“Never turn away when someone needs your love.” – Rule of Benedict 4:25–26

These words from The Rule of St. Benedict guided Sister Mary Weidner’s life during her more than 60 years in this Benedictine community, but her desire to love and serve others took root in her family. Mary is the youngest of Margaret and Rob Weidner’s seven children. They sang and played baseball together, had lively discussions where every opinion was respected, and welcomed to their home and table anyone who needed a roof or a meal. In her small but mighty hometown of Regal, Minn., where Johnny Cash once gave a concert in a cornfield, everyone was family and helping a neighbor was as natural as breathing. Mary brought these lessons of kindness and community with her to the College of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn., where she earned a degree in elementary education in 1963. Wonderful teachers like Sisters Margretta Nathe and Paschal Otto became her mentors and friends and invited her to consider religious life, and she joined Saint Benedict’s Monastery in 1965.

S. Mary taught in grade schools for 16 years but then heard God’s call to parish ministry; this was work she loved even though she often wondered if she had the gifts to do the tasks that lay before her. She learned over and over that if she trusted in God’s help and in the guidance of wonderful friends and mentors, she would be able to do things she could not have even imagined. She worked with Hispanic migrants and loved to join them in their high-spirited celebrations. Most of all, whether serving in the Minnesota cities of East Grand Forks, Brooten, Padua, Olivia, Montevideo, Granite Falls or Clara City, she brought her deep love for liturgy, especially the Eucharist. She believes that the Eucharist is an abundant feast where everyone is welcome and that there is no division between the words we sing at prayers and our work for social justice. She worked with people in crucial moments of their lives, helping them enter into liturgies that eased their sorrows and intensified their joys. Guided by mentors like Father Jerry Rogers and Father Tony Kroll, S. Mary believed and taught that the sacraments help us navigate the most crucial moments of our lives.

Following her community’s call, S. Mary earned a certificate in spiritual direction from the Center for Spiritual Development in Cambridge, Mass., and came back to Saint Benedict’s Monastery to serve in the Spirituality Center. Later, she became the director of the Spirituality Center, and under her leadership, she helped build relationships with newly arrived immigrants to this area, greater understanding between Catholics and Lutherans, and friendship and support among women working in various Christian churches in the Sophia Circles. S. Mary was then called to be part of our community’s leadership team, serving as subprioress from 2017–2023.

S. Mary recently completed her service as assistant dean at Saint Scholastica Convent, our community’s retirement center, in St. Cloud, Minn. There, too, she never turns away when someone needs her love, whatever form that need for love takes. She lends a listening ear, shares a laugh, sits with a frightened sister in the emergency room or at a sick bed, and ferries sisters to appointments. S. Mary keeps vigil with sisters as they make their last pilgrimage from this life to the next. She welcomes families of the sisters who died and includes their stories in the beautiful, personal memorial services.

A friend once gave S. Mary the song “For Good” from the musical “Wicked.” The line, “Because I knew you, I have been changed for the good,” described S. Mary’s influence on her life. Many people—family, friends, students, parishioners, community members—would say that S. Mary’s honesty, humor, generosity and unshakable faith in God’s love have changed us for the good.

Profile written by Mara Faulkner, OSB