Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,
Once upon a time there was a small community of monks, who started a monastery in the everlasting hills of Oklahoma. Upon one of those hills, about a mile from the rustic monks, one hermit—a woman consecrated to God—took up residence in a very small house made of wood with a tin roof.
But the hermit was a bit lonely and so, when other women came to visit her, she encouraged them to stay, so they might all offer prayers, together with the monks, for the glory of God and the salvation of the world. Thus a small community came into being, the Benedictine Sisters of Clear Creek, which was placed under the patronage of Mary, Queen of Angels.
For several years these Sisters had no official recognition as religious, but on August 22nd of the Year of Our Lord 2012, feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Bishop Edward J. Slattery of Tulsa decreed that the Benedictine Sisters of Clear Creek be established as a Public Association of the Faithful, tending toward recognition as a religious institute of Diocesan Right.
The little wooden house with the tin roof having become much too small to shelter the growing community, the Sisters eventually moved to the more spacious log cabin along Clear Creek, where the monks had first lived (before the latter began to occupy the newer buildings of the great abbey under construction).
Now the Sisters offer up their prayers seven times a day and once during the night. They make many sacrifices and dedicate themselves entirely to the Kingdom of Heaven. They follow, with some necessary adaptations, the purely contemplative form of life set forth in the Declarations and Constitutions of the Benedictine Nuns of the Congregation of Solesmes.
Anyone who would like to know more about the Benedictine Sisters of Clear Creek may consult their website at www.clearcreeksisters.org or write to them at the following address:
Benedictine Sisters of Clear Creek
Queen of Angels Priory
5813 West St. Martha’s Lane
Hulbert, OK 74441
All donations are tax-deductible. The Sisters are planning to have an official inauguration with an “open house” on May 13th. Details will be published soon on their website.
Please include these Sisters in the kindness and generosity you have always shown toward the monks of Clear Creek, knowing that their more “hidden” role in the history of our abbey has no doubt contributed more than we know to the relative success we have enjoyed in starting and continuing this great monastic adventure.
On their behalf and on that of all the monks here at Clear Creek Abbey, I wish you abundant blessings in the New Year of God’s grace, the continuation of the Holy Father’s Year of Faith.
+ br. Philip Anderson, abbot
