and and refreshments on Saturday, April 19 at 7 pm; East Erie Turners.

For all the details, please click here.

Many SBA graduates have remained in Erie and know all the work that the Benedictine Sisters have done since the academy closed. The “SBA Block” is now home to these ministries: Saint Benedict Education Center, Saint Benedict Community Center,
The Inner-City Neighborhood Art House, Emmaus Ministries, Inc. and Saint Benedict Child Development Center.

Committee members include:
Barbara Brown
Ann Comstock
Kathy Danch
Janet Hammond
Kathy Klapthor
Sister Rosanne Loneck, OSB
Anne Shiel
Joyce Wickles

Benedictine Sisters Rejoice in March Madness!

The Benedictine Sisters of Erie celebrated March Madness by reaching $8 million in pledges to the Heritage of Hope Capital Campaign and beginning the next phase of the monastery renovation project. Thanks to our supporters whose selfless giving helped us to raise 89% of our $9 million goal, we were able to begin Phase 1 of the community living space renovation on March 24th. Although our normal living patterns will be disrupted with construction workers removing walls, windows, wiring, heating and plumbing, we look forward to renewed facilities where we can care for our infirm Sisters and where our more active Sisters will enjoy more adequate accommodations.

During the final months of the campaign, we must raise $990,732 to reach our Ministry Fund goal of $2 million and to have adequate funds to complete Phase 2 of the community living space renovation. We will continue to contact our benefactors and reach out to new supporters to ask them to consider a gift to the campaign. March Madness was truly a time of rejoicing at Mount St. Benedict Monastery. Get ready to mark your calendars for a celebration of thanksgiving when we reach our $9 million goal! (Date and time to be announced.)

UPDATE! As of April 3, 1,194 donors have pledged $8,020,588 with cash
received at $6,582,829. Thank you!

"Come and See" during Open House

To celebrate religious life, the Benedictine Sisters of Erie invite guests to an Open House on Sunday, April 13, from 8:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The Open House will include a tour, Morning Praise and Mass, dinner, and time for conversation with the Sisters.

Mount St. Benedict Monastery is at 6101 East Lake Road, Erie, Pa.

For more information or to make a reservation, please call Sister Janet Goetz at (814) 899-0614, Ext. 2424 or e-mail: vocations@mtstbenedict.org. To learn more about the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, please visit ErieBenedictines.org.

Spring Break at a Monastery

“Are we there yet?” could have been the refrain heard from eager Ohio Wesleyan (University in Delaware, Ohio) students while waiting to get to Mount Saint Benedict. Their annual spring break trip to the Mount was to begin Saturday, March 8 soon after a severe winter storm hit Ohio and Pa. The Saturday arrival never happened, nor Sunday either. Monday finally! The Sisters were thrilled to see them as they eagerly greeted some familiar and some new faces.

Kelly Adamson, chaplain, and director of Campus Ministries and also an Oblate of Mount Saint Benedict has been bringing groups here since 2005. One reason students come is to experience “a praying community whose primary ministries are with the poor.”

Three of the students came after hearing about their peers’ experiences on earlier trips. Jessica, a freshman, said that Shannon, her “Big Sister” for field hockey, told her about the Sisters at the Mount soon after Jess arrived on campus. “Shannon was so enthusiastic and just kept telling me, ‘You have to go!’ that I signed up,” she said. These women are eager to know what monastic life is about. Kelly, another student, asked how Sisters knew this was the life for them: Did someone point it out to them or did they have a sense from within themselves? The answer? Both or either. Some of us were inspired and approached, some of us had an inner sense, some had both.

What do students do while at a monastery? They shared in a simple supper of soup and bread. They helped in inner-city ministries: Emmaus Ministries Soup Kitchen and Food Pantry, Saint Benedict Center, Neighborhood Art House; also House of Healing and AIM (Alliance for International Monasticism). They also worked with Sisters in Benedictines For Peace, and at the monastery in the Development Office, Wellness Center, the Infirmary and the Liturgy Office.

Students attended Morning and Evening Prayer, a Reconciliation Service and Eucharistic Liturgy .There was time for quiet and reflection. Evening activities included snacks and discussions on social justice and ministry, vocation/call and discernment, the Oblate way of life and the Benedicta Riepp program, and sharing stories of “Why we came.”

Watch for our story about students from Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, who joined us for their spring break during Easter week.

- Sisters Janet Goetz, OSB, vocation director and Dorothy Stoner, OSB, formation director

More Vocation News

In separate sessions, Sister Therese Glass, OSB, spoke to sixth- and seventh- grade girls and eighth- through - 10th-grade girls at All Saints Parish, Waterford. The presentations on Feb. 23 were part of the Religious Education program which highlighted the theme of God's Call To Each Person. Speakers shared thoughts on married life, single life, women religious, the deaconate and the priesthood. The students attentively pondered the implications of the words "women religious" rather than "religious women."

Congratulations to SBEC!

Celebrating Spirit of the Seasons: 100 Retreats!

“Be prepared at all times for the gifts of God and be ready always for new ones. For God is a thousand times more ready to give than we are to receive.”

This quotation appeared on the schedule for the very first Spirit of Seasons Retreat in the summer of 1984.

We could not have imagined on August 25, 1984, how this quote from Meister Eckhart would ring true for the Spirit of the Seasons community that began on that day. The four gatherings planned between the summer of 1984 and the spring of 1985 were all that were intended. However, God was a “thousand times more ready” to lavish new gifts on the participants who initially gathered at the Mount and all who would follow them.

The Spirit, speaking through Kathy Spiegel, Sandy Bock, Joanne Holmes and Marie Quinn, convinced facilitator, Sister Carolyn Gorny-Kopkowski, OSB, that one year was not enough. As God’s gifting continued, many years came to be and thousands of women and men arrived at Mount Saint Benedict Monastery to reflect upon their own journeys with insights from creation-centered spirituality rooted in our distinctive Benedictine tradition. We have been very blessed by retreatants who have become Oblates, benefactors and volunteers in our various ministries.

The 100th gathering of Spirit of the Seasons will occur this May 2-3-4 at the Mount. For many years now, Benedictine Oblate, Carol Comstock has generously shared her creative artistry while assisting Sister Carolyn. Numerous Sisters and Oblates have also served as guest presenters, extending their own giftedness and enriching those who participate in these weekend experiences. You may register for the May weekend or for the Saturday- only program by contacting Sister Carolyn at (814) 452-6318.

All are welcome to the Mount on Sunday, May 4, for the 9:30 am Liturgy of the Eucharist followed by a special celebration of the 100th Spirit of the Seasons gathering in the Garden Room. Refreshments, music and fun will abound as we receive, with open arms, God’s limitless gifts!

From Cyberspace to Place in "Faith"

The editor of “Faith,” the bi-monthly publication of the Erie Diocese, read Sister Susan Doubet's blog, "Light Through Stained-Glass Windows," and asked her if she would write similar reflections as the “Spiritual Fitness” columnist for the magazine. Sister Susan adapted three of her blog entries and added one new one for her debut column titled “Daily Holiness.” It appears in the March-April issue recently mailed to all registered parishioners, churches and institutions in the diocese.

Previous columnists included Sister Rita Panciera, RSM, and Father. Jerry Simmons.

We caught up with Faith Editor Anne-Marie Welsh recently and asked about Sister Susan being invited to be a columnist.

“I read about her blog in your February “Mount Monthly,” so I took a look at it. As it happened, Father Jerry had asked to take a break from his responsibilities with the column for awhile, so it was a natural progression of thought. What really struck me was the rhythm evident in Sister Susan's life. I saw that she was so in touch with the liturgical year, and I knew many of us could benefit from gentle reminders.”

I am very excited to be able to give the readers of this magazine a different look into our community, our spirituality and life as contemporary Benedictine women – albeit through these little musings.

- Sister Susan

You can read the column online at eriercd.org/spiritualfitness.asp

"A Monk in the Inner City"

This newly published book by Sister Mary Lou Kownacki, OSB, subtitled “The ABCs of a Spiritual Journey,” is described as “inspiring meditations from a modern monk, living in the ‘desert’ of the inner city.”

Many centuries ago the ancient Desert Fathers and Mothers moved into the wilderness, leaving behind the compulsions of the world in order to draw near to God. For Mary Lou Kownacki, a Benedictine nun and long-time peacemaker, her wilderness is the inner city of Erie, Pennsylvania, surrounded by poor families trying to survive and keep hope alive amidst drugs, violence, and despair. From this outpost on the margins, she observes the world in poetic meditations, written with the passion of a prophet and the heart of a mystic. "I write about days when spiritual security, not fear, was a neighborhood’s gift to children. It is one way of trying to stretch my monk’s robe until it embraces the suffering world.” (Description courtesy of Orbis Books)

These searing, insightful, and painfully honest meditations by an‘urban monk’ allow each of us to look more deeply into our own hearts and experiences. Benedictine Sister Mary Lou Kownacki provides touchstones for a path to better understand the everyday graces — a chance encounter, a newspaper story — that God so elegantly and quietly offers throughout the day.

- Paul Wilkes, author of “Beyond the Walls: Monastic Wisdom for Everyday Life”

This book will be available mid-April at Benetvision.org

"Your Prayer can be Poetry"

“Your prayer can be poetry, and poetry can be your prayer.”

~ Noelani Day

Two magazines have contacted Sister Ellen Porter, OSB, for permission to publish her poetry in their upcoming issues. “Catechumenate,.” a bi-monthly magazine focusing on the Rite of Christian Initiation and a publication of the Chicago-based Liturgy Training Publications, will feature one of her poems on the inside cover of its July, September and January 2009 issues. The poems selected are “July Fourth 2007,” “the winds and the stars,” and “The Dance.”

“Benedictines,” a quarterly journal published by the Benedictine Sisters of Atchison, Kan., features articles, book reviews and poetry, primarily by Benedictine women. Their poetry editor notified Sister Ellen that they will publish her poems "Wild Places" and "Morning Praise" in upcoming issues.

You can read these poems on her blog, Ellen’s Poems at ellenspoems.blogspot.com

Also, please note that seven of Sister Ellen's poems are published each Monday and Thursday on the blog.

Read an interview with Sister Ellen – “Why I Write Poetry” – at Benetvision.org.

The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully

The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully

"Joan Chittister is one of the great spiritual teachers of our generation."

- Lawrence Kushner, author, “Kabbalah: A Love Story”

This new book by Sister Joan Chittister, OSB, is a call to cherish the blessing of aging as a natural part of life that is active, productive, and deeply rewarding.

Not only accepting but celebrating getting old, this inspirational and illuminating work looks at the many facets of the aging process, from purposes and challenges to struggles and surprises. Perhaps the most important dimension revealed lies in the awareness that there is a purpose to aging and intention built into every stage of life.

Sister Joan reflects on many key issues, including the temptation towards isolation, the need to stay involved, the importance of health and well-being, what happens when old relationships end or shift, the fear of tomorrow, and the mystery of forever. Readers are encouraged to surmount their fears of getting older and find beauty in aging well.
(Description courtesy of Amazon.com)

This book will be available mid-April at Benetvision.org.

Sister Anne Joins Board of Directors

Sister Anne McCarthy, OSB, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue (MID).

Monastic Interreligious Dialogue is an organization of Benedictine and Trappist monks and Sisters committed to fostering interreligious and intermonastic dialogue at the level of spiritual practice and experience between North American Catholic monastic women and men and contemplative practitioners of diverse religious traditions.

MID in North America is one of several regional commissions that have been formed by Catholic monastic communities throughout the world to promote interreligious dialogue.

You can read about this organization at monasticdialog.com.