Posted on 01/12/2008 5:29:53 AM PST by NYer
HULBERT -- A vision born 35 years ago on the campus of the University of Kansas and nurtured in a monastery in France moved closer to reality this week, as monks at Our Lady of Clear Creek Monastery moved into their new residence building.
The building is the first part of a monastic complex that will include an 80-by-180-foot church with a 110-foot bell tower.
"This is a dream come true," said the Rev. Phillip Anderson, the prior, or leader, of the Benedictine community living at the monastery.
"All of a sudden, after all these years, it's happening," he said.
To a visitor driving the gravel roads of rural Oklahoma east of Lake Fort Gibson, the new monastery emerges suddenly from the landscape, tall and imposing.
The idea of establishing in the United States a contemplative community, where monks would live a cloistered life in a monastery, was inspired in the early 1970s among a group of KU students by a Catholic professor.
Most Catholic monasteries in this country are devoted to service, operating schools
"We wanted to build a community like the ancient monasteries, a place devoted to the contemplative life and prayer."
During the 1970s, a number of the KU students went to France to experience monastic life. Some stayed. Others left after a few years and later married.
Anderson was among those who stayed, living for 24 years at the Benedictine Abbey of Notre Dame de Fontgombault, originally founded in 1091 in the province of Berry, France.
In 1999, the dream of building a monastic community in the U.S. took root. Anderson, by then a Catholic priest, led a group of monks who returned to this country to establish a community under the authority of the Abbey of Notre Dame de Fontgombault.
With the blessing of Bishop Edward J. Slattery of the Diocese of Tulsa, the community purchased more than 1,000 acres in a picturesque valley cut by the waters of Clear Creek. The property had a large rustic house, which became their home, and they built other modest structures.
But their dream was to build a European-style monastery, constructed to last 1,000 years.
The monastery is being built as Romanesque architecture, in the style of its parent Fontgombault monastery.
On Jan. 2, some nine years after arriving in Oklahoma, the monks began moving into the new residence building, the first part of the compound to be completed.
Adjacent to that building is the foundation and lower level of what will be the church.
The four-story residence building is divided into two sides. The first, which will face a garden courtyard, contains 36 cells, or rooms, for the monks, the members of the monastic community. All but six rooms are filled.
The courtyard and monks' rooms are part of the cloistered area, not open to the public, as part of the
monks' discipline in separation from the world, and silence.
"This is to create an atmosphere conducive to prayer and communion with Christ," Anderson said.
The other side of the residence building has rooms for eight male guests, each with its own full bathroom. The rooms are similar to the monks' rooms but less spartan, Anderson said, and the area will have its own courtyard.
Hospitality is a hallmark of the Benedictine Order, providing a place where visitors can find peace and quiet, and a sense of orientation, sanity and spiritual light, Anderson said.
The lower level has kitchen and dining areas, and other meeting rooms. The original building where the monks lived will be converted into guest housing for couples and families, Anderson said.
The building will be dedicated on April 12.
The Benedictine way of life includes strict disciplines of prayer, study and work. The monks tend sheep, gardens and orchards on the property. They are building wood furniture for the new monastery.
Ideas have consequences!
Nice to see they have a building up; they lived in a barn for years.
And a raucous round of applause, a Guinness, and a kitten to Bishop Slattery, just ‘cause he’s so kewl.
Yes, and Father Francis Bethel of OL of Clear Creek wrote a book about John Senior and his influence on their conversions and vocations.
You have FReepmail on a previous topic.
Why do you say monasticism is the crown jewel of The Faith? Where’s the Scripture that supports that statement?
Thanks for posting this excellent news!
Where is the Scripture that says the crown jewel of the Faith must be mentioned in Scripture?
Off the top of my head......the example of Jesus who went into the desert alone and prayed and fasted for 40 days........the frequent exhortations of Jesus to his apostles to go to a quiet place and pray..........the admonition to Martha who was busy, busy that Mary had chosen the better part sitting at Jesus' feet.
There are probably many others but those are the ones that immediately occur to me.
Where does the Scripture mention crown jewels at all?
Overwhelming evidence here. I finally had to just stop.
Heb 4:12 - For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Ac 17:11 - Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
Ac 18:28 - for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
Ro 1:2 - which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures,
Ro 15:4 - For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
1Co 15:3 - For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
1Co 15:4 - and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Mt 21:42 - Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, `THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES'?
Mt 22:29 - But Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God.
Mr 14:49 - "Every day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize Me; but this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures."
Lu 24:27 - Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
Lu 24:32 - They said to one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?"
Lu 24:45 - Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
Joh 5:39 - "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;
Ac 17:2 - And according to Paul's custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
Matthew 4:4 But He answered and said, "It is written, `MAN R84 SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.' "
Joh 8:51 - "Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death."
Joh 12:48 - "He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.
Joh 14:23 - Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
Joh 14:24 - "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.
Joh 15:3 - "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
Joh 17:14 - "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17 - "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
Joh 17:20 - "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;
Ac 13:48 - When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
Ac 13:49 - And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region.
Ac 20:32 - "And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
Ro 10:17 - So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
1Co 1:18 - For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Php 2:16 -
holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. 2Ti 2:15 - Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
2Ti 4:2 - preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.
Tit 1:9 - holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.
Col 3:16 - Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you,
Jas 1:21 - Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.
Jas 1:22 - But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
1Pe 1:23 - for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.
1Pe 1:25 - BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER." And this is the word which was preached to you.
1Pe 2:2 - like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,
Are you saying Jesus, his apostles and Mary and Martha were all monks and nuns dwelling in monastaries?
“Why do you say monasticism is the crown jewel of The Faith? Where’s the Scripture that supports that statement?”
The scriptures don’t, save to the extent that they talk about wanderings in “The Desert” by any of a number of people. My comment is born of 2000 years of monastic life within The Church, a life within which men and women have died to themselves and come alive in Christ, so alive in Christ that sin distorted Creation around them is itself returned to a pre-Fall state.
What is the essence of monasticism?
It is prayer, asceticism and isolation from the world.
Precisely the qualities which are demonstrated in the scriptural examples which I mentioned.
Oh and one more which I forgot. John the Baptist.......who lived in the desert and ate locusts and wild honey. Perhaps the best model of all of the frugal, isolated monastic existence.
Scripture speaks to us in many ways. Failure to find the words "go live in a monastery" in no way undermines the scriptural basis for the ascetic life.
I don’t agree with you guys but thanks for taking the time to explain your views.
“I don’t agree with you guys but thanks for taking the time to explain your views.”
As always you are welcome. Next time you’re in a Greek or Lebanese restaurant, have a piece of Baklava on me! :)
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