Benedictine Monks from Oklahoma Move to Ireland's Stamullen Priory

They seek to bring healing to a wounded Irish Church. I believe they are a first fruit of her restoration and a sign of her future contribution in a new missionary age. God has not abandoned the Church in Ireland. The Purification of the Church always precedes her healing, strengthening and renewal. So it will be in Ireland.

P>CHESAPEAKE,VA (Catholic Online) - In January I wrote a story entitled "Benedictine Monks from Oklahoma Become Missionaries to the Irish Church." In it I told the inspiring story of a group of Benedictine Monks at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Cenacle. 

These contemporary sons of St. Benedict show that the Holy Spirit is powerfully at work in the Church today. The same Holy Spirit which has used monks and monasteries throughout Church history is bringing about a monastic renewal in our day - for the sake of the whole Church. As they did in the first and the second millenniums, monks and monasteries are serving a significant role in the mission of the Church of the Third millennium. 

The Benedictine Prior, the Very Reverend Dom Mark Daniel Kirby, and the brothers who have gathered with him, represent the best of the monastic life. Clearly, they have heard the Lord. He called these monks from Oklahoma to a special vocational response in this new missionary age. They have moved their entire community to Ireland, a land which once gave the world monks, missionaries, and martyrs.

They seek to bring healing to a wounded Irish Church. I believe they are a first fruit of her restoration and a sign of her future contribution in a new missionary age. God has not abandoned the Church in Ireland. The Purification of the Church always precedes her healing, strengthening and renewal. So it will be in Ireland.

The monks at Stamullen Priory, Our Lady of the Cenacle, need our prayer. They also need our financial contributions. Moving their entire community to Ireland is not only a prophetic action, it is an expensive endeavor. You can contribute here.

I just received an update on the progress of their missionary work which I am happy to share with all of our readers on this weekend when we commemorate the great Irish Saint Patrick. Dom Mark Daniel Kirby is the Prior of Stamullen Priory, under the patronage of Our Lady of the Cenacle, in Stamullen, County Meath, Ireland.

He is also a wonderful blogger whose writings can be read at Vultus Christi In one of several postings currently available he wrote these words, "A faith that is not passed on grows dim and, like a dying flame, becomes no more than a flicker offering little in the way of light and warmth. The transmission of the faith assures its vitality. Faith is inseparable from tradition, tradition being the transmission of what we ourselves have received from the saints: whole, unchanged, and intact."

Here is an update on this wonderful project from this dear Monk, Priest and Prior:

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Dear Deacon Keith,

Greetings from Ireland just in time for Saint Patrick's Day!  I am writing to you from Rathkenny Parochial House in County Meath, where I have been the guest of Father John Hogan since my arrival in Ireland. 

Things are progressing slowly but surely, and I should soon be able to take up residence - however primitively - in our new monastery, Stamullen Priory.

The monastery building needs a great deal of work before it will be suitable for community life.  For this reason I have come ahead to supervise the transformations and improvements that are necessary. 

Partitions and walls will be knocked down, flooring will be taken up, wiring and plumbing will be brought up to code, the leakage around the foundations of the house will be addressed and, most importantly of all, the little monastic church will be entirely restored and renovated. 

Even as the work is being done, I will be doing everything possible to collect the funds needed to pay for it by soliciting donations. Several promising men are waiting for the monastery to be made ready so that will be able to come for a time of discernment, in view of joining our community.

If you haven't visited our monastery website yet - the fruit of Brother Benedict's labours - do so right away.  It will give you a treasury of information on the Work that Our Lord has undertaken among us.

I beg for your prayers and, if you know of anyone who would be able to  help us financially, I would ask you to contact Mr. David Craig my representative for fundraising at gifts@cenacleosb.org.

With my blessing.
In lumine vultus Iesu,

Dom Mark Daniel Kirby, Prior

In Ireland : Stamullen Priory
Stamullen,County Meath, Éire

Community Email: Info@cenacleosb.org
Prior's Email: prior@cenacleosb.org

Monastery Website:  http://cenacleosb.org/
Vocations Website: http://cenacleosb.org/vocations/

Vultus Christi Weblog: http://vultus.stblogs.org/

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