Women in Formation
Postulancy
Upon satisfactorily completing the Affiliate stage, a candidate may request to enter the Monastery as a Postulant. This first stage on the road to monastic profession is a period of transition to the Benedictine life that may last from a minimum of six months to two years. The Postulant now moves to the Monastery where she participates in the prayer, work and life of the Community while taking classes in Scripture, prayer and Benedictine history. Depending upon circumstances, she may be preparing for future ministry or have part-time work outside the Monastery. When the goals for the Postulancy have been achieved, she may apply for entrance into the Novitiate.
Paule Barbeau
Duluth?!!! Have you lost your mind!? Do you know how cold it is up there?
This was the typical reaction I received from my friends and family when I announced that I was leaving Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to enter a Benedictine monastery in Duluth, Minnesota. Yes, I know how cold it gets up there. Yes, I know how much snow there is in winter, and yes, I know the winters can be long. After all, I did grow up in the vicinity of Quebec City, Canada, where there are now seven feet of snow in front of my uncle’s house! Yet I have lived in the deep south of the United States for the past 16 years, so I have become quite attached to hot (really HOT) weather, not to mention the beach, in the past couple of years. (I can admit now that I entered into training the last few weeks I was in Myrtle Beach, wearing shorts and T-shirt even though it was cold outside and swimming in the frigid ocean, to the locals’ bemusement, to try to thicken my blood a little.)
So it was with some trepidation that I first answered the caB of the Holy Spirit to visit this Community in the spring of 2010. To my surprise, I fell in love right away, felt right at home, and was pleasantly surprised at everything Duluth had to offer—culture, nature, and spectacular beauty. Personal commitments delayed any further visits for a while, and gave me more time to discern my calling to this Community. During this time I forged new friendships and established myself in yet a new parish in the Montreal area, so that when I finally made my decision, I was leaving behind not one, not two, but three families to whom I had grown very close during these past two years – St. Michael’s in Myrtle Beach, Holy Name of Jesus in Montreal, and my own personal family! Yet it was with great joy and a light heart that I set out for Duluth on January 1, 2012, to finally enter here as a Postulant.
My first month has been everything I could have hoped for and more. I love the rhythm of the day, working in my ministry, classes, studying, and whatnot around prayer time and Mass, although this is sometimes rather challenging! I enjoy my ministries in the liturgy office, in the sacristy, and getting to know the Sisters who live on Benet Hall. I think I know well over half of all the Sisters’ names now! I enjoy spending time with the other women in formation and taking part in some of the College’s activities. Mostly, I love the quiet and the atmosphere of reflection that permeates the Monastery and especially the cloister. I love choir and chanting, the way the psalms just take over my soul, if I let them. And I am most appreciative of everyone’s kindness and patience as I continue to find my way around, learn the community’s customs, and how to fit in to this marvelous group of Benedictine Sisters.
Linda Sellards
I’m Linda Sellards, and I became a Postulant here at St. Scholastica Monastery in September, 2011.
My primary ministry is working in the Spiritual Resource Center with Sister Lucille Geisinger three days a week. Some of my duties there include checking books in and out, reshelving books when returned, and cataloging new books and CDs that come to us and then preparing them for shelving. I also serve as Sacristan in Chapel. Some of my other Chapel ministries include reading the responses during Eucharist, and I also participate at Sunday Eucharist in the Schola and the Contemporary Group which occurs approximately once each month.
I also join in setting up the Chapel area for special situations that may include holy days, feast days, or CSS functions. The ministry I have periodically at midday prayer is as soloist. I help out at the information desk as needed by assisting visitors to the Monastery and by answering phones. I also help out the Shalom program by assisting with room setup and then clearing away when it’s finished. In addition to these, I also attend Formation classes with the other Postulants three days each week where we learn more about becoming a monastic and also about the history of monasticism. I am also enrolled in a college course. I recently started volunteering one day a week at the Damiano Center here in Duluth in the Kid’s Cafe, which I really enjoy. So, overall, a wide and varied spectrum of activities keeps us busy in our service to the Lord.
Elizabeth Farias
I came here to St. Scholastica Monastery two years ago as an Associate and during that time got to know and love the Sisters and their way of life. This has possibly made Postulant life a bit easier for me. After spending the summer in Iowa, selling my home, and disposing of most of my possessions, I returned in July and became an Affiliate waiting for the big day when I would become a Postulant. That day was September 1, 2011.
Though somewhat nervous, I found the ceremony to be beautiful and very meaningful. My favorite part of all (and the most moving for me) was participating in statio for the first time after having just watched for so long. When the ceremony was over, Sister Martha gave me a guided tour of the Hub (the Sisters’ communications center) right away. I had often closed the door and turned off the light as part of my duties, and the Hub seemed kind of mysterious because it was forbidden territory. I would always lean in around the wall to tum off the lights so I’d be sure not to step inside. Now I can actually go into the Hub any time I want to, a mystery no longer!
From the Hub we went to the community room for a fine celebration and then four Sisters escorted me into the cloister and to my new life. As Associates we would often talk about “the other side,” meaning the cloistered area, and now I was on “the other side.” I really appreciated the floor plan and measurements of every nook and cranny that Sister Mary Josephine had drawn for me, so I had some idea of the size and layout of the room before I actually got there. First impressions were, “Oh, it is pretty small,” but “how nice to have my own bathroom,” and then “what a beautiful view out my window,” and “I guess I won’t be needing a rubber mat for the shower floor because it’s too small to fall down in there.” After four and a half days of unpacking, lugging, pushing, sorting, cramming, arranging, and rearranging the furniture several times, I finally finished, dropped into the nearest chair, looked around and really liked what I saw: a comfortable and pleasing living space. And I thought, “There! I’m home now.”
I have been a Postulant for about five months now, and I am happy here. I find the classes, both at the College and in Formation very interesting, communal life and prayers uplifting, and my ministries rewarding. I am grateful to have been allowed to take piano lessons, and I treasure the quiet moments to pray, read, study, and reflect (though sometimes I wish there were a bit more of them). In short, “life is good.” I am so grateful to these Sisters for inviting me to come and join them, and I look forward to growing in faith, love, and wisdom with them as companions and mentors on my journey.
Novitiate
The Novitiate is a period of twelve consecutive months of intense spiritual formation for commitment to the Benedictine way of life through prayer, study and discernment as well as through community life and service. Classes in the novitiate include study of the Rule of St. Benedict, Monastic History, preparation to make monastic promises (formerly called vows) and Benedictine Living Skills. For this reason the Novice is not engaged in a ministry outside the Monastery but prepares herself through prayer, work and study for making monastic profession by remaining in the monastic enclosure. She now receives the title “Sister” and may request to take a new first name. Upon satisfactorily completing the Novitiate’s goals, the Novice may request to make first monastic profession.
First Monastic Profession
A woman who has successfully completed the year of novitiate may apply to make her first monastic profession. Upon acceptance by the Community, she gives public expression of her intention to continue in a commitment of faith in the vowed life through a ceremony of first profession in which she makes the threefold promise (formerly called vows) of obedience, stablility and fidelity to the monastic way of life, which by monastic tradition, includes celibate chastity and monastic poverty. Although she makes these promises with the intention of keeping them for life, the period of first profession – which is no less than three nor more than six years- provides the Sister with sufficient time for the values of the Benedictine monastic life to be integrated more fully before she makes perpetual monastic profession.
Sisters in First Monastic Profession
Sister Luce Marie Dionne
Luce Dionne came a long way from Maine and Massachusetts to Duluth, Minnesota, as she discerned her call to religious life by becoming an Affiliate at St. Scholastica Monastery in 2005. She came being attracted to monastic life by her familiarity with the Rule of St. Benedict and conversations with her spiritual advisor which led her to come to St. Scholastica “to see what it was all about.”
Luce’s love for the arts and architecture led her to earn an undergraduate degree in Theater Arts from Emerson College in Boston and a Master’s degree in architecture from Catholic University of America, following which she worked as an architect in Boston before coming to Duluth.
In August of 2006, she became a Postulant and entered the novitiate in August, 2007, taking the name of Sister Luce Marie. On December 27, 2009 she made her first monastic profession. Currently she lives at the Monastery, serves multiple roles in liturgical functions including cantoring and singing in the Sisters’ Schola and is investigating a number of architectural projects. She hopes eventually to use her professional skills in ways that will enhance monastic experience in Benedictine monasteries.
Sister Lisa Maurer
On August 22, 2009, Sister Lisa Maurer, on completing her year’s Novitiate, made her first monastic profession at a special ceremony during Evening Prayer in Our Lady Queen of Peace chapel at St. Scholastica Monastery in which she publicly made her promises of obedience, stability and fidelity to the monastic way of life.
Sister Lisa, who comes from Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, became an Affiliate of the Monastery in March of 2007, a Postulant in September, 2007, and a Novice on August 15, 2008 and made her first profession in August, 2009. Sister Lisa has been actively involved in a number of ministries, primarily working as a pastoral assistant at St. Joseph and St. Lawrence Catholic Churches in Duluth where she performed a number of duties, and she was also actively involved in promoting religious vocations and speaking on Eucharistic adoration in parishes in both Duluth and her home diocese of New Ulm, Minnesota. Currently she is the Mission Integration Manager of the Benedictine Health System.
Sister Lisa holds a Bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Southwest State University in Marshall, Minnesota, and has had thirteen years of experience teaching and coaching teams in Catholic schools. She loves athletics and working with youth, but is equally happy working with all age groups in a parish setting.
Sister Gretchen Johnston
Sister Gretchen Johnston made her first Monastic Profession August 29, 2010. Sister Gretchen continues to study music (piano) and plays an important role in liturgical worship at the Monastery by serving as organist, singing in the Sisters’ Schola, cantoring and serving as Eucharistic minister.
For recreation she loves to bake bread for the Community, experimenting with new recipes. Sister Gretchen comes from Cotton, Minnesota and is a graduate of the College of St. Scholastica. In 2006, she earned her Master’s degree in piano performance from the University of Missouri and also entered the Catholic Church.
Following this, she became an Affiliate and for two years taught music at the Cathedral School in Superior,Wisconsin, and gave music lessons. During her Postulancy, Gretchen took classes in Theology and Scripture at the College of St. Scholastica and at the Monastery, gave music lessons, and continued her own study of music. On August 22, 2009, she was received into the Noviate for a year of intense study and preparation for profession.
Sister Mary Carla Flood
On August 29, 2010, Sister Mary Carla Flood was one of two women who made her First Profession at St. Scholastica Monastery. She is from Phoenix, Arizona, and had become an Affiliate of the Monastery in 2007, a Postulant in 2008, and a Novice in 2009.
Sister Mary Carla holds a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and a Master’s degree in Social work from Arizona State University and is a licensed social worker in Minnesota.
Sister Mary Carla looks forward finding employment in social work and using her gifts to continue to serve the Church and the broader society.
Sister Ann Marie Wainright
On Monday, August 29, 2011, at Evening Prayer in Our Lady Queen of Peace Chapel, Sister Ann Marie Wainright and the St. Scholastica Community celebrated her Rite of First Monastic Profession in which the 
candidate promises “stability, fidelity to the monastic way of life, and obedience” for a three year period. She read aloud her profession, a document written personally by her, before the Prioress and Community. Sister Ann Marie then signed it at the altar. The prioress and her two witnesses also added their signatures. And then on behalf of the Community, Sister Lois placed a cross around her neck as a visible sign of her dedication and presented her with the Benedictine pin and Community documents.
After having had examined her call to the religious life as an affiliate, Sister Ann Marie had moved to St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth from New Orleans, Louisianna. She entered the Monastery as a postulant on February 9, 2010. On August 27, 2010, she began a minimum of one year as a Novice, during which she delved more deeply into the traditions, the history, and the life of monasticism.
As a First Professed Sister, Sister Ann Marie lives fully as a part of the Community. After the minimum three year period, she and the Community will determine together her readiness for the final Perpetual Monastic Profession.
