Sister Chris Ludwig: The CSJ’s Continued Impact on CDH
February 24, 2025
Sister Chris Ludwig, CSJ grew up around sisters. First, it was the School Sisters of Notre Dame who taught her Saturday morning Catechism classes. Next, it was the Sisters of St. Joseph who taught her elementary education and music at St. Catherine’s University. Then, it was the Benedictine sisters who she worked with at her first job as a grade school teacher. When she decided she wanted to become a sister the only question was with whom.
“I think I chose the CSJs from St. Kate's because they challenged me,” Ludwig said. “It wasn’t necessarily the easiest route. The Benedictines felt comfortable because they were rural in farm country like what I grew up in, and I still had family where the Sisters of Notre Dame were, but the CSJs really pushed me intellectually.”
As a CSJ, Ludwig has primarily worked in education. She taught at St. Luke’s, now St. Thomas Moore, in St. Paul and Christ the King in South Minneapolis, working both in the classroom and with music education.
“I spent 17 years at Christ the King, so I really got to know the kids that I taught, their parents, and the parishioners that I worked with there,” she said. “My favorite part of being a sister is the connections you can make with people learning their stories and experiences.”
Ludwig was also a campus minister and choir director at CDH, later serving on the CDH Board of Trustees. As choir director, she fondly remembers sharing a room with the band director, Donna Novey.
“She is just an incredible, inspiring staff person to work with– boundless energy,” she said.
She was also struck by the faith and social justice initiatives spearheaded by Lou Anne Tighe, Peter Gleich, and Rob Peick and how they interacted with students.
“I remember taking kids on a field trip to Fort Snelling with Lou Anne to see the confluence where two rivers come together there,” Ludwig said. “It created a very spiritual moment to share with those kids.”
Outside of education, Ludwig worked with a CSJ sister doing social justice ministry out of St. Luke’s to get involved with civic initiatives from DFL caucuses to other kinds of community organizations that were going on in St. Paul at the time. She also coordinated liturgical celebrations and volunteers at the Basilica of St. Mary.
“Because I wore a name tag that said ‘Sister Chris Ludwig,’ people started coming up to me to talk about their memories of the Sisters of St. Joseph who had taught at the Basilica for many years,” she said. “It’s special to encounter the history the sisters have in many of these places, Cretin-Derham Hall being one of them.”
While there are no longer CSJs teaching at CDH, they continue to leave their mark on students’ lives. Three sisters always have seats on the board, and the CSJs continue to support fundraising initiatives that go towards building the tuition endowment.
“When I go to school masses, you hear all the students saying ‘Love the dear neighbor without distinction,’” Ludwig said. “Those words just come off the lips of these kids; it’s something that they say every day. I really think that a lot of work has been done to keep the sisters' charisms alive for these students. They’re going to remember those words for a long time.”
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