The Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery have been forwarding money from generous donors to Sister Gaudensia Mwanyika of St. Gertrude Convent in Imiliwaha, Tanzania, to help build her dream of a school for handicapped children.
The latest donations will pay for furniture and teaching supplies so that the school can open on time — January 16, 2017.
In Tanzania, handicapped children are not allowed to attend school. This will be the first school built for these children who have physical or learning challenges.
The National Sports Hall of Fame is one of the avenues commissioned by the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture to demonstrate the nation’s appreciation for the past contributions made by athletes to the development of sport in our country.
“During Annie’s days at St. Francis grade school, she learned and got to love the game of basketball and also participated in track and field. It was here that her undying love for sports was developed…” She joined the convent of Benedictine Sisters in Minnesota. “On returning to the Bahamas, Sister Annie’s zeal for the world of sports continued. As Principal of St. Bede’s Primary school, Kemp Road, Sister Annie spent many hours preparing the students for track and field events and how to play the game of basketball. She was instrumental in obtaining the basketball court on the grounds of St. Bede’s school.”
“Sister Annie Thompson excelled as an athlete but the Benedictine sister’s most noteworthy achievement was the development of basketball at the youth level. She was integral in the formation of the Catholic Primary School Basketball League, which continues to be the premier outlet for youth basketball.”
On November 19, 2016, the sisters of Annunciation Monastery gathered to wrap gifts and pack bags to be sent to two orphanages and a special needs home for teens and adults in Piedras Negras, Mexico. Sisters Hannah Vanorny and Idelle Badt and others from the Benedictine Volunteers program participated in an immersion mission trip this past May. They worked with Sister Ursula, a Benedictine Sister of St. Scholastica Monastery, Boerne, TX, who resides in Eagle Pass, TX. There was quite a buzz of activity in the community room as sisters sorted, wrapped, and packed gifts while others wrote notes in Spanish for the children and adults receiving the gifts. The project concluded the sisters’ ongoing formation study of the Jubilee Year of Mercy.
Sister Stephanie, Sister Rita, and Sister Nicole
Sister Stephanie, Sister Rita, and Affiliate Krista
Norcia, Italy was shaken by another large earthquake today, magnitude 6.6. The monks of Norcia are safe, but the Basilica has been utterly destroyed. They ask for our prayers, not only for them but for the people of the area. While suffering alongside them, the monks are also trying to pray and minister to them.
News footage shows drone views of Amatrice and Norcia. As the image below shows, the Cathedral and Basilica in Norcia have been destroyed.
Town plaza in Norcia, October 30, 2016
Reports of this third quake (the previous just 2 days before) in the area in just two months indicate just how difficult this is for the people of central Italy as well as the monks:
Norcia’s 14th-century Basilica of Saint Benedict, built on the reputed birthplace of the Catholic saint, was reduced to rubble.
The church is looked after by an international community of Benedictine monks based in a local monastery which attracts some 50,000 pilgrims every year.
“It was like a bomb went off,” the town’s deputy mayor, Pierluigi Altavilla told Rai News 24.
“We are starting to despair. There are too many quakes now, we can’t bear it anymore.”
Damage was also reported at St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, one of the four cathedrals of the Holy See. It is also home to and maintained by a community of Benedictines.
Images from a pilgrimage to Norcia with a group of Benedictine Sisters in 2010
The Sisters of Annunciation Monastery, Bismarck, ND, met on Saturday, October 22, 2016, to discuss and approve their four year plan. Work on the plan began in August 2015 and was helpful as they discerned and elected a prioress in April 2016. The five main areas of the plan are community life, leadership, membership, ministries, and sponsorship.
The sisters are pictured in the community room of the monastery.
On Friday, October 14, the Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery, Duluth Minnesota, attended the inauguration of Colette McCarrick Geary, Ph.D. as the 12thpresident of The College of St. Scholastica. The inaugural Mass was celebrated by the Most Reverend Paul Sirba, Bishop of the Duluth Diocese; the Right Reverend John Klassen, OSB, Abbot of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville; and priests of the Duluth Diocese.
Sister Mary Josephine Torborg read the first Scripture reading at the Eucharist.
Many Sisters came to witness the Inauguration.
Sister Kathleen Del Monte, Associate Vice President of Mission Integration, offered the Invocation.
Sr. Beverly Raway, Prioress, greeted Dr. Geary on behalf of the Sisters.
Here is Doctor Colette McGarrick Geary, 12th president of The College of St. Scholastica
The 2016 Monastic Institute took place in July of this year, hosted by St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville with a day at St. Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, MN. The focus was on “Monastic Profession” and the meaning that our promises have in shaping the rest of our lives. Abbot John Klassen and Prioress Michaela Hedican shared the presentation time in each session, weaving wonderfully varied and yet somehow coherent patterns around the theme of each of the talks.
Several sisters and two oblates we able to attend the Institute. All of us were utterly taken with the talks, and their applicability for oblates as much as for professed monastics. The links below should successfully take you to the talks, while the little sound icon (if it shows up on your computer) will just play the particular talk through your browser. Most are about an hour in length.
Audio recordings now online
The audio recordings of the talks are now available online on the Monastic Institute 2016 web page.
People have spent the morning in the open square in front of the basilica in Norcia, away from unstable buildings (Picture: EPA from Metro )
As the world has heard, a 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit central Italy early Wednesday morning. It was centered about six miles from the town of Norcia in Umbria, which is well-known to Benedictine as the birthplace of Saints Benedict and Scholastica. The monks and their guest are safe — they were already up (at 3:30am!) for the first prayers of the Feast of St. Bartholomew. However, after assessing the extensive damage to the basilica and monastery, the community relocated to Rome. Here’s the message on their website:
After a careful study of the developing seismic situation in our region of Italy, as a precautionary measure, we have decided to temporarily transfer our community to Rome.
The monks of the international Benedictine headquarters at St. Anselmo in Rome have kindly offered our monks a place to remain during this period of uncertainty. We would be grateful if you added the monks of St. Anselmo to your prayers for their generosity during our time of need.
While the community is in Rome, two monks will remain in Norcia to keep watch over the basilica and monitor the developing situation. They will avoid danger by sleeping in tents outside the city walls.
We strive to maintain the order of the Rule even during the most difficult of circumstances, and this transfer, while disruptive, will ensure the safety of our monks and grant us all the peace to continue to practice our monastic life.
Please continue to pray for our community, and consider giving a gift to help our effort to rebuild.
Benedictine Sisters around the world are holding these monks, and all the people in central Italy, in prayer.
Sisters Edith, Tammy, and Kerry met and developed new skills for communicating Benedictine news. All delegates to the Federation will be learning this soon.
Sisters Linda Soler, Lisa Maurer, Kerry O’Reilly, Edith Bogue, Sharon Nohner
Nineteen Benedictine sisters from three Federations and the Congregation of Missionary Benedictine Sisters gathered at St. Walburga Monastery in Elizabeth, NJ to be trained as facilitators for election of monastic leaders (prioresses). Three experienced facilitators – Sr Cecilia Dwyer (St Benedict Monastery, Bristow VA), Sr Mary Catherine Wenstrup (St Walburg Monastery, Covington KY), and Sr Joella Kidwell (Monastery Immaculate Conception, Ferdinand IN) – organized the three days of training. The participants studied – in detail -the document Discernment and Election of a Prioress in the Benedictine Tradition, revised by the Conference of Benedictine Prioresses in 2016, as well the theology and philosophy of discernment. They raised many practical questions, and discussed unusual situations and issues. The leaders shared dozens of ideas, stories and tips for organizing and carrying out the facilitation process and coordinating with Federation Presidents. They also suggested next steps so these sisters can gain experience in facilitation.
The workshop was organized and sponsored by the Conference of Benedictine Prioresses who recognized the need to enlarge the pool of trained and experienced facilitators.
Five sisters from the Federation of St Benedict participated in the workshop: President Kerry O’Reilly, two members of the Federation Council (Sisters Lisa Mauree and Edith Bogue), and Sisters Linda Soler (St Paul’s Monastery) and Sister Sharon Nohner (St Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, MN).
Monastic Congregation of St. Benedict 