St. Gregory's Abbey (con't)

The monks of St. Gregory's moved from Indiana to this farm outside Three Rivers, Michigan, in the 1940s.  An existing farmhouse became the main entrance to the facility and connected the church, on one side, with the library, refectory, and monks' cells, on the other.  Male guests were housed in two World War II vintage quonset huts.  Guest cells were cramped, and the bathroom plumbing frequently leaked, giving the quonsets a steamy, rain forest atmosphere.  St. Denys', another farmhouse across the lawn, accommodated group retreats.

Several years ago the Abbey undertook a building program.  The monks were tired of constantly fixing broken buildings!  So, with the help of generous donors, they replaced most of the original physical plant with new, durable buildings which will stand up to the constant hard use an abbey receives not only from the monks but also from hundreds of visitors every year.

Of the original physical plant, only the church and St. Denys' guesthouse survive unchanged.  One can walk indoors from the church, past the main entrance with its bell tower, to the Guestmaster's office, library, and refectory.  The monks' private areas — chapter room (where they hold community meetings), music room, lounge, and cells — are on the back of the building.  St. Denys', which is still used for groups on retreats, sits beside a new guesthouse, St. Anthony's, which accommodates individual retreatants.  On the far side of St. Anthony's is the business office.  I am told there are plans someday to connect St. Anthony's with the main building via an enclosed colonnade.

There is plenty of space for those who like to walk.  Set off in one direction and you pass the barn and St. Benedict's, a guest cottage for those making silent retreats, ending up at the Abbey's wood lot.  Follow the road behind the Abbey and you come to the cemetery.  Here are buried several monks and oblates (lay and ordained friends of the Abbey who follow a modified Benedictine Rule).  Both areas show evidence of damage from a tornado which passed over St. Gregory's a few weeks ago.  Lots of trees were knocked down, but the buildings sustained only very minor damage.  When the storm damage is finally cleaned up, the monks will have a goodly supply of firewood!

The Abbey's lake — the monks' old swimming hole.

Tornado damage on the path to the cemetery.

A great cross stands over the graves of
monks and oblates.

Wooden crosses mark the graves of monks (foreground)
and oblates (at the rear).

More storm damage on the cemetery path.

Men who visit individually take their meals in the refectory, as Zach and I did.  This has always been a challenge for me.  As a child I was told to eat slowly and chew thoroughly in order to avoid choking.  However, such is not the custom among Benedictine monks!  For the men of St. Gregory's, meals are primarily taking on fuel.  Their food is simple and nourishing, but not dawdled over.  Lunch, the main meal, is dispatched in a bit over ten minutes; the light supper goes down even faster.  I always feel as if I am wolfing my food!

Monks and guests eat in silence as one of the monks reads.  Books selected for mealtime reading generally include theology, spirituality, and history.  For example, the book being read at this visit (Abbot Andrew was the reader) was a history of the War of 1812.

Zach spent much of his time in the library.  When not reading or running off to church, I wandered around the Abbey grounds with my camera.  I found the bark of various trees to be good subjects.  I also noticed that bricks used in the apron in front of St. Denys' porch had been imported from Ohio.

Bricks at St. Denys'.

Ivy crawls up the trunk of a tree at St. Denys'...

...while moss festoons another tree trunk.

In these first years of the 21st century, a monastery may seem anachronistic.  One may fairly ask why men should spend much of their day, indeed much of their lives, in church, chanting the psalms and praying for the world.  I think the answer to that question is splashed on the front pages of newspapers across the country and world. •••