[2] In 1970, Mary Louise St. John entered the Benedictine Sisters of Jesus Crucified at their now-defunct Regina Mundi Priory in Devon, Pennsylvania.
It was an enclosed religious order dedicated to making the contemplative life possible for women with physical disabilities.
In 1978, she transferred to the Erie Benedictine congregation and professed her perpetual monastic vows at their motherhouse, Mount St. Benedict, in 1982.
She also tutored students at Mount St. Benedict from 1979 to 1983, served as the business manager of the monastery's Benet Press from 1980 to 1985 and had ministered as a retreat guide and spiritual companion to gays and lesbians since 1985.
In 1989, St. John attended a conference in Garrison, New York on "homosexuality among priests, nuns and religious brothers".