The neighborhood around Peoria's St. Ann Church had become violent and dangerous. A shooting the night before had injured a 16-year-old boy, and had come on the heels of an increasing number of shootings, stabbings and fistfights. But this morning, Sr. Judith Ann and other members of Just Faith were about to fight back. With peace.

The place hadn't always been violent. Once it had been a modest but thriving place to raise families, go to school and attend church. But when out-of-town landlords began to buy up the modest homes as existing families moved on, things changed. Eventually, the once-tidy homes fell into disrepair. Today, the rundown shacks attract only the poorest tenants.

And Sr. Judith Ann.



A Heart for the Poor

Sr. Judith Ann first came to the neighborhood nearly 30 years ago, initially as a teacher and then as principal for the parish school. When the school closed, she became a pastoral associate. Today, the position finds her ministering to the neighbors - most of whom are not parishioners - as much as to her own church members.

Sr. Judith Ann has, as she says, "a heart for the poor." From helping prepare and serve wholesome meals at a neighborhood center to just being a good listener, she feels an urgent call to serve. But perhaps the strongest call comes from the growing need for peace in her adoptive neighborhood.

Creating Sacred Spaces

"We see a lot of violence in this neighborhood," Sr. Judith Ann says. "We needed to do something to reclaim it as a place of peace for God."

Based on a program of peacemaking that she had learned about, Sr. Judith Ann suggested that her Just Faith group begin weekly visits to scenes of violence to pray publicly for peace. Soon, neighbors began joining in with spontaneous petitions of their own.

"Usually, people pray for families to reclaim their children and leave the drugs and guns behind," Sr. Judith Ann says. "One morning, a little 8-year-old girl prayed that she wouldn't shoot anyone or be shot when she got older. That was hard to hear."

On the morning following the shooting of the 16-year-old boy, Sr. Judith Ann and others had gathered outside his house to pray. Raising their large wooden cross, they had just begun when the front door opened. His mother called to the group. Her son was inside. Would they come in and pray with him?

"We prayed inside with the family," Sr. Judith Ann says. "We sprinkled holy water and burned incense in the street outside. It's part of the ritual for reclaiming a sacred space for peace, for God."

Peacemaking Consistent with Benedictine Values

The Rule of Benedict is predicated on peaceful living, with St. Benedict repeatedly urging monastics to make and protect authentic peace with one another. That monastic impulse finds expression outside the monastery as well, as a natural outgrowth of the Benedictine lifestyle.

"We are formed by the Psalms, which are the same prayers that Jesus would have prayed," Prioress Sr. Phyllis McMurray says. "We pray them every day, at Lauds, Noonday Prayer and Vespers. We listen to, and for, the Word of God in our communal prayers as well as during Lectio Divina. In this way, we put on the heart of Jesus. Our ministry flows out of this prayer life."

Ministries - to which many Sisters go after Lauds in the morning - include everything from education to canon law and parish ministry to social work. At the end of the workday, the Sisters return to the monastery for Vespers, dinner and leisure together.

"Our monastic lifestyle teaches us to live in peace with our neighbors, whether they are our own Sisters down the hall or strangers across town," Sr. Phyllis says. "We seek to practice Christ's peace, and to model peacemaking whenever possible."

For more information about Benedictine Monasticism, contact Sr. Bobbi Bussan at rbussan@smmsisters.org or (309) 283-2300.