Sister Susan Doubet has an intuitive edge when it comes to numbers. Which is why she was the one who realized that the 2023 Joan Chittister Calendar was the 30th calendar produced by Benetvision. Sister Susan (left) is pictured here with designer Judith Allison.
It was Sister Mary Lou Kownacki who proposed creating a calendar that would combine the insights of Sister Joan Chittister and the photography of various Benedictine sisters. She had recently organized Pax Publications (which would later become Benetvision Publications) to promote and more widely disperse the work of Sister Joan. With the help of Judy Allison as design director, the 1994 calendar began the long series of calendars. All 30 calendars are currently on display at the monastery in the Chapter 57 Gallery.
Sister Susan, who began working at Benetvision shortly after that first calendar went to press, had a hand in the first 13 calendars in her position as a Benetvision staff member. She was thrilled that a few of her own photos made it into some of them, too. “It was a shared process to create the calendar each year,” she explained. “Sisters and oblates would submit photographs and a whole group of us would vote on the ones we liked. Sister Mary Lou, as editor would select quotes from the work of Sister Joan and pair them with photos. Then Judy would go to work on the design. Then there would be rounds of proofing before we sent it to press.”
On a recent Sunday, Sister Susan walked through the gallery with Judy. “When she saw the display, I was amazed that she could tell me who the photographer was for each of the cover photos,” Sister Susan said. “She could even add the backstory of the choice of each photo!”
Judy designed every calendar through 2018 when she retired from Benetvision. “It was always a creative challenge to pull it all together into a beautiful piece of art—because that was Sister Mary Lou’s intent—this was not simply a calendar, but a work of art.”
Over the years, the production team varied the artwork, sometimes featuring the work of a single photographer or artist throughout the calendar along with Sister Joan’s words. The calendars were sold through Benetvision and, every year since the Joan Chittister Fund for Prisoners began in 2006, several hundred calendars have been sent to prison chaplains for distribution, free of charge, to incarcerated men and women. It is a way of sharing spirituality with them while at the same time offering them art, color, and beauty.
If you happen to be in the area and stop by the monastery, you can view the display through the end of December.
