Sr. Teresa Jackson, OSB

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 for the Future Symposiums.

As her vision continues to guide the evolution of the Center for Benedictine Life at the Monastery of St. Gertrude, Sr. Teresa believes Benedictine life is not just for sisters. She created “Living as Monk in Everyday Life” in 2012, a cohort program at Spirit Center that forms people from all walks of life in Benedictine values and monastic principles.

She is driven by “the desire to help bring St. Gertrude’s into a new future with a different way of understanding Benedictine life. I have been inspired by the people who come here and find this to be a place of great spiritual depth. I have intuitively responded to that and want to help them become more connected and find ways to live the same Rule of Benedict that I do.”