First Profession of Br. Charles, New Melleray Abbey

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First Profession of Br. Charles, December 12, 2015, New Melleray Abbey

 [see web site at www.newmelleray.org and look under the News section]

On this Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Br. Mary Charles Oberholzer made first profession of monastic vows by promising stability, fidelity to monastic life, and obedience for a period of three years. Abbot Mark Scott and the monks of Our Lady of New Melleray Abbey received his profession in chapter before Lauds. Fr. Mark delivered an exhortation to Br. Charles which can be found on the "Chapter Talks" page of our website. At the conclusion of the profession rite Br. Charles' white scapular and cloth belt were replaced by the traditional black scapular and leather belt of a professed Cistercian monk.

Br. Charles, 42, was born in San Jose, California, where he attended grade school and high school. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BBA degree in Management Information Systems and moved to Dallas, Texas, in 1995. Married in 1998, his wife, Jeanine, died from Cystic Fibrosis in 2009. A year later he enrolled in St. Mary's Seminary, Houston, TX as a seminarian for the Diocese of Dallas. In the day-to- day experience of seminary life he realized how much he desired to live in community. His attraction to monastic life continued to grow. Br. Charles visited New Melleray during the Christmas season of 2012. He came back for an observership during Lent of 2013 which confirmed his desire and he joined the community as a postulant on May 6, 2013. He received the novice's habit on December 1, 2013 and took the religious name Br. Mary Charles under the patronages of Our Lady and Blessed Charles de Foucauld.

from The Rule of St. Benedict
Chapter 58. The Procedure for Receiving Brothers
When he is to be received, he comes before the whole community in the oratory and promises stability, fidelity to monastic life, and obedience. This is done in the presence of God and his saints to impress on the novice that if he ever acts otherwise, he will surely be condemned by the one he mocks.(RB 58:17-18)

from Constitutions and Statutes: of the Monks and Nuns of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance
C. 9 - Stability of Place
By the vow of stability within his community a brother obliges himself to make constant use of the means of the spiritual craft there, trusting in the providence of God who has called him to this place and to this group of brothers.

C. 10 - Conversatio Morum
By the vow of conversatio morum or fidelity to monastic life a brother who, in the simplicity of his heart, seeks God by the following of the Gospel, binds himself to the practice of Cistercian discipline. He retains nothing at all for himself, not even authority over his own body. He renounces the capacity of acquiring and possessing goods for himself. For the sake of the Kingdom of heaven, he makes profession of perfect continence and celibacy.

C. 11 - Obedience
By the vow of obedience a brother desiring to live under a rule and an abbot promises to fulfill all that lawful superiors command in accordance with these Constitutions. In thus renouncing his own will he follows the example of Christ who was obedient until death, and commits himself to the school of the Lord's service.

C. 52 - Temporary Profession
1 By temporary vows brothers undertake the obligations proper to monastic life either for a period of three years, or for three periods of one year.
2 According to can. 668.1-3 CIC, a bother bound by temporary profession retains the ownership of his goods and the capacity of acquiring more. Before he makes temporary profession he should assign the administration of his goods to someone else and freely make arrangements regarding their use and revenues.