Global outreach

Extending our home
Christ calls us to embrace our world and its people. Benedictine Women of Madison answers this call first in community through caring for one another. The community also receives Christ present in the stranger, pilgrims and the poor who come to our door.

Our concern and respect for each person overcomes barriers of race, gender, culture and religion. All who present themselves—Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists and Hindus—bring us their blessing and ask our blessing in return.

Each morning, the community gathers for prayer. Our voices lift up the concerns of our sisters and brothers beyond the monastery. The oratory and the needs of the world meet.

Missionary sisters ask to live in community with us while they attend language school. Displaced families require temporary housing along with social, health, educational and financial support. We share our home. They share their culture with its gifts.

Through our experiences in countries of other continents, we have helped build a grade school in Kenya, a clinic in Northeast China and a retreat center in Nigeria.

Reverence for creation and the careful use of resources demand that we use only what we need, remembering that the earth’s gifts belong to all people.