The following is a transcript of a conversation between Sr. Molly Brockwell, OSB and Kelli Hickey of Charism. It has been edited for readability and brevity. Listen to the full interview here.
Kelli:
I'm delighted to be joined by Sister Molly Brockwell, a Benedictine sister of Mount Saint Scholastica, who also serves as the congregation's business manager and HR director. As she just shared with me she is also a teacher of theology of 30 years. To get us started, I'm curious if you could tell us more of the story of your vocation. How did you find yourself becoming a Benedictine Sister of Mount Saint Scholastica? Was there a specific person, prayer, or moment that played an integral part in your journey?
Sr. Molly:
Thank you, Kelli, for having me and inviting me to do this. I've been in the community for 41 years, and I joined a year after I graduated from Benedictine College, which at the time shared its campus with the sisters here in Atchison, KS. I knew the sisters because they were right here in the middle of the college, and I always admired the sisters because they were such real people. It was clear to me when I was a student that not only were they real, intelligent, interesting people but that they liked each other. Not only did they love each other and love God, but they liked each other, and that was always very impressive to me. However, I will say that when I was a college student, if you would have asked me if I was considering a religious vocation, I would have said, "Oh, they're lovely people. They're lovely people." But no, absolutely not. That was not in the vision I had for myself.
In fact, when I graduated, one of my professors, Sister Irene Knoll, a biblical scholar, gave me a copy of the Rule of Saint Benedict as a graduation gift, and she inscribed it: "Dear Molly: Whatever you do, you will need this.” At the time, I thought, "Oh, well, maybe someday I'll be back at Benedictine College as a teacher." That was as far as I could go. It did not even cross my mind that I might be in the community. Fast forward about 6 months, and I was working as a diocesan volunteer for the Diocese of Tulsa, and something clicked in my heart. You know, out of the blue, this idea. What I was searching for was a bigger way of living my love of God and love of neighbor. Meanwhile, I was dating a fellow—I'd been dating him for a couple of months, maybe—and we were having a deep discussion. It clicked in my head then that what I was looking for looked an awful lot like what I'd seen the sisters living out in their lives. I blurted this out to him in a most awkward moment—he looked shocked.
As it turned out, I was the last one to know that [religious life] might be what I needed to do. The people I went to high school and college with were not shocked. Once I got over the shock that this might be what God was calling me to, I gave the assent to give it a try. Then, there was never a question. I knew my heart was in Atchison, and I entered the community in August of 1985. Although there have been ups and downs and rough patches, there's never been a moment that I've questioned my vocation. I know this is where God put me. The support of my sisters, the challenge of living life in community, and the challenge of becoming who God wants me to be have been tremendous, real gifts in my life—calling forth gifts that I didn't know I had.
One of the things that I like about “Charism,” the name that was chosen for this endeavor, is that the word speaks of a God-given gift, and we talk about that a lot in community. Each of us has a charism, something that comes from God, and that gift is not meant to be held on to too tightly, but it's always meant to be shared. I think that's very much our attitude with the financial gifts that we've received. Our financial wealth is not just for our own use, but needs to be used in a way that benefits others as well as ourselves. I like the grounding that Charism has in Catholic Social Teaching, which opens it up to the rest of the world. It needs to be a force for good in the world.
Kelli:
It's beautiful to hear you reflect on the journey in the early days of your vocation. I love that you describe it as you were the “last to know,” which I think shows that God works in mysterious ways. I also love that you describe your attraction to the way of life of the sisters, which relates to the idea of charisms. What is the charism of the Benedictine Sisters of Mount Saint Scholastica? What was it that drew you to the congregation? What was it that you were looking for as you were discerning?
Sr. Molly:
I think I was attracted to Benedictines as a whole. Our life is about prayer and work, seeking God together, going to God together, living a life of prayer, but this gets expressed in many different ways. For our community, one of the things we've always seen as a special gift that we have is the gift of hospitality. In the Rule of Saint Benedict, there's a place where Benedict writes that every guest is to be “received as Christ,” and I think our community is known for its hospitality. It's something we do well, and we do it in in a variety of ways—whether through our spirituality center, which has a very ecumenical reach. It’s very humbling to me—we get feedback from people who have been at our spirituality center about how they have felt unburdened by the welcome they have received. We don't know what people are bringing with them, and we don't know the impact that our welcome has. It may be a hectic day around here. We may perceive it as a hectic day, or a busy day, or a crazy day. And all they reflect on is that it's so peaceful, and everyone is so friendly and calm—it's all in your perspective.
The hospitality, the welcome, the bringing Christ to those we meet is a huge piece of what we do. We also have another ministry in Kansas City, our Keeler Women's Center, where we provide a variety of services, everything from counseling and English classes to book groups and craft classes and cooking classes and nutrition and grief groups. It's a place of great hospitality also, and a lot of people come there just for a place to be for a while, because there’s a gracious welcome there. When we share that charism, it spreads through to the people we minister to. They become part of the gift that keeps on giving away.
Kelli:
Thank you for sharing that, Sister Molly. I want to return to the theme of hospitality here in a second, but to get there, I'm curious about the journey you shared of teaching theology for many years and now finding yourself a business manager and treasurer. Are there any tensions you feel in the work of business, from the theological lens that you live your life through?
Sr. Molly:
How did I get here? About 25 years ago, after a stint in graduate school, I had a little hiatus in my teaching, and was asked to work in the business office. I spent about two years in the business office doing HR, which is not too far from teaching. There's a lot of people skills, and I had some of the business manager roles, partly because I'm not afraid of numbers. So that's how I got my toe in the door.
I did that for a couple of years, and after many more years in the classroom, the prioress at that time asked me if I would consider returning to the business office, as there was a need. I was in my late 50s, I was the oldest teacher in my department—was old enough to be the mother of most of my coworkers—and I was thinking, how many more homecoming spirit weeks do I have left in me, and how many more professional development sessions can I endure? So, in December of 2019, I left the classroom. We all know what happened in early 2020, and I said, "Thank you, God, that I don't have to teach remotely." I was being mentored at that point to take over the treasurer's role at some later date, but it happened all of a sudden when we had an election of a prioress and the current treasurer was appointed sub prioress. No one else was jumping up to say, "Pick me, pick me to be treasurer," and so I had the job, and it was a steep learning curve. But I like a good challenge.
Kelli:
I'm curious—do you ever feel any tensions between theology, the rule of Saint Benedict, and just I guess the dominant financial kind of ethic or practice?
Sr. Molly:
Saint Benedict has a few things to say about stewardship and the goods of the monastery, and this is where the finances and investments come in. It belongs to everyone, and needs to be managed wisely and used in ways that benefit not just the monastery. For example, there's a chapter on the clothing of the monks, and it says the clothing of the monks should be replaced while there's still enough wear left that the poor can get some good out of it. So that says everything. It has an eye for others, you know. There's concern for the poor in everything we do. There's concern for others beyond the monastery in everything we do, and so too in our investing.
More than 20 years ago, we started doing shareholder advocacy because we have a responsibility to do what we can with the money we're investing. You know, these companies have a big impact on the economy, and we can vote to influence the policies they implement. So we screen our investments so we're not investing in arms, and we have the standard social screens. We do hold stock in in some of the companies that are major players, so that we can vote our proxies and try to influence their policies for labor and environment and issues that impact the greater good.
Kelli:
Hearing you reflect on stewardship and also the chapter about the monks' clothing, I sense that you live an ethic of hospitality in the way that you manage your finances. You're thinking about the common good, you're thinking about who this thing that you're entrusted with will benefit next. It’s beautiful to see that kind of continuity between your charism and how you approach financial decision-making. Something we reflect on a lot is the idea that future generations are stakeholders in our investment decision-making. As a teacher of 30 years, I wonder how this resonates with you. How do you think about youth and the next generation in your work today?
Sr. Molly:
Absolutely. I think about my great nieces and nephews, and the next generation is definitely a piece of what we're concerned for. Who are we leaving this world to? Many of us have been teachers, and we're very mindful that this world does not belong to us. It's entrusted to us, but we're holding it for future generations. So we're very, very invested in the principles of Laudato Si and the stewardship of the earth.
Kelli:
When you think about the congregation's investment in Charism Capital, what are you hoping your investment does in the world? What do you dream of when you think about the impact of your investment portfolio?
Sr. Molly:
I'm interested to hear what the investments are in this first phase of the fund because I know there'll be things that I can be excited about. I know that it will include projects that are lifting up people at the margins, in the cracks, on the fringes—the people the normal economy doesn't work so well for. I have a big place in my heart for those folks. In the classroom, I always had a soft spot for the kids that weren't quite mainstream. Often, our world is not kind to the people that are cut from a slightly different piece of cloth, whether it's being from a developing country, a developing economy, or being a minority, or being a woman in an economy that favors men. There are so many obstacles to access to capital, and I'm excited about Carism's commitment to making capital available to people that don't have easy access.
Kelli:
Thanks for highlighting the accessibility piece. That's definitely central to this work. Now for a lightning round: just three quick questions. First, what's a question that keeps you up at night these days? It doesn't have to be a serious one. For me, it’s: Did I close the garage door?
Sr. Molly:
I spend 20 to 30 minutes working on Duolingo every day to work on my Spanish, and my question is usually, “How do you say such and such in Spanish?” It's some word that I'm stuck with on my Duolingo—that’s what keeps me up at night.
Kelli:
It's not Wordle for you. It's Duolingo. A second question related to the rule of Saint Benedict. Is there a phrase or a chapter or a particular rule that's your favorite?
Sr. Molly:
In chapter four, the “tools of good works.” At the very end of the whole long list of things, Saint Benedict writes: never lose hope in God's mercy. That's a wonderful thing. A second piece that just came to me right now is: “may God bring us all together into everlasting life.” That “together” is really important to me. That it's not going to be heaven if we're not all together. That's the vision: we're all together, and that's how we get to heaven: together.
Kelli:
I love that, Sr. Molly. I should have saved that question for last. My final question: is there something you believed about money and success years ago that you no longer believe?
Sr. Molly:
Growing up the daughter of a good capitalist, I used to believe that making money, earning money was the result of hard work. But I understand now that a big part of wealth is the result of being privileged in the first place: having money is the first key to making money, and so many people are excluded from that first step. Anyway, that's something I believed when I was young that I no longer believe: that you can make money just by working hard. It's not quite so simple.
