Getting Serious About Retreat
I am the last Methodist Monastic to be un-retreated. That is, everyone else has done their thing in some way: Jacob to AZ, Mark to KS, Peter to KY (hee-hee), Tommy to DC, Chip to Chi-town. I alone have not monasticized. Well, enough. After a helpful group meeting last Monday to talk about our focus and re-focus, I decided that it was time to suck it up and find a trip.
I had really hoped to go to an Eastern Orthodox monastery since the rest of the crowd had gone the Benedictine route. However, it did not work out. I could not find one that felt right. So, I too decided to go Benedictine; it has become a de facto pillar of our S3 focus, I think.
I started out on Friday, armed with my home computer, DSL, and a search engine. In all I spent about three hours working all kinds of possibilities; researching monasteries, flights, costs, etc.... I continued to be frustrated with the reality that at all of the Catholic monasteries, I, as a non-Catholic (even though an ordained one), cannot receive holy communion. This is an awfully discouraging rift in the body of Christ, but I know we are all in conversation.
That is when I came across a very interesting possibility: an Anglican Benedictine order. Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, NY, has a very handy website that I discovered in my research. And it seemed like a godsend. Everything seemed perfect, including, of course, their open communion table! I explored the possibility and was excited that I would fly into NYC and catch a shuttle to Grand Central Station and from there take the Metro-North Railroad to Poughkeepsie, NY, before my final stop in West Park. It was looking very promising...until I called the monastery. The dates of Oct. 1-5, were booked solid and that was the only time the rest of this year I could go. Crestfallen is the right word.
But after a short break to get my chin up off of my chest, I went at it again. More and more searching I did. There were not any more viable Episcopalian possibilities, as much as that disappointed me. But, we are working on a $400 budget. Back to Catholicism. I poured through an online database of monasteries. Then, I found the Abbey of the Genesee, a Cistercian community in Piffard, NY.
My wife is from Rochester, NY, through which the Genesee River runs and which is about 35 miles from Piffard. She had mentioned this Abbey before; monasticism is something she explored, spending a month at St. Benedict's in Collegeville, MN, herself once. With my in-laws close by and reasonable airfare from Nashville to Rochester (which is remarkable, too, as Rochester is one of the most expensive flight destinations in America), things were shaping up. I was convinced. I would try the Abbey. I sent off an email to Fr. Jerome as listed on the Abbey's website and went to bed awaiting an early morning reply.
About 8:30 AM, I checked my email and got my reply. "The angels must be praying for you,"Fr. Jerome wrote, "I had one more room in the guesthouse for the time you requested. We'll see you in October." I emailed back to confirm; found a good flight on Northwest Airlines; and now I am really looking forward to this adventure. There's a reading list on the Abbey's website and some guidelines for preparing for retreat. So, I am squarely back in the fold with the Methodist Monastics. I am on board and ready to explore what the cloistered life may have to offer to us non-oblates. May Fr. Jerome's angels keep praying for me ;).
I had really hoped to go to an Eastern Orthodox monastery since the rest of the crowd had gone the Benedictine route. However, it did not work out. I could not find one that felt right. So, I too decided to go Benedictine; it has become a de facto pillar of our S3 focus, I think.
I started out on Friday, armed with my home computer, DSL, and a search engine. In all I spent about three hours working all kinds of possibilities; researching monasteries, flights, costs, etc.... I continued to be frustrated with the reality that at all of the Catholic monasteries, I, as a non-Catholic (even though an ordained one), cannot receive holy communion. This is an awfully discouraging rift in the body of Christ, but I know we are all in conversation.
That is when I came across a very interesting possibility: an Anglican Benedictine order. Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, NY, has a very handy website that I discovered in my research. And it seemed like a godsend. Everything seemed perfect, including, of course, their open communion table! I explored the possibility and was excited that I would fly into NYC and catch a shuttle to Grand Central Station and from there take the Metro-North Railroad to Poughkeepsie, NY, before my final stop in West Park. It was looking very promising...until I called the monastery. The dates of Oct. 1-5, were booked solid and that was the only time the rest of this year I could go. Crestfallen is the right word.
But after a short break to get my chin up off of my chest, I went at it again. More and more searching I did. There were not any more viable Episcopalian possibilities, as much as that disappointed me. But, we are working on a $400 budget. Back to Catholicism. I poured through an online database of monasteries. Then, I found the Abbey of the Genesee, a Cistercian community in Piffard, NY.
My wife is from Rochester, NY, through which the Genesee River runs and which is about 35 miles from Piffard. She had mentioned this Abbey before; monasticism is something she explored, spending a month at St. Benedict's in Collegeville, MN, herself once. With my in-laws close by and reasonable airfare from Nashville to Rochester (which is remarkable, too, as Rochester is one of the most expensive flight destinations in America), things were shaping up. I was convinced. I would try the Abbey. I sent off an email to Fr. Jerome as listed on the Abbey's website and went to bed awaiting an early morning reply.
About 8:30 AM, I checked my email and got my reply. "The angels must be praying for you,"Fr. Jerome wrote, "I had one more room in the guesthouse for the time you requested. We'll see you in October." I emailed back to confirm; found a good flight on Northwest Airlines; and now I am really looking forward to this adventure. There's a reading list on the Abbey's website and some guidelines for preparing for retreat. So, I am squarely back in the fold with the Methodist Monastics. I am on board and ready to explore what the cloistered life may have to offer to us non-oblates. May Fr. Jerome's angels keep praying for me ;).
posted by Bryan Brooks | 4:48 PM
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