Good Samaritan Sister Meg Kahler said her recent election as President of the Benedictine Union of East Asia and Oceania (BEAO) came as a surprise but offers welcome opportunities to build connections and mutual support among Benedictine communities in the region.
By Debra Vermeer
Meg, who is a member of Council for the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, was elected during the BEAO’s biennial meeting in Vietnam in early October. She succeeds Brother Nicholas Koss OSB, Prior of Wimmer Priory in Taiwan, who has guided the group since its beginnings 30 years ago.
The event brought together leaders and delegates from monasteries in Australia, China, Japan, Kiribati, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam, representing about 1100 monks, nuns and sisters.
Meg said the gathering was an opportunity to learn about what Benedictine life looks like in the region.
“It is a mix of enclosed and missionary communities across very diverse cultural and language groups,” she said. “It can make it a challenge but also gives many unique expressions of Benedictine life.
“It helped to raise awareness of the many challenges that face communities: ageing, isolation, financial hardship, political complexities and much more.
Sister Meg Kahler SGS with Abbot Primate Jeremias Schroeder OSB. Image courtesy BEAO Meeting participants.
At the 27th Chapter of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan in 2023, Meg was elected, for a second time, as a Member of Council for a six-year term. The Council is a four-member leadership team of Sisters who provide assistance and advice to Congregational Leader Sister Catherine McCahill SGS.
Meg serves as First Councillor and Delegate for Initial Formation. She has pastoral oversight for Good Samaritan Sisters in Victoria, South Australia and the Philippines, and is a member of the Congregation’s Finance Council.
Originally from Warwick in Queensland, Meg and her family lived in Bundaberg and Rockhampton before settling in Brisbane. After finishing school, Meg completed a Bachelor of Arts followed by a Graduate Diploma in Education.
It was during her first teaching position, a four-year stint at Ryan Catholic College in Townsville, that Meg first met and made strong connections with the Good Samaritan Sisters. After a year spent teaching at the Catholic school on Palm Island, Meg decided to see if religious life was for her.
Since joining the Congregation in 1996, Meg has had a rich variety of ministry placements, including five years teaching at Santa Maria College, Melbourne, two years as Director of the Kiribati Pastoral Institute, a year as Manager of the Good Samaritan Inn, Melbourne, and three months teaching English in Tanzania with a group of Benedictine sisters.
Meg was also part of the Good Samaritan Education Mission Team, which provides formation and immersion opportunities for staff and students of Good Samaritan Education colleges in the history, values and spirituality of the Good Samaritan Benedictine tradition.
The BEAO’s 2025 biennial meeting. Image courtesy BEAO Meeting participants.
The Benedictine presence in Oceania began in 1835 when Bishop John Bede Polding OSB arrived in Sydney from England. With Mother Scholastica Gibbons RSC, he co-founded the Sisters of the Good Samaritan in 1857, establishing the first religious congregation in Australia.
The Sisters of the Good Samaritan have been connected with the BEAO for some years with the Good Sam representatives from Japan, the Philippines and Australia previously attending the gatherings.
“So, these kinds of regional Benedictine groupings are not new for us,” Meg said. “For instance, when I was involved in education, we connected with global Benedictine groups like the International Commission on Benedictine Education.
“The BEAO is more in our geographical neighbourhood, and despite the different countries, languages and cultures represented, we have much in common through our Benedictine life.”
She said that taking on the president’s role after the previous incumbent had held the position for so long, provided both strong, stable foundations and a feeling of a clean slate.
“There is an opportunity to be creative and perhaps to look at doing some things in a new way,” she said. “But first it’s about listening and making connections and understanding the needs of the group and its members.”
The BEAO’s 2025 biennial meeting. Image courtesy BEAO Meeting participants.
Meg said her first action as president was to convene a committee to support her in the role. Her committee is comprised of four monks from Benedictine communities in South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines and China.
“We’ll get together and start developing our plan for what we might do going forward,” she said.
Top of the agenda is planning for the next meeting of the BEAO, to be held in the Philippines in October 2027.
“Because some of the communities are pretty isolated, they’re looking for connection and a bit of support with formation and things like that, so I think those will likely emerge as priority areas,” Meg said.
“The communities are very diverse and very geographically spread, and they are different in size, too, with some being very small, so it’s about looking at how we could support them going forward.”
The BEAO’s 2025 biennial meeting. at Thinh Bien Monastery. Image courtesy BEAO Meeting participants.
Meg said St Benedict’s emphasis on Prayer and Work is well represented across the BEAO, with communities engaged in a variety of different enterprises, including health care and aged care as well as farming and agriculture and the production of other goods within the various monasteries. The monastery in Vietnam where the group met this month was a case in point.
“We were generously hosted at the Thinh Bien Monastery,” she said. “There are about 60 monks living at the monastery who have a flower farm, a fish farm that enables the production of fish sauce, and a medical outreach service that uses natural medicines. They work closely with the local community on various projects.”
Meg said she was also looking forward to considering how national Benedictine groups could better connect with regional groupings like the BAEO.
“There are lots of possibilities and options out there to be explored, so it’s an exciting time.”
This article was published in the November 2025 edition of The Good Oil.
