Monastery discernment year begins with 650-mile journey by bicycle

Published: 2007-08-27

ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) -- This August, Stephanie Hart was on the road to discerning whether she has a calling to the religious life -- both literally and figuratively. That road took her about 650 miles across four states, as the 27-year-old massage therapist biked from her home in Miles City, Mont., to St. Joseph, Minn., where she joined the Sisters of St. Benedict for a yearlong postulancy to discern whether she has a permanent call to religious life. It may be an unusual way to embark on a vocation, but Hart said she enjoyed traveling on the open road. "I guess what I'm hoping for myself during this time is mostly to just be -- to allow whatever thoughts to come that need to come," said Hart, who left Aug. 11 and arrived late Aug. 25, in an interview with The Catholic Spirit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, shortly before beginning her journey. "I have about two weeks, pedal stroke by pedal stroke, to begin to acclimate," she added. Hart, a 2002 graduate of the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, documented her adventure on a blog: bikingtothemonastery.blogspot.com.

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