Mission and Values

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Mission Statement

We, the Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery, Duluth, Minnesota, are monastic women who seek God in community through a life of prayer and work. Living in accordance with the Gospel, the Rule of St. Benedict, and the General and Specific Norms of the Monastic Congregation of St. Benedict, we respond to the needs of the Church and the world through our ministries.

Vision Statement

In light of our Benedictine values, wherever we live and minister we seek to be:
  • a center of prayer, worship, and praise,
  • a wellspring of spiritual growth,
  • a place of welcome, inclusion, compassion, and hope.
We commit to be of service individually, communally, and through our ministry of sponsorship. We will minister to the body, mind, and spirit of those whom we encounter, especially the poor and the powerless. We will care for the earth, our common home. We will support and encourage those who seek vowed religious life and will nurture alternate forms of Benedictine life.

Our days are centered on communal and personal prayer and on the meditative reading of scripture. As we grow ever closer to Christ, our eyes and ears are opened to others around us, and we hear God’s calling to become Christ in our human relationships. Thus our prayer leads directly to ministry and work.

Work is key to Benedictine spirituality. It is through creative and productive work that we become co-creators of God’s world. In St. Benedict’s time, only slaves and the poor had to work. St. Benedict, on the other hand, saw work as redemptive and creative, a way to pray while using one’s God-given talents. We encourage each other to develop our individual talents and rejoice in the sharing of these gifts through our variety of ministries.

“Idleness is the enemy of the soul. Therefore the Sisters should be occupied at certain times in manual labor, and again at fixed hours in sacred reading…. And if they themselves do the work of gathering the harvest, let them not be discontented; for they are truly monastics when they live by the labor of their hands, as did our Fathers and the Apostles.”

~Rule of St. Benedict, chapter 48, The Daily Manual Labor

Sister Jeanne Ann Weber lights the altar candles.
Sister Jeanne Ann Weber lights the altar candles.
The baptismal font reminds us of our own baptismal promises.
The baptismal font reminds us of our own baptismal promises.

What We Value

The uniqueness of the individual
The dignity of human labor
The worth of all human life
The beautiful and fitting in Divine worship
Stewardship of God’s world
Moderation in all aspects of life
Hospitality for all who come to us
Sharing of material goods
Peace and justice
St. Benedict believed that every person needs a balance of prayer and work in daily life. Artwork by +Sister Mary Charles McGough.
Artwork by +Sister Mary Charles McGough
Sister Dorene King has a spirituality ministry with children.
Sister Dorene King has a spirituality ministry with children.

Prayer and work, ora et labora, two sides of the same coin.

This balance, when combined with an appreciation for peaceful leisure, helps define our monastic lives.
Sister Mary Susan Dewitt is a Chaplain at the Benedictine Living Community in Duluth. She uses her musical talents to touch the spirits of elderly residents.
Sister Mary Susan Dewitt is a Chaplain at the Benedictine Living Community in Duluth. She uses her musical talents to touch the spirits of elderly residents.
“Listen carefully, my child, to your master's precepts, and incline the ear of your heart. Receive willingly and carry out effectively your loving father's advice, that by the labor of obedience you may return to Him from whom you had departed by the sloth of disobedience.”
–St. Benedict of Nursia, The Rule of Saint Benedict