Clear Creek Abbey
Roman Catholic monastery in Oklahoma, United States
36°02′02″N 95°11′45″W / 36.033852°N 95.195836°W / 36.033852; -95.195836Our Lady of the Annunciation of Clear Creek Abbey or Clear Creek Abbey is a Benedictine Abbey in the Ozark Mountains near Hulbert in Cherokee County, Oklahoma. It is located in the Diocese of Tulsa.
Origins
The monastery traces its roots to the Abbey of Fontgombault in France. Thirty-one American Catholic men, seeking to live the full Benedictine life, went to Abbey of Our Lady of the Assumption at Fontgombault, France, which is a monastery of the Solesmes Congregation.[1] In 1999, seven of these men, now monks from Fontgombault, along with six other monks from Canada and France, established a community near Hulbert, Oklahoma at the invitation of Bishop Edward James Slattery.[1] Clear Creek is the second monastery of the Solesmes Congregation established in the United States; the first is a house of nuns at Westfield, Vermont. The monastery is being built in phases, and until the church was finished, Masses were said in the crypt.
Abbey Community
In February 2010, Clear Creek Abbey gained abbatial status. It uses the 1962 Roman Missal (Tridentine Mass).[2][3] The choir is well known for its Gregorian chant. Its first abbot, as of 2010, is Dom Philip Anderson, who had been the prior since the monastery's founding. He has said, "We just follow the old monastic life. We pray, worship and do manual labor and give counseling to people... There's a whole culture war going on and a series of disappointments with the Catholic Church in America. People look to this monastery as a new beginning, as a new element that has a solid backing in a long tradition of monastic life."[3]
Clear Creek is currently actively recruiting to its full capacity of 60-70 monks. As of 2003, there were 22 monks, while by 2013, there were over 40.[1][3] The community currently numbers 60 monks. In recent years, a community of lay families has started to gather around the abbey.[4]
The monastery is also actively fundraising, having raised $4 million (as of 2003) of a target of $32 million. After a large gift was received in 2009, construction on the church moved forward in 2011. The west façade, the nave, and the transept were raised to half their intended height. A roof was put over this new structure, allowing it to be used as a church. In 2013 the schematic architectural plans for the remaining buildings were completed. A contract for the construction of the church’s eastern portion, or chevet, was signed on March 10, 2016.[5]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Hinton, Carla. "Oklahoma monks' Spartan life is Christian 'witness to the world,'" The Oklahoman, March 31, 2013. Accessed May 8, 2015.
- ^ "Liturgy". Clear Creek Abbey. Retrieved 2019-09-11.
- ^ a b c "D.C. Catholics join effort for Oklahoma monastery," Washington Times, October 31, 2003. Accessed May 8, 2015.
- ^ "Bruderhof - Benedict Option - Catholic Style". Catholic Answers Forums. 2019-04-11. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
- ^ "Home". clearcreekmonks.org.
External links
- Clear Creek Monastery official website
- Thomas Gordon Smith Architects: building the monastery
- 2003 Washington Times Article on the monastery
- Article about the founding of the monastery
- Another article about the monastery's beginnings
- Article about the Kansas professors whose students founded the monastery
- Article about their educational approach.
- Tulsa World article on Brother Joseph-Marie Owen raising sheep
- Column about the monastery by a Nebraskan bishop
- Interview with Dom Philip Anderson: We Must All Build Bridges
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