You love those who search for truth.
In wisdom, center me, for you know my frailty.
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
Elizabeth Oettel, OSB
Valerie Luckey, OSB
Mary Ellen Plumb, OSB
Vocation Team
6101 East Lake Road
Erie, PA 16511
814-899-0614 ext. 2424
Ann Muczynski, OSB, is Director of Monastic Formation
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
• 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
Practice Lectio Divina
Psalm 51
Scholastic Valerie Luckey shares her journey with the Benedictine Sisters of Erie in her blog, Walking in the Holy Presence. Read it here.
Sisters in Initial Monastic Formation
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...
Why am I here?
I ask myself this question frequently, and the best answer I can find is, God - that I am here because of God, with God, through God and for God. It is useful to remind myself of...
Why am I here?
I was first drawn to consider entering this community because I was so inspired by the Sisters! I had never met a group of people who so harmoniously combined hard work against...
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...
Why are you here?
I am here in this community because of an initial pull. I visited for Holy Week in 2014, and as I watched the community celebrate the Triduum liturgies, I knew that the women...
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...
Living Monastic Life
Why am I here?
I ask myself this question frequently, and the best answer I can find is, God - that I am here because of God, with God, through God and for God. It is useful to remind myself of...

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, 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....