Tim Oberholzer
Tim Oberholzer is Executive Director of the Center for Benedictine Life. In addition to managing the operations of the CBL, Tim facilitates in-person retreats and on-line programs. Tim also accompanies others as a spiritual director.
Tim spent five and a half years as a Trappist monk at New Melleray Abbey in Peosta, Iowa. Deep prayer and reflection led him to leave the community prior to making solemn profession. He moved to Idaho to be closer to his parents, discovering the Monastery of St. Gertrude through a job posting for the innkeeper position at the Inn at St. Gertrude.
Tim earned a business degree from the University of Notre Dame, studied philosophy and theology at the University of St. Thomas, and completed the Stewards of the Mystery spiritual direction training program.
Tim is a remarried widower, a committed runner, and an avid reader.
Events with Tim Oberholzer
Diffusions - Playing with Words: Benedict’s Little Rule for BeginnersApril 22, 2025
St. Benedict’s “little rule written for beginners” invites us to grow in virtue through intentional living in the ordinariness of life. The text contains numerous themes to inspire and direct individuals and communities in the way of perfection. During these Zoom sessions, we will ponder the Rule of St. Benedict by “playing” with recurring words and themes. Each month we will examine Benedict’s weaving of a different word or theme through the Rule to gain an understanding of his intention and our application. Examples include: time, love, work, good, life, community, care, evil, fear, guest, just/justice, prayer, and discipline. Whether…
Diffusions :: Praying Like Monks, Living Like FoolsMay 1 - July 18, 2025
Prayer is not a soft place to lay our heads or a workout routine for burning spiritual fat. It’s a wild, unpredictable adventure that only those brave enough to strip themselves of artificial identities, get the wind completely knocked out of them a time or two, and see beauty in mystery will ever take. Proceed with caution. Prayer is not for the faint of heart. — from the Introduction of Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools by Tyler Staton This book discussion will explore Tyler Staton’s book Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools: An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery…
Journaling: The Sanctuary of the HeartMay 19 - 23, 2025
What is sacred space? How do you enter it? What are you being invited into? How will you greet the Divine shining through this transparent world? The Center for Benedictine Life at the Monastery of St. Gertrude welcomes the monastery of your heart. Here, the quest within and the world without join hands. Prompts of the Spirit and their counterparts in key moments, find a voice in the sanctuary of your journal, the sanctuary of the heart. Journaling, Joan Chittister says, is an “x-ray of your soul.” It gets beneath our facades to the bone, blood, tissue, and the spiritual…