SACRAMENTAL, ORGANIC INTENTIONAL LIVING

The above program title is often abbreviated as SOIL lest its length deter young people from aspiring to become interns who share the rhythm and routine of praying and worshipping daily, working in the garden and grounds of the Convent of the Community of St. Mary at Sewanee, Tennessee, and cultivating a life that typifies the balance of the Benedictine Order. 

Visitors often see the interns weeding the Convent garden, planting lavender, and performing as acolytes and readers on the altar at the Convent of St. Mary. The intern program has been in motion for several years, and recently welcomed Eva Bogino from Maryland, a summer intern who will be living at St. Dorothy’s, a small cottage on the grounds of St. Mary, and following the Benedictine model of prayer, work, study, and rest. I understand she has deactivated all social media for the summer! And she’s plucky to come here during our monsoon season at Sewanee.

Long-term interns are usually college graduates who wish to expand their spiritual life and to discern how to use their gifts, interests, and experiences in service to others while living alongside the Sisters. Their tenure lasts from August 15th to mid-May. Summer interns live on the grounds of the Convent of St. Mary for a shorter period — mid-May to early, August — and may be undergraduates or young people who are at least 19 years of age. 

The two young people pictured above, Nathan Bourne and Eileen Schaeffer, were the convent’s first interns and are well remembered for informal hospitality dinners they cooked and served for members of the larger community of Sewanee during their internship. These two young people were outstanding models of the internship program, actively engaging in planting and harvesting lavender at the Convent of St. Mary for Thistle Farms in Nashville (a program that uses lavender in products made by survivors of trafficking, prostitution, and addiction who are healed and empowered during a residency at the farm). 

Although Nathan and Eileen, like succeeding interns, engaged in agricultural pursuits, they also participated in study beyond the Convent and explored ways in which their faith connected with human communities and the natural world. Past newsletters from the Convent of St. Mary describe their work and their devotion to the Intern program. Copies of these newsletters are housed at the Convent of St. Mary. 

Short term interns in the SOIL program (also called The Organic Prayer Internship Program — TOPIP) have been provided with housing and some meals, and long-term interns are offered the same arrangement, as well as a modest weekly stipend. The "long-termers" sometimes work outside the St. Mary Community to make extra money.

Those of us who are associates and other members of the congregation who worship at the Convent of St. Mary love the engagement with these interns who are following their “Rule of Life” or mission: “Spiritual and personal growth and development and vocational discernment guided by the Benedictine model of prayer, work, study, and rest that is rooted in intentional communal living in harmony with the natural world, the Community of St. Mary, and the greater Sewanee Community.”

Prioress Madeleine Mary says she’s looking for new interns, and we who attend services in the Chapel at St. Mary and function as Associates look forward to welcoming these young people. Readers of this blog who know qualifying applicants, please guide them to the application form at the Community of St. Mary website: www.stmaryconventsewanee.org, or write to Prioress Madeleine Mary at the Community of St. Mary, Southern Province, 1100 St. Mary’s Lane, Sewanee, TN 37375. 

Photograph by Prioress Madeleine Mary

IN SUPPORT OF HOSPITALITY

For the past ten years, one of the major places I’ve frequented while living on The Mountain at Sewanee, Tennessee is the Community of St. Mary at the Convent of Episcopal Sisters, a center of worship and hospitality established in the 19th century and still alive and well in this 21st century. The Sisters follow the Rule of Benedict of Nursia who wrote this Rule 1500 years ago for monks and nuns; they take seriously “Let all guests who arrive be received like Christ,” and receive those who come through their doors as if they were encountering the Christ. The Community is not an exclusive club or a hideout for a select group of cloistered Sisters; it opens the doors of its chapel and those searching for a deeper spiritual life daily. And after guests leave the table of the Eucharist, they receive breakfast at the table in the refectory. The Sisters believe that hospitality is holiness. Many pilgrims also come to the Convent as guests and stay for personal retreats on the lower level of the Convent, sometimes staying for weeks in the peaceful atmosphere at St. Mary’s.

Maintenance of the guest level of the Convent is expensive for even such everyday upkeep as plumbing. Lately, this maintenance has involved the upkeep of a septic system that isn’t working properly, and Prioress Madeleine Mary has sent out a “help-help” in the form of a “Go Fund Me” supervised by Sister Hannah, novice CSM. The goal for this project is $20,000, and so far, donors from many corners of the U.S. have contributed funds.

I’ve enjoyed many breakfasts, and when there’s enough for added guests, Sunday lunches, as a guest of the Community, and I appreciate the Benedictine Rule practiced by this small group of welcoming Sisters. I’m also an Associate and member of the Advisory Board of the Community of St. Mary and feel a distinct responsibility to join in the appeal for funding of this project. During the past ten years, I’ve been one of the Community’s guests at least twice weekly and appreciate the humor of a story told by Benedictine followers about a monastery that has welcomed many guests to stay with them, and when one monk sees yet another new person coming up the driveway exclaims, “Oh Christ, not you again!”

Readers may not be members of this hospitable group on The Mountain here in Sewanee, Tennessee, but anyone who appreciates the efforts of the Religious to turn themselves outward may feel moved to contribute to the upkeep of a center that offers hospitality and holiness to those who’re not so preoccupied with the “busyness” of their lives that they can’t honor the needs of a place that welcomes the stranger as Christ.

You can help this group by contributing to Go Fund Me — https://www.gofundme.com/saintmarysconvent. Or you can contact Sister Hannah, Novice CSM at St. Mary’s Convent, 1100 St. Mary Lane, Sewanee, TN 37375.

HEAVEN, HOPE, AND HURRICANES

Chapel of Community of St. Mary

This rainy day in south Louisiana, I read that the sun is shining on my second home in Sewanee, Tennessee, and my thoughts center on an event that will take place there soon after we arrive for the spring and summer season. At Sewanee, we worship in a chapel of the Community of St. Mary, a community that has been a presence on The Mountain for over a century. We're also on the Advisory Board of this Community and associates of the Order of St. Mary, and I often preach and “deacon” at services held in St. Mary’s chapel. This year, the Sisters, Board, Associates, students, and friends are hosting a spring gala entitled “Heaven, Hope, and Hurricanes” in support of an Organic Prayer Internship Program that includes young men and women who have helped expand the ministry of St. Mary into the community and the larger world.

Sister Madeleine Mary, Mother Superior of the Community of St. Mary, writes that “these interns have experienced intentional community and Benedictine practice and spirituality, as well as learned about the organic relationship between care for the body, the soul, and the earth,” and she’s excited about hosting this first gala event sponsored by the Community. It will include dinner, a silent auction, and a program of music given by our long-time New Iberia, Louisiana friends, Brenda Lowry and Joshua Murrell.

Brenda and Joshua will feature songs of hope and healing that they’ve written and recorded for their “Women at the Well” program, a collection of songs written from the point of view of some of Christ’s women disciples. They have presented the original music in parish halls, churches, private homes, and retreat centers throughout the country.

Brenda and Bubbs, songwriters and performers

These talented musicians will also present selections from a recording they made as “Blue Merlot,” their “B&B on the Rock” signature, many of which are based on hurricane recovery after Hurricane Katrina. Brenda writes: “When you’re sitting at your kitchen door, watching the water rise and realizing that there’s not a thing you can do about if, you learn something about surrender. And at some point, you laugh because the alternative is too ugly. Then that night, when the wind and rain have finally calmed, you see the Milky Way like never before, because there are no lights anywhere…and the beauty takes your breath away.” Those feelings inspired the music for special selections Brenda and Joshua (aka “Bubba”) will perform after intermission at the gala event.

I realize that many of my blog readers aren’t in Tennessee, but some of you may wish to help sponsor this event, and donations can be made to the Sisters of St. Mary, 1100 St. Mary’s Lane, Sewanee,TN 37375 so that the interns can continue to live, work, study, and pray at the Convent. They will help the gardens to flourish, worship to be enriched, and can engage in the life of a Benedictine monastic order. $1,000 will allow eight people to attend and participate in this benefit. The gala is scheduled for the evening of April 9, 2016 in Cravens Hall at Sewanee, and if you need more details, write to Sr. Madeleine Mary at the above address.