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Sister Mary Feehan, Prioress, and the Benedictine Sisters of Elizabeth opened our 150th Anniversary Year with a Eucharistic Liturgy and dinner on Sunday, November 19, 2017. Bishop Paul Bootkoski, bishop emeritus of Metuchen, NJ presided at the Mass, and was assisted by Father Hilary O’Leary of St. Mary’s Abbey, Morristown and Father Augustine Curley of Newark Abbey. Benedictine Sisters of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia joined the festivities.
Anniversary celebrations are continuing throughout the year. On February ninth, priest friends and monks of the three New Jersey Abbeys were invited to Vespers and dinner to celebrate the feast of St. Scholastica, the twin sister of St. Benedict. Employees of the monastery shared a festive brunch with the community on February 24. It was a wonderful experience of extended community.
The following day Cardinal Jose
ph Tobin, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, presented a Lenten lecture to sisters and guests gathered in the monastery Church. His theme was mercy and he reflected on why the world needs mercy, why we need mercy, and why mercy is especially important now. Before leaving the Cardinal visited the infirmary to congratulate Sr. Damien Gatti who celebrated her 100th birthday on February 21.
The Benedictine Sisters began teaching in Elizabeth, NJ when Reverend Peter Henry Lempke, pastor, invited Benedictine Sisters in Newark to teach German immigrant children at St. Michael’s parish school. Eventually the Elizabeth community became an independent monastery, and the Newark sisters moved to Ridgely, MD. During their 150 year (1868-2018) history, the Elizabeth community has staffed schools in New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Washington, D.C., New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Ecuador. For over 100 years they conducted Benedictine Hospital in Kingston, NY. Presently the community sponsors Benedictine Academy in Elizabeth and a preschool and a spirituality center at the monastery.
An Open House is planned on October 7, 2018. You are invited.
