The sisters of Sacred Heart Monastery are busy preparing for a very special observance later this summer.
The sisters will mark their monastery’s 125th anniversary as part of the Yankton and east river South Dakota landscape.
The sisters have chosen June 22nd as the day they will celebrate their monastery’s anniversary.
“It gives us a time to look back at our history and to look forward into our future,” said Sister Jacquelyn Ernster, prioress of Sacred Heart Monastery. “There’s been a lot of movement and a lot of change and a lot of different people that have come through our doors, so it represents a huge piece of history.”
The anniversary focus on June 22 will include the celebration of Mass in the afternoon followed by a reception. Both will be open to the public and the public will be welcomed to share the celebration with the sisters.
“I think any milestone is significant,” said Sister Evangeline Anderson. She adds the community’s building program signaled to the region the sisters were “here to stay.”
Sister Jeanne Weber says the Benedictine community is “summed up in the commitment that we make to stability. It is one of our monastic vows, one of the things we profess...and stability is our commitment to be part of this community.”
The sisters think the years have been kind to the monastery’s relationship with the civic community that surrounds the monastery. Many of the sisters are involved in as many as 30 community organizations in and around Yankton.
“I think that the Yankton community has a lot of opportunity to get to know us and we have a lot of opportunity to get to know the local community,” said Sister Jeanne Weber, “and that sense of who we are and what were about is growing.”