in life takes something if we are
willing to give it and that is
called risk. God does not ask
much but then God asks all. Can
we give a little to this chance
that God is calling? It's much
easier than one might think. It
takes courage and the willingness
to give God something in just
checking the call out. It could be
peace. --Sr. Kimberly Rose
Discernment and the Wha t If 's?
Mar y Beth Fritsch becomes a Postulant!
The Gatekeeper
Yes, God is calling and it's more
of the same in trying to answer
that ringing of the heart when it
is seemingly easier to click into
voice mail on the cell. Well, life
is no stranger to all the demands
and distractions of the daily grind
we call living. So, now one gets
on the internet and does a search
about being a sister, religious,
contemplative, apostolic, mis-
sionary of God. Suddenly, with
the simplicity of a click there in
full view is more information
than the mind can soak much less
the heart of the seeker! Well,
trying to narrow it all down can
be overwhelming to say the least.
There are very good tools and
guides out there but then what
does one do? Oh, that's right,
breathe. After breathing and tak-
ing a moment of solace in that
one does not have to make a
decision right away helps to keep
the panic at bay. Yes, God, don't
you see that I am trying to listen
to the call that is whispering in
the heart?
So, prayer leads the way and the
sorting begins. What next? In
response one might take the route
of looking into specific commu-
nities on line but who knew there
were so many!
Then the questions flood the
inner recess of the mind, circling
the best of who we are while we
wonder if we even meet the
requirements expected of becom-
ing a religious today. All too
often we find ourselves dealing
with commitment issues, family
and financial concerns, and what
do the vows mean to those who
take them? What about all the
what if's? Anything worth while
Specialist. Beth's professional
life also included working in the
business world in a variety of
capacities. Beth shares her gifts
of music and writing with the
sisters while in formation.
Beth shares her thoughts with our
vocation readers with the fol-
lowing reflection entitled,
Postulant ponderings.
We at St. Scholastica are happy
to welcome Beth with us!
(continued on page 3)
Mary "Beth" Fritsch entered St.
Scholastica Monastery on De-
cember 26, 2008. A native of
Cincinnati, Ohio Beth is the
daughter of Joseph (deceased)
and Arlene Fritsch. Beth has two
brothers, Michael and David and
a sister Melissa. She boasts of
several nieces and nephews.
Prior to joining the sisters of St.
Scholastica Beth graduated from
Xavier University with a B.A. in
Theology, later earned a Certifi-
cate as Paralegal, and continued
her education by obtaining her
Masters in education as Reading
Inside this issue:
Benedictine Bookends:
What a monastic reads..
2
Vocation Advisory Board
2
Tapping into Theology
2
Postulant Ponderings
Mary Beth Fritsch
3
Sister Alice O'Brien
Joins St. Scholastica
3
Come and See Experience
4
Do you know?
4
Special points of interest:
· Meet our Newest members!
· What are the Sisters reading?
· Visit opportunities...
· Check out our website and live
webcam and chat times!
· Blog now available!
· Prayer Calendar
S t . S c h o l a s t i c a M o n a s t e r y F o r t S m i t h , A r k a n s a s
Summer Discernment Retreat
Newsletter
July 2008
Volume 1, Issue 3
Postulant Beth Fritsch
Sister Cecelia Marie: Tapping into Theology 101!
were not, they would quickly silence you. But
now, even within certain churches and relig-
ions, there are signs of change. It is heart-
warming, and one is grateful for even the
slightest signs of openness, such as Pope John
Paul II visiting a mosque as well as a syna-
gogue.
Partly as a result of the spiritual teachings that
have arisen outside the established religions,
but also due to an influx of the ancient Eastern
wisdom teachings a growing number of fol-
lowers of traditional religions are able to let go
of identification with form, dogma, and rigid
belief systems and discover the original depth
that is hidden within their own spiritual tradi-
tion at the same time as they discover the
depth within themselves. They realize that
how "spiritual" you are has nothing to do with
what you believe but everything to do with
your state of consciousness. This, in turn,
determines how you act in the world and inter-
act with others. (continued on page 3)
From the book A New Earth: Awakening to
Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle
Spirituality and Religion
Many people are already aware of
the difference between spirituality and relig-
ion. They realize that having a belief system
a set of thoughts that you regard as the abso-
lute truth does not make you spiritual no
matter what the nature of those beliefs is. In
fact, the more you make your thoughts
(beliefs) into your identity, the more cut off
you are from the spiritual dimension within
yourself. Many "religious" people are stuck at
that level. They equate truth with thought, and
as they are completely identified with thought
(their mind), they claim to be in sole posses-
sion of the truth in an unconscious attempt to
protect their identity. They don't realize the
limitations of thought. Unless you believe
(think) exactly as they do, you are wrong in
their eyes, and in the not-too-distant past, they
would have felt justified in killing you for that.
And some still do, even now.
The new spirituality, the transforma-
tion of consciousness, is arising to a large
extent outside of the structures of the existing
institutionalized religions. There were always
pockets of spirituality even in mind-dominated
r e g i o n s ,
although the
institution-
alized hierar-
chies
felt
threatened by
them
and
often tried to
s u p p r e s s
them.
A
large-scale
opening
of
spirituality
outside
of
the
reli-
gious struc-
tures is an
entirely new
d e v e l o p -
ment. In the
past,
this
would have
been
in-
conceivable,
especially
in the West,
the
most
m i n d -
dominated of all cultures, where the Christian
church had a virtual franchise on spirituality.
You couldn't just stand up and give a spiritual
talk or publish a spiritual book unless you
were sanctioned by the church, and if you
ally known teachers from throughout the country
come to Little Rock one weekend a month to
share their knowledge and their faith journey. It
has been an enriching gift to me, and I am very
grateful. I do have to admit that getting used to
doing homework again after 25 years out of col-
lege has been a challenge! Especially since eve-
rything has to be typed and done on computers,
and I don't know either! The teachers, fellow
students and staff are such faith-filled people, so
obviously in love with our good and loving God,
that it has been a joy in spite of these small prob-
lems.
(Continued on page 4)
Hello, my name is Sr. Cecelia Marie Brickell.
I made first profession one year ago, and I
have been asked to reflect on the changes this
past year has brought about. It has been a
challenging and enriching time. I am back
spending time in nursing again, which is a
joy! I have been spending time with our
infirm sisters by going to the doctor or hospi-
tal with them or working in the infirmary
with them. They are such a fun, caring group
of women, and I have learned so much from
them about living the monastic life faithfully
and joyfully. But first and foremost in mo-
nastic life is spiritual growth, and I have
been encouraged many ways to stretch and
grow. Community prayer, private prayer,
and lectio divina are the backbone, of
course, but I also have weekly classes with
Sr. Cabrini, our prioress, on the Rule of
Benedict. It is amazing how such a tiny
book can have such depth and wisdom. I
have also been given the chance to prepare
myself for future ministries by attending the
Little Rock Theology Institute which the
diocese offers in conjunction with St. Greg-
ory's University in Shawnee, OK. Nation-
Benedictine Bookends: Wha t a Monastic Reads...
St. Scholastica Welcomes the Voca tion Advisor y Board
John J. Neubauer, Sr. Kimberly Rose Pro-
haska, Dorothy Sullivan, Ravi Thiagarajan,
Julie Udouj, Paul Udouj and JoAnn Vonder-
heide.
The monastery is growing by leaps and
bounds both in membership, formation, and
oblates and our connections with the greater
community. This past year St. Scholastica
Monastery Vocation Director Sr. Kimberly
Rose Prohaska, OSB along with the leadership
began the newly established Vocation Advi-
sory Board, also known as the VAB. This
board assists in the mission of fostering and
encouraging new vowed membership to St.
Scholastica Monastery. The VAB members
commit to serving a three year term and meet
a minimum of three times a year. The VAB
creatively works with the Vocation Depart-
ment and the sisters to define their mission by
helping in advertising, increasing visibility for
the community as well as generating funding
for promoting religious vocations. Thank you
VAB for all you are and do!
The members are: Kaye Bernard, Sr. Pat
Bolling, Peggy Brandebura, Deacon John &
Mary Burns, Sr. Cabrini Schmitz, Sr. Maria
DeAngeli, Sr. Stephanie Schroeder, Sr. Elise
Forst, Janet Fuller, Br. Francis Kirchner,
Amanda Moore, Mary Anne Meyerriecks,
Page 2
The Gatekeeper
Vocation Advisory Board 2007-10
(Some members not present for photo)
Benedictine B ookends: W ha t a m onastic r eads...
(continued from page 2)
Postulant Ponderings: Mar y Beth Fritsch
(continued from page 1)
and geriatric care. Her message to those con-
sidering religious life is, "First of all know
yourself, your values,
dreams, desires. This
is
very
important.
Study and investigate
religious life in its
many aspects. Visit
different communities
and that will help you
learn more. Most im-
portantly, pray and talk
with Jesus about all
these things and then
sit in silence and
LISTEN! Jesus will
show you the way".
Sister Alice O'Brien, OSB joined St. Scholas-
tica Monastery on August 3, 2008. She trans-
ferred from Our Lady of Peace, Monastery in
Columbia, MO. Sister Alice has a loving
family connection to the monastery as she has
her sister, Sister Rose Maria Birkenfeld, OSB
living out her calling as a Benedictine.
Sister Alice knew of the Sisters at St. Scholas-
tica as a child when she came to visit Sister
Rose Maria at the tender age of 5!
Sister Alice is living a dual blessing, hearing
God earlier in her life to be a wife and mother
she is both mother and grandmother. It was
later in her adult life when she felt the nudging
of God writing a new sentence on the page of
her life as a Benedictine Sister. Sister Alice
states that, "At the onset I don't think my chil-
dren understood why I was choosing religious
life, but now that they are grown, they have
grown accustomed to it and understand it bet-
ter. I think my grand-children (who range
from ages 2-20) enjoy telling their friends that
their grandmother is a sister."
I entered religious life because I wanted to
give my life to God in a special way and I felt
the call to monastic life for me would be the
best way to attain my goal and to deepen my
relationship with God through the community
life and prayer.
I am looking forward to making temporary
profession this August 15th. Sister Alice is a
registered nurse specializing in rehabilitation
which I feel a postulant needs to cultivate.
Notice I did not say that I HAVE any or all of
them myself. No, indeed! However, I do
think they are qualities that, when practiced,
could certainly benefit one who is testing out a
vocation and could perhaps become aspira-
tions to cultivate over time.
--Postulant Beth Fritsch
Postulant Ponderings
Patient
Observant
Sensitive
Time-conscious
Useful
Loving
Adaptable
Neighborly
Teachable
The best way for me to reflect on the 5 months
I have been in the postulancy at Fort Smith, is
to look at the overall experience and try to
notice what I have gleaned. I examined the
word postulant which comes from the Latin
verb postulare to test or to try and found a
wonderful starting point. Naturally, I am here
to test out the life, to try to live it, to try it on
me and see if it fits. That is an important part
of being a postulant and many opportunities
have arisen which have allowed me to
participate in such a testing process. I have
been able to live the daily prayer schedule,
attend classes, perform work assignments, and
get to know the sisters in the community.
I then looked more closely at the word postu-
lant and discovered the word itself presented a
very useful construct. What do I feel are the
qualities most needed by a postulant as she
makes an attempt to test her vocation by trying
on the life of a Benedictine monastic? I would
like to offer the adjectives above as qualities
lithic it appeared, and yet within a few years, it
disintegrated from within. No one foresaw
this. All were taken by surprise. There are
many more such surprises in store for us."
Reflection on A New Earth by Sister Pat Bolling
I am very excited about this book because it
has the potential to change the world. It points
out to me how much my ego plays a part in
how I think, feel, and act; and, rather than
letting myself be controlled by my ego, it
teaches me how to transcend my ego.
--Sister Pat Bolling, OSB
Those unable to look beyond form become
even more deeply entrenched in their beliefs,
that is to say, in their mind. We are witnessing
not only an unprecedented influx of conscious-
ness at this time but also an entrenchment and
intensification of the ego. Some religious
institutions will be open to the new conscious-
ness; others will harden their doctrinal posi-
tions and become part of all those other man-
made structures through which the collective
ego will defend itself and "fight back." Some
churches, sects, cults, or religious movements
are basically collective egoic entities, as rig-
idly identified with their mental positions as
the followers of any political ideology that
closed to any alternative interpretation of real-
ity.
But the ego is destined to dissolve, and all its
ossified structures, whether they be religious
or other institutions, corporations, or govern-
ments, will disintegrate from within, no matter
how deeply entrenched they appear to be. The
most rigid structures, the most impervious to
change, will collapse first. This has already
happened in the case of Soviet Communism.
How deeply entrenched, how solid and mono-
Sister Alice O'Brien Joins St. Scholastica!
"Naturally, I am here to test out
the life, to try to live it, to try it
on me and see if it fits. That is
an important part of being a
postulant."
Page 3
Volume 1, Issue 3
Sister Alice O'Brien
Do you know a woman we'd like to know?
1301 S. Albert Pike
Fort Smith, Arkansas 72903
Phone: 479-783-4147
Fax: 479-782-4352
Cell: 903-283-3132
E-mail: vocationdirector@stscho.org
S t . S c h o l a s t i c a M o n a s t e r y
F o r t S m i t h , A r k a n s a s
The Gatekeeper
Vol. 1
No. 3
Gatekeeper is published quarterly by the vocation office of St. Scholastica
Monastery PO Box 3489 Fort Smith, Arkansas 72913. Vocation
Department Email: vocationdirector@stscho.org Telephone:
479.783.4147.
Anyone is welcome to be on our mailing list at no charge.
Sr. Kimberly Prohaska...Editor, Design, Photos, Circulation
Sr. Elise Forst....................Advisor, Copy Editor
Sr. Pat Bolling....................Contributor
Sr. Cecelia Maria Brickell......Contributor
Beth Fritsch......................Contributor
Does she have listening heart-like ours?
A Heart filled with passion for being a God
seeker?
We are Benedictine Sisters:
Committed to seeking God, rooted in a rich monastic tradition. Women who seek to be a voice for
the voiceless--by living a life balanced in hospitality, simplicity, and in the wisdom of the Gospel.
We join together in prayer, community life and service to help create a loving world! Come live out
our 20/20 vision by sharing in our dream of being a prophetic and contemplative community!
Do you know a woman who would like to know more about us?
We'd like to know her too...
Please share with women
information about the sisters of
St. Scholastica!
Write, or Call today!
Come and See Monastic Experience
For Women and Men ages 18-45
St. Scholastica Monastery
1301 S. Albert Pike Ave.
Fort Smith, Arkansas 72903
To attend this annual summer retreat con-
tact:
Sister Kimberly R. Prohaska at 479-783-
4147
(Continued from page 2)
Between all these and everyday community living, it has been a very full year. I
have learned a lot about the things I study, but even more about myself. The
more I learn the more I realize how much more I have to learn. I can't wait to
see what next year brings!
--Sister Cecelia Marie Brickell
Sister Cecelia Marie: Tapping into Theology 101!
Check out our website!
Http://www.stscho.org