Monastery Prioress Prepares To Step Down Yankton’s Benedictine Sacred Heart Monastery Prioress Sister Penny Bingham stands next to a painting of a young Bishop Martin Marty. She will complete her 6-year term as prioress this June. Photo by Reilly Biel/P&D 20vHERVOICEvJANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 If you are a member of a religious organization, you might have to do things you didn’t think you’d ever do. Yankton’s Benedictine Sacred Heart Monastery Prioress Sister Penny Bingham has been doing that for almost six years now. In June, Bingham will formally complete her term as Sacred Heart’s prioress and turn over the responsibilities to the newly-elected prioress. The election process will take place in March. The following months will be spent with Bingham showing the new prioress the responsibilities that come with the leadership role. Bingham, who has been a member of Sacred Heart since 1975, previously served as assistant prioress before being elected prioress in 2011. As prioress, it has been Bingham’s responsibility to act as a spiritual and corporate leader of the monastery community. The rule of Benedict, which all the sisters at the monastery follow, reminds the prioress that she holds the place of Christ in the monastery community. This is similar to how the Pope is the head of the Roman Catholic Church, albeit at a much smaller scale. “Christ is our leader and I’ve been the surrogate leader for six years,” Bingham said. Her responsibilities to the 85 members of the monastery involve seeing that their needs are being tended to – spiritually, physically and emotionally.