BENEDICTINE RETREAT & CONFERENCE CENTER
Staff

 
Sam Rahberg
Sam Rahberg is the Director of the Benedictine Center and a spiritual director. Sam has experience in parish education and administration and holds a master's degree in theology from Saint John’s University, Collegeville. Email Sam
Virginia Matter OSB is a member of St. Paul’s Monastery and came to the Center from Health Care. Virginia has done significant preparation in the area of spirituality, Centering Prayer, Bio-Spiritual Focusing, retreats, and Spiritual Direction.  She also has experience in Native American creative arts and pottery.  Email Virginia

S. Carol Rennie OSB is former prioress of St. Paul’s Monastery and a member of the Benedictine Center’s spiritual direction team. She is a teacher of teachers, an experienced retreat leader, and has a special interest in group spiritual direction. Email Sr. Carol.

Ryland Witzler is the Benedictine Center Assistant. He is a graduate of Macalester College with a degree in Religious Studies and brings experience in public service. His particular interests lie in Byzantine studies and monastic life. Email Ryland.
Jacquelyne Witter, Ed.D. is the director of iLLUMINARE, the Lay Ecclesial Ministry Project of St. Paul’s Monastery.  Jackie has served in ministerial settings including parish, diocese and higher education.  She holds a doctorate in educational leadership, masters’ degrees in theology and religious education, and a graduate certificate in organization development. Email Jackie
Victor Klimoski, Ph.D. is the Director of Lifelong Learning Saint John's School of Theology and provides consulting services for the Benedictine Center of St. Paul’s Monastery. He holds a doctorate in adult education from the Univ. of Minn. and works extensively at the national level as a group facilitator and project consultant.

Benita Gerold OSB is a member of St. Paul’s Monastery and has an associates degree in Applied Science from the Univ. of Crookston.  Prior to her employment at the Center as hospitality minister, S. Benita served as Director of Food Center at St. Paul’s Monastery and at St. Mary’s Rehabilitation Center.

Chris Folkenson works behind the scenes with guest services, ensuring every guest arrives to a comfortable room.

Karen Sames OSB is a member of St. Paul’s Monastery and is a trained nurse. She works full-time for the American Red Cross and provides hospitality for guests in her spare time.

Sharon Schiller OSB is a member of St. Paul’s Monastery and has been a teacher in child care centers and also a secretary. She is now part of the hospitality team of the Benedictine Center.

Benedictine Center Presenters

Linda Anderson is an Oblate of St. Paul's Monastery who serves as the Director of Faith Formation at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish.

Steve Arnold, Ph.D. is a chaplain at St. Anthony Senior Living and a spiritual director. His doctoral work is in adult education and educational gerontology.

Mary Boespflug is the national director for the Ministry of Mothers Sharing, a ministry of St. Paul’s Monastery.

 

Mary Ann D. Carolin, MEd, MA, is a widow, mother, grandmother, and a certified spiritual and retreat director. She has extensive experience is spiritual development and loss and grief issues. Mary Ann is affiliated with Contemplative Outreach and a member of Spiritual Directors International.

Michael Dennis Browne is professor emeritus of English at the University of Minnesota, where he taught for thirty-nine years. His most recent publications include Give Her the River, a picture book with paintings by Wendell Minor (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2004); Things I Can’t Tell You, poetry (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2005); and What the Poem Wants, essays on poetry (Carnegie Mellon, 2008). Browne’s poems have been published in many magazines and anthologies, and his awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bush Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, and the McKnight Foundation. Two of his collections have won the Minnesota Book Award for poetry. As a librettist, he has written many texts for music, working principally with composer Stephen Paulus. Their post-Holocaust oratorio, To Be Certain of the Dawn, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in music by the Minnesota Orchestra and issued as a CD in 2008. Some of the best-known short choral works by Paulus and Browne include “The Road Home,” “Pilgrims’ Hymn,” “Hymn for America,” and “Hymn of the Eternal Flame.”

Jaci Bush is an Oblate of St. Paul's Monastery and a faculty member of the School of Business for The College of St. Scholastica. She volunteers in the music ministry of the Monastery and also serves as a facilitator of a women's faith sharing and Scripture study group.

Fr. Michael Byron is associate professor of theology at the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity of the University of St. Thomas. He is also pastor of St. Cecelia’s parish.

 

Kathleen Cahalan, Ph.D., is professor of theology at Saint John’s University School of Theology∙Seminary in Collegeville, Minnesota. Her most recent book is Introducing the Practice of Ministry (Liturgical Press, 2010). She is currently teaching a course on contemporary spiritual practices.

Rev. Lisa Cressman, D. Min is an Episcopal priest who currently serves the parish of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Basswood Grove. Lisa is also a spiritual director and retreat leader.

S. Joanne Dehmer SSND is a spiritual director on the staff of the Loyola Spirituality Center.

Bernie Evans is associate professor of Christian ethics at Saint John’s School of Theology*Seminary.

S. Mary Forman OSB is a member of the Monastery of St. Gertrude, Cottonwood, Idaho; currently she is Associate Professor of Monastic Studies and Theology at the School of Theology-Seminary, Saint John’s University, Collegeville, MN and is also the Chair of the undergraduate Department of Theology, College of Saint Benedict-Saint John’s University. She is an author, retreat director and teacher of Benedictine monasticism.

Darrin Francis is East Metro Program Manager for CommonBond Communities’ Advantage Services. He is responsible for individual services and family and youth programs for the families at the Trails Edge Townhomes community, next to St. Paul’s Monastery. He has master’s degrees in social work and public administration, and he is a former City Administrator.

S. Meg Funk OSB is past prioress of Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove, Indiana, and a popular teacher and retreat leader. She has written books on the Christian contemplative tradition, including Humility Matters, Thoughts Matter, and Tools Matter, and most recently Lectio Matters: Before the Burning Bush.

S. Paula Hagen OSB is a member of St. Paul's Monastery, a national retreat leader, and the co-founder of Ministry of Mothers Sharing.

Jeff Kaster is Adjunct Professor of Theology at Saint John's University School of Theology*Seminary and Founding Director of Youth in Theology and Ministry.

Rt. Rev. John Klassen OSB is the tenth Abbot of Saint John's Abbey and the Chancelor of Saint John's University.

 

 

Mary Martin is a spiritual director and a hospital chaplain. She holds graduate degrees in theology, counseling psychology, and library science and has been in direction herself for over twenty-five years.

S. Jacqueline Leiter OSB is a member of St. Paul’s Monastery and a teacher in St. Paul.

Clem Nagel is a poet whose work has been published in various national and local publications.


Elizabeth Nagel
is a writer, poet,
and fine arts photographer.

Frank Rivas is an artist from Minneapolis working with religious themes, drawing on his deep religious roots and formal theological training. His current project includes creating photographic images that reflect his study of the psalms and their meaning for the contemporary person. An exhibit of that collection will be at the monastery in September 2011.

David Sagula is a licensed psychologist and management consultant. He is also a member of the Confraternity of St. Gregory’s Abbey and has conducted numerous contemplative prayer retreats and workshops.

Meredith Schifsky is a member of the leadership team for Contemplative Outreach Minnesota and a teacher of Centering Prayer.

Jim Smith is director of faith formation for St. Margaret Mary Parish in Golden Valley, Minnesota.

 

Barb Sutton is Adjunct Professor of Theology is Associate Professor of Theology at Saint John's University School of Theology*Seminary and the Associate Dean for Ministerial Formation and Outreach.

Peggy Thompson is a teacher and retreat leader in arts and spirituality. She is known in the art community as Margaret Carroll.

Peter Watkins, M.Div. is a high school teacher of twenty years, author, musician, spiritual director, and little-league soccer coach. He is presently in the midst of raising three sons. Peter is a member of the Benedictine Center’s spiritual direction team.

Katy Wehr studied Christianity and the Arts at Regent College, Vancouver and has two CD's: The Smell of Rain and In Others' Words. Song samples and more information can be found on iTunes and www.katywehr.com. Katy is also the Associate for Children's and Family Ministry at Church of the Cross in Hopkins, MN.

S. Mary White OSB is both a licensed psychotherapist and a skilled teacher of Christian meditation. Her works draws on the wisdom of the world’s great spiritual traditions as well as her extensive background in psychology and sociology. Email Mary.

Paul Witmer is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, serving a Disciples of Christ congregation (Covenant Christian Church) in Urbandale IA. Paul is a graduate of the Spiritual Direction Preparation Program with the Franciscan Spirituality Center in LaCrosse, WI and serves as Spiritual Director, focusing largely on 12-step recovery and contemplative prayer. Paul also serves as co-coordinator of Contemplative Outreach of Central Iowa and presents workshops on centering prayer and other contemplative disciplines.

 
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