Two Benedictine Sisters from the United States have arrived in Australia for a month-long visit during which they will give a series of retreats and workshops, focusing on the connection between Benedictine spirituality and eco-spirituality. Source: The Good Oil.
Sr Judith Sutera OSB and Sr Elizabeth Carrillo OSB are members of the Monastery of Mount St Scholastica in Atchison, Kansas.
Sr Judith has master’s degrees in counselling and monastic spirituality, and serves as an Oblate Director for her community, along with being a writer, speaker and retreat director.
Sr Elizabeth has a master’s degree in religion and the environment. She is a board and staff member of the Centre for Deep Green Faith, which provides offerings that blend eco-theology with eco-spirituality grounded in the Christian tradition.
The Sisters began their time in Australia with some sightseeing in Sydney as well as a guided tour of the Wivenhoe Conservation Area at Cobbitty on Sydney’s southern outskirts.
The Wivenhoe land was acquired by the Sisters of the Good Samaritan in 1910. In 2012, they began the process of setting aside some 164 hectares of land on their 260-hectare property for ecological restoration.
The site has two BioBanks, which total 84 hectares, where the New South Wales Government’s Office of Environment and Heritage, through the Biodiversity Conservation Trust, provides funds for the gradual restoration of the land.
In 2023, the Sisters withdrew from stewardship of the land, gifting 200 hectares of conservation land to the people of the state as a national park.
“It was wonderful,” Sr Judith said. “What they’re doing there is amazing. People drive by there every day and have no idea what that kind of work means for the planet.”
The Sisters are offering their workshop in four locations: Jamberoo Abbey in New South Wales, Tarrawarra Abbey in Victoria, Santa Teresa Spirituality Centre in Ormiston, Queensland, and the Sisters of the Good Samaritan Congregational Centre in Glebe, New South Wales.
The “Contemplating a World Restored: A Benedictine Approach to Ecological Conversion” workshop highlights the connection between contemplation and ecology.
In addition to the workshops, Sr Judith and Sr Elizabeth will lead retreats in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.
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Benedictine spirituality and eco-spirituality the focus of US Sisters’ visit (By Debra Vermeer, The Good Oil)
