Holy Resurrection Monastery Needs YOUR Help!
Click here for the monastery's website
We are a small Byzantine Catholic community located in the small quiet village of St. Nazianz amidst the beautiful green pastures of Wisconsin.
We moved to Wisconsin in 2011 from the small town of Newberry Springs in the middle of the scorching Mojave Desert of California after having been established there in 1995. We are the third religious group to inhabit our present monastery building, a history that goes back to 1854 when German Catholic immigrants established our village as a Catholic utopian community. It was, until the late 1800s, the longest lasting of such communities established during the same time period throughout the US.
At present, however, we are in anything but utopia. Our building is in need of much repair, and after 150 years it's no wonder! Some rooms do not have ceilings, many hallways lack carpet. Water damage, whether from antiquated plumbing or precipitation soaking through our roof or walls is a constant fear and financial strain. The damage has gotten even into our chapel!
Right now our goals are simple: to repair our home and make it attractive so that we may open it to guests looking for a place to retreat from the world; to enjoy an atmosphere of quiet, prayer and spiritual nourishment.
These repairs are also necessary to accommodate our growing monastic community. Since moving to Wisconsin in 2011 we've doubled in size, adding two novices and a postulant as well as several men in long-term discernment! The monastery building provides this growing community with its base for prayer, and also enables the monks to go out into the wider community to speak and teach as part of our involvement in the New Evangelization.
Here are the steps we need to take to reach our goal:
1.) Repairs to Building Soffit, Fascia & Trim - Cost: $35,000
This would allow us to waterproof the building and allow us to direct our already meager funds elsewhere instead of short-term patch jobs. It is one of the keys to our future economic security.
2.) Necessary Interior Repairs - Cost: $10,000
The repairs have been continuously put off for far too long and with YOUR help we are hoping to finally repair the ceilings and plaster in many of the monks bedrooms and our guest rooms as well.
3.) Repairs to External Stucco & Regrading Exterior - Cost: $50,000
Our building is covered in MOLD! So much so that repeated scraping, chemical solutions and pressure washing have done nothing to fix it. Not only is it unhealthy, it's unsightly too!
4.) Restoration of the Onion Dome - Cost: $50,000
Our quant little village was established by east German immigrants who wanted to establish a Catholic utopia here in the United States. For many years, the village was marked by a distinctive onion dome that drew people from miles around.
We wish to replicate this lost historical landmark and not only draw people from miles around, and in doing so increase the number of retreats and ministries that we are able to offer, but also to reflect the beauty that is inherently found in Eastern Christianity and to pay tribute to the culture of our village's hardy immigrant pioneers; many of whose descendants live in the village to this day.
Why should I help you? What value does a monastery have right now in the 21st century?!
It's a great question, we must admit but the answer is both simple but at the same time quite complicated.
The answer is that monasteries and the monks who live in them are, well, priceless. They are like art, beauty and even love; we cannot attach a price to them because they simply defy a pricetag.
The poet William Blake once asked:
"What is the price of experience? Do men buy it for a song? Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price of all the man hath, his house, his wife, his children."
Or as the Book of Proverbs puts it, "wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it."
Now, the men in this picture don't claim to be wise! But they've given their lives in search of it, or rather Him. They seek Him in prayer, in serving guests, in serving one another and in going out into the wider world and teaching, giving missions and retreats that introduce people in every walk of life to a wealth of prayer and an ocean of peace.
The men in this picture work hard to make this all possible. They bake bread and cakes, some have church employment outside the community, in the past they've even had to hire themselves out as farm laborers to make ends meet. They also receive help from a host of wonderful donors, most of whom contribute small amounts to keep the lights on and food on the table.
The men who dwell here come from many places: some came from the fields of Iowa, the majestic terrain that is Colorado, and the rolling plains of Texas and yet others from different nations and continents. They represent a host of different backgrounds: a lawyer, a chef, a priest, a rapper, a journalist, a store clerk, and yes, one is even a grandfather.
We seek to live a life of prayer and contemplation, not because we are holier than everyone else, but because we recognize our weaknesses and failings. We are here to help people who are confused in this difficult busy world that pulls us in so many different directions, not because we know all the answers, but because we too have been there.
Sometimes though, those who give help must ask for it too. So we implore you to consider a donation. Help us out for the short run, so that we may help YOU in the long run from here and unto the ages of ages.
Click here for the monastery's website
