Sacred Stones, Sacred Stories

Sister Rita Clair (left), volunteer Sarah and Sister Cathleen Marie attended the Church of Ascension’s annual Marketplace held in Overland Park, Kan., and sold handcrafted soaps and lotions from Monastery Creations.

This is a wonderful way our Sisters can meet and greet our customers! You can also shop online at www.MonasteryCreations.com….but it doesn’t smell as good.

Photo credit: Kate Hodel/MO Source Link

Our Clyde, Mo., Sisters hosted the annual luncheon to honor lay staff for their wonderful service throughout the year.

After a short table reading and blessing, the employees were treated to a yummy meal, which included Sister Cathleen Marie’s pumpkin parmesan muffins.

For their gift, we presented our employees with a historic piece of our monastery’s past: framed pieces of tin ceiling tiles that were salvaged from the portion of the main house that was deconstructed. Each tile was lovingly prepared by Sister Sean and framed with wood saved from Austrian pine trees lost during last year’s hail storm.

Prioress General and Clyde Prioress Sister Pat presents a historic piece of Clyde history to employee Dickie Henry 

To top things off, the Sisters performed a song written by Sister Marietta to show our appreciation.

Sister Rebecca (far left) and Sister Pat share tasty treats with the employees.

This time is always a special one for us. Our employees are our family, and we are blessed to be a part of their time and talents.

Three young women interested in deepening their spiritual relationships attended the annual Spring Break Monastic Experience held in March at the Clyde, Mo. monastery.

A young participant learns about soapmaking from Sister Cathleen Marie (right).

Sister Deanna (left) shows a participant her work in the altar bread department

The participants, hailing from Arizona, Texas and Oregon, spent time in prayer, immersed themselves in monastic life, ate meals and prayed with Sisters and learned about the variety of their monastic works.

The Sisters also offer a similar program in the summer. For dates and locations, please visit our vocations page.

Planning a wedding and looking for that special gift to share with friends and family to honor your magical day?

Let Sister Cathleen Marie create a personalized and unique gift for you! These beautifully packaged favors can be personalized with your name and wedding colors.

Choose the fragrance of your soap, which includes all-natural ingredients and even a drop of holy water and prayer to bless your new life together.

Learn more at our online shop, Monastery Creations.

According to St. Benedict, guests bring blessings of God and thus ought to be treated as Christ.

We recently re-opened our guesthouses after the renovations at our Clyde, Mo., monastery and have been blessed to offer hospitality to several guests.

We were especially grateful for our ability to give hospitality to Sister Andrea from Maria Rickenbach, our founding house in Switzerland.

Sister Andrea (center) visits with (from left) Sister Cathleen Marie, Sister Rebecca, Sister Andrea’s cousin, and Sister Cheryl.

Sister Andrea was the mother superior there for 18 years. This trip to the United States was for a celebration of another founding in Arkansas.

Sister Andrea (left) and Emilie

Before they returned to Europe, Sister Andrea and her cousin, Emilie, spent several days with us. Emilie has visited the United States before, but this was her first trip to Clyde. She shared several wonderful stories of their homeland and acted as interpreter for us.

It was a short visit, and we all were sad to see it end. Until we see them again, may God hold them in the palm of his hand.

Our new Gift Shop at the Clyde monastery is open for business! This is a huge improvement, as many of you might recall with humor our Gift Shop Hallway from years past.

We now have an honest-to-goodness Gift Shop, stocked with many lovely finds, mostly created by our hands. All for sale to you, our friends, neighbors and guests. (Live too far away? You can also visit us and shop online with us at Monastery Creations!)

Sister Rebecca and Sister Jane were busy during the diaspora, and we now have many pieces of pottery that will beautify any home or office.

Sister Sarah has nimble fingers and crocheted a lovely baby set. Sister Cathleen and Sister Judy, as always, stay busy making lotions and soaps with holy water.

And Sister Lucilla has been making mug rugs.

Old tin ceiling tiles have been re-crafted into vases, picture frames, shelves and mirrors for the new shop space.

Come see our new look and our many offerings. We wait to welcome you and the blessings you bring.

In January, several of our Sisters attended a workshop hosted by the Sisters of Mount Scholastica in Atchison, Kan. The workshop focused on the benefit and drawbacks of limitations in the life of a Benedictine monastery.

(Foreground from left) Sister Jane and Sister Virginia Anne; (standing) Sister Cathleen Marie

Sister Marietta (left) and Sister Laurentia

Sister Manuela Scheiba, OSB, from Alexanderdorf, Germany, spoke at the gathering of Benedictine Prioresses in Norfolk, Neb. Then on Monday, two sisters from Atchison drove Sister Manuela over the Missouri River to view our monastery and Conception Abbey.

Hopefully this will be the beginning of a lifelong friendship with Sister Manuela and her wisdom. We welcome both wholeheartedly.

It is with sincere gratitude we thank all those who purchase gifts we make – you help support our life of prayer for you and for the world.

Sister Cathleen Marie (aka the Soap Sister) delights in the wonderful smells with which her handcrafted soaps fill the air.

If you’re looking for a sweet gift for someone special, please visit us at www.monasterycreations.com. We have several types of handcrafted soaps, lotions and salves in tons of pleasing scents for men and women. Looking for something really special? Check out Sister Cathleen Marie’s soaps that include a drop of holy water.

Several of our Sisters who make handcrafted gifts have been very busy this holiday season! That includes our San Benito Sisters in Dayton, Wyo., and Sister Cathleen Marie in Clyde, Mo. Many thanks to our volunteers who help prepare the gifts for delivery.

Gift boxes are very popular, in several sizes, offering a variety of items.

As always, all our gifts are made by monastic hands while we pray for those who use them. Thank you for helping us celebrate this very special time in our monastery and welcoming us into your homes and hearts.

Aren’t these too cute! Sister Cathleen Marie has created these beautiful gift boxes to echo the sights and smells of autumn.

Two bars of our delicately scented handcrafted soap are wrapped in a gorgeous Sinamay box and topped with fabric leaves that remind us of the beautiful colors we see in the fall.

The boxes are crafted from Sinamay fiber, a free trade item made by workers in the Philippines who receive a fair wage for their work. And the boxes can be reused!

Gift boxes are available in the scent combination of Gingered Pumpkin and Appleberry Cream.

Cost is $18 (plus shipping) and will only be available for a limited time. To order or for more information, contact Sister Cathleen Marie at soap@bspa.us.

Sister Cathleen Marie demonstrates the hot process of soapmaking

On Monday, Sister Cathleen Marie and Sister Judy, the force behind Monastery Scents, hosted a group interested in learning about the soapmaking process.

The group of nine men, women and one child arrived with Betsy Keenan and Brian Terrell, oblates and friends of the Clyde, Missouri, community, who have been hosting a craft retreat at their Catholic Worker community in Iowa.

Sister Cathleen Marie, who uses industrial vats and mixers for her own soapmaking, demonstrated the process on a lesser scale in order to show how retreatants can copy the methods on their own by using common household appliances.

They spent the day learning the differences between cold and hot process soapmaking, types of fragrances and ingredients that are used, how Sister Cathleen Marie began making handcrafted soap 10 years ago and the story behind her addition of holy water to each batch.

Sister Judy demonstrated how she makes the shea butter lotion.

Betsy Keenan remarked how excited the retreatants were to learn about the process of making handcrafted soap. She asked them, “Are you empowered to make your own soap?” Several nodded “yes” with excitement. They left with samples of lotions and soaps, hopefully inspired to create their own in the near future. We had such a great time sharing this ministry!