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Benet Hill Monastery honors jubilarians
By Denver Catholic Register
For five Benedictine religious sisters of the Benet Hill Monastery in Colorado Springs, 2010 is a special year of rejoicing as they mark jubilees. On Aug. 15 a Mass was celebrated followed by a reception.
70 and 60 years
Sister Leann Cogan
Sister Kathleen Cogan
Benedictine Sisters Leann Cogan and Kathleen Cogan are biological sisters as well. They are celebrating their 70th and 60th jubilee anniversa-ries respectively.
Sister Leann taught in schools in Iowa, Missouri, Colorado and Kansas. She served as superintendent in the South Conejos (County) School District, directed religious education with the U.S. Army at Fort Carson and Fitzsimons Army Medical Center, and ministered as a chaplain at Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs. At the age of 70 she volunteered to teach student nurses in Guyana, South America, and later served as director of the Adult Learning Opportunity program at Benet Hill. Reflecting on her life, Sister Leann said that her years in the monastery have gone from good—to better—to best.
Sister Kathleen, who studied to be a nurse, taught at schools in Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. As a nurse, she ministered at Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs, the University Hospital in Denver, and in transitional care at Benet Hill Monastery. Chaplaincy positions were held in Mercy Hospital, Iowa City, Iowa, and St. Thomas More Hospital in Canon City, Colo. Presently, she is working in the finance office at Benet Hill. Sister Kathleen said, “My prayer life has been extremely life-giving to me.” She added that her community has helped her to grow in faith.
50 years
Sister Rose Ann Barmann
Sister Rose Ann Barmann celebrates a half-century of vowed monastic life, having made her co-mmitment of monastic profession in 1960. Origi-nally from Maryville, Mo., Sister Rose Ann credits her call to religious life as being first nurtured in the faith-filled environment of her home.
A charter member of the Benet Hill Monastery, she has served the Church of Colorado since 1961 in the Denver, Pueblo and Colorado Springs dioceses, as a teacher, religious education director, retreat director, spiritual director, and director of Benet Hill Center, as well as a member of the prioress’s administrative team, the monastic council and as prioress. Presently, she is the director of development for the monastery. She is a member of Benedictines for Peace and Pax Christi.
Sister Anne Stedman
Originally from Burlington, Iowa, Sister Anne Stedman entered the Mount St. Scholastica Convent in Atchison Kan. A charter member of Benet Hill Monastery, she has worked with the people of Colorado for the last 50 years. In Denver, she first ministered at St. Cajetan School and later initiated the religious education program when the school was closed in 1970. She also taught at Our Lady of Fatima School and religious education program as well as serving as director of liturgy for the Archdiocese of Denver from 1972-1977. After returning to her monastic community in Colorado Springs, she taught at Benet Hill Academy and worked in liturgy, formation and community administration. Beginning in 1983 she served her community for four years as assistant prioress and then 13 years as prioress. She said she has felt blessed by her sisters in community and all those women, men and children she has journeyed with over the years.
Sister Charlotte Redpath
Sister Charlotte Redpath said the arrival at the 50-year mark is an occasion of great joy and whole-hearted gratitude as her religious life has been filled with the Benedictine tradition of liturgy, prayer and sharing with others. Sister Charlotte’s ministries have included teaching art on the secondary and university levels and for the U.S. Department of Interior; private practice of psychotherapy and spiritual direction; campus ministry; and as a professional artist and photographer. She said that over the years, her vocation has been influenced by the art of listening, a practice which has taught her to pay “better attention to all of life.”
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