Vatican approves Benedictine Sisters’ transition to public juridic person sponsorship

On July 1, the Benedictine Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery will transition sponsorship of their ministries from a sponsor council model to a ministerial public juridic person model. The new body will be called Duluth Benedictine Ministries and will be based at St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth, Minnesota.

The Vatican approved the sponsorship change Dec. 8. Sr. Beverly Raway, OSB, said in a Jan. 31 press announcement that the member monastery — the community does not refer to itself as a congregation — is adopting the new model to allow for laity to participate more fully in sponsorship governance.

There is a declining number of sisters available to oversee the monastery’s sponsored ministries and facilities. She said the transition “will ensure our ministries that serve thousands of people each year will adhere to Catholic identity and Benedictine charisms well into the future.” Sr. Raway is prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery, which currently has 45 sisters and two sisters from overseas who are living at the monastery as they study at the College of St. Scholastica, which the sisters sponsor.

Staying power, adaptation

The monastery traces its Benedictine tradition back more than 1,500 years, and its

U.S. works back more than 170 years. Three Bavarian Benedictine Sisters emigrated to the U.S. in the 1800s and began growing the order and establishing ministries in Penn-