Judith Valente

Judith Valente is a journalist, poet, retreat guide and author of several spirituality titles, including most recently How To Be: A Monk & A Journalist Reflect on Living & Dying, Purpose & Prayer, Forgiveness & Friendship. She is completing a book on her experiences in Italy.

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Photos of stained-glass windows in the choir chapel of Mount St. Scholastica Monastery, where the in-person portion of the colloquium was held. (Courtesy of Mount St. Scholastica Monastery, Atchison, Kansas)

'Benedictine Life: A Vision Unfolding' focuses on the next 100 years

The event "Benedictine Life: A Vision Unfolding" commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Federation of St. Scholastica, a union of 17 Benedictine women's monasteries. But the focus wasn't so much on the past.

Light comes through stained glass windows at Mount St. Scholastica, a Benedictine monastery in Atchison, Kansas. (Courtesy of Mount St. Scholastica)

Being Benedictine on the cusp of a new era for monasticism

The online gathering "Being Benedictine in the 21st Century " brought together vowed members, oblates, volunteers, staff and others who see monastic spirituality as a vital source of healing for an unsettled world.

Like other religious congregations, the Mount St. Scholastica Monastery in Atchison, Kansas, has had to strictly limit visitors since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020.

Upended by pandemic, Benedictine life survives and thrives by being adaptable

GSR Today - Without the structures we previously depended on, we've had to cultivate new understandings of our cherished Benedictine values of stability, community, hospitality, prayer and listening.

Benedictine Sr. Thomas Welder in the North Dakota prairie (Courtesy of University of Mary/Jerry Anderson)

On servant leadership: the vision of Sr. Thomas Welder

Benedictine Sr. Thomas Welder leaves an indelible handprint on the hearts of those lucky enough to have known her of what it means to be a servant, a leader, a person of faith and exemplary human being.

Benedictine Sr. Macrina Wiederkehr on a walk with the writer (Judith Valente)

Hope trails alongside: remembering Macrina Wiederkehr

There are people we encounter who transform our lives. We meet them by a grace that we neither expect nor deserve. For me, Benedictine Sr. Macrina Wiederkehr, who died April 24 at age 80, was one of those people.

Benedictine beauty and God

Benedictine Oblates stand at a crossroads in monastic history

Poet Wendell Berry bequests farm to Dominican Sisters of Peace college

Nun teaches secret to overcoming fear of death