We extend a heartfelt thank you to the many compassionate people who filled Sacred Heart Chapel on January 7 to stand in solidarity with immigrants and pray for their just treatment. In a political climate riddled with fear, and especially on the day when a young woman was killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, it was incredibly powerful to gather and lift our prayers to the Lord of all people.
Our food services team prepares and donates a meal every Monday and Thursday to the Lincoln Center, a local resource that serves those experiencing homelessness. Our team truly enjoys serving the hearts and bellies of those in need!
Our sisters enjoy volunteering time and physical labor to Central Minnesota Habitat for Humanity. This organization means a lot to us, and we are grateful for every opportunity we have to help prepare a house for a local family to turn into their new home.
This summer, we bought a robot lawnmower that assists with mowing the monastic cemetery. It not only saves our maintenance team time and labor, but it also promotes good stewardship of the land because shorter grass clippings decompose faster and provide better nutrition for the lawn, the maintenance team uses less fertilizer, and it saves about one-and-a-half gallons of gas each week.
The Season of Creation is an ecumenical call to action to renew, repair and restore our relationship with God, one another and all of creation. The Season of Creation occurs annually, beginning on September 1 and ending on October 4, the feast day of St. Francis, the patron saint of ecology. This year’s theme is “Peace With Creation.”
Did you know we have prairieland on our campus that is protected as a scientific and natural area?
In some circumstances, people need to be treated differently in order to provide meaningful equality of opportunity. Chapter 34 of the Rule of Benedict is entitled “Distribution of Goods According to Needs.” St. Benedict says, “It is written: Distribution was made to each one as he had need (Acts 4:35). By this we do not imply that there should be favoritism but rather consideration for weaknesses. Whoever needs less should thank God and not be distressed, but whoever needs more should feel humble because of his weakness, not self-important because of the kindness shown. In this way all the members will be at peace” (RB 34:1–5).
Benedict is clear that some people have needs that must be met in order for all to have, in the real sense, equal opportunity. There are situations such as dietary law, intellectual and emotional challenges that need to be accommodated so opportunity is available. There are realities that create injustices that need to be remedied such as physical handicaps and systemic structures of racism, ageism and sexism. Equity is the effort to remedy unequal situations that do not allow people to realize their full dignity as human persons.
Land Acknowledgement
Saint Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, Minn., stands on land which was the ancestral homeland of the Dakhóta and Anishinaabe peoples. The sisters acknowledge with reverence and respect the Indigenous Peoples who dwelt here.
In 2021, then-prioress Sister Susan Rudolph issued a formal apology to White Earth Nation on behalf of the community for our participation in the federal government’s Assimilation Policy. An excerpt from the apology says:
We acknowledge the injustice done through our community’s participation in the federal government Assimilation Policy to educate Native American youth at St. Benedict’s Mission boarding school on the White Earth Reservation (1878–1945), St. Mary’s Mission on the Red Lake Reservation (1888–1940s), and the Industrial Boarding School (1884–1896) on the monastery campus.
…the Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict have been working in collaboration with the White Earth community and its Tribal Historical Preservation Office and the College of Saint Benedict to strengthen the bonds that continue to move toward healing, reconciliation, and peace with our Native American sisters and brothers.
