Help a Monastery

The Wifey and I spent last weekend helping our Monk son move from St. John's Monastery in California (where Fr. Meletios Webber is Abbot) to his new home at St. Michael the Archangel Monastery in Canones, New Mexico where he is one of three monks living there now. This is the chapel and grounds from the dirt road coming into the Monastery.



I've known about St. Michael's almost since its beginning because we have ties to Holy Trinity and Fr. John Bethancourt in Santa Fe, NM, but I had never been there. I'm glad I went, and I'm going back.  But this is where you come in.

St. Michael's is under "reconstruction" by Mp. Jonah.  All but one of the former monks and novices have been moved out, not for scandalous moral offenses but simply the community was too dysfunctional to continue as it was.  That just happens sometimes when you have people who are working out their salvation with no one to guide them properly.  So Fr. Silouan from St. John's was sent by Mp. Jonah (who was Fr. Silouan's Abbot at St. John's for years) to be the Superior and re-establish order and rebuild the Monastery.  I met Fr. Silouan a few years ago when I began visiting St. John's.  Fr. Silouan is a recent cancer survivor and was finally living as a hermit, which was his long time desire, when he was called out to lead a community.  He is the poster boy for God's ironic will:  what you THINK you are called to do, you'll do the opposite.  But because Fr. Silouan has no "ambition" he is the perfect person to do the job.  He is one of the most genuine people I've ever met in my life.

The monastery has basic infrastructure.  There are small three cells that were built several years ago. They have no water or electricity to them and are heated by a wood burning stove by design.  This is the one our son is moving in to.

There is also a beautiful and well constructed guest house that was donated by a patroness of the Monastery years ago.  The guest house is about 100 yards from the "monks' area". Unlike some other Monasteries, there are not common meals with the guests and monks, the guests prepare their own meals and eat in the guest house common living/dining room kitchen area.

One can wander the grounds, help out in many ways and attend all the daily services in the chapel which was completed several years ago.  At this time there is not a "priest monk" so all of the services are done as "Reader's Services" by the monks.

But there is a lot of work to be done at the monastery.  The original buildings on the property are over 80 years old and were built "al ojo" (by the eye).  None of them are insulated and need major repairs and upgrading.  The candle factory which was housed in an old "potato cellar" (which is the only source of income for the monastery) burned down and was moved into a another small storage shed.  The kitchen/office/monk's dining room is the large tin roofed building on the left and needs major attention. Fr. Silouan's cell is half of an old storage shed (the white building on the right with two blue doors) and has no insulation and a flat roof.  The night we stayed there it got down to 20 degrees and his cell drops to about 40 degrees.  When it snows he will have an ice cube sitting on his uninsulated roof. I'd like to remove the sheetrock, insulate the walls, seal up all the cracks etc. and put a pitched roof on the shed that will keep snow off of it. There is a lot of winter left in Canones and if possible I'd like to go there for a couple weeks at the end of November or early December to do some of the critical work. 

Here is the need:  They have basically no money.  Fr. Silouan is overwhelmed just keeping up with the day to day needs of the monastery (he was digging a trench to fix a broken drainage pipe last Sunday to try to get it done and reburied before the freeze that night).  Fr. Ephrosynos will be a big help in the day to day operations.  If you can donate toward a "construction fund" for the Monastery it would go a long way to easing some of the pressures of trying to prioritize what to fix and when.  And frankly, part of the fund will have to go toward some kind of stipend for my work at this time.  I usually donate my labor to churches and monasteries, but I can't even afford the gas to drive there right now.  If you can help out, just go to their website HERE and send a donation with a note or earmark for "Construction Fund".  Fr. Silouan knows I am making this appeal and sends his gratitude and prayers for all of you who read this blog.

The Monastery does not have a Paypal account (yet), but if you would like to donate online I will take donations (tax deductible) through the "Our Life in Christ" Paypal donation account and pass it on to them.  You can donate HERE with a Paypal account or a credit card (please note it is for St. Michael's).

Email me if you have any questions. Please link to this and pass it on if you would. Thanks, all.