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 BeginnersFebruary 25, 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 :: The Mystics Would Like a WordMarch 6 - April 10, 2025
The word mystic has an otherworldly quality about it; we tend to associate it with hermits levitating on a hillside more than with regular people living pretty regular lives — much less with ourselves. But a mystic is really just someone who has experienced a glimpse of the eternal and has chosen to pursue more. Mysticism is not reserved for a select few but is an invitation extended to each of us. Only one lifetime ago, the Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner said, “The Christian of the future will either be a mystic or will not exist.” For many of us,…
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…