Submitted from Nancy Enderle, director, Center for Clergy Renewal As part of their experience with the Center for Clergy Renewal (CCR), pastors submit written assessments about their spiritual renewal and how their time at Holy Wisdom helps them thrive in ministry. After their summer immersion, pastors reflect on the following questions: After their second immersion in the winter, pastors are invited to respond to the prompt: These assessments create opportunities for pastors to reflect deeply on their lives and share those thoughts with me (Nancy Enderle). I meet with each pastor individually to provide feedback and support as they think …
The Center for Clergy Renewal at Holy Wisdom Monastery Celebrates 5 Years!
In 2018 a group of members from the communities of Holy Wisdom gathered to discern the opportunity to apply for a one-million-dollar grant from the Lilly Endowment’s Thriving In Ministry initiative. Now five years into this work, we celebrate the vision and commitment of the Benedictine Women of Madison and the volunteers who prayed, dreamed, wrote drafts, prayed some more, wrote some more and finally received news that they were awarded the full grant which enabled this new Center for Clergy Renewal to take root within the communities of Holy Wisdom Monastery. Some highlights from the first five years: Once …
Seeking pastors for the next ECCSR cohort
Applications are being received for the fourth ecumenical cohort of ECCSR pastors to experience Contemplative Renewal at Holy Wisdom Monastery. Each year, 18 pastors are invited to participate in an experience of deep listening to God, themselves and each other. Pastors report life-changing experiences of connection and deep renewal, such as the comment below: “Spending time in safe and vulnerable community with others who have had similar experiences in the unique vocation of pastoral ministry has been such a fruitful experience – the hours of prayer together with the sisters, the time being held in sacred conversation and listening, the …
Holy Wisdom Monastery’s Ecumenical Center for Clergy Spiritual Renewal Welcomes Scott Stoner as New Co-director
Middleton, WI—The Ecumenical Center for Clergy Spiritual Renewal (ECCSR) offers Christian pastors contemplative renewal experiences into the monastic rhythms of Holy Wisdom Monastery, and an ongoing community of resources and support. As the ECCSR begins its fourth year of bringing experiences of contemplative renewal to early and mid-career clergy, it is blessed to announce that The Rev. Dr. Scott Stoner will begin his work as a co-director of the Center. “I was blessed to have been on the planning team for the ECCSR and have been a small part of the cohort programming from the beginning. Thus, I know firsthand …
‘A Space for Clergy Renewal,’ The Holy Wisdom Podcast
Want to be the first to hear every new episode? Click here to sign up for email notifications! Where can pastors and clergy leaders go for spiritual renewal and support? Being a leader in a faith tradition isn’t easy, and it can sometimes be difficult to find peers with the same calling. This need for connection and community naturally led to the formation of one of the newest communities at Holy Wisdom Monastery: The Ecumenical Center for Clergy Spiritual Renewal (ECCSR). Join us in this inspiring dive into the creation and meaning of the ECCSR experience with co-directors Reverend Nancy …
Holy Wisdom Monastery announces next CEO
Middleton, WI, May 8, 2020 – The Benedictine Women of Madison Board of Directors at Holy Wisdom Monastery is pleased to announce the appointment of Charles P. McLimans as the organizations next Chief Executive Officer. He will join Holy Wisdom Monastery on July 1, 2020. Charles McLimans currently serves as president and CEO of The River Food Pantry where he oversees all organizational strategies, while facilitating collaborative opportunities to achieve a fully nourished community. Prior to The River, McLimans served as the president and CEO of anti-hunger organizations including Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin—Wisconsin’s largest food bank—and Loaves and Fishes Community …
ECCSR receiving applications for the next cohort of pastors
by Nancy Enderle and Jerry Buss, co-directors of the ECCSR Applications have begun to come in for the next cohort of pastors seeking to participate in Contemplative Renewal at Holy Wisdom Monastery. The deadline for applications is January 15, 2020. If you know an early to mid-career pastor who is thinking about applying, now is the time to encourage him or her to do so! In addition to receiving applications for the next cohort of 19 pastors, the ECCSR will maintain connections with the current cohort as they prepare to return for a second, shorter immersion in January of 2020. Following their …
The ECCSR is taking applications for the 2020-2021 cohort
Starting October and continuing through January 15, 2020, the ECCSR will be receiving applications for the next cohort of 19 pastors seeking contemplative renewal through immersions into the blessings of monastic life and Benedictine spirituality at Holy Wisdom. Building on the great experience the first cohort shared, co-directors Nancy Enderle and Jerry Buss are communicating through different denominational networks, as well as presenting at clergy gatherings around the Midwest. We anticipate a large number of applications for the 19 openings, so if you know someone who would like to apply, by all means encourage her or him to do so! Details about the …
Co-directors for new Ecumenical Center for Clergy Spiritual Renewal arrive!
On January 10, 2019 the co-directors for the new Ecumenical Center for Clergy Spiritual Renewal (ECCSR) arrived at Holy Wisdom Monastery and began their work! The ECCSR is the newest expression of the monastery’s ecumenical ministry weaving prayer, hospitality, justice, and care for the earth into a shared way of life. The co-directors arrival culminates the work of more than 16 volunteers, many of them oblates, who served on the Lilly Foundation Inc. grant writing team and the search team to find the co-directors. The new co-directors are Reverend Jerry Buss and Reverend Nancy Enderle. Jerry Buss is an ordained Evangelical …
Holy Wisdom Monastery Receives a $1 Million Grant to Create an Ecumenical Center for Clergy Spiritual Renewal
MIDDLETON, WI, October 19, 2018 — Benedictine Women of Madison, a religious community of women, received a grant of $1 million to help establish an Ecumenical Center for Clergy Spiritual Renewal (ECCSR) at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton, Wisconsin. It’s part of Lilly Endowment Inc.’s Thriving in Ministry, an initiative that supports a variety of religious organizations across the nation as they create or strengthen programs that help pastors build relationships with experienced clergy who can serve as mentors and guide them through key leadership challenges in congregational ministry. Lilly Endowment is making nearly $70 million in grants through the …