Category Archives: Men’s communities

Cloistered life, Men's communities

The Power of Truth

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Fourteen years ago, Benedictine monks from the French Abbey of Notre-Dame de Fontgombault (a member of the Solesmes Congregation) arrived in Oklahoma to start the new foundation of Our Lady of the Annunciation of Clear Creek Abbey. In 1998, Most Rev. Edward Slattery welcomed the 13 monks  who began a new chapter of Benedictine life in the United States. It was a long journey home for some of them who had actually left America years before in search of “the purely contemplative form of Benedictine monastic life that seemed to be missing in their homeland.”

It all started in the 1970’s at the University of Kansas when some professors inaugurated the Integrated Humanities Program, a study of Western Civilization as expressed in the Great Books. I know of what they speak for I was a Humanities Major in college taught by a professor dedicated to the classic truths and legacy of Western Civilization. I like to say that my Business major got me a job but my Humanistic Studies major prepared me for life. I am very grateful to my professor.

Anyway, as the students read such things as The Aeneid and The Confessions of Saint Augustine, conversions to Christianity, especially to Catholicism, abounded. A couple of the students went to Europe in search of a monastery that used the ancient Latin liturgy. They found a home at Fontgombault. In 1999, several of the Americans along with some Canadians and Frenchmen, arrived in Tulsa to found Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey under the Patronage of Mary’s Annunciation. Today, there are forty-one monks in residence living in buildings built to last the ages.

Today is a special day at the abbey as His Eminence, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura in Rome, will celebrate Holy Mass with the monks in Oklahoma.

If you would like to support the Benedictine monks, please visit their website. You can order Gregorian chant CDs, books, rosaries and other items. They have a beautiful monastery partially completed but more is planned to handle the growth of this young community.

Men's communities

The Saturday Salve

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New on the Mercedarians’ website is an video showing what life was like in a 1951 Mercedarian monastery in Spain. Most interesting is to see the celebration of the Saturday Mass of Saint Mary, along with the singing of the Salve.

“The friars in the video are taking part in one of the oldest rituals of our Order, ‘the Saturday Salve,’” said Fr. Joseph Eddy, O de M. “This beautiful rite, which we still do today, was started by our founder, St. Peter Nolasco (d. 1256) to give honor to Mary on her day, Saturday. This immemorial Marian custom was also performed in thanksgiving when the redeemers returned with the redeemed Christian Captives.”

The eleven minute video is in Spanish but the images are stirring. “We don’t wash clothes in outdoor cisterns any more — at least in the U.S.,” said Fr. Joseph, vocation director of the U.S. province. “But the noble history of the Mercedarians, the devotion to communal prayer, and the spirit of fraternity among the friars is the same.”

The fourth vow of the Mercedarians — to give one’s life for someone in danger of losing their Christian faith, is no mere relic of the past. During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), 19 Mercedarians were declared by the Vatican in 2011 to be martyrs for the Faith, a major step on their road to sainthood.

Men's communities, News

Plus bibo, plus sitio

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The more I drink, the more I thirst.

These are the words of Peter in the Dialogues as he thirsts for more miracle stories about St. Benedict. They are pertinent today too for the Benedictine Monks of Norcia who inaugurated a brewery this summer to help sustain the monastery, located on at the birthplace of St. Benedict of Nursia. The beer is called appropriately enough Birrra Nursia and has the motto: Ut Laetifect Cor (from Psalm 104 – how wine is a gift from God to gladden men’s hearts).

The Archbishop reminded those in attendance of the miracle of Cana where Christ performed a miracle which brought joy to the hearts of the wedding party.

Fr. Cassian Folsom, O.S.B., the founder of the monastery, has been undergoing treatment for cancer which, thanks be to God, is now in remission. He joyfully celebrated with Bro. Evagrius as Brother professed solemn vows on August 11th. In July, four young men participated in a discernment program. May God bless them with holy vocations.

If you are interested in becoming a Benedictine oblate associated with the monastery at Norcia, contact Brother Anthony, the Oblate Director. It is necessary to come to Italy for an initial retreat and then begin the Oblate Novitiate which lasts one year.

Oblates are people who are attracted to Benedictine spirituality but those whose state in life obliges them to live in the world. The monks remember all of the oblates in prayer at the closing of the Divine Office: May the Divine assistance remain always with us, and with our absent brethren.

Men's communities, News

The Brotherhood of Hope

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On July 14th, college students at Florida State University (FSU) were able to experience something most unusual and unique: the profession of perpetual vows by Brother Clinton Reed, BH. About 400 college students were in attendance at the Co-Cathedral in Tallahassee, Florida,  as Bro. Clinton gave his whole life over to Jesus.

“I was overwhelmed,” said one FSU junior. “It was such a beautiful image of sacrifice to see this man literally lay down his whole self before the altar.” Bishop Gregory Parkes, himself an FSU alumnus, presided at the ceremony and urged Bro. Clinton to preserve “an undivided heart.”  During the ceremony, Bro Clinton was presented with a broad sword, signifying “the Sword of the Spirit” that is, the Word of God.

The Brotherhood of Hope, an IRL Affiliate Community, began in 1980 as new form of fraternal common life for lay brothers. Their first  apostolic work was in campus ministry at Rutgers University. Today, they also have a presence at FSU, Northeastern University and Boston College in addition to conducting retreats and mission trips. Their motto is Primum Deus, Deus Solum – God First, God Alone.

In the Brotherhood we are a band of Brothers, closer than any other organization of men – whether military platoon or social club – by virtue of our consecration in Christ.

Men's communities, Saints

The Lord Gave Me Brothers

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The month of October is a Franciscan month as well as one dedicated to the Holy Rosary because during the month we celebrate the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi (October 4). The vocation blog of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal has a beautiful story about St. Francis that reflects his love for his fellow friars, his brothers.

Fr. Isaac Mary, CFR, tells us that Perfectae Caritatis, the Vatican II document on the renewal of religious life, says that it is much easier to live the vow of chastity in an environment of genuine fraternal charity. One could add that it is also easier to live out a marriage vocation in a house where genuine charity prevails.

Saint Francis had a profound love for God and also for his fellow man. In his short Testament, it is written: “Francis, makes the simple, yet profound statement that ‘the Lord gave me some brothers….'”  One day, one of the young brothers was literally starving from his intense fasting. Francis, rather than embarrass the young brother or chastise him, roused all of the brethren and had them eat grapes “with the young man so that he would not be ashamed of his weakness.”  Francis loved them all with the love of the Father.

Father Isaac Mary concludes: “Fraternal life and charity is meant to be a particular source of joy and strength for a religious in any community.  St. Francis understood this completely and he continues to teach it to us, the brothers whom God has given him!”

Men's communities

Following the Basepaths to a Vocation

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In the news over the past year has been the story of a star baseball player who turned in his glove for the life a Nobertine monk. A long story in Yahoo! Sports tells the story of Grant Desme who was a second round draft pick signed by the Oakland Athletics for $430,000 but said, “I had everything I wanted, and it wasn’t enough.” Wrist and shoulder injuries sidelined him for long lengths of time (Sounds like the story of St. Ignatius of Loyola!) and he got frustrated. He talked to priests and started to wonder what life was all about. When his injuries healed, he became one of the only minor leaguers in history to reach the 30-homer, 40-steal mark in the same season.

But the empty feeling persisted and he realized that he got more enjoyment out of talking about God in the dugout than in the home run he might have hit the inning before. As the article said, “The first phone call went to Billy Beane. It was less than a month before Grant Desme needed to report to spring training, and he was about to call one of the most powerful men in the game to which he dedicated his life – the person Brad Pitt would portray in the “Moneyball” movie – and tell him he was quitting to spend the next decade becoming a priest. ”

His new name in religious life is Matthew because, as his Abbot said, Matthew the tax collector was rich “and I was a rich baseball player.”

May God bless Frater Matthew and his community.

The Norbertines of St. Michael’s were founded by a group of Norbertines from Hungary who escaped Communist persecution in 1950. They worked for almost a decade before saving up enough money to buy the 34-acre parcel of land in a then-uninhabited section of Orange County, California. One monk remains from that group, Father Gerlac Andrew Horvath, 91. The Norbertines have 52 priests and 24 seminarians, a Catholic high school and two albums of Gregorian chant.

May God bless Frater Matthew and his community.

The Norbertines are an IRL Affiliate Community. There is the men’s community and two women’s communities (active and contemplative).

Men's communities, Saints

St. Bernard’s Sons

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Today is the memorial of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Cistercian Doctor of the Church and a giant in Church history. During his lifetime, he founded 68 monasteries and his legacy lives on today. In recognition of his eloquence, he is called Doctor Mellifluus (Honey-Sweet/Spoken). Pope Pius XII wrote an Encyclical on Bernard with the same title.

The famous Cistercian writer Thomas Merton said of Bernard that he “could be as tender as a mother to anyone who did not give evidence of being a hardened pharisee, and who had in his heart something of Christ’s unending patience with the weak sinner.”

The Cistercian Abbey of the Genesee is an IRL Affiliate Community founded in 1951 from the Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky, burial place of Thomas Merton. Just over a week ago, they celebrated the entrance of a postulant, Ed Pierson, followed by the priestly ordination of Fr. Isaac Slater who celebrated his first Mass on August 12th.

May the Blessed Virgin Mary, patroness of all Cistercian monasteries, intercede for her sons, that they may receive many holy vocations, and honor the legacy handed down by their great Father, Bernard.

Men's communities, News

Doctor’s Conversion Story

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A story in the Chicago Tribune on July 30th noted that a prominent reproductive endocrinologist, Dr. Anthony Caruso, has given up his lucrative practice, saying reproductive technology has gone too far. He is proposing opening the St. Anne Center for Reproductive Health, a facility that would adhere to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. He is currently a doctor at Alexian Brothers Hospital in Elk Grove Village, IL.

In 2002, Dr. Caruso related in a newspaper story how he helped a lesbian couple conceive a baby through IVF. Later, his courageous parish priest asked him to resign from the parish council saying his words and actions had violated Church teaching. This did not make the doctor angry, rather it caused him to think. His wife meanwhile was growing in her faith and attending as a family St. John Cantius Church which offers the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Mass daily. He also read the Church’s document Dignitas Personae, or “The Dignity of a Person,” which explained the Church’s teachings on reproductive health. According the the reporter, Dr. Caruso “walked away from his practice and into a confessional at St. John Cantius Roman Catholic Church to repent.”

The priests and brothers of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius are an IRL Affiliate Community who serve in parishes and help Catholics to rediscover a profound sense of the Sacred through solemn liturgies, devotions, sacred art and music, as well as instruction in the heritage of the Church, catechetics and Catholic culture.

What a testimony to the power of Truth, the heroism of a man truly seeking Truth and how the Truth sets you free.

 

 

Men's communities, News

East Meets West

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On July 29, 2012, two 105 tear-old monks died on the same day, separated by an ocean, together part of the “two lungs” that are the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches.  As Pope John Paul II said: “… the Church must learn anew to breathe with her two lungs, East and West.”

For Fr. Daniel Lenihan, his death came one one day after his 105th birthday and in his 66th year as a Trappist at New Melleray Abbey in Iowa. When another monk turned 80, he said, “He thinks HE’S old!” His duties over the years included construction work, laying concrete block, purchaser, guest master, spiritual director and Mass Secretary. A priest in Egypt wrote, “I have been receiving Mass intentions from Fr. Daniel for over 18 years, since the first month of my ordination. No month has ever been skipped. He always adds a note of greeting and encouragement in my missionary service.” Father’s advice to all who knew him was “Stay in love.”

I went on retreat once to New Melleray and it was a wonderful experience, especially joining in the community prayers.

On the other side of the ocean, Fr. John Hilandari, an Mount Athos monk in Greece, died the same day at age 105. If I am reading the obituary correctly, it says he became a monk after his wife died when he was over 70 years old! (A priest I know who was ordained in his 70’s said – It’s never too late to live.) Father was a Serbian native who was a gardener for the monastery. During a terrible fire in 2004, Father saved many precious icons and in 2009, he gave up his typewriter for a laptop. (It’s never too late to learn!) He went to sleep one day and went quietly to his eternal reward.

May God bless them both for their faithfulness and may they rest in His peace.

 

Men's communities, News

St. Romuald Intercedes For Soccer Team?

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We are used to sports figures thanking mothers, coaches, wives and sometimes even God after big wins. However, this appears to be somewhat unique in the current annals of sport – an Italian coach who makes a pilgrimage to a Camaldolese Monastery to thank a group of monks after unexpectedly reaching the Euro 2012 (soccer) quarter-finals in Poland.

The Italian team met with the monks whose historical origins are Italian but have a foundation outside Krakow, Poland, before the tournament.  Their coach, Cesare Prandelli, promised to make a pilgrimage to the monastery if the team got out of “Group C.”  After their big win, the coach and his staff, at 3:00 AM in the morning, left their team HQ and walked 13 miles to the monastery which took 3 1/2 hours.

The Camaldolese were founded by  Saint Romuald (11th C.) and trace their heritage to the 6th century monastic traditions of Saint Benedict and the reforms of Saint Romuald.

The Holy Hermitage of Camaldoli commemorated the 1,000th anniversary of its foundation by St. Romuald on June 19, the saint’s feast day. Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, Pope Benedict’s special envoy for the commemoration, was the principal celebrant at the hermitage’s June 19th Mass.

Drawing upon the Desert Fathers, St. Romuald encouraged some monks to live in solitude as hermits. “Saint Romuald, the father of the Camaldolese monks, striving for eremetic life and discipline, wandered through Italy for many years, building monasteries and tirelessly promoting the evangelical life among monks,” Pope Benedict recalled in his letter for the anniversary.