New Skete Monasteries News

                                                                        By Brother Gregory   I’m going to talk with you about a special relationship that several New Skete monastics have and have had: a relationship with their German Shepherd dogs. Over the years I have been blessed with relationships with many dogs under my care at New Skete: Diamond, Raja, Lena, Ombra, Yaki, and maybe more, and while in Maine I had Yugi and Esra.        In 2018, yet another German Shepherd, born in Germany, came into my care and is still with me now. Her name is Quilla and she is now six years old. In 2018 Quilla gave birth to her first litter of puppies, and she was and has been a true mother, licking and cleaning all her puppies. Quilla has had four l...

  By Ida Williams with Brother Luke   During one of the early dog owners’ seminars, one of the attendees asked at the end of Brother Luke’s presentation why some monks are called father and some are called brother. I thought I knew so much back then I had worked for them for at least 5 years, so I answered, “Priests are called father, and monks are called brother.”   WRONG! Here is Brother Luke’s explanation: “In many Christian traditions, both East and West, priests are referred to as father. In addition, in Eastern Orthodox monastic tradition, all professed monks are referred to as father, and professed nuns as mother. However, monks and nuns are also referred to as brothers and sisters. At New Skete, since its founding, the desire was to emphasize the understanding that we are all equal before God and not in some hierarchical order, so we preferred to refer to each other as brother and sister rather than mother and father. Of course, when visitors come who ar...

    By Ralph Karow   When I first heard Br Christopher refer to the choir as the icon of community, I was struck by the rich ground it offered for contemplation. With so many others things to do and think about, however, I let it slip into the back of my mind until it pushed itself forward as I was writing last month’s article. As often happens, not thinking about something for a time leads to better insights later on. In last month’s article, I drifted back in time to the early Church in Rome. It was a time when there were no icons or set doctrines or a structured Church. There were also no choirs or set musical forms or a structured system of music.             One reason I’d put forth for the lack of icons is that the saints and events that were later depicted were still so fresh in memory as to be a living presence for those gathered into Christian communities. And it was also a period of not thinking , whi...