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The Southern Cross, Page 3 Thursday, May 4, 2000 The arrival of the Trappists at Conyers in 1944: A joyful lesson in contemplation The Monastery of the Holy Ghost, Conyers, in its early days P rayer and silence entered rural Georgia in a new way in March, 1944, when 21 monks from the Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky arrived at a farm near Conyers to set up the Monastery of the Holy Spirit. These Cistercians, who followed the ancient rule of Saint Benedict, at first lived in the upper part of a white brick bam on Rockdale County property which had cost the order $45,000. With a creek and natural spring providentially located nearby, a concrete monastery, abbey church and guest house would arise on the site over the next 25 years. Abbot Frederick Dunne of Geth semani had been drawn to the 1,465- acre tract of land—“Honey Hill Creek Plantation”—owned by Mercer Harbin of Atlanta, because of its “iso lation and beauty.” Here, the priests and brothers of the abbey could fol low the austere mle of their order. “Prayer,” said Abbot Frederick, “is the essence of our existence. Prayer for the whole world. Without prayer there would be no reason for our being.” The mle of silence would be adhered to by the monks to prevent them from “spending time in idle talk.” When the Abbey of the Holy Spirit was founded, only three mem bers—one of whom was Abbot Frederick—were permitted to talk. Of utmost importance to members of the community was the man selected to be their abbot, the one who would “set the tone” of the monastery. In Saint Benedict’s own words: the abbot was “believed to hold the place of Christ in the monastery” and the respect paid to him would be given to honor Christ himself. In different times and differ ing places, the role of the abbot might be that of a father (“abba”), or of a teacher or of a brother with special duties and responsibilities. Abbot Frederick, who had led the Trappists to Conyers, died four years after get ting the monastery off to a stur dy start. In 1946, when Holy Spirit officially became an abbey, James Fox was elected abbot. Trained in the “old school” of Trappist monas- ticism, Fox had earlier served in World War II in the Navy and had attended Harvard Business School. Abbot Fox was a twentieth-century man who finagled an AAA priority rating from government sources so that building supplies would be on hand for necessary construction at the monastery. Following Abbot Fox were other distinctive and compas sionate leaders: Dom Robert McGann, Dom Augustine Moore and Dom Armand Veileux. When north Georgia was separated from the Diocese of Savannah- Atlanta in the 1950’s and the mona stery at Conyers came under the jurisdiction of the new Diocese of Atlanta, the role of the monks at Holy Spirit developed in tandem with the emergence of the Atlanta Diocese and its needs. Those members of the com munity having contact with the non monastic world beyond Holy Spirit— through products and wares indige nous to the monastery and through spiritual direction afforded guests— became even more fully aware of their ministry’s outreach to all mem bers of the Mystical Body of Christ. An excellent Web site produced by Holy Spirit Monastery and authored by Dewey Weiss Kramer sheds a bright, contemporary light on “The Monastic Day,” a day comprised of three main parts: private prayer, com munal prayer and physical labor. At Holy Spirit, though individual apti tudes and needs are considered, the rhythm of community remains seam less. The Divine Office, made up of hymns, Scriptural readings and psalms, is chanted communally at prescribed intervals, day and night. Weaving as it does through every day, the Office helps keep Trappists focused on God. The monastery day begins with prayer and ends with prayer. Once Compline, the “night prayer of the whole Church,” has been completed, the rule of “Great Silence” is in force, and the only time of strict silence in the present-day monastery commences. Visitors who come to Holy Spirit are invited to share in the community’s prayers: the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer (before the evening meal) and Night Prayer or Compline (after dinner). For their part, the monks of Conyers follow Benedict’s rule of ora et labora, prayer and work. Whether this work is in their farm or gardens, or in stained-glass making or baking, this rule permeates each bonsai plant lovingly tended, each piece of glass fitted into place, each loaf of bread pulled from the oven. It permeates their ministry which includes provi sion of spiritual refuge to harried city dwellers of every faith who make retreats at Holy Spirit Monastery. Awareness of the needs of these peo ple of the world mandates instruction of new members of the order who will go forth to staff “daughter hous es” in distant places. The monastery’s openness to the needs of all God’s people is evidenced in ties Holy Spirit maintains with the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Non- Violent Social Change, Emory University, Koinonia and Jubilee Partners and Habitat for Humanity. It is evident that certain aspects of the monastery have changed. The Divine Office is no longer chanted in Latin, but in English, for example. As mentioned, the Rule of Silence now shrouds the place only after the evening prayer. Though the number of religious at the monastery in the 1950s had risen to about 100, today’s total remains close to a consistent 50 -60 professed monks as it has for the last fifteen years or so. Members of the community are drawn from places both within and beyond the United States. Starting in that now-distant time, more than a half century ago, when Bishop Gerald P. O’Hara of Savan nah-Atlanta, happily gave permission for Abbot Frederick M. Dunne of Gethsemani to establish a monastery near Conyers, the rule of ora and lab ora has remained a constant. Rita H. DeLorme is a volunteer in the Diocesan Archives. Rita H. DeLorme Two Sisters of Saint Joseph celebrate 60 By Sister Rita Huebner, CSJ Saint Louis, MO wo Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet are celebrating their 60th jubilees this year— Sisters Rose Margaret Schweers and Loretta Costa. Both sisters are Georgia natives and have served the people of that state for many years. Sister Rose Margaret has spent most of her active life at Saint Joseph Center for Life in Augusta. Sister Loretta has been in elementary schools in the Savannah diocese: Sacred Heart, Savannah: Saint Francis Xavier, Brunswick; Saint John, Valdosta; Saint Mary on the Hill, Augusta; and at Sacred Heart in Milledgeville. Augusta native Sister Rose Margaret celebrated 60 years as a Sister of Saint Joseph of Carondelet on March 19. Daughter of the late John Bernard Schweers and Mary Margaret O’Conner, Sister Rose Margaret grew up in Sacred Heart Parish in Augusta. Her mother, “who was very friendly with the Sisters,” as Sister Rose said, first introduced her to the Sisters of Saint Joseph. Sister Rose’s older twin sisters had boarded at Mount Saint Joseph during their high school years, and one of them, Gene, entered the community in 1927. The close relation ship with the Sisters solidified for Sister Rose Margaret when she entered the Sisters of Saint Joseph in September 1939. She received the habit on March 19, 1940. Early on, Sister Rose Margaret taught elementary school, first at Saint Anthony in Atlanta and then at years in religious life Saint John the Evangelist in Valdosta. But begin ning in 1953, Sister Rose Margaret began an endur ing service in health care ministry. Except for the years 1966-1972, when she was an assistant admin istrator at Saint Joseph Hospital in Kirkwood, Missouri, Sister Rose Margaret spent all of her health care ministry at Saint Joseph Center for Life in Augusta. There she has been a supervisor, public relations director, coordinator of volunteers, and historian. Today she continues volunteer work on a remil^r hoclc mr! iq Pacp ATorrroraf Vaai-sc 1- _ T -'■ c mVh roc oc - i1 _o r paper clippings from the earliest times to. the pre- sent day. In 1989, si wrote the history of the hos pital, Extending the Work of Christ: The History of (Continued from page 5)