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Masks are required for everyone who comes to the monastery. This includes guests, employees, sisters, and anyone who needs to come into the building for any reason. Thank you for helping us keep everyone safe.
Emmaus guests receive donations from Erie Day School students
December 7, 2021
A group of students from Erie Day School recently delivered more than 100 bags of either food or hygiene products to Emmaus Soup Kitchen to be shared with Emmaus Guests. Abby Hartman, a teacher at Erie Day School and Student Council coordinator, said that “We talk a lot about being grateful for what we have and let the students know that not everyone has the things that we take for granted. This year, I could tell that some of the kids were really moved. They really got it, that some people won’t have anything to eat or anything warm to wear unless they get help. I always tell them, ‘to whom much has been given, much is expected.’”
Take Back the Site and Vigil for Immigration Reform
December 4, 2021
Please join us for a Take Back the Site Vigil for Rhonda Glover on Thursday, December 9, 5:15 p.m., in the 600 block of East 13th Street in Erie [Facebook event HERE] and on Friday, December 10 for a Prayer Service for Immigrants: The Injustice of Title 42 from 4:30 -5:00 p.m. in Perry Square, State Street. This vigil is part of a national faith based action to end Title 42, a law which was designed to protect public health, and is now being used to allow authorities to expel all migrants at the border, without giving them a chance to apply for asylum. Additional information and action to take about ending Title 42 HERE.
New issue of The Mount
December 4, 2021
Features in the winter 2021 issue of The Mount include: Peace Is Still Our Calling, an interview with Sister Mary Lou Kownacki; Bearing Witness to God, a reflection by guest columnist The Very Rev. Melinda Hall, and Making Room for God, stories of final and first professions. There is a short excerpt from Sister Joan Chittister's new book, The Monastic Heart: 50 Simple Practices for a Contemplative and Fulfilling Life. For the fun of it, there's a cut-out page to make an O'Antiphone "Zine." This issue's SBA Newsletter includes reflections by four sets of mother-daughter grads.
First Week of Advent
November 30, 2021
Advent began at the monastery with the Vigil of the First Sunday of Advent on November 27. Prioress Sister Stephanie Schmidt entered the darkened chapel with the candle for the first week of Advent and blessed the wreath. 
Sister Colleen Leathley offered reflections on the gospel of Luke chapter 21 verses 25-28 and 34-36. Sister Mary Lou Kownacki will offer reflections for the second week of Advent, Oblate Priscilla Richter for the third week and Sister Margaret Ann Pilewski for the fourth week.
Listen to Sister Colleen's reflections:
Thanksgiving at Emmaus Soup Kitchen
November 24, 2021
A grandmother whose face mask was printed with the word “love,” a young dad who recently immigrated to the United States, and a man who was so tired he said he could hardly remember how to smile, all found themselves celebrating an early Thanksgiving dinner on November 18th, along with 268 other hungry residents of Erie who came to Emmaus Soup Kitchen. Emmaus coordinates with local other soup kitchens and food providers in the city, with each organization offering their Thanksgiving dinner on a different day. This ensures that everyone who may be experiencing hunger and poverty, everyone who has nowhere else to go on the holiday, at least has the opportunity to celebrate with a warm, hearty meal, made by someone who cares for them.
Solemnity of Jesus Christ, the Annointed One
November 21, 2021
Sister Carolyn Gorny-Kopkowski offered reflections on the Cosmic Christ as part of the Liturgy of the Word on this solemnity. "It’s just about 40 years since the word "cosmos" entered into my consciousness along with "cosmology." Forty years ago I studied Creation Spirituality in Chicago, with Matt Fox and teachers like Hildegard of Bingen, Rosemary Reuther, who introduced me to the Feminine Face of God, and Brian Swimme, a cosmologist. Many years later, the Cosmic Christ terminology was an extension of my learnings," she explains in her introduction.
READ HER REFLECTION>>>
Final weekend
November 19, 2021
The Federation of St. Scholastica, to which the Erie Benedictines belong, is sponsoring an auction of 10 beautiful shawls made with prayerful hands and loving hearts by Sister Ana Cloughly, Colorado Springs, CO, and Sister Dolores Dean, Bristow, VA, to help support the 100th Anniversary Celebration of the Federation next June. The auction ends MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15 AT 6:00 P.M., click here to see all the shawls. The celebration includes a colloquium, "Benedictine Life: A Vision Unfolding," open to women and men who are professed, oblates, or spiritual seekers. It will take place at Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, KS, June 21-24, 2022 and virtually. Registration will open soon.
READ MORE>>>
Sisters who died during COVID remembered at funeral liturgy
November 18, 2021
After many months, more than a year and a half in some cases, the Erie Benedictines sang the Suscipe (Psalm 119:116) one final time for seven of their sisters who died during the time the monastery was closed due to COVID. The sisters sing the verse, "Uphold me, O God, according to your word and I shall live. And do not fail me in my hope," with special reverence at final profession, jubilees, and sisters' funerals. The community sang it one last time for Sister Kate Disbrow who died on May 7, 2020; Sister Carol Ann McLaughlin, June 4, 2020; Sister Anne McGreevy, June 13, 2020; Sister Jerome Eustace, June 27, 2020; Sister Mary Daniel Meahl, July 23, 2020; Sister Andrea Weidle, February 26, 2021; Sister Mary Bernadette Ladner, April 5, 2021. While each of the sisters was remembered during a Memory Service at the time of her death, and burial rites were held at the cemetery, the funeral liturgy was postponed until pandemic conditions were less threatening. A prayer honoring each sister and her full obituary are here >>>
Erie Benedictines helped shape political scientist
November 17, 2021
Robert Pape, a political scientist and professor at the University of Chicago, and "one of the world's foremost experts on strategic air power and terrorism studies," according to the Jefferson Educational Society, went to St. Mary's School in Erie. His sixth grade teacher was Sister Karen Kosin and his principal was Sister Carolyn Gorny-Kopkowski. He recently addressed the Jefferson Educational Society's Global Summit and the two sisters were in the audience. "After the talk when we took off our masks, he recognized us right away," said Sister Carolyn. "He got so excited he called the photographer over to take pictures." Pape was the 2021 Thomas B. Hagen Dignitas Award recipient, an award given to Erie citizens who have made a profound impact on society.
Benedictine Values, Modern Monasticism
Under the leadership of Siobhan O’Neill Meluso, Communications Coordinator for the Benedictine Sisters of Chicago, a group of communicators from Benedictine women’s monasteries have produced a video, “Benedictine Values, Modern Monasticism,” that illustrates 10 Benedictine values with photographs provided by 21 monasteries. Judith Sutera, OSB, a Benedictine scholar and historian from Mt. St. Scholastica in Atchison, KS, was instrumental in preparing the script. The technical expertise of Amanda Hackett, Communications Coordinator, Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict (St. Joseph, MN), and Susan Damon, Development Associate, Benedictine Sisters of Boerne, TX, created the video including an instrumental track of the handbell choir of the Sisters of St. Benedict, St. Joseph, MN, arranged by Christine Manderfeld, OSB © 1997. Other committee members were Jan Gull, Sisters of St. Benedict at St. Mary Monastery, Rock Island, IL, and Linda Romey, OSB, Benedictine Sisters of Erie, PA.