Lent is a call to weep for what we could have been and are not. Lent is the grace to grieve for what we should have done and did not. Lent is the opportunity to change what we ought to change but have not. Lent is not about penance. Lent is about becoming, doing and changing whatever it is that is blocking the fullness of life in us right now. Lent is a summons to live anew. —Sister Joan Chittister
Make keeping the season of Lent a communal effort by joining our weekly vigil and praying with others who, like you, see Lent as time set aside to become more fully human, more holy. You are invited to join us for Lenten vigils each Saturday during Lent at 7:00 p.m. in the monastery chapel. The vigil includes short reflections from a different person each week: March 8, Sister Therese Glass; March 15, Sister Linda Romey; March 22, Sister Janet Goetz; March 29, Sister Val Luckey; April 5, Sister Ann Hoffman; April 12, Oblate Carol Vaccariello.
Monastic Life Is...
Join friends and neighbors for Mother Earth Day at the Poetry Park, 636 East 22nd Street in Erie. Saturday, May 17, 2-3 p.m. celebrate poetry that cultivates our love of Mother Earth as home. Featuring local poets Niecey Nicole and Matt Borazon, plus open mic--bring your original work. Kids welcome! The Poetry Park was a vision of Erie Benedictine Sister Mary Lou Kownacki who lived across the street until she died in January 2023. She and Sister Mary Miller made it a reality. Sister Mary died in May 2023.
The 2025 Lent Monastery Tour brought more than fifty guests to the monastery on March 29. In four different places in the monastery--the chapel, the front parlor, the library, and the community room--different sisters shared aspects of their monastic life. Personal experience, community tradition, and the Rule of Benedict informed their sharing. After questions were answered, guests joined the sisters for dinner in the dining room. The tour concluded with guests joining the sisters for the Vigil of Lent in the darkened monastery chapel.
More than 250 SBA Alumnae attended the annual Christmas luncheon on March 30--postponed because of Erie's snow winter. Graduates from the 1950s through the 1980s enjoyed reconnecting and buying chances on nearly 70 gift baskets that lined the walls of the banquet room at the Ambassador Banquet Center in Erie. "It is amazing that so many women continue to gather and to remember and celebrate their years at St. Benedict Academy," said Sister Rosanne Loneck, a graduate herself and also a popular teacher at the school.
“Earth Day 1970 made it clear that we could summon the public support, the energy, and commitment to save our environment.” —Gaylord Nelson
Will the same be said about Earth Day 2025? Let’s review a little history.
Join Benedictines for Peace and others on Saturday, April 5, at noon in Perry Square for Erie's HandsOff Rally, part of a national, non-violent effort to send a message to the world that we do not consent to the destruction of our government and our economy for the benefit of Trump and his billionaire allies. Learn more here. Fairness and equity are key principles of the Rule of Benedict and the gospel; we join the call to practice government with equity and fairness.
Erie News Now featured Erie's Catholic Sisters on their 5:30 newscast every day through Catholic Sisters Week, March 8-14. View Eva Mastromatteo's interview from Wednesday with Sister Mary Ellen Plumb and Oblate Jo Clarke. On Friday, she interviewed Sister Stephanie Schmidt and Sister of St. Joseph Mary Drexler. Eva, Sister Mary Ellen, and Jo are pictured.
Last Saturday at a gathering of about 300 persons demanding that Rep. Mike Kelly be present at a town hall to hear the concerns of people in Erie, GoErie.com interviewed Sister Jacqueline Sanchez-Small. Sister Jacqueline's comment was posted by Rachel Maddow on BluSky. Rep. Kelly has not held a town hall in Erie County since 2015. The protest, which was organized by a group of citizens, as well as French Creek Indivisible and Erie Benedictines for Peace, was held in Perry Square in downtown Erie. Listen to the interview and read news story here.
Everyday Sacred, Everywhere Beauty: Readings from an Old Monk's Journal, a collection of Sister Mary Lou Kownacki's writings published by Orbis books after her death from cancer in January, 2023, is a 2025 Illumination Award bronze medal winner in spirituality. The Illumination Awards recognize and honor the best books in Christian literature each year. "…if we’re wise we find a book like this one …with every hope we ever dreamed, and every word we remember of its insights, and all the joy and possibility it ever brought to all our wishes and all the promises we promised before these times to celebrate the rest of life." —from the Afterword by Joan Chittister, OSB
