A Strong Ministry Continues
By Brother Gregory Back in 1983, a group of chapel community members at New Skete felt very strongly about the monastic witness lived by the monks and nuns of New Skete. These married couples wanted to join in a closer relationship with the monks and nuns as a third monastic community, and they became known as the Companions of New Skete. With their financial resources and the help of the monks and nuns, Emmaus House was built on the property of the monks’ monastery. For the next 30 years, the Companions at Emmaus House added their voices and zeal to the witness of New Skete as a monastic presence in America. The Companions helped in many ways with the hard work needed to keep New Skete alive. They painted icons, trained dogs in the Adult Dog Training Program, made dog biscuits, added their singing voices to the daily monastic services, offered hospitality to guests visiting New Skete, and gave in so many other ways that the Companions developed their own ministry identity. One