Collegeville Institute

Collegeville Institute The Collegeville Institute is a place of scholarship, worship, dialogue, and community immersed in the Benedictine rhythm of work and prayer.

The Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research brings together well-trained scholars, researchers, writers and other creative, articulate women and men who seek a place for careful thought, inquiry, and prayer. We seek to discern the meaning of Christian identity and unity in a religiously and culturally diverse world, and to communicate that meaning for the work of the church and the renewal of human community.

The Collegeville Institute mourns the death of Sister Dolores Schuh, CHM, whose faithful service helped shape CI for mor...
09/03/2026

The Collegeville Institute mourns the death of Sister Dolores Schuh, CHM, whose faithful service helped shape CI for more than three decades.

Sister Dolores served as administrative secretary, administrator, and executive associate before retiring in 2004. Her work touched nearly every part of CI’s life, from administration and fundraising to caring for the spaces where guests were welcomed.

More than anything, Sister Dolores helped make CI feel like home.

Through her warmth, humor, attentiveness, and legendary chocolate chip cookies, she embodied the Benedictine hospitality that remains central to the Institute’s identity.

We give thanks for her life, her service, and the countless ways she helped make CI a place of welcome and belonging.

Read her obituary here: https://www.hmdfuneralhome.com/obituaries/sr-dolores-schuh

As we end our summer workshop season and move into the fall rhythm of welcoming resident scholars, we have also been ten...
08/20/2026

As we end our summer workshop season and move into the fall rhythm of welcoming resident scholars, we have also been tending to the spaces that make their time here possible.

Windows have been washed. Brick sidewalks have been repaired, upgraded, and leveled. Apartments and common spaces are being readied with care.

This kind of preparation is part of CI’s hospitality. Before scholars arrive to write, reflect, research, and enter into meaningful conversation, many hands help prepare the place.

We are grateful for the staff and partners who care for these spaces so that resident scholars can arrive, settle in, and begin the work they are called to do.

Nine writers gathered at the Collegeville Institute for Grounded by Place/Growing through Time, a generative writing wor...
08/13/2026

Nine writers gathered at the Collegeville Institute for Grounded by Place/Growing through Time, a generative writing workshop led by Camille T. Dungy.

Throughout the week, participants explored how writing can be shaped by the patterns, textures, histories, and realities of the living world. Together, they wrote, read, dreamed, shared, and considered the connections between human lives and the greater-than-human world.

Place mattered deeply to this group. The Saint John’s Abbey Arboretum became part of the workshop experience—not only as a landscape to move through, but as a teacher, companion, and source of attention. Walking the trails invited participants to notice ecology, memory, time, and relationship in new ways.

We are grateful to Camille and to each of the writers who brought their curiosity, creativity, and care to this week of place-rooted writing.

How can poetry serve the sermon?Last week, nine preachers and writers gathered at the Collegeville Institute for Poetry,...
08/06/2026

How can poetry serve the sermon?

Last week, nine preachers and writers gathered at the Collegeville Institute for Poetry, Scripture, & Imagination: A Workshop for Preachers, led by Amy Peterson.

Through close reading, guided writing exercises, conversation, and contemplation, the group stepped outside the rush of ordinary time and made space for imagination.

We are grateful to Amy and to each participant for the voices, questions, traditions, and creative attention they brought to this gathering.

After 20 years of faithful service at the Collegeville Institute, Mary Jarnot has retired. Mary’s work helped create the...
08/03/2026

After 20 years of faithful service at the Collegeville Institute, Mary Jarnot has retired.

Mary’s work helped create the kind of radical hospitality so many CI guests experienced when they walked into an apartment or entered the Butler Center for the first time. One guest said earlier this summer: “WOW!!!! This is all for me?!?!?” That welcome did not happen by accident.

It was built through Mary’s care, attention, dependability, kindness, and quiet commitment. She prepared spaces so writers, scholars, artists, faith leaders, and guests could arrive, breathe, settle in, and begin the work they came here to do. Mary often responded to a need with a simple phrase: “I got you.” And she did. Every. Single. Time.

For all the counters washed, floors scrubbed, beds made, residents welcomed, programs supported, and spaces prepared with love: Thank you, Mary.

Please join us in celebrating Mary and thanking her for 20 years of service at the Collegeville Institute.

What can fiction learn from the mystics?From July 13–19, nine writers gathered at the Collegeville Institute for Writing...
07/23/2026

What can fiction learn from the mystics?

From July 13–19, nine writers gathered at the Collegeville Institute for Writing with the Mystics: A Generative Fiction Workshop, led by acclaimed novelist and writer Garth Greenwell. Throughout the week, participants explored how mystical traditions can open new imaginative possibilities for fiction—through attention, wonder, longing, mystery, and the search for language that reaches beyond easy explanation.

We are grateful to Garth and to each of the writers who brought their creativity, questions, and presence to this generative week of writing and community.

Have you published new work, started a project, received an award, grant, fellowship, or taken on a new role? Share your...
07/07/2026

Have you published new work, started a project, received an award, grant, fellowship, or taken on a new role? Share your news in the comments below—links are encouraged.

Your update may be considered for inclusion in a future Alumnx News section of our newsletter.

What does it mean to write faithfully and thoughtfully for the public?During the last week of June, nine writers gathere...
07/06/2026

What does it mean to write faithfully and thoughtfully for the public?

During the last week of June, nine writers gathered here for Publishing for the Public, a writing workshop led by journalist, editor, and author Katelyn Beaty.

Together, participants explored the public dimensions of writing in the digital age, including audience, vocation, attention, and the responsibilities that come with sharing work online.
But the week was not only about writing. Around the table, in conversation, and even through apartment karaoke, participants built the kind of creative community that helps good work happen.

We are grateful to Katelyn and to each of the writers who brought their questions, voices, laughter, and creative energy to this gathering.

As June comes to a close, so does the Collegeville Institute’s fiscal year. During that time, we welcomed 33 resident sc...
06/29/2026

As June comes to a close, so does the Collegeville Institute’s fiscal year. During that time, we welcomed 33 resident scholars and offered 11 Ecclesial Literature Project workshops serving 216 participants. Behind those numbers are writers, scholars, faith leaders, artists, and others who found something increasingly rare: time to think deeply, listen carefully, create freely, and engage across differences.

Your generosity helps make that possible. Gifts support the people, programs, hospitality, and spaces that allow participants to deepen their work and carry it back into their communities.

Before June 30, please consider making a fiscal year-end gift to help sustain this work and prepare the Collegeville Institute for the year ahead.

Every gift makes a difference. Give today: https://ow.ly/h4vr50ZhjCP

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2475 Ecumenical Drive
Collegeville, MN
56321

Telephone

(320) 363-3366

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