Transition for St. Scholastica leadership

Published May 23, 2019

Sister Kimberly Rose Prohaska, OSB, who has been serving as the subprioress of St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith since 2011, has been named the interim administrator until they can hold an election in January.

Sister Maria DeAngeli has been the prioress since 2009 and agreed in 2017 to serve for two more years while the new monastery was completed. Her term will end June 8.

“During these past 10 years, she has been a pillar of leadership, guiding the community into a new era by building a smaller monastery to better accommodate the sisters’ physical and financial needs,” the monastery said.

According to a press release from the monastery May 15, “The sisters were scheduled to elect a new prioress in April 2019. At that time, the community was in major transition, having been in the new monastery only a couple months, still getting settled and preparing for two major events — the auction and an open house. After consultation and reflection, the community decided to ask Sister Jeanne Weber, the president of the Federation of St. Gertrude, to postpone the election until January 2020 and to appoint an interim administrator. Sister Jeanne met with the community on April 29 and announced that Sister Kimberly Prohaska will be the administrator of St. Scholastica Monastery for up to one year, beginning June 8, 2019.”

Sister Kimberly, 55, who also has been the community’s vocations director since 2002, celebrated the 25th anniversary of her profession in 2018.