Our Community Life as Benedictine Sisters

May Christ bring us all together to everylasting love. Rule of Benedict

As Benedictine Sisters, we promise to seek, listen to, and be transformed by God all our lives. We pray the Liturgy of the Hours and join in the celebration of the Eucharist together daily. We study Scripture together and alone. We “prefer nothing to the work of God.” RB

Our ministries vary. We are teachers and canon lawyers, chaplains and pastoral care ministers. We are parish associates and campus ministers. We are artists and musicians.

We are devoted, as St. Benedict, to life in our monastic community. We are committed to one another. We challenge each other to develop our gifts and live joyfully and responsibly. We seek to be wise stewards of the land. We pursue peace and social justice. We “receive all as Christ.”

Benedictine Sisters take their meals together in the dining room of St. Mary Monastery.

Sisters play basketball on the grounds of St. Mary Monastery in Rock Island, Illinois.

In many ways, we are family. We come together for meals, and to enjoy conversation and leisure activites. On any evening, you might see Sisters piecing together jigsaw puzzles, playing Scrabble, strolling around the lake or watching TV together. We are here for one another, always.

But in another way, we behave something like a peaceful nation. We govern our community according to the guidelines set down by St. Benedict in the Rule of Benedict. We live together under a prioress, who is elected once every four years to function as our spiritual and corporate leader. We meet, as an entire community, twice yearly to evaluate our ministerial and spiritual paths. Listening “with the ear of the heart,” we hear each other’s opinions and concerns before making any decision, following St. Benedict’s advice:

Sister Irene sits with a vocation inquirer at St. Mary Monastery.

Sr. Phyllis McMurray is installed as prioress of Catholic Sisters of St. Benedict at St. Mary Monastery, Rock Island, Illinois.

“As often as anything important is to be done in the monastery, the prioress or abbot shall call the whole community together and explain what the business is; and after hearing the advice of the members, let them ponder it and follow what they judge the wiser course. The reason why we have said all should be called for counsel is that the Spirit often reveals what is better to the younger. The community members, for their part, are to express their opinions with all humility, and not to presume to defend their own views obstinately.” RB 3

Both with each other and with those outside the monastery, the Sisters strive to follow the wisdom of the Rule:

“Your way of acting should be different from the world’s way; the love of Christ must come before all else. You are not to act in anger or nurse a grudge. Rid your heart of all deceit. Never give a hollow greeting of peace or turn away when someone needs your love. Bind yourself to no oath lest it prove false, but speak the truth with heart and tongue.” RB 4

Indeed, striving to live in love and truth helps create the balanced life for which Benedictines are known.

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