Sacred Stones, Sacred Stories

If you recall, in November we blogged about converting our former vestry (large storage room with cabinets, shelving and a cedar closet) into bedrooms for our Sisters. We took this large room:

Vestry before the remodel

And began framing it into this:

Framing the vestry last November to divide the former, large room into individual bedrooms

Now, it’s beginning to look like this:

Rooms are slowly taking shape

And this:

Notice: we still have the green walls

It has been converted to bedroom space.  The windows look north toward St. Paul’s Guesthouse. Aah! Progress!

With warmer weather comes more outdoor work, including laying the foundation for the new entry.

The weather finally permitted the big day – cement laying.  A crew of several men worked at mixing, pouring and smoothing the cement for the foundation for the new entry way.

Paving the way for our guests

‘Twas a welcome sight for us all, just like we hope the new entrance will be for the visitors that will come in the future.  We are confident that they will appreciate the absence of multiple steps, making hospitality to our guests much easier to practice!

Anyone who has lived through a hot, muggy, humid Missouri summer knows that air conditioning is a MUST! So we’re very excited that our renovations will include central air conditioning.

Up until now, only a few offices and community areas in the motherhouse have been blessed with air conditioning. No longer will we have to move mattresses into the refectory (dining hall) or an office in order to get a good night’s rest when the temperatures hit 100 degrees.

Saying goodbye to dozens of AC window units

So many things are changing and morphing that we all need to exercise our stability in the unknown, like growing sea legs. What anchors us in our monastic life are those things that do not change - prayer, Eucharist, common table and hospitality.

We continue to sort out, clean and pack up various rooms. Paintings from our archives were aired out then stored away. The vestry feels cavernous as shelves and closets are emptied.

Artwork and carpeting were removed from the oratory. Indeed, it reflects Chapter 52 of the Rule of Benedict: ‘Let the oratory be what it is called, a place of prayer; and let nothing else be done there or kept there. When the Work of God is ended, let all go out in perfect silence.’

The oratory has been cleared for renovations

We are also removing items to recycle from the second floor porch of the Marian Wing. As our Sister Sophia remarked, ‘It was a favorite prayer space for me for many years.’

So we remind ourselves that while change is difficult, we remember our vow of stability and look toward the future with excitement.

Recyling items from 2nd floor porch

They don’t make ‘em like they used to. Buildings, that is. Our maintenance staff has been busy renovating a large bathroom to convert into a maintenance office.

This includes cutting through brick walls more than 12 inches thick…and those are some of the more narrow walls in the monastery, believe it or not.

Thick walls make for good doorways

Creating new doorways for the maintenance office

Elbow grease nets a new doorway

While our monastery is undergoing renovations, the Sisters in the Clyde community will head to five different places – our monastery in Tucson, Arizona, our monastery in Dayton, Wyoming, our healthcare facility next door, our guesthouses and St. Joseph’s office building.

To help accommodate the Sisters who will be using the office space, our workmen have been busy installing bathtubs and showers.

Converting office space into bedrooms and baths

Next will come water heaters and a few other essentials. It takes time and tools, as these pictures bear testimony. But we’re almost ready to make the big move!

Preparing a new laundry area

Many of our Altar Bread Dept. patrons have generously agreed to help us with our Sacred Stones, Sacred Stories Fundraising Project.  Some pastors have taken up a collection, some have allowed us a one-time use of their parish mailing list, some are posting our brochure in their bulletins.  We have some pastors who are willing to do the mailing for us to their parishioners.  We have even received donations from individuals.  Donations so far have totalled $6,500.  They are coming to us from Maryland, Nevada, Texas, Minnesota Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, and many other states.  We are most grateful for any help and the many prayers you are offering up.  Our prayer for you is a rich blessing of God’s grace.

We have begun to carefully remove the old metal ceiling tiles and set them aside for future use. 

Metal Ceiling Tile

They actually were not difficult to remove once we got one started. Then we had access to the edge of the adjacent pieces and could get a small still putty knife wedged under the edge and the brads popped straight out.

This is one of the metal tiles that had been cut to fit a small area. 

open ceiling with tiles removed

This shows the ceiling with all the metal tiles removed in one of the rooms. Over the years, when we’ve had to cut into a wall or other area over for some repairs or general maintenance work, we often find something of interest. 

newspaper fragments from 1914

Above the metal ceiling we found these fragments of a newspaper from 1914. The language appears to be Polish. Not sure why they ended up there, but it’s interesting.

Old chalk board from academy

Then we found part of an old chalk board that still had writing on it. It is most likely from the days of the Academy, our boarding school for girls in the early 1900′s. This piece of chalk board had been used to patch a hole in the wall in a closet where some plumbing had been added in later years. 

It will be interesting to see what turns up next!