In a Rare Move, Catholic Nuns Set Out to Build a New Monastery

Religion News Service ^ | 12/15/20 | Katelyn Ferral

[marshmallow]

Rarer still, millennial recruits are necessitating the move to larger quarters.

(RNS) — Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Sister Mary Bede was no stranger to quarantine life.

Sister Bede and 22 other Cistercian nuns who live with her at Valley of Our Lady Monastery in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, are cloistered in silence according to the rule of their ancient monastic Catholic religious order.

Dedicated to constant prayer, the sisters live simply, supporting themselves by baking Communion bread for churches in Wisconsin and as far away as Australia.

The Prairie du Sac Cistercians may be in sync with Americans’ isolation during the pandemic, but in every other way they are an exception to contemporary culture: As fewer people attend Christian churches each year and with even fewer entering Catholic religious life, their community is growing. What’s more, millennials make up more than one-third of its members.

At 23 women, its community, the only one of its kind in the country, isn’t huge, but its current buildings are at capacity. The nuns are now fundraising to build a new home.

The current monastery is a cobbled-together complex that includes a former Wisconsin governor’s summer home dating back to the 1920s. Valley of Our Lady was founded in 1957 when six nuns from a Cistercian monastery in Frauenthal, Switzerland, emigrated to the area. The women who founded the community never intended for their current space to be a permanent monastery, Sister Bede explained.

“The layout just isn’t conducive to the monastic life. We shouldn’t be living in a governor’s summer house for a monastery,” said......

The Cistercian sisters of Valley of Our Lady Monastery gather in their current chapel for the final vows of one of their members, Sister Joanna Casanova, in May 2018. RNS courtesy photo from Katelyn Ferral

[MuttTheHoople]

I am really not surprised. Many millennial women don’t see men as particularly manly. However, many believe in God and don’t want to become Lesbians.

[livius]

Very nice! There’s hope yet.

[nwrep]

Well said.

[ClearCase_guy]

Get thee to a nunnery.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Thank you! I will support these Sisters in their efforts. :)

[LadyDoc]

The Cistercians originally started as a reform order so they tended to move to remote areas and stressed living in poverty.

So go to small towns where the population fled (due to mines shutting down, or the factories shutting) buy a few old houses and use the local church for your prayers.

or buy a couple acres in a remote area and set up a couple of mobile homes to live in.

then your claim to live in poverty might be genuine.

Heck, you could even ask the diocese to give you some of the many recently closed convents or schools to live in.

So excuse me if I am cynical about these folks asking people to help them build an expensive new building for a new monastery when a lot of such buildings have been left behind by orders that are now dying out.

[Old Yeller]

I’m guessing they’ve never heard of the Great Commission.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“One of those blessings is a matching gift challenge: The monastery is now trying to raise $1 million before April of 2021; if the sisters achieve this goal, an anonymous donor will match it.”

Help! :)

[Hieronymus]

I’m guessing you’ve never read Soul of the Apostolate—or grasp the power of prayer to sway souls. St. Therese of Lisieux is copatron of the missions for a reason.

Some spirits are only cast out through prayer and fasting.

Disclaimer:

I have two former students in this convent.

[EvilCapitalist]

I didn’t know the Cistercians were in the U.S. also. I saw the ruins of Tintern Abbey while in Wales.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Those are excellent points, too.

Send them a note. I’ll wait on sending them my contribution until I hear back from you.

However, something with some weight behind it, versus a dilapidated older building, might draw more to the fold and last farther into the future? I mean, those OLD Monasteries are still with us, centuries later.

Hard to say. *SHRUG*

[ladyjane]

Yes, you do sound cynical. If you knew more about the Cistercians you might think differently. There is no way they could live in a group of mobile homes or buy a few old houses. These are cloistered nuns who pray up to 6 or 8 hours a day. Obviously they need security. We live in a crazy world.

[napscoordinator]

That has to be the hardest life. Vow of silence sounds horrid.

[Joe 6-pack]

"Vow of silence sounds horrid."

Actually, it doesn't make any sound at all ;-)

[napscoordinator]

Holy cow. That was a belly laugh. Needed it. Thanks!!!

[Glide Plane]

Excellent point.

[Old Yeller]

I’m guessing you’ve never read Soul of the Apostolate

apostate

[Dr. Sivana]

I’m guessing they’ve never heard of the Great Commission.
They are not pretending to be apostles or bishops, so the "Great Commission" does not apply to them. A better model for these women is Martha's sister Mary (Luke 10:39-42)

39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sitting also at the Lord's feet, heard his word.

40 But Martha was busy about much serving. Who stood and said: Lord, hast thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? speak to her therefore, that she help me.

41 And the Lord answering, said to her: Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things:

42 But one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her.

That is the life of a Contemplative Nun.

[Rockingham]

In original meaning as used by Shakespeare for a Protestant audience hostile to Catholics, the admonition was to hire out to a bawdy house — popularly called a nunnery — not to enter a convent.