New Skete Monasteries News

  By Brother Gregory   Recently, a Companion asked me what she could do for New Skete. She was sorry that she lives so far away from the monastery, and she felt that she was not doing enough. My response to her question was this: What can the Monks and Nuns of New Skete do for her? It was very clear in her conversation that she cares about people and responds to their needs. With so much sadness and suffering in the world, the monastics have talked about feelings of depression and helplessness as to how to respond to national and world divisions and war. This Companion has no effect on what is going on in Gaza, the Ukraine, or even the political climate in our nation. I reminded her that little acts of kindness can go a long way in lifting someone’s spirit and helping another person to have a better day. It all begins with us individually and how we can have a profound influence on another person. Just a smile, a “Hello,” or a “Good Morning” can have a strong impact on ano...

  By Brother Brennan Christ is risen! Recently, a young composer and cellist, Jennifer Bewerse, recognized New Skete as the inspiration for her newest composition, “Inside Silence.” Jennifer visited here several years ago as a participant in the Cello Seminar, a local music theory and practice workshop led by noted musician and teacher Rhonda Rider at the nearby Brown Farm. After witnessing a bit of our life, work, and worship here at New Skete, she kindly credited us with inspiring her current work, and for our “dedication to developing a rich inner self and spirituality through monastic life.”             I was really impressed with her impressions, I must say, and with her particular attention to the practice of, as well as the incidental occurrence of, silence—whether it be an intentional silence as in meditation, or unintentional as an “awkward lull” in a conversation. Both can be quite mysterious, yet also of grea...

by Ida Williams, New Skete Employee This summer I turn the “big 6-0.”   As my oldest grandson said as we were watching fireworks one night, “That’s a big one!” It feels just like yesterday when I was saying, “I’m 50, and I can kick, and stretch, and kick.”   The average life expectancy in the United States is 79 years, so I am in the third-third of my life.    I am pondering about what my life will look like during this final third.   When will I retire; will I travel; will I become a snowbird?   At retirement age, I will have spent more than a third of my employed years working for New Skete.   This monastery that I and so many others love will be celebrating its “big 6-0” in a few years.   Unlike me, New Skete has no thoughts of retirement or scaling back.   During New Skete’s 50th anniversary celebration, we created a commemorative journal highlighting the Then, Now, and Tomorrow of the monastery and its work.    A copy of...

 by  Brother Christopher   There is a healthy tension in Orthodoxy during the weeks leading up to Great Lent. Interestingly, three out of the four pre-Lenten Sundays have forgiveness as their principal theme: the Publican and Pharisee, the Prodigal Son, and Forgiveness Sunday. It is as if the Church intends to have us experience the true meaning of forgiveness before Lent even begins, so that our Lenten observance is less one of “earning” God’s forgiveness through our ascetic practice, and more our response of gratitude for the forgiveness we have already received. Now, while that might be a consoling thought, such forgiveness is not the whole story. Sandwiched between the Sunday of the Prodigal Son and Forgiveness Sunday is Judgement Sunday, which offers a salutary counterbalance to any temptation to take God’s forgiveness for granted. So let’s reflect a bit on Matthew’s apocalyptic scene in chapter 25 of his gospel and that scary word “judgement,” which can make us ...

  by Brother Christopher   It is not often that monks get to travel, given that our focus is on living the monastic life in this particular community. However, occasionally situations come up when travel is warranted, and one such opportunity presented itself recently for Brothers Christopher and Theophan. The Institute for the Study of Eastern Christianity at Catholic University of America was hosting a conference titled “Ascetic Practices and the Mind: Mental Healing in Eastern Christianity” on March 1-2. We found out about the conference when Robin Darling Young, one of the theology professors at Catholic U and an organizer of the conference, paid a brief visit to New Skete last fall. During the course of her visit she learned that Brother Theo had a background in neuroscience, and she mentioned to us how the conference planners were looking for an Orthodox participant(s) whose interests were in both spirituality and neuroscience. She took advantage of the synchronicity...

  By Sister Cecelia Seeking to do God’s will in all things is what monasticism is all about. It encompasses all the nitty-gritty happenings in all our lives. At the Nuns’ monastery, after 30-plus years the door and door frame opening to a second-floor deck had succumbed to all the snows and rainfalls and was rotting along the bottom. It took 3 months for a replacement door to arrive and another few months for it to be installed. Further investigation of the deck itself revealed extensive rotting that needed attention. Through many years of repairs to the wooden deck itself, it appeared to be a lost cause. How long would the wood last, since so many coats of stain and preservative had been applied and the wood floor and railing were still cracked with so much snow and rain on it? How long would a repair last before someone leaned against the railing and went tumbling down? Or a floorboard gave when stepped on? We do trust in God, but we also know that God expects us to use our hea...

  By Brother Luke Suddenly a mighty wind swept in. (Job 1:19) Winter has truly blown in with a fury this year. We have had several winter storms accompanied by strong winds and the crack of trees breaking and falling in the woods. And when that happens, the trails don't get spared. So, my dogs and I have made, and continue to make, forays into the woods to hike the trails and clear away the debris and branches. Those forays are more like reconnaissance because when the trees themselves fall across the trails, then out comes the chain saw. Sometimes all that is required is to cut a path through a large tree trunk. But other times one tree will bring down another, and a jumble of branches blocks the trail. Much of that can be cleared by pulling the broken branches away from the trail and using a simple hand saw to cut some of the branches. In some cases a tree has fallen, uprooted, and hit another tree, and remains hung up perilously over the trail. Bringing that down requi...