Photo: Volunteer Mary Sheridan (right) sits down to visit with Sister Audrey Jones, OSB. Mary's project helps preserve oral histories of members of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.
Preserving Benedictine Sisters' stories - or any stories from those who have gained wisdom during their lifetimes - is so important to members of the monastic community and to society as a whole.
Mary Sheridan, a retired social welfare history university teacher, has volunteered her time with the Benedictine Sisters since 1999. Her most recent project has been to record conversations with the Sisters. She then transcribes the interviews and provides the congregation with an audio copy and a written transcript.
The process for just one member takes countless hours to complete. When asked why she does it Sheridan said, "I am convinced that some day a historian is going to knock on the door and want to know about religious life in the old days."
"She is so gracious and delightful and such a blessing to us," Sister Sophia Becker, OSB said of Sheridan's gift. |