New Skete Monasteries News

By Brother Gregory For several weeks we knew that my dog Ombra was pregnant, and she was getting pretty big, but we were not sure how many puppies she was carrying. She lives with Lena, my other dog, and me in my bedroom. For the last two weeks Ombra was getting uncomfortable, and sleeping at nights was difficult. Ombra looking for a comfortable spot to nest. She would pace for about three hours before settling down for some sleep, but she would be awake again around 4 AM. Needless to say, my sleep pattern was off, too. I made sure during the day and night that she often had time to poop and pee and could have some exercise to move around. Ombra is such a sweet and gentle dog; she just wants to please and play all the time. I asked the other monks when the big day would arrive, and some of us started to take a pool as to how many puppies she would have. The final answer for the due date was sometime on Sunday. I waited and waited all day Sunday. Finally I decided to go to bed. ...

Reflections by Brother Luke Back in my government days, restructuring the bureaucracy was seemingly an unending activity. I suspect nothing has changed in that regard. Not only did elections followed by new federal administrations bring in new political appointees with new ideas about how to do practically everything, but in the world of the defense establishment and the military (where I worked), changes in leadership according to the usual rotational requirements of career advancements kept us constantly facing reorganization, downsizing, personnel transfers, and general uncertainly about job security. Spencer Johnson’s book Who Moved My Cheese? was all the rage in the 1990s. Now you can get it for 1¢ online (+ shipping, of course). It is in the same category as the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Both books deal with change and how to cope with it, or rather, how to turn what seems negative into something positive. During our years of transition at New Skete, we str...

by Brother David Technology has removed us, by and large, from the terrors of life even as it has intensified them. We read or watch news segments about atrocities and find that we have become observers who have exchanged fear for fascination and pity for information. I’ve even heard the term “gawker glut” to describe the traffic bottleneck that occurs when people slow down to better see an accident as they drive by. Our news media have taken to blasting us with constant repetition of disasters and atrocities in an attempt to be heard above the din of sit-coms, docudramas, police procedurals, and science fiction and horror programs. It is not so much that there is something wrong with such programming as much as it can be used to create passivity – observership. We become desensitized to suffering as well as to awe. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps 111: 10) and “Blessed are those who fear the Lord; who find great delight in his commands” (Ps 112: 1). Do we f...