Apply for Summer Internships and The Benedictine Service Corps Now!

Recruitment for 2022 Summer Internships and the 2022-2023 year in the Benedictine Service Corps (BSC) has begun! Young adults who are passionate about service and want to explore their prayer life and spirituality are invited to apply to these programs at The Benedictine Way.

The Benedictine Way is a community of people - monks, young adults, and laypeople - living out their call to follow Christ through the example set by St. Benedict. That is, through prayer, service, and life in Christian community. Summer interns and members of the Benedictine Service Corps live and pray with the monastic community in North Omaha, working in the community’s three urban gardens and running their food pantry.

Brother James Dowd, Prior of Incarnation Monastery and The Benedictine Way, leads the community as an example of Benedictine life in the 21st century. “The Benedictine Service Corps is particularly focused on two things,” says Br. James, “one being ministries with the poor, and the second being deeply grounded in spirituality and prayer.”

With the guidance and grounding of the monastic prayer cycle, summer interns and Service Corps members are given a unique opportunity to learn how to live into their faith from the beginning of each day to its end, bringing their identity in Christ to the center of their lives. Mark Witte, a current service corps member, speaks to this experience, “The prayer life we live here is something I really would like to see become a permanent part of my life. I’ve discovered a stability, a conversion of heart, and a silence has come into my life that I had never experienced before.” Young adults in the program are encouraged to think and pray deeply on their individual call, as well as their call as Christians to live in community with each other and their neighbors.

Benedictine Service Corps members are given an additional internship placement with a church or non-profit in the city of Omaha based on their skills and passions. “My experience working with Restoring Dignity was amazing and truly eye-opening. Not only did I get to see how much around-the-clock effort and improvisation goes into making a grassroots nonprofit function, I got to build real connections with refugee families all over Omaha and hear their stories,” says Victoria Sparkman, a previous Service Corps member. For young adults about to enter the workforce, joining the Benedictine Service Corps is a valuable opportunity to spend time in discernment about their careers.

Gage Woodyard, an Oblate of The Benedictine Way and the current Director of St. Benedict’s Ministries, began his journey as a Service Corps Member. “The Benedictine Way’s support and hospitality has given me a chance to discern my call and grow exponentially in my faith and family,” he says, “the Service Corps allowed me to get out of my comfort zone and grow as a follower of Christ.”

Summer Internships are open to young adults age 18+ and will run from June through August. The Benedictine Service Corps is open to young adults age 21+ and will run from late August through the end of June 2023. Housing, food, utilities, and a stipend will be provided to those accepted into the Service Corps. Email Br. James Dowd with additional questions at jdowd@episcopal-ne.org.