Patricia Welter credits her time as a Benedictine high school student in her home town of Bismarck, N.D., but more so as a student at the College of Saint Benedict "for my strong understanding and belief in community, inclusiveness and hospitality." As a teacher and principal for 35 years, as well as in her work as a board member for community organizations, she has been guided by these values.
As a teacher and administrator in the St. Cloud public school system during the 1980s and 1990s, Pat Welter saw the city and its schools dramatically change from her first decade as a teacher. As a mentor and coach to teachers and staff, she says she saw her role as "expanding their vision of school to include needs of kids different from what they had known. At heart it's about the dignity and respect of all people. I pushed some of the teachers to understand the circumstances of the families in our school and emphasized that we're a community." That same idea drove her as a principal to "think outside the box" and secure funding and programs to meet a variety of needs.
This mindset has taken her beyond the school setting to the larger community. Asked to be a board member at Anna Marie's Alliance, an organization for battered women and their children that emphasizes the transformation of community to build healthy relationships, she quickly found their cause was close to her heart. She worked with Anna Marie's to implement a program at North Junior High School for kids at risk of abuse or of becoming bullies that has been replicated at other schools. She is now part of a larger effort in St. Cloud called "Connect" that aims to transform community by training in violence prevention through healthy relationships within and across various sectors, including business, health, government and faith organizations.
But what she is most excited about these days is her work on the board of the Somali Elders Council. This group of about 30 Somali immigrants "commited to being agents of help in their community" is working to become incorporated as a nonprofit. "It is incredible to see these people struggling and working so hard to make a life here, with a history of conflict and distrust of government agencies in their own country and no real model of civic life." Again, Pat has identified tremendous need in the community and set about to do what she can to meet it. "You do what you can given where you are," she says. Although her role is primarily helping them become a nonprofit, she has also helped secure one Somali woman a job and is in the process of becoming an English Language Literacy tutor.
Pat pointed to a course she took as part of a tri-college honor's program at CSB as a large part of her formation. "The emphasis was on community," she says, and the students lived in a pilot community. "The Sisters and monks [of Saint John's Abbey] were the moderators, and it gave us a concrete experience of what intentional community was about." The Sisters also created on campus an environment of vocation beyond the call to religious life, where young women asked themselves: "What am I called to do? How am I called to serve?"
Connie Zierden reflects many of Mother Benedicta Riepp’s qualities, but one is missing—Benedicta died at age 37 and Connie turned 100 in December 2007. She has been an exemplar of Benedictine life for 82 years. Her love of learning and teaching was apparent at Saint Benedict’s Academy and the College of Saint Benedict, where she was loved, respected and admired for her professionalism and guidance for years, while supervising student teachers, principals and peers noted her positive impact on young, future teachers.
No alumna from 1935-1966 can forget the pageant Connie choreographed. It had a strong, formative role, giving students an understanding of the Benedictine heritage while, at the same time, igniting in them a love of learning and culture.
Connie’s ministry of ongoing service extended far beyond volunteer work for the Sisters; she reached out to the broader community, including time spent with Dorothy Day. For the Sisters of Saint Benedict, she was a lifelong press agent, spreading the Good News in many a milieu, in both the 20th and 21st centuries. Connie’s humble life mirrors genuine holiness grounded in respect, service and hospitality.
Ann Cofell, a 1977 graduate of the College of Saint Benedict, has chosen to devote her entire professional life as a lawyer to helping the voiceless; those discriminated against, those who experience poverty, abuse and neglect, especially women and children.
Benedicta Riepp and the early Sisters acted courageously on behalf of those without homes, money, education, health care and opportunity, also directed especially to women and children. It is not difficult to see how Benedicta’s life parallels Ann’s. As Jeremy Lane, Executive Director of Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance, presented the award to Ann, he stated, “The practice of law as exemplified by Ann is a healing ministry. It is a powerful way to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked, bring healing to the sick, comfort the dying. Ann’s work life at St. Cloud Legal Services has involved all of those things.”
Ann is a shining example of living the Gospel and the best of Catholic social teaching. The Sisters are also justifiably proud of the fact that she is an alumna of both Saint Benedict’s High School and the College of Saint Benedict.