Benedictine Sisters of Cullman, Alabama

Sacred Heart Monastery 
916 Convent Road, Cullman, Alabama 35055 
(256) 734-4622 --- shmon@shmon.org

Alumni Director Resigns

SisterJanet Marie Flemming, Prioress, recently accepted the resignation of Sister Eleanor Harrison as Director of Alumni Relations. Sister has been the Director for three years, during which time she planned and implemented two All-Alum Reunions, in 2005 and 2007. In addition, she maintained close contact with alumni, primarily through e-mails and phone calls. Notable was the lengthy effort she made to contact all alumni in the Gulf Coast region following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, expressing concern and asking about any help we could give. The former students were most appreciative. This administrative office was the last in a long list of such positions in which Sister Eleanor has served with distinction for many years. That list includes, but is not limited to, Assistant Principal at John Carroll High in Birmingham, Dean at Sacred Heart/Cullman College, Dean of Students at Southern Benedictine College, and Director of the Benedictine Sisters Conference and Spirituality Center.

Silver Jubilee

Sister Lynn Marie McKenzie, O.S.B., celebrated the Silver Jubilee of her monastic profession of on Saturday, November 24, at Sacred Heart Monastery.Presiding at the celebration was the Very Rev. Cletus Meagher, O.S.B., abbot of St. Bernard Abbey; the homilist was Rev. Dan Ward, O.S.B., a monk of St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, MN.

Born in Mobile to Tom and Charlotte McKenzie, the fifth of nine children, she moved with her family to Gadsden, where she graduated from Gadsden High School. After earning her B.A. from the University of Alabama, she entered the law school there, but interrupted her studies to enter Sacred Heart Monastery. Following her monastic profession, she resumed study at the law school, receiving a J.D. degree in 1979 and passing the Alabama Bar the same year.

Sister Lynn Marie is a partner in Knight-Griffith-McKenzie-Knight-McLeroy Law firm in Cullman. Since earning a Licentiate in Canon Law at The Catholic University of America in 1994, Sister has worked in the Diocesan Marriage Tribunal, and is a frequent consultant for other religious communities.

Sister Lynn has been active in the Federation of St. Scholastica. Elected several times as a delegate to the General Chapter, Sister was recently elected to the Federation Council. She is a member of the Juridic Committee and worked on a committee which produced A Study of Monastic Profession.

Sister Lynn serves on the Prioress's Council, and the Continuing Formation Committee. Before all else Sister is a committed Benedictine monastic, sharing fully in the Community's life. Rejoicing with Sister Lynn at her jubilee were the Benedictine Sisters, her parents, siblings and their spouses and children, and a host of friends.

Monastic Profession

Novice Lynn Elisabeth Meadows made her first monastic profession on July 28. Sister Janet Marie Flemming, Prioress, received her profession with Sisters Magdalena Craig and Mary McGehee as witnesses. The profession ceremony took place during Vespers in the monastery chapel. As a Scholastic, Sister Elisabeth will minister as Assistant Director of the Benedictine Sisters Retreat Center and will continue her ministry in the sacristy. Later, she will continue her studies through Spring Hill College leading to a master of Theological Studies degree. Sister Elisabeth will continue her initial formation in the monastic way of life for three to five years in preparation for perpetual monastic profession.

Sisters Study In Italy

In the spring of 2008, Sister Magdalena Craig will be a participant in a Monastic Formators' Program in Rome and in Assisi, Italy. This 3-month course is open to monks and nuns following the Rule of St. Benedict and who are working in the field of monastic formation. The group of participants, limitedto 28, will form a monastic community, studying and praying together, but with a sense of pilgrimage to the special places of our Christian and monastic heritage.

During January and February of 2008 Sister Mary McGehee will settle into a scholars role for a two-month course entitled "Intensive Study of the Holy Rule." This will be an in-depth study of the Rule of Benedict and its primary sources, led by acclaimed world expert Sister Dr. Aquinata Bockmann. The participants will be introduced to the tools of exegesis to enable them to pass these tools to others or to continue to study RB and other texts in the way of lectio divina. The course will be held at Casa Santo Spirito, the Generalate of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing in Rome, Italy. The course will include trips to Benedict's birthplace, Norcia, and his monasteries in Subiaco and Monte Cassino.

New Leadership at BSRC

New leaders have taken the helm at the Benedictine Sisters Retreat Center. Sister Thérèse Haydel was appointed Executive Director following the retirement of former Director Gloria Garrison last March. Sister Elisabeth Meadows joined the staff in August and serves as Associate Director. Caring and experienced lay employees Stephanie Cupp, Cheryl Dye, and Leigha Winfrey, along with Sisters Emilie Schmitt, Margaret Mary Fisher and Brigid Clarke, complete the excellent Retreat Center team.

Under the leadership of Sisters Thérèse and Elisabeth, the Retreat Center plans to develop and expand retreat programs offered by the Sisters. The Center continues to welcome long-standing groups - some of whom have been using our facilities for many years - as well as retreat groups who are discovering our Center for the first time. The Center also welcomes individual retreatants who wish to come for an experience of private reflection and prayer.

Sister Thérèse finds the ministry of hospitality to be "an awesome and grace-filled experience." She adds, "I am grateful to those who have preceded me in this ministry and who so generously offer their prayers, wisdom and experience, and I am deeply touched by the many guests who come seeking to deepen their relationship with God."

Sisters Thérèse and Elisabeth are thankful for the many people who have assisted in the leadership transition, particularly Sister Janet Marie Flemming (Prioress), Sister Mary McGehee, Gloria Garrison, Sister Kathleen-Christa Murphy, the Retreat Center staff, and the many Sisters who assist with coordinating and implementing Retreat Center events. This collaborative effort allows the Center to continue its ministry of providing a place in which the people of God can come to listen for God's voice, whether in the silence and solitude of a private retreat or gathered together as a community of faith.