Closing mass with the Benedictine sisters

[tadoflamb]

My wife and I went to mass at the Benedictine convent yesterday. It was the last time that the Eucharist will be celebrated in that beautiful chapel. Changes have already been made. The special pews that the sisters sat in at the front have been removed and ugly chairs had been put in their place. In a way this was good, for it allowed a lot more people into the chapel. I recognized a number of people from around Catholicville. Apparently a lot of us found the same solace in this prayerful place and this prayerful community. We cried a lot. It was all very sad.

The priest meandered quite a bit in his homily. He gave us a short history of the convent. 172 sisters have lived their over 82 years. He talked fondly and at length of the Benedictine charisms and how they take a vows of not just poverty, chastity and obedience, but also of stability and continued conversion. There's a paradox in those last two. We're called to be stable, but we're also called to press on. Now that the sisters are gone and we've lost the most beautiful worship space in southern Arizona, we too are to keep ourselves grounded while always venturing into new territory. Such is the history of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.

After saying goodbye to these beautiful women and our New Year's retreat to the Benedictine monastery which has also lost it's prior and three brothers and is now only run and occupied by oblates I realize that is the future of our Church. The laity has been given the ball and has to fill in the gaps until we can get enough vocations so that we can sustain our orders.

I am going to miss those nuns and their beautiful chapel. There are so many of us who are besides ourselves with what we have lost, and yet, that's the paradox of our Catholic faith. In dying we rise again.

 

[Fantine]

A gift for you. These sisters are affiliated with a group of Benedictine sisters from Clyde, Missouri, who are called the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. One interesting thing about this group is that they are pretty tech-savvy.

They make podcasts of their Liturgy of the Hours, and since the remaining sisters from Tucson will probably be moving to Clyde, you can listen and pray with them--and their new community--whenever you choose.

http://monasterypodcast.com/

http://benedictinesisters.org/#

I have never visited Clyde, but I know a number of people who have, and that's how I heard about them. As a matter of fact, their brother-Abbey, Conception Abbey, was led by an Abbot who is now "Abbot-Primate" of the entire Benedictine order worldwide.

https://www.conceptionabbey.org/abbot-gregory-elected-abbot-primate/

 

[Colin]

At Christmas our SVP conference received a card and letter from our twinned conference in India .

Their church in India was built in 1731 for 64 families . In November their new church was blessed by their bishop .

They need a new church because they now have 1731 families .

That's quite a contrast to the decline we have here .

 

[tadoflamb]

A gift for you. These sisters are affiliated with a group of Benedictine sisters from Clyde, Missouri, who are called the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. One interesting thing about this group is that they are pretty tech-savvy.

They make podcasts of their Liturgy of the Hours, and since the remaining sisters from Tucson will probably be moving to Clyde, you can listen and pray with them--and their new community--whenever you choose.

http://monasterypodcast.com/

http://benedictinesisters.org/#

I have never visited Clyde, but I know a number of people who have, and that's how I heard about them. As a matter of fact, their brother-Abbey, Conception Abbey, was led by an Abbot who is now "Abbot-Primate" of the entire Benedictine order worldwide.

https://www.conceptionabbey.org/abbot-gregory-elected-abbot-primate/

Thanks, Fantine. I'm listening to lauds right now. It's making me feel a lot better. They sound exactly the same. I know my wife will be especially pleased. Thank you.

The Mother House in Clyde is indeed where the sisters are going (sounds like they are already there). The last thing I told them is that we'd come see them there some day.

 

[tadoflamb]

I've been checking out the website for the sisters in Clyde. What a beautiful convent they have there! The chapel is especially beautiful. I don't feel bad for Tucson sisters at all. For those us who remain, however, we still lament the loss of the sisters and their chapel.

 

[tadoflamb]

A final footnote on last Sunday's service. I don't why, but a couple of Tucson police officers were posted at the chapel. Since we had gotten to mass really early, and since I had a couple of cups of coffee that morning, I had the unfortunate need to use the restroom about halfway through mass. Unfortunately, the bathrooms had been locked. Fortunately, I knew one of the ushers who went and got one of the Carondelet nuns who had been helping out the Benedictines (the same nun who told me I needed to slow down on the night I was confirmed) to get a key. I then got a police escort through the darkened and abandoned halls of the convent.

Here in Tucson, older homes have distinctive tiling in their kitchens and bathrooms. The bathroom in the convent was no exception and was in magnificent shape since it been under the care of the sisters for the past 82 years.

When mass was over we were all ordered to process out of the chapel together starting with those of us in the front. A cop and the nun who told me to slow down sort of swept the chapel, front to back. It reminded me of the end of a concert when security sweeps the field to get rid of the fans.

I still wonder why they had cops there. I imagine it had something to do with the new owners wanting to protect the property from rebellious Catholics. Who knows?