Sisters of St. Benedict to celebrate Sister Karen Durliat’s golden jubilee

Sister Karen Sue Durliat will mark her golden jubilee Saturday at the monastery church in Ferdinand, where a Jubilee Mass of Thanksgiving is set for 1 p.m. EDT, followed by a reception. The celebration will also be livestreamed, extending the observance beyond the monastery walls to former colleagues, parishioners, friends and relatives who cannot be in town.

For Dubois County, the milestone lands in a place where the Sisters of St. Benedict have been part of local life since 1867. The Monastery Immaculate Conception is home to one of the largest communities of Benedictine women in the United States, and local tourism materials say more than 1,000 women have entered the Ferdinand Benedictine community over the years. The order’s long presence has touched schools, parish life and care work across Ferdinand and the surrounding area.

Sister Karen, who is from Custar, Ohio, has built a ministry that has crossed borders and institutions. She holds a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree and a certificate in Hispanic Pastoral Ministry. Her work has included missionary service in Coban, Guatemala; teaching business and religion at Washington Catholic High School and Marian Heights Academy; directing Hispanic ministry in Evansville; and serving as an administrative assistant at the Family Neighborhood Health Center. She currently serves as director of religious education for St. Patrick Parish in Indianapolis.

In a reflection on what drew her to the Ferdinand Benedictine community, Sister Karen said she was attracted by the Sisters’ warmth and hospitality and by the life of prayer, work and community they share. That rhythm remains central to the monastery’s public identity, alongside retreats, prayer events and other gatherings that keep the community visible in Dubois County faith life.

Golden Jubilees remain a standard marker in Benedictine and Catholic communities. The Adrian Dominican Sisters’ 2026 jubilee class included one Golden, or 50-year, jubilarian, underscoring how these anniversaries are still treated as major communal celebrations, not private commemorations. In Ferdinand, Sister Karen’s jubilee will place her long service in the same continuing line that began when four young Benedictine sisters arrived to teach local children in 1867.