Sisters Judith and Elizabeth Present Retreats in Australia 

“The trip of a lifetime” was the way Sisters Elizabeth Carrillo and Judith Sutera described the “preaching tour” of Australia they took in February and March of 2025. They were invited by a consortium of Benedictine communities in that country to give their week-long annual community retreats and a series of one-day workshops for the public.  

The first stop was with the Benedictine nuns of Jamberoo Abbey, where Sisters Judith and Elizabeth gave a workshop and the nuns’ retreat. After that, they presented three retreats and workshops for the Sisters of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St. Benedict, an active congregation with regional centers in the Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne areas. Also on their schedule was a workshop for the monks at the Cistercian abbey in Tarrawarra along with their oblates and other attendees. 

For the retreats, Sister Judith, whose expertise is in monastic theology, addressed a Benedictine value; and Sister Elizabeth, whose degree is in theology and the environment, invited participants to extend their understanding of the value into their relationship with all of creation. The workshops explored the early monastic foundations of engagement with creation and how Benedictine spirituality can be an inspiration for today. In the days between the events, their hosts had arranged a number of opportunities for rest and sightseeing, including the Southern Ocean and the Blue Mountains. 

In addition to meeting so many interesting people and seeing places and creatures that are so different from those in the United States (as well as enjoying summer there in the middle of Atchison’s winter), a high point for Sister Judith was reuniting with some of the sisters with whom she had studied in graduate school or who had previously visited the Mount.

“I’ve been blessed to be able to study the Rule and share with so many different communities,”

Sr. Judith Sutera

Sister Elizabeth was especially impressed by the Good Samaritans’ Wivenhoe Conservation Area and said she hoped to learn more about and support the good work being done in Australia’s Benedictine communities in the areas of eco-spirituality and caring for creation. “I was inspired learning about the environmental initiatives and the central place that ecological conversion has for the Good Samaritan Sisters and for many Australian institutions,” she said.