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 BeginnersJanuary 28, 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…
Looking Forward to EasterFebruary 28 - March 2, 2025
Does your spiritual life need a reset? Is Lent your 40-day version of the movie Groundhog Day? Do you give up the same thing every year? Is every day bland and meaningless? Are you just waiting for Lent to be over? In Looking Forward to Easter we will use Chapter 49: The Observance of Lent from the Rule of St. Benedict as a guide for self-reflection. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, we will examine our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual states to determine what should be washed away, what should be added, and what should be offered as we “look forward…
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…