New Skete Monasteries News

by Brother Peter She came from the motherland, Germany, and what a fine specimen she was. Tollie, a purebred German Shepherd, was purchased from a reputable kennel by the Monks of New Skete to become one of our widely known, well-bred German Shepherds. Upon Tollie’s arrival, I was asked to be her handler. Fortunately, although I had been diagnosed with an allergy to dogs when I was 10 years old, years of allergy shots enabled me to work with dogs by the time I reached the age of 25. Tollie had already received obedience training in Germany, and she understood her commands only in the German language.  I had studied German in high school, so I quickly took to administering her commands, such as bleib /stay, com /come, and absleggen /by my side.  What a delightfully gregarious dog Tollie was. Whenever she saw people, her tail would go a-wagging! She became a great greeter at the monastery’s front door. She was so obedient; she would promptly lie down when I gave that ...

by Ida Williams, Director of Marketing and Communications This weekend I was volunteering at an event, and in one of those “down time” conversations with another volunteer, the topic naturally turned to our jobs. People are often fascinated by my job: working for a monastery, those mysterious people on the mountain. During this conversation, it became very apparent that the other person had a preconceived notion of monks, nuns, and monasteries. To put it bluntly, the person said that monks and nuns are hermits and do not live in the real world. FAR FROM IT! What an opportunity for me to share and educate someone about the monastery. New Skete is a place to hide? Are you kidding me?  There is more contact with the “public” or “outside world” than in many vocations. The monastery hires staff. This means that the monks and nuns, in work situations, have co-workers. Bakery staff members work with the nuns. Laypeople work in the dog training and breeding kenne...