25th Anniversary Celebration!
Our favorite “greeting sign” from a neighboring family!
Even the COVID-19 pandemic couldn’t stop us from doing something special to commemorate the 25th anniversary of our monastery’s relocation to Whitesville! Last Sunday we hosted a “drive-thru” celebration for our neighbors. They received a gift bag of nun-made holiday goodies - food for body and soul - with a little handmade card assuring them of our prayers on their behalf.
It has been a truly blessed 25 years for us here on Crisp Road, and we look forward to the future with hope and gratitude! Enjoy another little walk down memory lane …
On the first day of winter, Dec. 21, 1995, with a cold breeze sweeping off the lake and snow flakes brushing against our faces, 18 Passionist Nuns accompanied by an army of volunteers moved a whole monastery from Benita Avenue in Owensboro to 8564 Crisp Road in Whitesville! This was the day of the big move and we could hardly believe it!
In a joyous celebration, the new monastery had been blessed by our bishop a few weeks before, while the unfinished chapel would not be completed for several more months.
With no hot water or floor coverings in many areas yet, we had a formidable challenge before us as winter began. There was, however, more than enough work to keep our minds off these inconveniences. It was enough for us that God was calling us to celebrate Christmas on Crisp Road.
The trucks were quickly loaded and began the fourteen mile drive to Whitesville. Fr. Leonard Reisz had enlisted several St. Vincent de Paul men with their truck to assist in moving the heavier items, and the Durchholz brothers from Southern Indiana drove huge semi-trucks over to assist in the move. Tony Lanham and his son Brandon, plus countless others impossible to list, set to work with vigor to help in this arduous move.
Excitement filled the air, as the array of trucks, jammed to capacity with furniture and all manner of items, pulled up by the statue of St. Joseph at the front monastery entrance. The Durchholz brothers, most of whom are about six foot five, often stopped us in our tracks as they lifted heavy furniture with incredible ease. Had it not been for all these helpers, we probably would have had a few broken backs!
Smaller trucks and cars were everywhere, as all available vehicles of relatives and friends had also been enlisted. A monastery is not just where we live. A monastery is a little city of God, where we work, where we welcome visitors, and most especially where we gather in chapel seven times a day to worship God and intercede for the Church and the world. It would be like trying to move your home furnishings, your work place, and your church all in one day!!
Soon, the empty refectory (monastic dining area) and recreation room were nearly piled to the ceiling with furniture and boxes, all carefully marked for their destination. Just getting them to Crisp Road was only the first step. Then all had to be directed to its assigned room. The process had only begun.
That evening, we ate in the retreat house, hardly believing that we were actually at Crisp Road! Tired and weary, yet happy chatter filled the room as each one marveled at the outpouring of generous help from relatives and friends that had made possible not only that day’s big move, but the entire relocation itself.
Early the next morning, Dec. 22, our first Mass was celebrated in what is now the retreat house library. Jesus, the Living Bread come down from heaven, had taken possession of His new home! Since that day, the celebration of the Eucharist, and Our Lord’s Real Presence with us in the Blessed Sacrament, has remained at the center of our Passionist contemplative life, strengthening us in times of suffering and trial as well as times of joy.
Our first Christmas on Crisp Road—amid mountains of unpacked boxes and furniture—volunteers managed to put up a Christmas tree. One of the Nuns found a crib set buried amid the hundreds of boxes piled everywhere. Yes, it truly was “Christmas”—for new life in Christ was being born in our hearts for the sake of God’s people everywhere. The vision was slowly being fulfilled.