The Benedictine Sisters of Elizabeth were honored on Saturday, September 23, 2023, by the St. Joseph Parish community in New Paltz, NY, whom they have served for 75 years!
On July 1, the Benedictine Sisters of Elizabeth welcomed retreatants for a day-long retreat focused on the spirituality of St. Benedict and St. Ignatius.
On June 5, the monthly meeting of the Rosary Society of the Church of the Assumption in Roselle Park, New Jersey, featured a talk by Sister Marlene Milasus.
On Thursday, Feb. 2, The Benedictine Sisters of Elizabeth hosted “A Deeper Dive Into Groundhog Day,” a morning “mini-retreat” at St. Walburga Monastery in Elizabeth, N.J.
“I knew there was only one Order I could be associated with, and that was the Benedictines” recalls Jeanne Mindingall, an Oblate (lay associate) of St Walburga Monastery. Another oblate, Paul Schryba, says that “the Rule of Benedict provides some wonderful guidelines…for simplifying one’s life from clutter and ways of acting that aren’t helpful to experience the peace and presence of God.”
I have come to believe that being a Vocation Director is like being a farmer. A farmer sows seeds in his field and waits and prays that the seeds will take root in their own time and sprout. The farmer has to let go of control and wait patiently for the harvest. So, too, Vo/news-and-events#advancedcation Directors.
When I do a talk on the liturgy, and especially on Eucharist or on the Church year, I usually begin by asking the participants to reflect silently for a few minutes on some significant turning point in their lives. I don’t ask them to share their turning points, but I do ask them to consider that a real turning point has three qualities: 1) it takes you irrevocably from an old life to a new life; 2) it grows as time passes, taking on new and deeper meaning; 3) it can be celebrated over and over, perhaps publicly, always personally, even if the celebration is simply the memory that “on this day…..(fill in the blank) happened.”
Most people have had to re-think every aspect of pandemic life, and this has certainly happened in the Sisters’ spirituality ministry. St. Walburga Monastery has long hosted retreats and other programs which have been happy occasions as new relationships are forged and new experiences gained through interactions between the monastic community and the guests.
This year Sister Ruth Rohr celebrates her 75th anniversary of entrance and Sister Diane Marie Kestler celebrates her 25th anniversary of religious profession. On January 30, to celebrate World Day of Consecrated Life, the Archdiocese of Newark recognized sisters who have special anniversaries from all communities in the Archdiocese at a live-streamed Mass.
The best word to sum up our pandemic isolation would probably be “grateful.” While so many have suffered from illness, the death of loved ones or just loneliness, we are grateful for the many blessings we have had during this time. Only one Sister and two employees had the coronavirus and all have recovered. We missed not receiving the Eucharist but connected with a wonderful parish in Milwaukee whose Sunday celebrations made us feel like we were really able to participate in the Mass.
It is with a deep sense of sadness that we, the Benedictine Sisters of Elizabeth, regretfully announce the closing of Benedictine Academy in June 2020, effective at the end of the current academic year. Over the last few years we have been monitoring enrollment and have seen a steady decline each year. Unfortunately, these circumstances are part of the larger national decline in Catholic Education which has led to the closing of more than 1,000 elementary and secondary schools in the past ten years.
In addition to being the final graduation class, the class of 2020 graduated in a two-part ceremony during a pandemic. The first part of the graduation was a live-streamed virtual ceremony on June 6. It began with the President’s address by Sr. Sharon McHugh, OSB, a joint welcome by the co-salutatorians, Ashley Hyppolite, and Ariana Dias, the Principal’s address by Ms Ashley Powell, and a video message to NJ graduates by Senator Cory Booker. The commencement address was by alumna Nyla Whyte, class of 2016, who spoke from Hampton University where she has been studying Speech Pathology. The ceremony also featured many pictures of various facets of the graduates’ lives.
On December 15, 2019, Saint Mary's Parish in Kingston, NY recognized the Benedictine Sisters for their 118 years of healthcare service in the city. The Sisters began Our Lady of Victories Sanitarium in 1901 which soon afterwards became Benedictine Hospital.