Who we are

We are a Benedictine Community of lay and ordained women who seek God above all else through prayer, community, and service.

Prayer, dwelling with the Holy, is the foundation of our life. To be a Benedictine is to seek God above all else, to put the love of Christ and of Christ in others first. Praying the Daily Office of the Book of Common Prayer anchors us in time and connects us with each other, even when we are praying at a distance geographically. Technology makes it possible to be together regularly for the Office. 

We come to community with a desire to form lifelong bonds of prayer and affection, as Benedict urged in the Rule. In community, we may not be best friends with everyone but we care for each other. Community is about shared values, concerns, prayer, work, and love. 

In community we profess the traditional three-fold Benedictine commitment of stabilitas, obœdentia and conversatio morum suorum.

  • Fidelity to monastic life (conversatio morum suorum) involves the commitment to prayer, community life, study, and hospitality. 
  • Stability (stabilitas) means that we cast our lot with this particular group of people for life. We belong to each other through our common commitment and vision. 
  • Obedience (obœdentia) calls us to deep listening to the movement of God’s Spirit in ourselves, each other, and the Community as a whole. We discern the shape of our lives, ministry, and commitment together, not as individuals but as members of one body.

Our service in the Church and world is the practice of Benedictine hospitality. Hospitality is more than receiving guests in a welcoming way. It involves making room for the other in my life, making space for the other in my heart, making scope for understanding of the other in my mind.

Hospitality is shown by:

  • welcoming others as Christ. This has a double meaning: welcome others as though they are Christ and welcome others as Christ would welcome them;
  • welcoming especially those whom Jesus called “the least of these;” 
  • recognizing our privilege in society and committing to using that privilege for the common good; 
  • working to dismantle systems of inequality and inequity; 
  • working against every form of violence in ourselves and in society;
  • praying with and for others