The following came in a January e-letter from Thomas Aquinas College.
Updates from Clear Creek Monastery, where 11 alumni monks currently live and pray. Thanks to all who prayed the novena posted here in behalf of Br. Patrick Carter (’05), Br. Peter Miller (’07), and Br. Robert Nesbit (’07). Those prayers have borne good fruit!
The young Benedictines — three of the 11 Thomas Aquinas College alumni living and praying at Clear Creek Abbey in Hulbert, Okla. — all made their solemn professions on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8.
Several alumni and representatives of the College, including Vice President Peter L. DeLuca and Senior Tutor John Nieto, were on hand for the blessed occasion.
In other good news out of Clear Creek, on October 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, two other alumni monks were ordained to the transitional diaconate: Br. Andrew Norton (’06) and Br. Christian Felkner (’01).
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Included in the e-letter were links to individual alumni blogs. Some are updates from monasteries (Norcia, Italy; Heiligenkreuz, Austria), some comments on secular world (Tom Waits, James Lee Burke).
Paths of LoveJoseph Bolin (’01)
Rev. Fr. Thomas Bolin, O.S.B. (’96)
Just ThomismJames Chastek (’00)
For the QueenSean Collins (’79)
Do I Have a Vocation? Therese Ivers (’03)
KorrectiveMatthew Lickona (’95)
Come and SeeFrancis Marotti (’07)
The Girl Who Was SaturdaySophia Mason (’09)
Holy Smokes Frater Maximilian Okapal, O.Praem. (’02)
Summa This, Summa ThatJoseph Susanka (’99)
Trinko’s TangentsKatrina Trinko (’09)
SancrucensisPater Edmund Waldstein (’06)
To see the college January Faith in Action blog, click here.
May God bless Thomas Aquinas College always, and all who have been blessed to be associated with this amazing, wonderfully Catholic, college.
Continue praying for these holy “young” men they are they future of our return to Tradition in The Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church. Pray also for Clear Creek and the wonderful Bishop of Tulsa the great Bishop Slattery, who celebrates The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass ad orientem in his cathedral and celebrates Mass at Clear Creek according to the rites of 1962. More bishops like Slattery are needed!!!
In 2006, Bishop Slattery said that if a law was passed criminalizing the act of aiding illegal immigrants “then [he] will become a criminal,” adding, “When it becomes a crime to love the poor and serve their needs, then I will be the first to go to jail for this crime, and I pray that every priest and every deacon in this diocese will have the courage to walk with me into that prison.” In 2007, he issued a 21-page pastoral letter in which he condemned Oklahoma House Bill 1804, a strict anti-illegal immigration law which Slattery claimed creates “an atmosphere of repression and terror.”
i’m glad you admire him, JANEK.
Max, I wonder if Bishop Slattery would go to jail to protest the HHS mandate.
Aiding “illegal” immigrants is integral to helping the poor. The Church cannot oppose this without opposing God … as anyone who has strained their little brain reading and memorizing and understanding Holy Scripture can see. The criticism of social welfare bishops is not that they help the poor but that they are often corrupt … and that they refuse to end abortion and cast out the homosexuals from their midst.
It is my understanding it already is a crime to aid and abet illegal (which of course means criminal) aliens. I too am guilty of that crime, as I have a Goddaughter who was brought here by her parents at 6 years of age. I will go to jail for her if necessary as well.
Bishop Slattery is a Catholic, not (thank God) a conservative. That pastoral letter is one of the great moments of his episcopate.
Kirk Kramer
A son of the Diocese of Tulsa
Thomas Aquinas College is a great institution. It is very worthwhile to visit their magnificent chapel in their campus nestled in the hills just outside Ventura.
As this article and today’s article about the Norbetines shows, it is a return to Catholic tradition that fuels growth in the Church. The novelties of the “Spirit” of Vatican II have failed and only have sown the seeds of dissent and liturgical abuse. These men and others across the world have devoted themselves to serving Christ and have discovered the rich and precious treasury of the Catholic Church. What is new is quickly outdated, while what is classic and beautiful stands the test of time. Deo Gratias! +JMJ+
This is lovely and they are also very young. God bless them!
Be great if more monasteries were to spring up … put an end to the absolute rule of corrupt diocesan bishops in so many areas, and maybe even wake up the dead population as well.
I wonder how long we can hold out here on the Left Coast, SF Bay Area Chapter, however. The lack of depth of what is presented as worship at the Nervous Ordo churches of the San Jose diocese is appalling. Now we come to the Annual Diocesan Appeal fund drive and time which should be spent on the meditation on Christ in the Scriptures, which should be the focus of the sermon/homily, takes a back seat to talks about money. The diocese here seems to be massive collection apparatus, really only concerned about money-money-money. There seems no spiritual core to most churches (exception: Our Lady of Peace Shrine, perhaps others) and droves of people that I know used to be Catholic now attend other churches… or just stay home. And the only location that allows an indult Latin Mass approved by Bp. McGrath seats only about 40 people, a very clever move by his grace, and people literally can’t get in on Sunday. Regarding this situation, I wonder how long.
There is another alumni who was just ordained a transitional deacon for the Canons Regular of the Immaculate Conception who are here in Santa Paula. They have two others who have taken vows and are studying for the priesthood. This city is one reason for staying in California for me.