Sister Mary White will celebrate her 60th Jubilee as a Benedictine Sister of St. Paul’s Monastery on July 11, 2026: six decades of embracing her monastic profession. She recently reflected on this milestone anniversary and what it means to her. “It was a surprise for me to realize that it has been sixty years. It reminds me that I am getting older, but it also reminds me of what I have been able to give to the Community and other people.” Sister Mary was active for many years earlier in her career as a licensed psychotherapist, social worker and spiritual director when she served as Director of the Benedictine Center in the mid-1980’s. Her passion has always been for social justice and helping the oppressed.
Twenty-five years ago, she worked with a group of lay persons, Volunteers in Corrections (VIC), who ministered in the Ramsey County prisons and Juvenile Detention Centers, bringing centering prayer meditation and other counseling resources to the inmates through her role as Director of the Benedictine Meditation Center in downtown St. Paul. She also served with the Sisters of St. Joseph on a committee to minister to the poor and marginalized. “We belonged to a group called the Twin Cities Labor and Religious Network, with lay people and other religious Sisters. The collaboration between us and the wonderful ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph really helped me grow.”
Sister Mary is now enjoying more ease in retirement. She shared how pleased she is to see the Oblates of St. Paul’s Monastery actively assisting in the ministry and work of the Sisters. “I am delighted to see how you and the other Oblates have picked up and continued Benedictine spirituality for the general public. I was concerned a few years ago… who is going to carry on this wonderful spirituality? You people all came forth so beautifully. You are so talented, smart and dedicated to the tradition and to our Monastery.” I shared with Sister Mary that the Oblates feel called to serve with joy, and follow the example and tradition of the fifteen remaining Sisters, as well as those beloved Sisters who have passed on and gone home to God. The Oblates of St. Paul’s Monastery cherish Benedictine spirituality and endeavor to carry on the tradition to future generations and share this beautiful practice with others through various retreats, formation classes and the Evenings of Contemplative Fellowship, held monthly.
Sister Mary is also delighted to see the many guests and visitors at the Monastery and Benedictine Center,“… seeking what is so needed today: the silence, and for some, new ways of praying.” The Monastery has completed a full year’s curriculum offering in which Hill-Murray students can enroll in a class for high school credit in Benedictine Spirituality. This new program has been well-received by students, faculty and parents and is a thrill for the Sisters to see evolving.
Looking to the future, Sister Mary is very enthusiastic about the current and ongoing collaboration with Hill-Murray, getting to know some of the youth and sharing Benedictine spirituality with high school students. She also appreciates the Monastery’s art gallery ministry. “The beautiful art exhibits we have here: This is something we didn’t have before in the former Monastery building. We knew that as a Benedictine monastery, we needed to pay attention to art. The art exhibits have been a big part of bringing in new visitors. I’m very proud of the people, including you, who have brought these exhibits forward, and also the Hill-Murray student art.” Each spring, we welcome the Hill-Murray Art Department to share their students’ best work in an annual juried exhibit, where awards are given during a well-attended reception with refreshments and musical entertainment. “Our collaboration with Hill-Murray is a way for us to reach the youth, and we are so pleased with the administration at Hill-Murray, who share our values.”
Sister Mary looks back on her days of leading retreats with fondness. She admits that she misses it. “Yes, I do miss that. What I did with retreats blossomed out of some committees I served on with the Sisters of Saint Joseph—especially the social justice piece… I could bring my experience with mental health together with my interest in the social teachings of the Church, which I incorporated into my retreats.”
In the 1980s, Sister Mary and Sister Virginia Matter went to St. Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado where they met Father Thomas Keating, to see that monastery and bring home what they learned from his teaching to the Benedictine Center. Minnesota Contemplative Outreach was founded in 1985 by Father Thomas Keating, who is regarded as the founder of Centering Prayer in the United States. Father Thomas also visited St. Paul’s Monastery and even stayed here in a Benedictine Center guest room. We have been greatly blessed to have a core group of lay practitioners from Minnesota Contemplative Outreach leading Centering Prayer retreats at the Benedictine Center over the years, sharing this life-changing spiritual practice with so many.
Background and Early Days: A Vocation Story
Sister Mary (Kathleen) White was born in Farmington, MN. She grew up in Lakeville in a household with two sisters and three brothers. Her family has owned and operated White Funeral Homes for over 100 years, which continues to this day with five locations in the Twin Cities southern metro area. Mary attended boarding school at Our Lady of Good Counsel Academy in Mankato for ninth and tenth grades and returned to Lakeville for her junior and senior years in high school.
Mary began to realize she might have a call to the religious life when she was in ninth grade at Good Counsel Academy. Her younger sister, Pat, also attended Catholic school in Lakeville and brought together a committee of girls who were exploring this idea. “They would be in a circle praying to Mary that they could become nuns. We were taught in our Catechism classes as kids that God calls you,” Mary said. “We were always asked to raise our hands if we thought God was calling us to the religious life. But I didn’t tell anyone when I was younger.” When she was in the 11th grade, at the Easter Vigil, Mary felt a very strong call. “I knew I needed to do something about that,” Mary continued. “But I still wasn’t ready. So, I went to St. Kate’s.”
These feelings continued while she was attending college in the early 1960s. “Every year, at the beginning of the school year, I felt this call, but I didn’t want to do it until after I graduated. But I knew that after I had a degree, I would be more independent, and it would be harder for me to become a nun.” Sister Mary graduated from the College of Saint Catherine with a degree in Sociology in 1964. She then attended the University of Chicago where she received a Master’s degree in social work.
In 1966, Mary was encouraged to pursue her vocation by her good friend, Father Paul Mohrbacher. He told her, “The Benedictines have always been my favorite.” Right after this crucial conversation, she applied to St. Paul’s Priory at 301 Summit Avenue. Sister Marcelline Jung was the Prioress at that time. “Sister Marcelline knew that I was educated and already had my degree. It was easier to get in then.” Mary moved into the Priory’s carriage house at 301 Summit with thirteen other women. “I was a good rule keeper,” Mary recalls. “There were, of course, many rules. But, I was at peace because I thought I was doing God’s will.”
Her class of postulants was the first to move into the new modern building of St. Paul’s Priory at 2675 Larpenteur Avenue. Mary loved living on the ground floor of the new Monastery. Sister Pat Collins was the Superior and Sister Rose Alice was the Novice Director. “I just went totally into it,” Mary said. “I said yes, I would try this. I didn’t balk at it at all. My family was very supportive. My dad continued to assure me that if I wasn’t happy, I would come home.” Mary is the only Sister from her class who remains in vowed religious life today.
Later, Mary returned to the University of Chicago and earned a second master’s degree in religion and psychology. Her career plans included expanding her ability to assist people who were in “tough social situations,” and bring this knowledge and experience back to the Monastery and the Community. Sister Mary received her counseling license in the mid-1960s and later practiced as a clinical social worker.
Advocate for Social Justice
In the 1970s, Mary worked for Catholic Charities, motivated by her strong concern for social justice. She worked for several years in child welfare with adoptions and assisting unwed parents. One of the highlights of her years there was when she attended a conference in Washington, D.C. on Paolo Friere’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. “That really changed my life in terms of seeing how we need to be reciprocal in our relationships with people of all sociological and ethnic backgrounds. According to the liberation theologians, we are becoming more aware that we need to listen to the poor and understand their conditions. Just giving stuff to the poor is not enough.”
Sister Mary was on the initial committee for the Twin Cities Religion and Justice Network (now CTUL) and continues to maintain her involvement with this organization. Centro de Trabajadores Unidos En La Lucha (CTUL) is a non-profit organization where workers organize, educate and empower each other to fight for a voice in their workplaces and in their communities. They identify the root causes of injustice and work to improve the lives of communities for present and future generations. Mary has been passionate about social justice causes all of her life, a value instilled in her by her mother, who taught her to pay attention and be compassionate toward others seen as different or excluded. She quickly points out that Jesus Christ himself sought the company of the outcasts, the poor, the oppressed— the people others avoided and shunned. In our Christian tradition, when we reach out to the poor and the sick and the homeless, Scripture tells us that we are ministering to Jesus himself and bringing about the Kingdom of God on earth: For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed me… Whatever you did to one of the least of my brothers and sisters, you did to me (Matthew 25: 35-40).
“My mother really helped me to notice—even in the fourth grade—the kids who were not popular. She said, ‘Pay attention to the kids who are sitting alone.’ I’ve never forgotten that. I think my heart has always been with people who are socially or psychologically marginalized.” Mary realized that the way to help people is to focus on improving their lives economically: “I really wanted to do what I could to raise the level of their livelihood, especially for immigrants and the poor. As a Christian and as a Benedictine, I wanted to call attention to the wage level among Hispanics and other workers compared to ours. We still have a long way to go.”
Benedictine Center of St. Paul’s Monastery
In the 1980s, Sister Mary was the second director of the Benedictine Center for three years. She and others including Sister Veronica Novotny decided to create a satellite for the Benedictine Center in downtown St. Paul in the old Assumption School (next to Church of the Assumption). Mary’s mother purchased thirty “carefully selected” meditation chairs for the Center and helped to finish the room beautifully. Mary was director of the Meditation Center in the City for ten years, until 1993. The Center was very well received by the business community in downtown St. Paul. They received grant funding and many donations over the years, but it was not enough to keep the organization financially viable into the future. A number of people who frequented the Center in those years are now involved with Minnesota Contemplative Outreach and have carried on the meditation group tradition with lay persons in charge at other parishes. After the Center in the City closed, Sister Mary continued doing counseling and spiritual direction. She has always believed very strongly in social outreach. “While meditating and quiet prayer are very important, we are also called by God to act according to what we are hearing in our prayer.” As Scripture tells us: Faith without works is dead. Mary then taught Centering Prayer to the inmates at the Stillwater State Prison and the Ramsey County Detention Center for a number of years and continued to work with groups such as Women Religious for Justice and CTUL.
While Mary loved living on her own in an apartment off-campus for a significant time, she moved home to the Monastery to be with the Community and assist the new Leadership team in 2019. “I had to give up some freedom. But I am very happy here. I have a strong interest in the stages of life and the scholarship around that. The ninth stage is the Gerontological stage of life. We Sisters have a healthy attitude toward growing older and yet there is a culture among nuns and other religious that we should never stop working. I no longer believe that because I know the special gifts of later years.” These years have more of a “wisdom character” than the generative stage of life. Mary hopes that we can all learn to nourish the spiritual side of ourselves as we get older, when we can finally stop being so busy and have more freedom to read and pray.
The Monastic Community of St. Paul’s Monastery has been greatly blessed by the many talents, vision and hard work of Sister Mary White throughout her amazing career of six decades. Mary plans to enjoy more quiet time now to be alone with God and at home with the Sisters. She will always be a champion for social justice and a great labor advocate. Looking to the future, Mary also hopes that the Benedictine Center which she helped to found will continue to have a presence in the Twin Cities. “It is very needed. Benedictine Spirituality is as popular now as it has been for 1500 years.”
