New Skete Monasteries News

By Brother Luke   I am sitting at my desk Monday evening, and I can see the message light on the phone blazing red. I listen to the message. It is my brother-in-law asking me to call. So, I call. Phil answers my hello with a breaking voice, saying, “Susie died this morning at 5:30.” But the doctors had been saying all the time she was in the hospital that she would regain her strength and be home in a few days. But it was not to be. Just two weeks earlier I had called and talked to Susie. We talked about her plans and what the doctors had told her. They had said that they could not stop the cancer this time, but they could continue to fight it with chemo. So the plan was for her to regain her strength, go home, and then reschedule the last two chemo sessions. As we concluded our conversation we said our usual good-byes and our mutual sign-off: “I love you.”  I did not know at that time those were the last words we would speak to each other. The next day she became uncon...

Our dogs remain forever in our hearts written by Sister Cecelia, Prioress It seems dogs do not live as long as we, and big dogs have even shorter lives.  A person who takes on the responsibility of a dog — or many dogs — is in for incomprehensible joys, sorrows, worries, marvelous awe, and delight. This year I lost my dear companion Jeck.  I was rarely out of Jeck’s sight.  People visiting me at the monastery would need to step over him (not an easy feat, he was a big dog) to get into my office.  Often he lay next to the glass doors to the bakery, watching the activity and hoping someone would sneak him a cheesecake morsel If anyone was looking for me and saw Jeck, they knew I was close by. In my grieving for Jeck, I found myself reflecting on dogs I had cared for over the years.  I no longer thought about what I lost with their passing, but about what I had gained from our time together. Jeck lying at bakery door.  Photo courtesy of Cha...

Seminar held at New Skete July 12-14, 2013 Written by Brother Christopher Group shot last day of seminar.             Over the years many friends and dog lovers have encouraged us to put together a dog seminar that would allow people an opportunity to experience our community and learn from our many years of working with dogs. For a variety of reasons we had never been able to pull it off, but we’ve always had it in the back of our minds as something we’d like to offer. Happily, over the weekend of July 12-14, we were able to finally realize this goal and welcome forty participants to our first dog seminar, which we titled, “The Art of Living with your Dog.” The event went so smoothly, and was embraced so enthusiastically by the participants, that it left all of us wondering, “Why has it taken so long for us to put one of these on?”               The truth is th...