Recipients of Mother Benedicta Riepp Award
2011 Margaret (Margy) Hughes
When Margy Hughes came to work in the physical education department at the College of Saint Benedict in 1966, almost all of the faculty and staff were Sisters. Margy felt special to be one of five or so laypeople who got to work closely with them. It was a feeling she remembered from her childhood growing up in Hibbing. Her family’s house was opposite the Catholic school and Benedictine Sisters’ convent, “so we were close by when they needed something.” The children in her family would be called to help and felt special to get to know the Sisters more personally. Thomasette Scheeler co-chair the food vendors committee. She is also the chair of the St. Joseph Action Group, whose latest venture is bringing a thrift store downtown. She also volunteers with the monastery and works at events at Saint John’s University, donating the money she earns to the St. Joseph parish quilters. “The Sisters show us that, working together, a community can do big things,” she said. “They built a hospital, a college, a large monastery with farming and businesses. What I learned working at St. Ben’s is: ‘We need you.’ We have to communicate that to others and, together, we can do big things.”
What she remembered of the Sisters who educated her, members of St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth, was that “they were people who did things. They were real people. Some of the teachers would play softball and kickball with us at recess.” always gotten things done, particularly in service to their community, has inspired Margy to build community, too. “The Sisters are always so organized when it comes to doing things. Everyone plays her part. When the tornado hit Sauk Rapids in the early days of the hospital, the teaching Sisters pitched in. During the Depression, everyone played a part in meeting the needs of people, feeding people and helping pay the debt. They were driven.”
Seeing how the Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict get things done and have always gotten things done, particularly in service to their community, has inspired Margy to build community, too.
One feels that same drive and commitment when speaking to Margy takes that same drive for So far, she says, that community effort has been most in evidence at the Catholic church, built with stones from local farmers’ fields. However, with growth and new people coming in who are not Catholic, people are looking for ways to engage in town life. “The older community-minded folks have to engage people and get them to build what is going on now in St. Joe,” she said. “We need to be able to be more inclusive, welcoming different kinds of people and offering them a way to participate.” She has directed her energy, therefore, into civic projects that welcome people downtown. As a board member for the Millstream Festival, she and Sister community building into her civic efforts in St. Joseph. “The only way things can happen is if the community pitches in,” she said. “In the 11 years I’ve lived in St. Joe, I’ve heard about what people who lived here all their lives have done. In a small community you have to work together and to have pride in something.” Hughes.
For 38 years she built a culture of welcoming hospitality and deep respect for each person in the physical education and athletic departments. Athletic Director Carol Howe-Veenstra said, “Margy taught me so much about community. Since her retirement (in 2003) I know I need to be ‘Margy’ to others and keep that community and teamwork going.”
2010 - Mary Jo Willette Hughes
she said. “In the 11 years I’ve lived in St. Joe, I’ve heard about what people who lived here all their lives have done. In a small community you have to work together and to have pride in something.”
Mary Jo Willette Hughes found the Benedictine motto: “That in all things, God may be glorified,” a liberating philosophy. She remembers writing the abbreviation of the Latin form of the motto, UIOGD, at the top of all her papers as a student at the College of Saint Benedict (CSB), from which she graduated in 1954. “What I learned from the Benedictines was to say yes to what comes along and trust in God’s plan for my life,” she said.
The first thing to come along after college was her marriage to Mark Hughes and the birth of her seven children. When the last one went to kindergarten, she began teaching music at St. Augustine’s in St. Cloud, with Sister Gen Maiers as her principal. After teaching, she worked for the Family Life Bureau of St. Cloud, teaching and counseling couples about Natural Family Planning. But following a sabbatical with her husband in Pennsylvania in 1990-91, she decided to quit her job and focus on poetry and music. She has been a guitarist for liturgies at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Waite Park for many years.
She had begun writing poetry at the age of 58, taking classes with Sister Eva Hooker at CSB, also at St. Cloud State, the Loft and “wherever I could find them.” One of the classes was a poetry therapy class taught by her aunt, Sister Arlene Hynes. Much of her own attraction to poetry was as a form of therapy as she ordered and sorted through complex emotions dealing with family, particularly the struggles with addiction faced by her youngest son.
However, poetry was not something new. Her first poetry teacher had been her mother, Florence Hynes Willette, who published her own poetry as part of a regular column in a Knights of Columbus publication. Her mother’s book of poems, Shadow and Light, was the first book published by John Dwyer at his newly established venture, North Star Press. Mary Jo has published two books with North Star Press, Quilt Pieces and Flight on New Wings. A third, The Shadow Loom Poems, is forthcoming.
Quilt Pieces is a memoir in poetry, but in her second book she delved into poetry therapy. She has been leading sessions for clients of the Alcohol and Chemical addiction program at St. Cloud Hospital for ten years. She got to know counselor Steve Lance when her son was in the program. After Mary gave him some poems she wrote about her son’s experience, Lance shared them with Bernie Belling. The two called her in for a meeting and by the end of it she’d been assigned to lead poetry therapy sessions the following month. Her sessions use a selection of her own poems, followed by discussion questions. She begins the sessions with a tough poem on a difficult subject, but always ends with a lighter, more hopeful poem.
Her son has been in recovery for 30 years, and his story, told through Mary Jo’s poetry, has provided hope to many clients in the Recovery Plus program. Another son just marked 25 years of recovery and sent his parents gold 25-year chips to mark the occasion, saying he never could have come through without the help and support of his family. Mary Jo has built her reputation as a poet and poetry therapist, speaking at national conferences and in the classes at CSB.
In addition to the Benedicta Riepp Award, Mary Jo has also received a Central Minnesota Arts Board grant for $3,000 for her poetry this year and the 2010 Public Service Award from the National Association of Poetry Therapy. Still, she says, she’s “humbled and grateful” to the Sisters for recognizing her in this way. The Benedictines, including Sister Firmin in the music department, Sister Mariella Gable in English and Sisters Enid Smith and Jeremy Hall in philosophy and religion, were formational influences on her. “These were really strong women who helped shape who I am. Through them we [students] learned what we can do.”
To purchase one of Mary Jo Willette Hughes’ books of poetry, go to the Web site for North Star Press, or contact Mary Jo at hug2hes@charter.net.
To read three poems by Mary Jo Willette Hughes, click here.
2010 - Joan Strom Riebel
Both of our Benedicta Riepp Award winners for 2010 mentioned the Sisters’ model of Benedictine hospitality as having had a profound impact on how they live. They don’t mean that it’s nice that the Sisters let them come visit and made them more social. Joan Strom Riebel exlpained it this way: “I am most connected to Saint Benedict’s Monastery through the experience of hospitality, being open and accepting of people. The Sisters embraced and accepted me as I am [when I was a student]. They are happy to see me [when I visit] and really spend time with me, and that carries over to how I am with others.” One weekend in July she participated in the Tangletown Garden Walk and hosted six artists and their work as part of the tour of her garden. All of the artists mentioned how gracious and welcoming she was, and what a great experience it was to be part of her garden. “It is second nature to me at this point,” Joan said. “I don’t notice until someone points it out.”
What Joan didn’t mention is the even greater hospitality and community-building she has provided by turning part of her property into a community garden for the neighborhood, with 12 garden plots she tills and prepares each spring for others to plant and enjoy.
Joan has stayed connected with the Sisters through her involvement at the College of Saint Benedict, which has brought her frequently to campus. She was active in the alumnae association thorughout the 1980s, serving as its president for a few years. She also served on a fundraising committee and has remained connected through activities. On August 19, the day before the Benedicta Riepp Award ceremony at the annual Donor Appreciation Event, she was already scheduled to be on campus for a dinner honoring Sister Emmanuel Renner and Sister Colman O’Connell at the college. Her son, Jack Riebel, a chef at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis, cooked for the event.
Sister Emmanuel was her major advisor in the history department and the professor from whom she took the most classes. She worked “behind the scenes” in the theater department with Sister Colman. In fact, she says, “Sister Coleman once saved my life.” While operating spotlights for the annual pageant, a bare wire on the light she was moving made contact with the metal pole, and she froze. “Sister Colman pulled me off that light,” she said. She also remembers S. Colman going out to instruct student actors who were rehearsing a kiss and, according to S. Colman, were getting it all wrong. “I want to see a passionate kiss,” she said. “Kiss like you mean it!” It was a revelation to Joan to hear a nun talk that way!
Joan has been the executive director of Family Alternatives, a private, non-profit treatment foster care agency, for 26 years. The agency places adolescents with mental health diagnoses in special foster care homes where they can get the attention and care they need. Many of the children are from failed adoptions and have lived in multiple settings. The agency provides them a chance at stability. Joan oversees the supervision of 100 foster homes and provides training for these specialized foster parents. At 68, she says she has no intention of retiring. “I remember Sister Dolores Super saying, ‘when we Sisters reach 65 it means nothing; we just keep working until we can’t.’ I have lots of energy for my job and I still like it, so I’m going to keep doing it.”
For her dedication to children and her integration of the Benedictine values of community, hospitality and reverence for the earth, the Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict are pleased to present her with the Mother Benedicta Riepp Award.
2009 - Patricia Welter
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?"
2008 - Lois LeVasseur Liners
Lois LeVasseur Liners of Watertown, Wisconsin, was raised on Benedictine and Gospel values, and it has shown in her lifelong service to others. Two aunts were Benedictines in Crookston, and she attended Sacred Heart Grade School in Cloquet, Minnesota. While at the College of Saint Benedict (CSB), she majored in social work, became an Oblate, and also met her husband of 61 years, Bob.
For 20 years she worked at Bethesda Lutheran Home in Wisconsin, the largest religious residential home for the mentally disabled in the world. Eventually she began the work of going out and establishing group homes that allowed patients to live closer to their families. She credits the social work program at CSB for teaching her not just techniques and theory but also the important lesson of putting the client first and caring for the whole person.
In retirement she and her husband Bob have established two dental clinics that serve impoverished communities in Kenya and Guatemala. They made their 65th mission trip in September 2008 when they went to Kenya for a month. After years of managing the clinics from her home in Wisconsin, they are now managed locally. Lois and Bob Liners have also raised funds to purchase window screens and mosquito nets for a hospital and two orphanages in Kenya, and for drought relief. Lois has also continued to focus on education, raising money for scholarships for Kenyan students. The Linerses have put three women through high school and sent two to college, as well as supporting a young man who is in his junior year of medical school.
Turning over management of the clinics has freed Lois for more volunteer work at home. She became ESL-certified and last year she was nominated outstanding teacher by the state literacy council. Two days a week she also volunteers at the local hospice.
2007 - Connie Zierden
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.
2007 - Ann Cofell 
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.
When Margy Hughes came to work in the physical education department at the Collegeof Saint Benedict in 1966, almost all of the faculty and staff were Sisters. Margy felt special to be one of five or so laypeople who got to work closely with them. It was a feeling she remembered from her childhood growing up in Hibbing. Her family’s house was opposite the Catholic school and Benedictine Sisters’ convent, “so we were close by when they needed something.” The children in her family would be called to help and felt special to get to know the Sisters more personally.
What she remembered of the Sisters who educated her, members of St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth, was that “they were people who did things. They were real people. Some of the teachers would play softball and kickball with us at recess.” Seeing how the Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict get things done and have always gotten things done, particularly in service to their community, has inspired Margy to build community, too. “The Sisters are always so organized when it comes to doing things. Everyone plays her part. When the tornado hit Sauk Rapids in the early days of the hospital, the teaching Sisters pitched in. During the Depression, everyone played a part in meeting the needs of people, feeding people and helping pay the debt.
They were driven.” One feels that same drive and commitment when speaking to Margy Hughes. For 38 years she built a culture of welcoming hospitality and deep respect for each person in the physical education and athletic departments. Athletic Director Carol Howe-Veenstra said, “Margy taught me so much about community. Since her retirement (in 2003) I know I need to be ‘Margy’ to others and keep that community and teamwork going.” Margy takes that same drive for community building into her civic efforts in St. Joseph. “The only way things can happen is if the community pitches in,”