Pastor’s Column

The Benedictines in Missouri, with whom many of you are familiar – they have made some of the vestments of our parish and are also well known for their chant CD’s – are beginning to fundraise for the construction of a monastery for the first daughter-house, which is also in Missouri, in the city of Ava. The following is taken from their website:

Since our 1995 founding, our community has been a witness of hope for the Church, attracting many young and zealous vocations. Shortly after the elevation of the Motherhouse in Gower, Missouri to an Abbey, the Sisters experienced such expansive growth, that it became needful to branch out. With the invitation of Bishop Edward Rice, of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, eight Sisters followed the call of the Lord to southern Missouri, to expand our order and mission. Since then they have grown to 10.

The watchword of the Benedictine order is pax, or peace. The word ornaments Benedictine entry ways and provides the header for all their written words. The purpose of a monastery is to create a space where God is loved and adored in an ordered life of peace, manifested especially in monastic silence and the world-renown Gregorian Chants, sung in their ancient splendor each day. Everyone is welcome to visit the monastery, attend the prayers, and experience an other-worldly peace, a peace which can then be brought back into the world, diffusing light and hope to many.

Near the final home of Pioneer author Laura Ingalls Wilder, these Sisters settled in the town of Ava, 32 miles north of the Arkansas border. The Sisters are now staying in a former Franciscan retreat center on the grounds of Assumption Abbey. As young women have continued to knock on the door, a logistical crisis has followed. It was necessary to take on the construction of a permanent monastery and church in the Ozark Highlands. A beautiful 250 acre parcel was purchased outside of Ava in 2021 to begin the process in an ideal place for a new house of God.

The new monastery has been placed under the patronage of Saint Joseph, foster father of Jesus, primarily in thanksgiving to him for his powerful, ongoing assistance to the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles. To him the Sisters entrusted the construction of the Abbey Motherhouse complex in Gower, completed in 2018 and is free of debt. Now they turn to him again to oversee this new house to be built in his own honor, in remembrance of his spiritual fatherhood to the Church, and to all followers of Christ.

Excavation has begun! The estimated completion for the new Monastery of St. Joseph with concurrent funding is Fall of 2024 and the estimated cost is $20 million. With your help this house of God will become a reality! St. Joseph pray for us!

For more details or to make a pledge, please visit the fundraising site at:

https://benedictinesofmary.org/about-us-2/

SUNDAY COFFEE

Please join us every Sunday in classroom 1 following the 7:00, 8:30 and 10:00 am Masses for fresh coffee & the opportunity to build community with fellow parishioners.