Employment opportunities

Director of Spiritual Nourishment

Holy Wisdom Monastery is seeking a visionary, innovative, discerning Director of Spiritual Nourishment who will co-labor with us to integrate our mission of Weaving Prayer, Hospitality, Justice and Care for the Earth into experiences of spiritual sustenance for all who encounter the people, land and creatures of Holy Wisdom Monastery.

Located in Madison (Middleton), Wisconsin on 190 acres of tall grass prairie, oak savanna and woods, Holy Wisdom Monastery is home to the Benedictine Women of Madison and the Benedictine Life Foundation. The monastery grounds include an interfaith Retreat & Guest House with overnight guest accommodations and large meeting rooms, two hermitages, nature trails, gardens and a glacial lake.  The monastery’s main building was completed in 2009 and is one of the highest rated eco-designed buildings in the world. It offers an assembly room that accommodates 300 people, an oratory for morning, midday and evening Liturgy of the Hours, a theological-spirituality library and two dining rooms, where our chefs prepare delicious garden-to-table food for guests and the sisters. You can see more about our community of communities and life at the monastery at https://holywisdommonastery.org/

Duties and responsibilities

In 2020 we completed a Listen, Imagine, Create process in which hundreds of people generated a bold glimpse of an ideal future of what Holy Wisdom Monastery aspires to be. See more at https://holywisdommonastery.org/aspirations/

The Director of Spiritual Nourishment will:

• collaborate with coworkers, volunteers, and guests to bring this aspirational and transformative future into reality.
• envision a comprehensive and emergent five-year plan for monastery-wide spiritual nourishment programming, identifying the focus, component elements, people, and process for bringing the plan to fruition.
• guide the annual planning process, integrating each community’s plans into a realistic and coherent yearly spiritual nourishment plan.
• co-create and implement a plan for uniting and cross-fertilizing the spiritual nourishment experiences that are already happening within our communities.
• co-create and facilitate onsite and online experiences, integrating spiritual reflection and contemplative practices into existing and new experiences of spiritual nourishment for the people of Holy Wisdom Monastery, the Madison area, the Upper Midwest, and beyond.
• train leadership for offering experiences of spiritual nourishment to people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and ages, including children, teens, and young adults, who seek inspiration and resources for living a contemplative, engaged-in-the-world life.
• teach one spirituality course and coordinate two other course offerings each year.
• conceive and execute an annual event featuring a widely-known spirituality speaker, musician, or artist.
• serve on the monastery leadership team as a liaison between Holy Wisdom community members engaged in spiritual nourishment and the leadership team.

Qualifications and experience

The successful candidate has:

• education, certification, training and/or previous experience in interfaith and ecumenical spiritual renewal and contemplative spirituality. She/He/They is/are grounded in and dedicated to their own personal spiritual practice.
• a minimum of three years of effective leadership in spiritual inquiry and nurture.
• experience in and enthusiasm for creating and facilitating online experiences of spiritual nurture.
• experience in recruiting volunteers, program evaluation, and fiscal management.

Skills and knowledge

The successful candidate is:

• a skillful communicator who is a deep listener, discerning the story under the story, and who speaks both privately and publicly with insight, integrity, respect, and care.
• knowledgeable about the big picture in religion, the churches, and spirituality, including people of all spiritual traditions and people who do not identify as religious.
• collaborative as a natural way of being.
• skillful at the art of gathering, sharing in circle, and contemplative dialog.
• an initiator who is a proactive leader and able to meet people where they are.
• an innovator who is a “what’s possible now” thinker and skillful at planning and pulling people together toward common desired outcomes.
• clear that they don’t need to do it all. They empower others.
• skilled at transforming ideas into realized experiences.
• aware of the reality of social and environmental injustice and committed to working for structural change.
• a life-long learner who stays current on recent developments in job related disciplines including spirituality, theology, faith formation, and education.
• knowledgeable about or experienced with spiritual direction/spiritual guidance.
• inclusive in their use of God and people language.

Nature of the position

This is a year-round fulltime position at 40 hours per week. Annual salary  depends on experience and begins at $70,000 plus generous benefits, including paid time off; health, dental, LTD/STD, vision and life insurance; retirement savings and approved job-related ongoing education reimbursement. On-site office strongly preferred, with flexibility to work from home occasionally.

Applications, including the form below and resume, must be submitted on or before October 15, 2021 or be postmarked by October 15, 2021.  The position begins in January 2022.

Holy Wisdom Monastery is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class.

Director of Spiritual Nourishment application form

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Volunteer at the monastery

Volunteers are always needed at Holy Wisdom Monastery. Click here to learn more.