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A Monastic Revival in America? An Interview with a Monk

2026-01-22T11:46:29-06:00January 22nd, 2026|Letters to the Friends, News, Videos|

Dear Friends,

Are we living through a renaissance in monastic life? And if so, what does that monastic revival mean for the rest of the Church?

Late last year, Fr. Ambrose Criste, O.Praem., of St. Michael’s Abbey sat down with our very own Fr. Patrick Carter, OSB, to explore these very questions. Their discussion is a compelling and timely one: they cover the history and legacy of the Benedictine monastic tradition, its striking relevance in contemporary society, and its indispensable role in renewing the Church and our society.

They also discuss the role that Our Lady of Clear Creek is playing at this pivotal moment in history—which makes you, our friends, part of this conversation, too!

I hope that you find this conversation as exciting and inspiring as I do. What we are doing here is historic work […]

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Dom Guéranger on the Procession with Candles at Candlemas

2026-01-21T12:36:48-06:00January 21st, 2026|Dom Guéranger's Liturgical Year|

The Procession with Candles at Candlemas

by Dom Prosper Guéranger, founding Abbot of the Congregation of Solesmes, taken from his treatment of February 2: The Purification of the Blessed Virgin in Volume 3 of his Liturgical Year.

Filled with holy joy, radiant with the mystic light, excited, like the venerable Simeon, by the impulse of the Holy Spirit – the Church goes forth to meet her Emmanuel. It is this meeting which the Greek Church calls the Hypapante, under which name she also designates today’s Feast. The Church would imitate that wondrous Procession, which was formed in the Temple of Jerusalem the day of Mary’s Purification.

Let us listen to St. Bernard:

“On this day, the Virgin-Mother brings the Lord […]

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New Book on the American Catholic Land Movement

2026-01-14T12:45:49-06:00January 14th, 2026|News|

This compelling collection of twelve essays, including one by Fr. Francis Bethel, a monk of Clear Creek, traces the forgotten yet vital history of Catholic agrarian life in America, from early missions and immigrant homesteads to modern efforts at family-based land stewardship. Together, these scholars reveal how faith, work, and land once formed a coherent Catholic way of life—and how they still can.

Softcover, 416 pages, 5.5 x 8.5 inches.

The American Catholic Land Movement: Past, Present, and Future

  • Presents a coherent narrative of the American Catholic land tradition through 12 scholarly essays
  • Explores the impact of key movements such as the Southern Agrarians, the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, and the Catholic Worker movement
  • Analyzes modern efforts—like local, family‑based economic initiatives and homesteading—as practical responses to social and […]
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Epiphany 2026

2026-01-08T11:38:15-06:00January 6th, 2026|Homilies of Father Abbot|

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Juda, in the days of king Herod, behold there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?”

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
My very Dear Sons,

Earlier today in Rome, the Holy Father closed the Holy Door, ending the Jubilee Year… Tomorrow a different door will open, that of the extraordinary consistory of Cardinals, during with our new Sovereign Pontiff, Pope Leo XIV, will lay out his plans for his pontificate. We must pray for the success of this great meeting and for the direction Pope Leo will give to Holy Church going forward.

As it moved toward the fullness of time, human history was driven by three major currents: that of the Romans with […]

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Mindful Merriment

2025-12-27T16:13:15-06:00December 26th, 2025|Letters to the Friends|

Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,

As I have mentioned in the past, it is our monastic custom on Christmas Eve to gather as a family and reflect on the year that has passed and the year to come—all in the perspective of the incomparable mystery and joy of the Birth of Christ.

Our thoughts will turn to family members who are suffering or who have left this life here below. We are likewise mindful of the multiple tragedies that grip our fellow human beings in various places around the world.

There is a strict duty for Christians, despite it all, to rejoice in the Lord, as we are reminded during Advent (“Rejoice in the Lord always” exclaims Saint Paul on the Third Sunday, […]

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Christmas 2025

2026-01-08T11:25:28-06:00December 25th, 2025|Homilies of Father Abbot|

And Joseph went up from Galilee…into Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary his espoused wife, who was with child (Lk. 2).

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
My very dear sons,

It seems that the custom of celebrating three Masses at Christmas originated in Palestine, in the very country where the Holy Family lived. In the fourth century a first Mass was said at Bethlehem, in the very early hours; a second Mass was then celebrated around dawn in the greater church of Jerusalem; finally, a third holy Mass was celebrated about midday in the famous church of the Resurrection, the Anastasis. In Rome, a similar custom prevailed: the first Mass was said at midnight before […]

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Immaculate Conception 2025

2025-12-09T17:19:39-06:00December 9th, 2025|Homilies of Father Abbot|

Trahe nos, Virgo Immaculata; Draw us, O Virgin Immaculate; we will run after thee to the fragrance of thy ointments. (Fifth Antiphon; cf. Cant. 1:3)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
My Very Dear Sons,

Beginning already in the earliest centuries of the Church, a debate arose as to the universal nature of original sin and its effects on the great friends of God such as Saint John the Baptist or Saint Joseph. Were they touched by this hereditary harm? Our Lord affirmed that “no one born of woman” was greater than Saint John (Mt. 11:11). Could he have been affected by the ugliness of original sin? But the question that caused the most discussion was relative to what part sin may have had in the body and soul of the Blessed Virgin […]

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All Saints 2025

2025-11-04T17:56:43-06:00November 1st, 2025|Homilies of Father Abbot|

Post haec vidi turbam magnam…After this I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands (Apoc. 7:9).

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
My very dear sons,

“A certain man running up and kneeling before [Jesus], asked him: Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting? Why callest thou me good? Replied the Lord. None is good but one, that is God” (Mk. 10: 17-18). How is it that, while Our Lord thus affirms that God alone is good, Saint John in the Apocalypse, shows a multitude of human beings, so great that no one could number it, standing like […]

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Newly translated work of Dom Prosper Guéranger: The Liturgical Institutions

2025-10-20T16:46:11-05:00October 20th, 2025|News|

Translated into English for the first time, Dom Prosper Guéranger’s Liturgical Institutions sets forth an erudite and impassioned history of the Roman Rite and of the depredations it has suffered over the centuries.

Softcover, 210 pages, 6 x 9 inches.

Originally published over the course of eleven years (1840–1851) in three ample volumes that span nearly two thousand pages, Dom Prosper Guéranger’s Liturgical Institutions sets forth an erudite and impassioned history of the Roman Rite and of the depredations it has suffered over the centuries at the hands of “anti-liturgical heretics” whose lineage is by no means exhausted. A vast narrative of astonishing breadth and penetration, the Institutions remains a masterpiece of analysis and synthesis, with striking relevance to our times. In this first-ever English translation of the Institutions, based on Jean […]

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Building Something Beautiful For God –
To Last A Thousand Years

Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey is a Benedictine community belonging to the Solesmes Congregation and, like other monasteries of the Solesmes Congregation, is to be counted among the institutes entirely ordered towards contemplation. It was founded in 1999 from the Abbey of Our Lady of Fontgombault in France and is located in the Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Clear Creek became an abbey in 2010 and counts 55 monks, who devote themselves to God alone in the hidden life, in silence and solitude, in constant prayer and willing penance.

After twenty years of existence, we are happy, by the grace of God, to have completed two large buildings and a sizable portion of our abbatial church. We completed the “Chapter House” in 2023 to accommodate the growing number of monks and provide a Sacristy, Infirmary, classrooms and the Chapter itself. Please help us continue this arduous, but important work for the glory of God.

© Copyright 2026 | Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey | All Rights Reserved

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