Living as a Monk in Everyday Life: A Benedictine Spirituality Cohort
With Sr. Teresa Jackson, OSB and Cecilia McKean, Obl.S.B.
August 18 - 24, 2023
Many people today are discovering a deep hunger for God at their core. The ancient Benedictine monastic tradition is a way of life designed to help people live a life focused on God. In this nine-month program, we will focus on how ordinary people can integrate Benedictine monastic prayer, values, and structures into their lives outside of a monastery.
The program begins with a week-long retreat at the Monastery of St. Gertrude. Over the next nine months, participants will take online classes in Benedictine spirituality, participate in online discussions with other participants, explore suggested readings, and do regular integration/reflection exercises. The program will consist of four separate units: 1) the spiritual journey; 2) Benedictine prayer; 3) values and structures of Benedictine life; and 4) reading the Rule of Benedict. The emphasis throughout the program will be on developing a sense of community and mutual support between participants.
There is a retreat midway in winter (Jan. 12-15, 2024) and a final retreat (May 6-12, 2024) that will focus upon the development of your own “rule of life” based on the insights from the previous nine months.
Participation in “Living as a Monk in Everyday Life” will be limited to eight people who will be accepted through an application process. A donation of $1,800 will cover the retreats, food, lodging and program costs after acceptance into the cohort program.
Leaders
Sister Teresa was elected prioress of the monastic community at the Monastery of St. Gertrude in November 2023. She made her first monastic profession in 2000 and began working in retreat ministry. As part of an outreach program, she traveled across Idaho, Washington, and Oregon facilitating retreats as well as organizing meaningful experiences for often overlooked groups – parish secretaries and women pastors, for example – at the monastery. In 2007-8, Sister Teresa earned her Certificate in Monastic Studies from St. John’s University in Minnesota. She previously served as co-coordinator of the monastery’s oblate community and co-director of the Oblates…
Learn more about Sr. Teresa Jackson, OSB
Cecilia McKean grew up on beautiful Puget Sound in Steilacoom, Washington. The smell of the salt air, the murmur of the evergreens in the wind, the feel of the damp air on her skin – all these together made her young self sure that God lived at the beach. Raised in the Episcopal Church, Cecilia spent years seeking God both in and out of the Christian faith and in her work as a home hospice nurse, hospital chaplain and church pastor. After moving to Walla Walla, Washington in 2003 a spiritual director encouraged Cecilia to visit the Monastery of St.…
Learn more about Cecilia McKean, Obl.S.B.