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Sister Jennifer Frazer entered into the Novitiate year on Saturday, May 2, 2020, when she expressed her desire to seek God with the Benedictine Sisters of Erie during the community’s Vigil Prayer. Jen, an artist and...
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
Stages of Initial Monastic Formation
Sisters in Initial Monastic Formation
Colleen Leathley, Postulant
Colleen Leathley, a former participant in the Benedicta Riepp Monastic Experience program, began her postulancy on Monday evening, September 16, 2019. Colleen, a psychologist and academic with dual citizenship in New...
Jacqueline Small, Postulant
Jacqueline Small began the postulancy on April 28, 2019. In her words, "When I first encountered this community as an intern with Sister Joan Chittister in the summer of 2015, I was a graduate student, working toward...
Sister Kathleen McCarthy, Scholastic
On March 15, 2019 Sister Kathleen McCarthy made her first profession of monastic vows in the chapel at Mount St. Benedict Monastery, Erie, PA. Sister Kathleen professed stability, obedience and fidelity to the...
Sister Valerie Luckey, Scholastic
On October 21, 2017, Sister Valerie Luckey made her intentions clear: "I ask that I may continue to seek God in this Benedictine community through first monastic profession."
Sister Valerie is from Emmaus,...
Sister Dina Lauricella, Scholastic
Sister Dina Lauricella, a former motorcycle safety instruction from Lusby, MD, made her first monastic profession on the eve of Pentecost, June 3, 2017. After expressing her desire to continue to seek God with the...
Sister Karen Oprenchok, Scholastic
Sister Karen is from Windsor, Ontario, Canada and is a former office worker of the Canadian Federal Government. On June 3, 2017, the eve of Pentecost, she professed her first vows of stability, obedience and...
Web Links and Reading Suggestions
• VIDEO: In the Footsteps of Benedict and Scholastica
• Benedictines-worldwide
• Monastic Interreligious Dialogue
• Trappists-worldwide
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
The Benedictine Path and Me: Sister Joan Chittister
Memorable Moments
Practice Lectio Divina
Latin for “divine reading,” is an ancient method of praying to promote union with God. Its outward appearances might be a gentler spirit, a passionate heart, greater compassion, love and peace-making. Use the passage below for your lectio divina.
Psalm 104 - Pentecost Season
God, send out your Spirit,
and renew the face of the earth.
Bless God, O my soul!
My God, you are great indeed!
How manifold are your works, O God!
The earth is full of your creatures.
God, send out your Spirit,
and renew the face of the earth.
If you take away their breath, they perish,
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
God, send out your Spirit,
and renew the face of the earth.
May the glory of God endure forever;
may God be glad in all God's works!
Pleasing to God be my theme;
I will be glad in God.
God, send out your Spirit,
and renew the face of the earth.
Living the Zeal of Benedict
A blog by Marilyn Schauble, OSB
May 31, 2020
I, the highest and fiery power,
have kindled every living spark.
A flame above the beauty of the fields.
I shine in the waters.
In the sun and moon and the stars, I burn.
And by means of the airy wind
I stir everything into quickness,
with a certain invisible life which sustains all things.
I, the fiery power, lie hidden in these things
and they blaze for me.
Hildegard of Bingen - 12th c Mystic
Scholastic Valerie Luckey shares her journey with the Benedictine Sisters of Erie in her blog, Walking in the Holy Presence. Read it here.
Stories and Events
Sister Anne Wambach receives the Serra Club Outstanding Sister of the Year Award
Sister Anne Wambach was named 2020 Outstanding Sister of the Year by the Erie Serra Club, an international Catholic lay organization dedicated to...
Lamenting the reality of now
“Today is a day of national lament and mourning for the 100, 000+ victims of COVID-19. In the midst of that lamentation, we would be remiss if we...
June 1: National Day of Mourning
The Benedictines Sisters of Erie are partnering with the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and other Catholic faith leaders calling...
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Living Monastic Life
Colleen Leathley, Postulant
Colleen Leathley, a former participant in the Benedicta Riepp Monastic Experience program, began her postulancy on Monday evening, September 16, 2019. Colleen, a psychologist and academic with dual citizenship in New...
Sister Ann Muczynski
Sister Ann Muczynski, whose home parish was St. Joseph in Warren, PA, entered the Erie Benedictines in 1992 and professed her first vows in 1994. Sister Ann has embraced the monastic way of life with sincerity and...
Sister Jacinta Conklin
Sister Jacinta Conklin, originally a Benedictine Sister of Elk County and past prioress who supported her sisters with compassion and care, came to Erie in 2016. It had become clear that St. Joseph Monastery in St....