Contact Information:
    Please submit any questions
      concerning our vocation to:

           Vocation Director
       Sacred Heart Monastery
            1005 W. 8th
        Yankton, SD 57078
          (605) 668-6000
      vocations@mtmc.edu

"Once you become a sister, you seldom or rarely get to see your family."
FACT: As in living out any vocation, the ongoing support of family is very important. We sisters are encouraged to be present to and supportive of our community and of our families.

"Sisters are required to be either teachers or nurses."
FACT: Ministry of us as Benedictine Sisters arises from our individual gifts and the needs of our community, the church, and society. Therefore, our sisters are involved in a variety of ministries of service. A few of these ministries, in addition to healthcare and education, are parish ministry, ministry to people with disabilities, pastoral care, liturgical arts, counseling, social services, ministry to the homeless and victims of AIDS, administration, campus ministry, and domestic service.

"All those vows are so restrictive."
FACT: Our monastic profession of obedience, stability, and fidelity to the monastic way of life is the glue that holds us together and frees us for growth and service in our life of following Christ.

"Sisters have no time for themselves and little, if any, enjoyment in life."
FACT: We have the same amount of leisure time as most adults. In this time we are free to participate in activities that we find enjoyable and are compatible with our way of life. Each of us is unique so the activities we enjoy vary. Some of the common choices are sharing with friends, enjoying the outdoors, reading, arts, crafts, music, games, sports, taking classes for enrichment, and film appreciation.

"If Benedictine Sisters take a vow of poverty, they ought to be living very frugally."
FACT: Poverty is included in the Benedictine profession of fidelity to the monastic way of life. We are called to share both our material and personal resources. We receive from the community whatever we need. This frees us from the concerns of personal ownership so that we may focus on our call to service and to good stewardship of all the gifts of creation.

"Once a woman enters a monastery, she is there forever."
FACT: Once a woman and the community have discerned that she is called to community, she has from five to eight years before she makes the decision of lifelong commitment.

"Elderly and disabled sisters are sent away for care."
FACT: Our community provides care for our sick and elderly sisters within the monastery, unless hospitalization is required.

"Everyone knows that monasteries are for men, while convents are for women."
FACT: A monastery is a place where either women or men are called to live and pray together in community under the guidance of a prioress or abbot.

"Only vowed men and women live the Rule of Benedict."
FACT: Since the time of Benedict, men and women of all faiths and walks of life have associated themselves with monasteries for spiritual support and enrichment. Followers of the way of Benedict who associate themselves formally are called Oblates. Individuals have also found the Rule a guide for their daily living.

"People are not welcome to visit the monastery."
FACT: Saint Benedict says, "Let all guests be received as Christ himself." We encourage family, friends, and the stranger to visit our home and we endeavor to make them feel very welcome.

"Sisters go to church every day and they have to pray all the time."
FACT: Because we have chosen a way of life that essentially is to seek God, prayer is central to our lives. We spend varied times each day in prayer: morning and evening prayer with our community, Mass, private prayer and lectio (sacred reading). Prayer helps us to become more sensitive to God's activity in the people, events and circumstances of daily life and empowers us to reach out in ministry to others.