Tulsa World: Faith rules: Inside the Clear Creek Monastery

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Faith rules: Inside the Clear Creek Monastery

Brother Floyd Ferguson’s breath is visible during prayers in the cold, damp crypt at the Clear Creek Monastery near Fort Gibson Lake. MIKE SIMONS / Tulsa World

By MICHAEL OVERALL World Staff Writer
Published: 3/23/2008 1:39 AM
Last Modified: 11/13/2008 3:59 PM

Inside Clear Creek Web site: Go to the series site that includes all the stories and an audio slide show of pictures taken at the monastery.

Related story: Clear Creek has its roots in France, Kansas

Some people say the world is slipping into a new Dark Age. Some might say the world has been in the Dark Ages for quite a while already.

In morality, in architecture, in craftsmanship and art and literature, the 21st century is a long way from the Renaissance, and many self-described “traditionalists” would suggest that it’s a long way down.

Less than a generation after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, a growing number of Catholics want to restore Latin as a regular part of worship. But for them, it’s not just about language. It’s about reversing the decline of civilization itself.

In their eyes, the loss of Latin represented a much wider crisis in the modern world — a rejection of tradition, a defiance of history, the severing of cultural roots and a loss of faith in general. In bringing back old-fashioned prayers, they hope to bring back old-fashioned values, too.

In this worldwide effort to “reform the reforms,” Tulsa has stepped to the forefront because of a place called Clear Creek.

For three days in February, the Tulsa World gained unprecedented access to the only contemplative Benedictine monastery in the United States. And it offered a glimpse of what life might be like in a world where . . .faith rules.

Editor’s note: This is part one of a two-part series about the Clear Creek Monastery. In Monday’s World, part two: “Keeping the faith.”

The bell ringer comes outside an hour before dawn.

No light escapes from the open door. No stars peek through the cloud cover. The remote landscape offers nothing but darkness for miles in every direction.

Wearing a long black robe with a hood pulled over his head, this solitary monk seems almost invisible, silhouetted like a shadow against the crypt’s bare concrete wall.

In the strict silence of the monastery — so quiet that the monks can lie awake and meditate to the sound of their own heartbeats — his footsteps seem subversively loud, crunching on the gravel path. A few steps from the door, he reaches out with both hands to pull on a rope that dangles down the side of the crypt.

The bell tears through the cold morning air, echoing for miles across the wooded hills that surround the north side of Fort Gibson Lake. Inside, the monks descend into the crypt in a long, solemn line, black robes brushing lightly across the concrete floor.

Heads bowed, hands clasped together, they can see their own breath in this chilly, underground chamber, lit only by a few dim bulbs and candles flickering from the altar.

“Gloria Patri,” the monks begin to sing, “et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto . . . .”

Outside, unseen by the monks, a pair of headlights appears on the crest of a distant hill. Then a second. Then a third.

Snaking along the dirt road and across a small, stone bridge, the outsiders pull into an unpaved parking lot, tires crunching on the gravel louder than any monk’s footsteps.

A couple climb out of the first SUV. Three kids and their mother emerge from a minivan. A second SUV unloads half a dozen passengers, men, women and children.

With the first subtle hint of dawn shading the sky, they all file through a side entrance to the crypt, the heavy door — its hinges squeaking — slamming shut behind them.

The Benedictines came to Oklahoma looking for solitude; to escape from the rest of the world, protected by muddy roads and low-water bridges and the sheer distance from any main highway.

Now the world is coming to the Monastery of Clear Creek.

‘Set a standard’

The iron comes out of the fire glowing red, sending sparks across the cluttered workshop as George Carpenter pounds it with a mallet.

Starting out as a thin strip, the metal twists and folds into the shape of a door hinge for one of the new monastery’s grand entrances.

In a more philosophical mood, Carpenter might reflect on the way religion shapes a man’s life, bending and twisting, folding and turning. A younger man, with a soul that is still red-hot and malleable, might question his faith.

Does he really believe in the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection? Or is it like believing in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny? Is he Catholic because he really embraces the church? Or just because his parents are Catholic?

“I was looking for some kind of spiritual connection,” Carpenter remembers now that he’s approaching middle age. “Something solid. Firm. Something permanent, that didn’t need reformed.”

Part of the first generation born after the Second Vatican Council, Carpenter grew up hearing Mass in English instead of Latin. Since the council in the 1960s, most Catholic services have been in a country’s common language.

Whether the changes sparked a crisis or simply coincided with it, that’s a matter of debate. But church attendance has dropped, seminaries face shortages of new priests and millions of Catholics openly dissent from church teachings.

Now a growing movement is trying to “reform the reforms,” bringing back Latin in hopes of bringing back faithfulness in general. The pope himself recently changed church rules to encourage a broader use of Latin in services.

For Carpenter, “the renewal,” as the movement calls itself, began several years ago when his father-in-law showed him a video of an old Latin service.

“I was drawn to it immediately,” he says, pausing for a moment to pound another red-hot piece of iron.

“It was mysterious. Beautiful. Timeless.”

Using an anvil and his own linebacker-size muscles, Carpenter bends the metal into an “S” shape, forming another part of the door hinge. Blacksmiths used the same techniques in the sixth century, when St. Benedict was alive.

“When the metal is hot,” Carpenter explains, “it’s not much different from shaping clay. As it cools, the shape becomes firm.”

Growing older, Carpenter left his doubts behind and took his family to a traditional Latin parish in Texas. But in shaping his children’s lives, faith had to compete with modern culture.

He worried about the endless pursuit of consumer goods and what he calls “the trivialization of promiscuity,” even in schools and on “family” television shows.

“We wanted to raise our kids in a truly Christian culture,” he says, “a place where the church is the backdrop for everyday life.”

Four years ago, they moved to a small farm just up the road from Clear Creek, where Carpenter works part time in the metal shop.

Others have come from the West Coast and the East, the Midwest and the Deep South. From all across the country, dozens of families have moved to this obscure corner of rural Oklahoma to live within reach of the monastery bell. Like the monks, they want to “be ye separate” from the world.

“The monks set a standard for us to look up to,” Carpenter says, throwing more coals on the fire. “We’re the foot soldiers of the church, so to speak, but they’re the special forces. They’re the Marines.”

In the fight to reclaim traditions, Clear Creek is the tip of the spear.

‘Our cultural home’

The daily Mass ends just after 11 a.m., with each monk pausing in front of the altar and falling to his knees, bowing with his forehead nearly touching the floor.

Two-by-two, they stand up and march out of the crypt in perfect rhythm, left-right-left. Hands clasped, heads bowed, they don’t whisper a word. They don’t even glance at the people in the pews.

Careful not to make the slightest noise, Carpenter and the other laymen wait patiently while the monks pass. The last one out the door hits a light switch, leaving everybody else in the dark.

They must remember — this Mass was not for them.

Catholics usually genuflect before leaving a sanctuary. But here, most people follow the monks’ example — bowing on both knees.

The younger girls struggle with the maneuver, awkward in skirts that reach to their ankles, lacy scarves slipping off their heads. But their mothers make it look effortless.

In the vestibule, laypeople go out the door on the right, to the parking lot. No matter how close they live, no matter how often they come here to worship, they’re still outsiders. The monks never asked anybody to come and now they have to leave.

It takes special permission to go through the door on the left, then up a flight of stairs to a loggia. An arched opening leads to the inner cloister itself, a courtyard that would be strictly off limits if the prior himself was not serving as a personal escort.

Eventually, as construction continues, the monastery buildings will form a giant square with this courtyard hidden in the middle. But for now, the church remains nothing but a crypt, a kind of basement foundation where the monks gather to pray.

Only one side of the square has been finished — a four-story residential hall big enough for 60 monks to occupy.

“It’s an ambitious undertaking,” admits Father Philip Anderson, the prior of Clear Creek and one of the original 13 monks who opened the monastery in 1999. “If I was doing it over again, I’m not sure we would be so ambitious.”

The fundraising and the construction can become a distraction from what the monks came here to do — to pray. And to pray, specifically, the old Latin liturgy.

“You can see that civilization is in a crisis,” Anderson says, his robe fluttering in the breeze as he walks in the courtyard.

“This crisis has, in some ways, infected even the church. There’s a lack of discipline, a lack of clear moral principles.”

Society keeps trying to reinvent itself — political revolutions, sexual revolutions, technological revolutions.

“But every attempt at a solution only makes the crisis grow deeper,” Anderson says, his voice staying meditatively calm. “We’ve had all kinds of solutions — except tradition. We’ve explored many different paths — except turning back, returning to our cultural home, returning to the ancient faith.”

At Clear Creek, the ancient traditions aren’t history. They’re here. Now. And the monks are determined to keep them for the future.

Michael Overall 581-8383
michael.overall@tulsaworld.com

By MICHAEL OVERALL World Staff Writer

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	Report Comment Who knows, tulsa (3/23/2008 1:58:22 AM) What many refuse to see, is Christianity is on the downfall . many are seeking the answers,& the church has & is still, limiting the answers. Organized religion as a whole is on the decline, as seekers are delving into the roots & truths of religion & what is 'out there' for them. Many have found their peace outside of Christianity, many still seek. Throughout history, one religion was dominant, as others fell by the wayside, it would appear, that this is the case again. i am sure now that many of the fundie christians will jump on the bandwagon here & call me a naysayer & back up their beliefs by the book they claim to be the truth, a book written by those who never even witnessed the facts themselves. :) A fitting article for this 'holiday'. Those of you who believe its about a resurrected Christ should do a little studying. What do bunnies & eggs have to do with this holiday? You'd be surprised. Got to say i giggle every time I drive by a church advertising their Easter Egg hunts. Happy Easter. Blessed Ostara!
	Report Comment Fr Jim B, (3/23/2008 7:31:44 AM) Christ is Risen! Being a member of a Benedictine Community myself, I find that those who seek the safety of the past without understanding it will sooner or later themselves be disappointed. St Benedict wrote the rule in such a way as to be flexible enough for followers to adapt it to meet changes in society not as a rigid set of rules to follow blindly. In today's world one can be monastic (alone with God) in a praying community without being physically separated from the world. Thomas Merton a Trappist monk found there were more similarities in the monastic approach among eastern and western traditions, Christian and Buddhist, than differences. Christ himself gave us a simple lesson on the night before he died, he took off his robe, wrapped a towel around him and washed the feet of those with whom he was to eat. He told them (and us) go out and do this to all so that by serving all you serve him who is all in all. Benedict's rule stresses the equality of all in the community and the responsibility to support one another. While the Latin liturgy is part of my history and I sometimes sing and pray in that tongue it is simply a small part of my prayer life. My prayer life is much more vibrant and alive in my native tongue and in a language that is more expressive since it combines the words of many tongues into one that can be used for the Glory of God. Any liturgy done well can be equally moving, my concern is that the liturgies "celebrated" in most parish churches are abysmal just as those celebrated in Latin prior to Vatican II. Combined with poor homilies it is not hard to see why people are turned off to the church. I wish my brothers in Christ well in their liturgical and prayer life. Peace! Fr Jim B Apostolic Vicar White Robed Monks of St Benedict
	Report Comment sam, tulsa (3/23/2008 7:42:38 AM) Acts 10:44-46, talks about believers in Christ being filled with the holy spirit and speaking in tongues. This is a fact and if this is true then the whole bible is true. Many people are still seeking the truth today and all they have to do is seek god. Moral values have declined so much in society today that people don't know whats right from wrong and thats a pity.
	Report Comment C.Gargano, (3/23/2008 8:55:27 AM) .....Yes, the world is in a Moral downfall and we need more help from God!!!
	Report Comment happy ostara, (3/23/2008 8:56:32 AM) to who knows- Blessed ostara to you also. I have to giggle right along with you.
	Report Comment Chicago, (3/23/2008 9:19:05 AM) Happy Easter Fr. Jim: I'm an Orthodox Christian, husband is Roman Catholic. You are right when you state that 'homilies are poor'. They are poor in my church too. I think this is a reflection of the times. Folks complain too much if the homily is over 15 minutes. We live in a rushed life these days... everything we do is timed even prayer. Go figure. Roman Catholic Church throughout history has gone through many changes and continues to change every time a new Pope is installed. If we read the ecumenical minutes of 1054ad, one of the arguement was on change. Latin should be brought back to liturgy. Who knows they may even bring back the orginal biblical Greek. Do you think we will ever see both East and West reunited back into one Apostolic, Catholic Church again? You know they excommunicated each other.
	Report Comment gettingbetter, tulsa (3/23/2008 10:44:51 AM) The world is and always has been a place where what many consider evil exists. Evil will always be with us. But the human condition is better. We do not have a Hitler, the wall has fallen in Europe, many people are free to choose their own religion or none at all. There is much work. We live in a hate filled state with racist of all types. However, we have many in Oklahoma who are willing to stand and fight against such evil. No matter your religion, read what many so called holy people have deleted from the New Testament; "The Sermon on the Mount". You do not have to be a follower of Christ to understand how living in this fashion could save many more.
	Report Comment Willard Roker, Las Vegas (3/23/2008 11:01:21 AM) Magical thinking is not the answer, Science is God's way of outing false prophets.
	Report Comment pa, tulsa (3/23/2008 11:09:25 AM) The problem with all religions is that they: 1. Re-interpret - often wrongly or inaccurate their holy books. 2. Use the holy documents to justify great evils. 3. Use holy concepts in their faith to continue historical lies. Its a fact that pretty much all faiths have commited great evils (often by those who misintrepreted their faith). No religion has a a right to murder/rape another in the name of faith...or to even sacrifice a loved one (old testament). Yet we have had major wars that were in the name of their faith or god.
	Report Comment ax, tulsa (3/23/2008 11:15:27 AM) In my case, though, the greatest evil I have seen in my life were: 1. A father who pretended to be christian but is the most bigotted person I have ever known. 2. A girl I dated once who publically was a good upstanding lady (daughter of a known preacher), yet is privately the most evil female I have ever known. 3. Misguided christians - Christians who inaccurately interpret the bible are what Satan loves most because he relizes he need do nothing to lead them astray as they are already screwd up. 4. Those who interpret their holy books so literally that they reject the reality that doing so is evil and imoral. 5. Rev. wright (obama's preacher) who is the most racist evil person I have heard. Btw, reminder, good works are not enough, despite all his years of good service, ths socalled 'black' theology' is evil and pure racism. Even if part of it was accurate.
	Report Comment Mark, Long Beach, CA (3/23/2008 1:26:25 PM) As long as a sizable chunk of people believe in the fantasies of heaven and hell, or any belief system that includes the concept of an afterlife, our world will remain steeped in ignorance. C'mon people, grow up and face the truth. When you die, you're dead ... end of story. Stop basing your life on the hope that "I'll get to live with Jimmy and Deb forever and ever when I die". One of the greatest "evils" is that this crud gets forced fed into impressionable young minds every day.
	Report Comment sam, tulsa (3/23/2008 1:35:30 PM) Long Beach Mark, I would rather live my life believing that there is a god, rather than not believing in god, only to die and find out that there is a god.
	Report Comment H. Kimble, Hootersville, (3/23/2008 4:12:56 PM) Ms. Felcher- Your ignorance has reached an new high with posting #13. If that's sarcasm, 'tis the lowest form imaginable. You and the other abortion advocates need to go back to Snafu Francisco where you belong and quit badgering the normal people with your twisted political manuevering on this here posting site. If you are truly truly a troll why then cannot you admit it and then move on? The world awaits your mealey mouthed campaigning for the second black president, and I dare say it is not the first black female president.
	Report Comment GE 918, Tulsa (3/23/2008 5:14:20 PM) "The world awaits your mealey mouthed campaigning for the second black president, and I dare say it is not the first black female president". What the h-ll does race have to do with this? H. Kimble I guess you suffer from ADD.
	Report Comment bob, tulsa (3/23/2008 6:06:41 PM) I've never quite understood the intellectual arrogance of atheists. I commonly hear the term "mindless drones" and others when referring to those that believe a Creator created everything. Yet, when I ask those that don't believe, "where did everything came from in the beginning", I've never really came across an answer that I can justify in my mind. Atheists......in the beginning.....where did planets, stars, rocks, black holes, energy etc. come from? Now, go ahead and hide behind your "I don't knows" and make yourself feel smarter.
	Report Comment HEHEHE! ! ! Busted! ! !, (3/23/2008 6:12:00 PM) You are as see through as they come. Joe Allen, did you see your old arch rival is sneaking around the blogs under the cloak of darkeness and using different nicknames? What a coward! LOL.
	Report Comment To HEHEHE!!!Busted!!!, (3/23/2008 6:24:16 PM) That's right HEHEHE, months and months ago FDF was hiding behind a number of ficticious monikers and harrassing Christians, calling them all sorts of disturbing names. She was the first one to do that of anyone of the boards. Wow, you really do learn about people's sand when you see how they operate under pressure. Perhaps you all could lighten up some on your ridicule toward her, her double standards and also the projecting of her hatred on white Christian conservative males. She may sneak out and grace us with her wisdom from time to time. Oh what a treat.
	Report Comment Pelagius, Norman (3/23/2008 7:31:51 PM) This article is not what I expected, but it does not neglect what I anticipated. People are hungry for a more communal life, a life that transcends just getting together on a Sunday to see who's wearing or driving what. Monastic Christianity, and other forms of religion, like Sufi Muslims and Hasidic Jews, as well as Buddhists, Sikhs, and Hindus, are looking for a religious experience that transcends modern living, rather than putting a palliative over it or enabling it. People want to life to mean more than just going to work for a paycheck; they want it to mean more than just the make and model of their cars, or maxing out their credit cards to wear Tommy Hilfiger instead of Sears brands. Success can be gratifying, but it can be a trap. It would be worth pondering, in this Easter season, the difference in espousing a version of any religion that teaches its leaders should be trapped in those very things, the big cars, the jets, the mansions, and those who find real religion by renouncing all comforts, or at least all dependence upon comforts. Fr. Jim B is right; the monastic experience can be had alone in the midst of the crazy world we live in, once we realize religion is simple and our mates in its practice may become known to us as a form of community so long as people practice an authentic one, not one that conforms to cultural values, but overcomes them. I don't personally think "God" can help us until we figure out for ourselves what we're asking him or her to fix, and perhaps whether or not we can contribute to the fixing ourselves.
	Report Comment Joe-Allen Doty, Tulsa, OK (3/23/2008 7:46:05 PM) There is nothing in the New Testament Scriptures where Believers in Christ Jesus must physically isolate themselves from the rest of the world and live in communes or monasteries. -- Every Believer in Christ Jesus actually has a duty to evangelize for him and spread the Gospel. -- Not all Evangelicals are fundamentalists; but, the fundies call the Evangelicals who actually practice what Jesus taught "left-wing socialists."
	Report Comment john p, malang indonesia (3/24/2008 1:58:11 AM) September 7,1908 The more things of which the soul deprives herself down here, the more she will have up there in Heaven. As I was in my usual state, blessed Jesus came for just a little and told me: "My daughter, the more things of which the soul deprives herself down here, the more she will have up there in Heaven. So, the poorer on earth, the richer in Heaven; the more she is deprived of tastes, pleasures, amusements, trips, strolls on earth, the more tastes and pleasures she will have in God. Oh, how she will stroll in the expanse of the Heavens, especially in the immeasurable Heavens of the attributes of God! In fact, each attribute is one more Heaven, one more Paradise; and among the Blessed - some enter into them as though at the margin of the attributes of God; some walk in the middle of them, some even higher; and the more they walk, the more they taste, enjoy, and amuse themselves. So, one who leaves the earth, takes Heaven, be it even in the smallest thing. Therefore, it follows that the more one is despised, the more he is honored; the smaller, the greater; the more submitted, the more dominant; and so with all the rest. Yet, of the mortals, who thinks of depriving himself of something on earth, to have it eternally in Heaven? Almost no one." Luisa Piccarreta On September 16, the Office of Readings included words of St Augustine written in the fourth century "Christians must imitate Christ's sufferings, not set their hearts on pleasures. And you want the Christian to be exempt from these troubles? Precisely because he is a Christian he is destined to suffer more in this world. Let him be in Christ, if you wish him to be a Christian. Let him turn his thoughts to suffering, however unworthy they may be in comparison to Christ's,” October 2,1906 How our sufferings can relieve Jesus- Having received Communion. I fell I was outside of myself and I saw a person who was very oppressed by various crosses, and blessed Jesus was saying. 'Tell her that in the act in which she feels as though dogged by persecutions, by punctures, by sufferings, she should think that I am present with her, and that whatever she suffers she can use to heal and medicate my wounds So, her sufferings will serve to medicate now my side, now my head, now my hands and feet, which are too much in pain and embittered by the grave offenses that creatures give Me This is a great honor that 1 give her, by giving her, Myself, the medicine to medicate my wounds, and by also giving her the merit of charity for having medicated Me." While He was saying this, I saw many purging souls who, on hearing this, all amazed, said: "Fortunate are all of you to receive so many sublime teachings - that you acquire the merits to medicate a God, which surpass all other merits in merit - and your glory will be distinct from the others, as is Heaven from the earth. Oh, if only we had received these teachings - that our sufferings could serve to medicate a God - how many riches we would acquire, which now we do not have!"
	Report Comment monk, South Africa and France (3/24/2008 2:11:34 AM) Thanks for 2 lovely pieces. Fontgombault with here offsprings and inspirations are giving birth to wonderful things guided by the Holy Spirit. We have an interdenominational list of about 400 members, for monastic subjects, spirituality, contemplation, info, news, vocations, etc at See Yahoo groups for the list monasterion . Many blessings, John (priest and monk).
	Report Comment another resident, clear creek (3/24/2008 11:03:43 AM) Not everyone in the Clear Creek area abides by the laws of this sect, or are even catholic, or christian. This is the story of a small band of fundamentalist.
	Report Comment cristy Cole, hulbert (3/24/2008 12:52:01 PM) the world need Jesus. they need to Know he died for our Sins. I am and still am of a free will Baptist back ground. I grew up there just a couple of miles from the Clear creak. and it is gorous. I remember when they bought ti adn moved up there. It's great that they are up there. My Parents still live up there ans so does half of my family. It's great to know that they are surounded by Chirstians. I have been a Christian for years. And i am so Glad to Serve My Lord and Savior
	Report Comment Baldyc, tulsa (3/25/2008 7:58:00 PM) The monks are actually a living community of people. They learn to love one another and allow that family love to impact those who come to the monastery. The prayer life of the monks are for all those who are too busy or unknowing about prayer. They pray for us. Come someday to visit and feel the PRESENCE at the monastery.
	Report Comment kids, tulsa (3/26/2008 8:13:45 AM) I WOULD NOT LEAVE MY CHILDREN ALONE WITH THESE CREEPS

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