Benedictine sisters will continue witness of prayer amid upcoming changes

This overhead photo shows the Benedictine Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove and much of its Benedict Inn & Retreat Center. The Benedictine sisters of the monastery recently announced that the retreat center will close on May 31, 2024, a new monastery will be built, and the old monastery and retreat center will be demolished during the next two years. (Submitted photo)

By Sean Gallagher

BEECH GROVE—Significant changes will happen in the next two years on the campus of the Benedictine Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove.

The community’s Benedict Inn & Retreat Center will close on May 31, 2024. And the buildings that make up the Benedict Inn and the adjacent monastery will be demolished.

Some things, however, will stay the same.

The community of Benedictine sisters who have lived in Beech Grove since its founding in 1956 will continue, as will their daily witness of prayer.

“We’re not leaving this property,” said Benedictine Sister Julie Sewell, Our Lady of Grace’s prioress, noting that “1402 Southern Avenue will remain our home.”

The community’s recent decision to close the Benedict Inn, build a new monastery and demolish the retreat center and current monastery was the result of a multi-year planning process.

This decision comes on the heels of the community selling its St. Paul Hermitage, a nursing home and retirement center adjacent to the monastery, last fall.

The decision to close the Benedict Inn and demolish it and the monastery was made in light of various factors, according to Sister Julie. One is the deteriorating quality of the buildings. Renovating them would cost more than demolishing them and building a new facility.

Another factor is the current size of the monastic community. Its 42 sisters live in a monastery built to house 88.

“It’s twice the size that we need,” said Sister Julie in an interview with The Criterion. “So, from a stewardship perspective, it’s more space than we should be using.”

Although a design for the new monastery has not yet been completed, the sisters have decided that it will not overlap the footprint of the current monastery. This will allow them to live in it until the new monastery is completed, which they estimate to happen in the spring or summer of 2025.

The sisters announced the closing of the Benedict Inn more than a year in advance to help groups that use the facility regularly.

“They can use the facility for another year,” said Sister Julie. “It will give them 15 months to find a different location for their meetings.”

In announcing the closure of the Benedict Inn in a March 3 press release, the sisters noted that their spirituality ministry will continue in the future.

However, Sister Julie noted that this ministry will be more modest in scope in the new monastery. It will focus more on day meetings for small groups and will provide overnight accommodations only for private retreatants.

Remaining in Beech Grove was a priority for the community at Our Lady of Grace. This flows out of the Benedictine vow of stability, which binds those in that religious order to their particular monastic community.

Beech Grove, said Sister Julie, is “a good place where we can share Christ and the gifts we’ve been given. For us, that’s a reason to stay here.”

Benedictine Sister Jennifer Mechtild Horner, administrator of the Benedict Inn and Sister Julie’s immediate predecessor as prioress, reflected on the importance of place and community for Benedictines.

“This building is not the community,” she said. “The community is the sisters gathered within the building. That’s what we are focusing on now.

“How can we live our life with the most vitality? We’re still a very vibrant community with a lot of energy and a lot to give to the world.”

One of the things that Our Lady of Grace has been able to give the Beech Grove community is access to its 32 park-like acres.

“Our neighbors enjoy our property,” Sister Julie said. “It’s a peaceful place to walk. And, in the end, we’ll have more green space than we have now.”

The sisters’ priority on care for the environment was also a factor in their decision.

“Anything we build will be energy efficient compared to this building,” said Sister Julie of the current buildings that make up the monastery and the Benedict Inn & Retreat Center, built in the late 1950s.

In sharing the news of the community’s decisions, Sister Julie has heard from its many supporters.

“The response has been very touching,” she said. “People expressed their gratitude that we have been here. They thank us for the work we’ve done.”

They’re also glad to know, she said, that the monastic community will continue its daily practice of common prayer, which visitors are welcome to share.

Sister Jennifer said this continuity among the many changes that will happen is important for the community.

“We’ll pray in this monastery,” she said. “And then we’ll move, prayer will continue, and people will be invited to join us in prayer. That’s a beautiful witness we give to the Church and the world.

“The praise of Jesus is on our lips all the time.”
 

(For more information about the Benedictine Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove and its Benedict Inn & Retreat Center, visit benedictine.com.) †