St. Ben’s Monastery elects 18th prioress

After a yearlong process of discernment and discussion, the sisters of the St. Benedict monastery elected Sister Karen Rose as the 18th prioress in the monastery’s history. Rose succeeds prioress Sister Susan Rudolph and will assume all prioress duties after her induction on June 4.

“I was incredibly stunned at first,” Rose said. “I knew [being elected] was a possibility, but knowing it was a possibility didn’t really prepare me for what it felt like.”

The process to select a new prioress, which happens every six years, is a thoughtful and deliberate procedure that begins an entire year before the actual election. Two facilitators from a different Benedictine community are chosen to aid the sisters in the process and visit several times throughout the course of the year. After months of community prayer and conversation about the direction for the monastery in the upcoming years, the sisters decide on candidates that would be suitable for the job. When a majority of the community comes to a consensus, an official vote takes place to elect the new prioress.

“It was a very sacred process,” Rose said. “It’s just so different from political elections because nobody campaigns, and I think the whole community is just really focused together on trying to find the best way forward for the community.”

Current prioress Rudolph was happy that Rose was elected prioress. She knows that Rose will serve the community well with her interest in social justice and heart for the poor.

“She is a woman of integrity and prayer, which is very, very important to us,” Rudolph said.

She also noted that Rose has a background in nursing, which will be useful for both her place in the elderly monastic community and her role on the corporate board for the St. Cloud Hospital. In addition to serving on the corporate boards for CSB and the St. Cloud Hospital (which the Benedictine sisters founded in 1886), the prioress is the spiritual leader of the community of sisters—she leads the 157 current sisters in their prayer and spiritual life, providing opportunities to grow in spirituality. She also serves as the chief executive officer for the corporation and oversees the operations of the entire monastery.

In her six years as prioress, Rudolph has faced some difficult challenges in her role. However, she has found it to be a very rewarding experience, both navigating the COVID pandemic and taking steps to restore and repair native relations due to the boarding schools that were operated on the campuses in the 1880s and early 1900s.

“We’ve gone through really tough times, really hard things, but I think we’ve done it together, and that’s a good feeling,” she said.

When Rose is fully inducted as prioress in June, Rudolph will take a one-year break from the community and return to a new role under Rose’s guidance. She knows the monastery will be left in good hands.

“This has been a joyful experience for us,” she said. “I think we’ve chosen the best candidate, and I’m looking forward to . . . seeing how [Rose] is going to lead our community forward. I know she’s going to do a good job; I feel very confident as she moves into her new future.”

Rose, who is currently the director for mission advancement and communications for the monastery, is excited for her induction and is hopeful about the future relationship between CSB+SJU and the monastic community.

“I’m looking forward to working with President Bruess to look at how the monastery and the college fit together in this sort of new world,” she said.

With a new bishop in the St. Cloud diocese bishop and stronger integration between St. Ben’s and St. John’s under one administration, Rose believes this is good time to become prioress. She said that she, the bishop and Bruess are all new and enthusiastic about the future.

“I just felt so honored by the trust that the sisters have placed in me,” Rose said. “I’m very conscious that it’s a big task, and I really want to try to serve my sisters in the very best way that I can.”