The Benedictines...

[gloriagurl]

[quote name='-I---Love' post='1511819' date='Apr 27 2008, 06:18 PM']I really don't buy that most of their sisters have entered so recently although I hope this is true. Each time I've been to Vespers there has been no more than 10 sisters absolute max. I have only seen 3 younger" (30+) postulants, etc.. The two oldest sisters recently passed away. I know of 3 that have seemingly been there for the long haul and are from Germany.
That wasn't a dogmatic statement. Traditionally, when you look at what Benedictines have done it is build and teach at schools and in conjuction with that, be hospitable. It is a matter of history.[/quote]

[i]Excerpted from the website of the Monastery of St Benedict at Arcadia (Australia)
.....Nevertheless, most would agree that the essence of Benedictinism is a Christian community formed by prayer (both communal and individual), sacred reading (lectio divina) and work. At different times in history it has happened that one or other of these elements has been particularly stressed. Thus, in the Early Middle Ages, Benedictine monasteries were valued chiefly as centres of intercessory prayer, on which it was felt the well-being of society depended. This is not to deny, however, that medieval monks were involved in other activities as well - for example, they helped the spreading of the Christian gospel in Central Europe during the eighth century, and contributed to the literary, artistic and general intellectual development of Western civilization"[/i]

I believe this is a clear and consice statement regarding Benedictine history, though it is not (nor do I believe is it meant to be) a "complete work" in any sense of that phrase. To say that Benedictine EQUALS teaching (historically)is, I believe, an overstatment, though no one would deny that the Benedictines make good teachers.

[stlmom]

Just bumping this old thread because the Benedictine Sisters at St. Emma's have posted their spring newsletter which features yet another solemn profession!

[url="http://www.stemma.org/"]St. Emma[/url] Click on the link for newsletters at the home page.

[walburga]

I will be entering the Benedictine Monastery of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Westfield, VT on June 20th. I have also been on VERY close terms with the Abbey of St. Walburga, St. Emma Monastery, and St. Walburg in Eichstatt, Germany. In more than 15 years of CLOSE association with contemplative Benedictine nuns, I can say this: the main goal of Benedictine life is prayer. The Rule doesn't specify a ministry because the point is not a particular 'service', but union with God, perfect charity. This is the core of Benedictine life, whatever outward work the community feels necessary for their sustenance is not the goal, but only the means.

[Digitaldame]

[quote name='walburga' post='1834659' date='Apr 14 2009, 05:17 AM']I will be entering the Benedictine Monastery of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Westfield, VT on June 20th. I have also been on VERY close terms with the Abbey of St. Walburga, St. Emma Monastery, and St. Walburg in Eichstatt, Germany. In more than 15 years of CLOSE association with contemplative Benedictine nuns, I can say this: the main goal of Benedictine life is prayer. The Rule doesn't specify a ministry because the point is not a particular 'service', but union with God, perfect charity. This is the core of Benedictine life, whatever outward work the community feels necessary for their sustenance is not the goal, but only the means.[/quote]
Our prayers will be with you, walburga. I've been a Benedictine nun for 28 years and still can't "define" the Benedictine charism any better than St Benedict did, when he stated that the newcomer to the monastery must first of all be tested to see whether he/she is genuinely seeking God. It's the seeking God and glorifying God in all things that makes the Benedictine way both simple and broad, and has allowed Benedictine monasteries to be so adapted and adaptive to different places and times. By and large, very few cloistered communities of nuns now have schools, but the number of works they engage in from within the cloister is amazing! They are, however, as others have rightly pointed out, subsumed to the quest for God.

[walburga]

[quote name='Digitaldame' post='1835078' date='Apr 14 2009, 06:22 AM']Our prayers will be with you, walburga. I've been a Benedictine nun for 28 years and still can't "define" the Benedictine charism any better than St Benedict did, when he stated that the newcomer to the monastery must first of all be tested to see whether he/she is genuinely seeking God. It's the seeking God and glorifying God in all things that makes the Benedictine way both simple and broad, and has allowed Benedictine monasteries to be so adapted and adaptive to different places and times. By and large, very few cloistered communities of nuns now have schools, but the number of works they engage in from within the cloister is amazing! They are, however, as others have rightly pointed out, subsumed to the quest for God.[/quote]

Thank you... I certainly need the prayer! Yes, precisely... one comes to the monastery to seek God and everything else is a means and a help to this 'quest'.

[sistersintigo]

[quote name='Kate' timestamp='1169345160' post='1171721']
The Mary Queen of Angels Convent, Clear Creek group started with a hermit as someone else mentioned, but she became seriously ill, and wasn't able to take vows. But a small group has formed there all the same as Oblates, being helped and trained by the monks. You can read about them here:
[url="http://www.dioceseoftulsa.org/news/images/eoc082006.pdf"]http://www.dioceseoftulsa.org/news/images/eoc082006.pdf[/url]
[/quote]

This year the Clear Creek Monastery of Benedictine Monks, Our Lady of the Annunciation, was elevated to an Abbey (see other threads, eg Open Mic).
Bumping this thread for its reference to Clear Creek and its Benedictines.

I looked up Terrye Newkirk through Google, esp after reading the posts from br. Bruno aka Staretz here.
The "serious illness" appears to be old news, not recent news. Interviews with Terrye the hermit (San Diego) indicate that the illness was behind her decision to stop at Catholic Answers and return to her native Oklahoma. Since then, as the interviews say, she prefers to speak very little, or not at all, of her health. She remarks about needing to use a cane to get out of bed, on the worst of mornings. Sounds like a chronic thing?
The above PDF link for the Tulsa article from 2006 -- the link isn't so good but you can still pull up that newsletter and turn to page 9 to see the article.
The article does reference the Oblate Sisters and their direct link to the Monks of Clear Creek. There is no mention whatever of Terrye Newkirk and it is not clear if one of the oblate sisters is she, or if she continues as an anchoress/hermit and goes her own way differently from the Oblate Sisters....wonder if someone can set it straight.

[strgzr99]

[quote name='Ora et Labora' timestamp='1140460107' post='892780']
So, they work with the people? Do they teach? Or do they just keep to themselves?
[/quote]

Most Benedictines teach or engage in retreat work as part of their tradition of hospitality.

Benedictines, like Dominicans, have a long and deep tradition of scholarship and teaching. In the US, Benedictine women have founded some of the best Catholic women's colleges, St. Katharine's ("St. Kate's") in Minnesota, and St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN, and a number of their members teach at colleges and universities all over the US. They also foster scholarship and strong hobbies, possibly as an outgrowth of their stability vow, giving them opportunities to study and develop their interests in stable foundations.

Many Benedictine women gravitated to the midwest and northern midwest where they had large foundations. Today, their members are aging but they still attract new members. They are orthodox and observant, as St. Joan of Arc, who is at St. Sch, has mentioned. Most of the active branches don't wear habits, although they support the optional wearing of habits, as many of the older members still wear a habit, a few the full habit! The cloistered members --Petersham, Regina Laudis, Westfield, VT, Walburga, CO--wear habits. Benedictine nuns usually have consitutional, not papal cloister, and can leave for important things, which, for htem, includes--predictably--education.

A link to Benedictine communities in the US:

http://abfconline.org/sisters/

[Lilllabettt]

the "news" on that post is old news because the thread is old. that post is from 2007.

Edited November 30, 2010 by Lilllabettt

[sistersintigo]

[quote name='sistersintigo' timestamp='1291062875' post='2189863']
This year the Clear Creek Monastery of Benedictine Monks, Our Lady of the Annunciation, was elevated to an Abbey (see other threads, eg Open Mic).
Bumping this thread for its reference to Clear Creek and its Benedictines.

the Oblate Sisters of Clear Creek. There is no mention whatever of Terrye Newkirk and it is not clear if one of the oblate sisters is she, or if she continues as an anchoress/hermit and goes her own way differently from the Oblate Sisters....wonder if someone can set it straight.
[/quote]

Terrye Newkirk, anchorite, is not listed in the 2007 roster of the Benedictine Oblate Sisters in Hulburt/Clear Creek, Oklahoma. Here is the list:

Sister Annuntiata Houghton, superior
Sister Catherine Coiner
postulant Mary Mackey
postulant Marie Smieja

information obtained from Eastern Oklahoma Connections, from the Diocese of Tulsa

[strgzr99]

There is a terrific blog which contains extensive (if short) commentaries on the Rule of St. Benedict--sponsored by the Monastery of St. Joseph , OSB in Oklahoma.

http://stjosephmonastery.blogspot.com/

[strgzr99]

[quote name='strgzr99' timestamp='1291344559' post='2190532']
There is a terrific blog which contains extensive (if short) commentaries on the Rule of St. Benedict--sponsored by the Monastery of St. Joseph , OSB in Oklahoma.

http://stjosephmonastery.blogspot.com/
[/quote]

Another blog which includes selections from the rule of Benedict with short commentaries, from the OSB of Erie, PA:

[b]Lving the Zeal of Benedict"[/b]

http://www.erieoblates.blogspot.com/

[Studiumecclesiae]

In the UK you forgot to mention the Oulton Nuns
(just near Colwich Abbey)

[url="http://cloisters.tripod.com/uk_osb_oulton/"]http://cloisters.tripod.com/uk_osb_oulton/[/url]

Nobody knows about them. It's not a large community like Stanbrook, but they are as orthodox in their faith as them.