Posted on 01/08/2007 7:11:05 PM PST by AlaninSA
One woman donated her sewing skills. A local electrician gave manpower. A group of musicians offered up a concert.
Since learning of the financial concerns of the nuns who occupy the 66-year-old Benedictine Monastery in Midtown, support has come from all over Tucson.
The deeply humble nuns, who aren't accustomed to seeking assistance, or even passing a collection plate at their services, have successfully forayed into fundraising the past year, too.
"Somehow God is working by putting all these people in our lives," said Sister Lupita Barajas, prioress of the rose-colored monastery at 800 N. Country Club Road, home to 20 nuns aged 43 to 86. "We are receiving them with gratefulness."
With the added support, the nuns' future in Tucson is looking brighter.
Though the nuns work and generate income through the sale of religious vestments and handmade items in their gift shop, the cost of keeping up their 61,000-square-foot building has become a concern in recent years as the roof and electrical system deteriorate with age. Also, with fewer young women joining their religious order — part of a national trend — the nuns as a group are aging and less able to do their own maintenance and landscaping work.
The sisters are part of a religious order — some call it a congregation — called the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, based in Clyde, Mo. It includes 101 sisters at four U.S. locations. Financially, the sisters are supported by their order, not by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson. Their order already has closed houses in Mundelein, Ill., San Diego, St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo., because of fewer nuns. The Tucson sisters and their supporters want to prevent a local closure.
"That monastery is for me one of the treasures of Tucson. The mission of the nuns is to pray for peace and for the community, and the facility being in the middle of town has been so meaningful to me personally," said John Wesley Miller, a local builder and developer who's volunteering on the newly formed Friends of the Monastery group. The group is developing a long-range plan to keep up the nuns' building.
"During a period of my life when I was troubled, I would just go there and sit and a wonderful sense of peace would come over me," said Miller, an Episcopalian who continues to visit the monastery. "They'd come out and sing, and I'd close my eyes and think I was hearing angels. I gradually met some of the nuns and became friends with them."
In October 2005, the Star published a story chronicling the nuns' worries over a couple of break-ins, a serious flood and their aging building.
The nuns say the response they received from community members such as Miller was overwhelming. They heard from parishioners, from Midtown neighbors and from others who know of the many good works the sisters do in the local community, from working in local charities to welcoming people of all faiths into their community of prayer. Miller says Friends of the Monastery wants to make the building more energy-efficient. His daughter is Katharine Kent, who owns The Solar Store, 2833 N. Country Club, and together they plan to install a solar heating system for the nuns' hot water this year. "They are living, quite frankly, in substandard conditions," said Michael McDonald, executive director of Habitat for Humanity, another Friends of the Monastery member. "There are sisters in their 80s living without proper, if any, heating and cooling, and that's just not right."
McDonald stressed that the Friends of the Monastery's support for the sisters is repayment for a valuable gift to Tucson.
"When I first connected with them, I would go into the chapel, which is always open, just to slow my heart rate and get my head to stop spinning. It renewed my spirit and calmed me down," said McDonald, who is Catholic. "In this really busy city, their monastery is an oasis of prayer, solitude, peace and goodwill. … The community should acknowledge this treasure in the heart of our city."
Barajas said one woman from the community is sewing all the gift bags for the homemade soap the nuns sell in their gift shop. A retired florist is creating gift shop displays. Two chapters of the local Knights of Columbus, a men's Catholic group, are planning upcoming fundraisers for the sisters, and several of the group's members have offered their help with building and repair projects.
"We felt that the sisters are unsung heroes," said Glenn Army, grand knight of the local Knights of Columbus' Council 1200. "They are always there and available to whoever they can help, without asking for any thanks." The monastery operates on Benedictine values, which call for a balance between work and prayer, and the sisters all work to generate income. The sisters, most of whom are older than 60, are still doing an exemplary job keeping the monastery spotless, and a groundskeeper helps keep up their property, which stretches across a city block.
The sisters in Clyde make altar breads, which they sell. Nuns at the local monastery earn money primarily through sales of religious vestments that they sew and from the gift shop they operate and fill with handmade items such as painted icons, rosaries and soap.
Within the past year, the sisters for the first time decided to hold fundraisers. They had three and all were successful — a tea, monastery tour and auction; a furniture sale; and a benefit concert given by the University of Arizona's HarpFusion, a creative ensemble of 14 harpists, followed by wine and cheese. Altogether the fundraisers brought in $67,000.
The sisters first came to Tucson in 1935 at the invitation of Tucson Bishop Daniel Gercke and lived Downtown, on Main Avenue, in a home that once belonged to the Steinfeld family.
In 1940, they moved into the Spanish-Renaissance style monastery, which was designed by architect Roy Place, who also designed the Old Pima County Courthouse and the veterans hospital.
At least 100 people regularly attend Sunday services at the monastery, and others visit for the nuns' morning prayer, for Masses, monthly Taizé and vespers. The sisters also publish the order's bimonthly Spirit & Life magazine — the second-longest-running Catholic magazine in the country.
Now that the community has come forward with help in keeping up the building, and fundraising efforts have bolstered their budget, the sisters hope to spend more time promoting vocations to religious life and in keeping up their community works and prayer.
"For now, it sounds like we're staying," Barajas said
Sister Stella Cuniff, left, Sister Ramona Varela and Sister Susan Huppe sing during an afternoon Mass at the Benedictine Monastery, which has been struggling to stay open.
Sister Lenora Black, center, joins Sister Bede Luetkemeyer, left, and Sister Mary Jane Romero in singing during an afternoon Mass at the Benedictine Monastery. Fewer women are joining religious orders, and the nuns at the monastery reflect that: Most are older than 60.
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Thanks for the post. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened (or words to that effect).
My guess is they're nothing but a bunch of angry liberal feminists. Why would a devout young woman want to go there if that's the case?
no offense to these sisters, but I'd rather support Arizona's Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration
http://www.desertnuns.com/
National my foot! The traditional habit-wearing orders are constantly turning girls away--they don't have any more room!!
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