Benedictine Bridges: Reaching Out Across Generations

Proverbs 22:6 tells us, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” The sisters of Saint Benedict’s Monastery have long honored and witnessed to the core message of this verse. Instilling strong values and teaching children to honor their faith and vocations is an integral theme of the story of Benedictine women in the United States.

Sister Marilyn Mark is the current vocations director at the monastery, and she recently had the opportunity to attend SEEK, a five-day conference presented by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS). S. Marilyn attended the conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, January 1–5, 2025. A wide range of laity and religious, families with small children, and adults of all ages came together to create a diverse convention of roughly 17,000 participants.

“It was uplifting because in Utah, we don’t have a huge gathering of young people like that anymore,” said S. Marilyn, who was born in Salt Lake City and began her monastic life in Utah.

One of the conference’s schedule staples was daily Mass. S. Marilyn remarked how incredible it was to see so many young families there. There were many children at each Mass, and the youth, from infants in strollers to young adults, were outstandingly engaged in the liturgies. College-aged attendees would emit a buzzing energy before events equal to that which is usually seen at concerts and other mainstream secular events.

Of her initial thoughts on attending the conference, S. Marilyn said, “I was kind of hesitant to go, but I thought … I need to go see what this is like. And I was just so surprised … I was excited to see all those young people in the faith so committed.”

Throughout the conference, S. Marilyn was able to speak to many young people of varying backgrounds. Two of the young women she met are attending college in Moorhead, Minn. They attended the Life Awareness Retreat held at Saint Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, Minn., on February 8, 2025. Both young women are considering religious life, and one happens to be related to Sister Geraldine Zierden.

Events like SEEK are geared specifically toward young adults, but they are not the only place our sisters engage with young people devoted to their faith. Last spring, when Sister Alice Imdieke was teaching Vacation Bible School in Hallock, Minn., she said that her students, aged 7 to 10 years, “instilled a strong love for the Eucharist” within her. The parish children were ecstatic to share about their experiences in the Star of the North Pilgrimage. In June 2024, Sister Karen Rose, prioress of Saint Benedict’s Monastery, asked S. Alice to attend the National Eucharistic Congress—the first in 83 years—which took place in Indianapolis, Ind., July 17–21, 2024. Remembering the children of Hallock’s profound excitement regarding their own pilgrimage, she gratefully took the opportunity.

Each day of the Congress began with Mass, followed by impact sessions, which included focuses for youth, families and priests, and time to explore the vast number of exhibits available. Some sessions would end in the late evening hours, with attendees still eagerly participating. Attendees also had the option to participate in Eucharistic Adoration at nearby St. John’s Church. It was on the way to this Adoration that S. Alice was delighted to come across a group of young adults chanting and singing to Jesus in the streets.

S. Alice recounted that upon entering the church for Adoration, she gave thanks to Jesus that she had been able to hear from the Congress’ many speakers. “But Jesus, it’s all about you,” she had continued. After a few moments of silence, she said, she was amused to hear Jesus reply in her heart, “I’m the number one speaker.”

When Mother Benedicta Riepp answered the call in 1852 to teach the children of German immigrants in Pennsylvania, she kickstarted a tradition of Benedictine women religious responding to the needs of the Church and the world. The sisters are still responding, reaching out their loving hands to guide young Catholics over 160 years later.

Alyssa Tasto

This article was featured on pages 24–25 in the spring 2025 issue of Benedictine Sisters and Friends.