Become a Benedictine

Permanent Vowed Membership

The face of permanent members of monastic communities has changed over the centuries. In our time many people seeking permanent membership are professional women who long for a life that follows the Gospel of Jesus. They come from varied backgrounds and share the common desire to seek God and change the world.

A woman interested in permanent membership comes to know the community and in the process discerns her vocation. At some point she moves into the monastery to begin living the communal life of prayer and ministry. She participates fully in the life of the community and learns the community history, its vision and values and must decide at every step of the way if she shares those values and wants to continue the formation process.

Perpetual monastic profession comes only after five to six years of fully immersing herself in community life and passing through stages of formation that move the individual deeper into her own soul and also deeper into the heart of the world.

Vocation Contact

Marilyn Schauble, OSB
Vocation Director
6101 East Lake Road
Erie, PA 16511
814-899-0614 ext. 2424

Contact by email

Stages of Initial Monastic Formation

InquiryA woman who is interested in religious life spends this time getting to know the community through regular contact with the vocation director, visits to the monastery and prayer. It is a time of mutual discernment. (6-24 months)
PostulancyIn this stage a woman requests admission to the monastery so she can continue to discern her vocation. She experiences the Benedictine way of life with our community by entering into the daily rhythm of prayer and work. (12 months)
NovitiateThis is a year of intense study and immersion into community life. The novice learns more about the Benedictine charism and the monastic vows. At the end of this year she will discern if she is being called to continue this journey and then make her first monastic profession.
ScholasticateThis 3-6 year period is a time to focus on the integration of prayer, community and ministry. The scholastic prepares to enter into a permanent covenant relationship with God and the sisters of this community.
Perpetual Monastic ProfessionWith the perpetual profession of monastic vows the scholastic is welcomed into full membership in the community. She commits herself to a lifetime of conversion through the monastic way of life.

Web Links and Reading Suggestions

• Benedictines-worldwide
• Monastic Interreligious Dialogue
• Trappists-worldwide
• Ellen's Poems
• Alyssa's Blog
• Carrie's Blog

Wisdom Distilled from the Daily
Joan Chittister, OSB

Monk in the Inner City
Mary Lou Kownacki, OSB

New Seeds of Contemplation
Thomas Merton, OCSO

Engaging Benedict
Laura Swan, OSB

Monasteries of the Heart
Joan Chittister, OSB

Becoming Who You Are: Insights on the True Self from Thomas Merton and Other Saints
James Martin

The Cloister Walk
Kathleen Norris

St. Benedict’s Toolbox: The Nuts and Bolts of Everyday Benedictine Living
Jane Tomaine

The Rule of Benedict: A Spirituality for the 21st Century
Joan Chittister, OSB

The Song of the Seed: A Monastic Way of Tending the Soul
Macrina Wiederkehr, OSB

With Open Hands
Henri Nowen

12 Steps to Inner Freedom: Humility Revisited
Joan Chittister, OSB

Let Your Life Speak: Listening to the Voice of Vocation
Parker J. Palmer

The Nonviolent Moment: Spirituality for the 21st Century
Mary Lou Kownacki, OSB

Vocations Anonymous: A Handbook for Adults Discerning Priesthood and Religious Life
Kathleen Bryant, RSC

Living the Zeal of Benedict

A blog by Marilyn Schauble, OSB

June 18, 2013

Retreat Prayer #3

I pray you, O gentle Jesus,
having redeemed me by my baptism,
so now by your precious blood,
which is offered and received
throughout the world,
deliver me from all evils,
past, present and to come.

By your dying give me lively faith,
a firm hope and perfect charity,
so that I may love you
with all my soul and strength.

Make me firm and steadfast
in good works
and grant me perseverance
in your service...

Stories and Events

Congratulations to SBEC!

St. Benedict Education Center (SBEC) received four awards at the June 11th annual...

"Retreat-ing" with the Questions in the Rule of Benedict

Father Paul Mark Schwan, abbot of the Cistercian Abbey of New Clairvaux in Vina, CA, is...

The Greenhouse Garden: Part VI

Sister Dianne Sabol takes a regular trip to the kitchen to deliver the produce from the Greenhouse Garden. In this photo she makes monastery cook...

St. Benedict Community Center Hosts 12th Annual Partners in Dance Program

St. Benedict Community Center (SBCC) was the site of the 12th Annual Partners in Dance...

Art & Sole 2013

Prioress Sister Anne Wambach congratulates Sister Annette Marshall, Executive Director of the Inner-City Neighborhood Art House (NAH), on a...

Postulant Patricia Witulski Requests Entrance into the Novitiate

For the past year, Patricia Witulski has continued to discern her call to the monastic way of life with the Benedictine Sisters of Erie. As a...

Living Monastic Life

Sister Theresa Zoky

One of the highlights of Monastic Profession as part of the Erie Benedictine Community is the receiving of our “title.” On the evening before my profession 50 years ago, the Community and I waited in anticipation for this big moment. It was my...

Sister Anne McCarthy

These days, my morning begins with coffee and a book when it’s quiet on East 22nd Street and at Mary the Apostle Catholic Worker where I live with six others including a young couple with two children, and a friend with developmental disabilities...

Sister Elizabeth Adams

When I was twenty-eight years old I was living in Washington, DC and working at a Senior Citizen’s Center. I had a persistent, deep down feeling that God was calling me to do more with my life. After much discernment I felt called to Benedictine...

Sister Mary Lou Kownacki

In my office I have a beautiful photo on the wall above my desk with
this quote by the Japanese poet Ryokan

“Oh, that my monk’s robe
Were wide enough
To gather up all
The suffering people
In this floating...

Sister Audrey Steff

When I entered the community in 1960, my mother felt badly about me living, as she called it, “a very boring life.” How wrong she was! And to her credit, she later admitted that our life is anything but boring.

As I’ve walked, sometimes...