The Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict are pleased to announce that Karen Rose professed her first commitment to Benedictine monastic life on Saturday, July 11, 2009. The ceremony took place during a 5 p.m. Evening Prayer service in Sacred Heart Chapel at Saint Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, Minn.  A private reception with friends and the Benedictine community followed.

Karen is the daughter of the late Dr. Leslie R. C. Rose and the late Joan Rose. She grew up in Nantwich, England and attended Oxford University, earning both a bachelor’s and master’s of arts degree in Philosophy and Theology. Karen continued her education at South Cheshire School of Nursing, receiving a nursing degree in 1986. She practiced nursing in the United Kingdom and received a master’s of science degree in 1992 in medical social anthropology from Keele University. Karen then received her Ph. D., completing her doctoral studies at Manchester University in 1996.

Before coming to the monastery, Karen had an extensive professional career: she has worked as a nurse in a variety of settings; completed medical research; lectured as a professor of nursing and worked as an independent healthcare consultant. In 2005, her career brought her to the United States when she came to Saint Benedict’s Monastery and entered Studium— a scholar-in-residence program designed to allow participants an opportunity to work and study while living with members of the monastic community. At the completion of her Studium experience, Karen discovered she had a strong desire to continue her association with the Benedictine women at the monastery in St. Joseph. This “calling” impelled her to consider whether she might become a professed Sister. She went back to the United Kingdom for a time, returning to Minnesota in 2007 to begin formal discernment to see if making a lifelong commitment to Saint Benedict’s Monastery was part of her future. She continues in her discernment period today; first monastic profession is a step toward further and final commitment to monastic life.

In reflecting upon her time at Saint Benedict’s monastery so far, Karen says her greatest joy is “that [my] life has become steeped in God,” something Karen hoped would happen during her novitiate year in formation.

Karen will continue to follow the stages of becoming a fully professed Sister at Saint Benedict’s Monastery (called initial formation). She will begin a period of four to six years of continuing discernment and live the monastic life fully according to the Gospel and the Rule of St. Benedict. Prayer is at the heart of the Benedictine way of life. After individual and communal discernment, Karen may choose to make a final commitment to the monastic community in St. Joseph, becoming a fully professed Sister of the Order of Saint Benedict.