At 5:30 p.m., the Benedictine Sisters pray and sing worship in the chapel at the monastery on East Lake Rd, which is where they live.      

Recently, on the social media platform X, founder of PA Chase, a canvassing organization, posted that there were voter registrations that were tied to the monastery's address, and that no one was living there. 

Tonia Fernandez, Director of Elections for Erie County said when she investigated the address, she found those registered were the sisters.   

“I did look into that address and what I found were most of the registered voters are the Sisters of Saint Benedict team. So, I have reached out to a couple of them and I'm waiting for them to return my call, but I do believe that that was misleading, and it was misinformation,” Fernandez said. 

The prioress Sister Stephanie Schmidt said it was incredibly disheartening to see the disinformation. 

“We have been in Erie since 1856 and have many wonderful outreach ministries in the city. We have the soup kitchen, a daycare, we've known for a long time in Erie. We have a solid reputation. So the fact that somebody would post that this particular building has no one living here . ..  is just beyond belief,” Schmidt said.  

Schmidt said they had to correct what’s been said as pursuing truth and living by it is their purpose.   

 “We are committed to a life of prayer, a life of community, a life of good works of living the gospel, and one of those gospel beliefs is that you tell the truth. You live according to the truth, and you walk in the light of God. That's how we build up community. So we have a responsibility to correct misinformation and deceit and lies,” Schmidt said.