When did you join Saint Benedict’s Monastery? Why did you join?
I came to the College of Saint Benedict as a student in 1964. My parents believed in education and made sure all of us went to college. Much to their surprise—and mine—I joined the monastery in 1966. I had little experience with religious women growing up, just enough to find them rather weird and awesome at the same time. However, coming to the College I met Sisters who were my professors, prefects and just friendly Sisters who were very welcoming.
There still was a good deal of mystery, but I was drawn to them. First, to the sense of community that was part of our college experience in which the Sisters seem to be really welcoming, and then the same sense of community when I saw the Sisters either teaching or praying or walking together. A big draw for me was the prayer that marked everyday morning and evening. You could always count on the Sisters being there, and just sit and listen and be a part of it.
What do you appreciate most about being a member of the monastery?
My experience has been to be "on mission," where I have lived in small groups with a number of Sisters and served in the ministry that brought me to the area. I have come to know women well whom I can call Sister, who are dedicated and gifted. I appreciate this opportunity to know some of the Sisters. At the same time, I am happy to have our monastery where I can meet, greet and heat up talk with many more Sisters. I am very aware of what an exceptional group of women we are, and I am delighted to be part of it. Whether we are praying or working or making decisions about our life together, we count on each other and our experience to lead us to wisdom. And we have a healthy trust in the Spirit of Jesus.
What has kept you here? What has sustained your monastic life?
Continuing in the monastery, like any life commitment, has its moments of challenge and even painful growth. So what has sustained me? Well, lots of things:
• Prayer
• Trust in my Sisters,
• A willingness to keep working at it
• Spiritual Direction
• A sense of humor
• Realizing I won't save the world
• Directed Retreats
• Ministries in which I believed
• A willingness to be molded
• Trust in Jesus the Christ
What type of work have you been doing as a Sister?
I have been most fortunate and continue to be. I am in my third "career" since joining the monastery. The first I call my "obedience career." When asked what I wanted to do, I said anything but teach—so, well, I began teaching for the next eight years followed by four years of high school administration. Not my first choice, but I received lots of experience, which has been a blessing since, plus an education that has added to my wisdom.
My next career was my first choice when I entered, proving that with patience the first can be next! I wanted to be a missionary, and when we began a new mission in Recife, Brazil, I volunteered and was chosen to go. It was a life-altering experience of 15 years walking with the poor and learning from them, offering my faith and wisdom to that point in my life.
That experience led to my third career, which I am engaged in now: working with Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, developing leadership for justice. After my experience in Brazil and now being connected to Catholic Charities who serve the poorest of the poor, our office strives to move the Catholic community into action in favor of justice for all—our Gospel call.
I have a thought about a fourth career some years down the road, but will not disclose it until I see how the world develops!
When did you join Saint Benedict's Monastery? Why did you join?
When I was a senior in at St. Benedict's high school, a friend asked me if my future plans were to join the monastery. My answer was a definite "No!" But why did I cry all the way home that day? This may sound strange but I could only interpret the incident as a strong invitation from God to join the Sisters of Saint Benedict here in St. Joseph. I did. That was 1953. God acts in strange and mysterious ways, we know!
What do you appreciate most about being a member of the monastery?
The daily Liturgy of the Hours, praying together as a community, is very important in my life. Though I live in a small group, our prayer together is important to each of us, just as it is at the larger group in the monastery. It is my firm belief that this prayer together and the daily Eucharist are what have sustained me during good and difficult days in the monastic community.
Another special blessing in my life has been the satisfying, challenging, enjoyable (most days!) work that has been mine. It seems it's always been reaching out to others. In my early years as a musician (and still am) a musician, I taught music to grades K-9. Many a boy and girl learned to play the piano under my private tutelage the first 22 years of my life as a Sister. Add to that era playing for liturgies at Church services.
Fifteen years in school administration followed my career in music, another challenging but stimulating phase in my life. Since 1993, and specifically at the St. Cloud Hospital since 1995, chaplaincy beckoned to me. What a privilege it is to walk with individuals on their journeys, often one of suffering. I also appreciate offering spiritual direction to individuals.
I must say, my life as a Benedictine Sister has been a full one, a good one.
In the late 1940s, I was “struck” by God’s power and presence as I spent my early teen years walking and reflecting along the beaches and forests of Puget Sound at Redondo Beach, Wash., where we lived. If God created such beauty, I reasoned, then I must get to know and love this God since this seemed to me, the purpose of existence. Over the next couple of years, we lived in Tacoma and my heart continued its quest: I pursued God but I know now that God was pursuing me!
I came to Saint Benedict’s in 1950 and my parents moved back to Wisconsin at the same time. I became a novice in 1952 and a first professed Sister the next year. I taught grade school at various parishes for the next 30 years. During 18 of these years, I also served as organist and choir director.
But my journey was only beginning. I still “rested in God” amid the beauty and wonder of nature. I wrote poetry and enjoyed companionship and adventure with many good Sister-friends on small missions. Eventually, I turned to writing—mostly of an historical nature such as newspaper and magazine articles, parish histories and family genealogies.
This is still my “work” but my heart remains restless as I long for the fulfillment of all my desires in the overwhelming love of that “Hound of Heaven.” We catch many glimpses of each other. It is true that nature still “feeds” my restless soul but the silence and solitude of contemplative prayer now embraces me in moments of deep union and peace.
My journey as a Benedictine Sister allows me the yin and the yang of activity and contemplation, a balance with which my heart is “at home.” These days, I am tipping a little more toward the yang which is “right on” as far as the journey is concerned. I am immensely grateful to God for the call, the journey and the destination.
I am Sister Mary David Olheiser. I joined Saint Benedict’s Monastery, after graduating from Saint Benedict’s Academy; Saint Joseph, Minnesota, in 1934. Having had outstanding Benedictine Sisters as teaching in grade school at Saint Joseph Parochial School, Dickinson, N.D., as well as in the Academy, I knew that I wanted to be a Sister teacher and living the Benedictine way of life. I enjoyed school and loved learning!
After the years of Postulancy and novitiate, I made first profession in 1936. It was then that I was assigned to the ministry of teaching at Holy Rosary School in Tacoma, Wash. While serving in the Diocese of Seattle for 14 years, I had very satisfying experiences teaching several different grades as well as catechizing children in mining and mountain towns and at Cushman Indian Hospital. A major earthquake and the way years added heightened experiences and responsibilities for all teacher in Tacoma which deepened my appreciation of the support of my Sisters in the monastic community. I professed life vows in 1939.
In 1950, I was recalled from Tacoma, Wash. To Saint Benedict’s Monastery to establish the elementary teacher education program, as well as to upgrade the secondary, at the College of Saint Benedict. This was a challenging venture which renewed my dreams and hopes for the profession of teaching as a ministry. I loved teaching and learning! After 24 years of college teaching and administration, a sabbatical semester at The Catholic University of America in Washington D.C., introduced me to a second career and ministry, that of canonical studies which, after the second Vatican Council, was open to lay men and women. In 1977 I earned my Church law degrees and have worked in the tribunal of the Diocese of Saint Cloud as Defender of the Bond, Judge of the First Instance Court and Judge of the Second Instance Court.
Presently I am a juridical consultant and director of eremitic life in the Diocese of Saint Cloud. Love of God, the daily Eucharist and Liturgy of the Hours, together with the joyful witness of my Benedictine Sister companions sustains me in the monastic life.
When I stepped onto the porch of Marmion Building in 1956 to join the community at Saint Benedict's monastery, I did not really know what I was doing. I knew only that God was calling me into a life that I thought I did not want, but I could not say no to that call. After college graduation, I taught senior English one year at Windom High School, Minn., broke my engagement to my boyfriend of four years, and "bit the bullet." I stepped onto that porch.
I'm really glad I did.
I discovered that I liked everything: the prayers, the well-ordered life, our classes in Scripture and theology, the wholehearted desire of my 40 classmates, their "all or nothing" approach to doing whatever was at hand: picking potatoes, cleaning turkeys, gathering gladiolas in huge fields, dusting the church pews, playing volleyball in 90-degree heat while wearing ten yards of black serge. And I loved my teaching.
Only when the mixed-up sixties came along—12 years after I joined the community—did I begin to have serious doubts about my life choice. The times were troubled: civil rights, women's rights, gay/lesbian rights, the Vietnam war, plus Pope John XXIII's call to aggiornamento (conversion to our spiritual roots) —all these touched upon our way of life, threw us into confusion, and suddenly, everything was up for grabs. Our usual ministries—teaching, nursing, social work—were taken up by others; many Sisters left the monastery; I lost ten close friends from 1968-75.
Even worse, I found little inspiration within my religious community to "keep on keeping on." Our impersonal life style felt more like living in a hotel where roomers came and went but rarely got to know each other. I was getting more support in my spiritual life from the charismatic renewal (led by some of my own Sisters, true, but held at a distance by our leaders). I felt alone, alienated, discouraged.
I almost left.
Why did I stay? Because I could not say no to God's call. Somehow, with the help of family, friends, and God, I came through that crisis and stayed with the community. God is good; She never lets me down. I love my life of teaching, praying, singing and playing. Perhaps the biggest turning point in my life happened in May 2005, when I was diagnosed with lung cancer. Surgery took out one lung, chemotherapy destroyed the compromised lymph nodes, and I spent five months recuperating at our retirement center. By January,2006 I was cancer-free and ready to return to teaching. It felt like a miracle. It is a miracle!
Cancer taught me to love myself; it taught me to love others and to feel that I am loved. That is a gift no amount of money can buy. That is the gift of Christ's love.
When did I join and why did I join? Why did you join?
Did it all start on that day in 1956? A senior at Saint Mary’s High School in Bird Island, Minn., I decided to skip school with classmate Doris VanderHagen and visit the College of Saint Benedict. We were allowed one school day off to visit colleges and we hadn’t taken advantage of that yet. Already registered at the College of Saint Catherine, I went to St. Joseph, Minn., with no intention of changing. In spite of that, something told me Saint Benedict’s was the place for me. And so in fall 1956 I was a first year student, living in F-13, Aurora Hall.
I believe it was the warmth and the humanness of Sisters Luke Hoschette and Joanna Muggli in the college resident area which caught my heart. In the course of that first year I remember Sister Mary Patrick Murray, Dean of Students, querying me if I had ever considered entering religious life. That cinched it. In fall 1957, I entered Saint Benedict’s Monastery as a postulant and continued classes at the college. When receiving the habit (traditional dress of a Sister) as a novice in summer 1958, the name Sister Josita was assigned to me. We could suggest three choices; both my grandfathers’ names were Joseph. The novitiate year was spent studying the Rule of Saint Benedict, Scripture, Latin, etc. Following my first profession on July 11, 1959, fall found me back in college as a Junior Sister. My major was home economics education; I was granted a Bachelor of Science degree in June 1961. My fondest memory as a college student is the intellectual motivation given me by way of Sisters Incarnata Girgen and Enid Smith. To this day it motivates my love for learning.
What do you appreciate most about being a member of the monastery? What has kept you here – what has sustained your monastic life?
Living, praying, working and playing with so many generous, creative, talented, dedicated women seeking God while serving others and being enriched by them sustains me in this Benedictine monastic way of life. I appreciate it deeply.
What type of work have you been doing as a Sister?
Home economics was my field as a high school teacher: three years at Cathedral High School, St. Cloud; two at Pierz Memorial High School, Pierz; and one at Saint Boniface High School, Cold Spring, before it closed. Michigan State University granted me a master’s degree in institutional administration at graduation in 1969. Then came a stint as director of food service for the college and monastery—22 years! This was along with teaching food and nutrition courses in the Home and Community Service Department, sometimes part-time, for four years full-time. On the side, as they say, I served as Prefect/Faculty Resident for the college students.
In 1991, Prioress Mary Reuter appointed me director of personnel/ministry for the monastic community. I remained on her Administrative Team until 1995 when a new prioress, Sister Ephrem Hollermann, came on the scene. I found myself in the role of subprioress and, of course, was on her Leadership Team until 2005. Now here I am, coordinator of hospitality for our monastic community. The Guest House, Reception Desk, invited guests, unexpected visitors, requested or casual tours and conversations, and more fall into my sphere of responsibility. Still serving on task teams and committees also keeps me in the heart of the community. I find all this wonderfully satisfying.
My attraction to Saint Benedict’s Monastery came about because I loved my Benedictine grade school teachers. Sister Audree Hardgrove was my piano teacher for eight years; she had me playing the organ for Mass by the time I was in my teens. I loved the Mass and the thought of having it as a significant part of my life was definitely in my heart by the time I was in high school.
When I was thinking about a major in music at the College of Saint Benedict, Dad questioned it: “I don’t want you playing at a night club all hours of the night!” But as a college junior, I did want to join a different kind of “club.” Hearing the Sisters chant their prayers in chapel and seeing them walk, two-by-two, in procession to the Liturgy of the Hours and Mass inspired me to want to be one of them. I have never changed my mind since.
My decision to be a Sister was challenged in the years of my first monastic profession. When teaching in grade school, one little child was especially dear and lovable. It struck me that I would never have a child of my own. However, becoming a Sister proved to be the stronger attraction for me. I realized, too, that as a teacher, there would always be children around to love and nurture.
The challenges I've met, the support of my community and loving friendships of Sisters have brought deep peace to me. The realization of God’s presence, mysterious love and mercy, the continuous joy of God’s gift of music with its power to touch the hearts of others – all have helped to expand that sense of peace.
I have just celebrated my 60th jubilee as a Benedictine Sister. I would not trade it for anything!
Actually, one might say I grew up with the Benedictine Sisters beginning at age 14 months. Yes, months! As they stood by my mother's bedside in her battle with the deadly influenza of 1919, they also hovered over me. My mother recovered; she lived to be 79, though she was never quite the same. My four-year-old brother Joseph, however, was taken from us in this epidemic.
The presence of the Sisters at so early an age in my life may have been an initial influence but their joy and happiness I observed in elementary school and their orderly, holy life in our parish community inspired me. It all led me to enroll at Saint Benedict’s High School in August 1933, to begin my novitiate in June 1937 and on to perpetual monastic profession on July 11, 1941.
Mine has been the privilege of teaching for many, many years, beginning with elementary school, in high school and college, and in adult education. Being a tutor for 18 years in the National Laubach Literacy Program stands out in my life as a ministry of joy. Above all, in this specialized teaching, I learned to accept, to respect deeply the person who came to me.
As I cast a glance over my 68 years in this monastic community, one idea seems to have sustained me. Fundamentally, vocation is a call to relationship: with God, living according to the Rule of St. Benedict; with others, in our ministry of prayer, work and community living as we listen and respond to the needs of the Church and the world. I appreciate this becoming who I am, who I have always longed to be as something beyond my power alone, but with God and others.