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The Benedictine Monastery of Hawaii, located in the hills above Waialua, was founded by Our Lady of Guadalupe Abbey, Pecos, New Mexico, and belongs to the Benedictine Congregation of Mount Olivet. We are a monastic community of men and women. As Benedictines we belong to the oldest religious order of the Catholic Church. Our way of life has been followed for nearly 1500 years and is based on Holy Scripture, particularly the gospels, and the Rule of St. Benedict. Our day centers around the praise and worship of God in the celebration of the Eucharist and the recitation of the Psalms by the community three times a day. Individual prayer and spiritual reading foster intimacy with the Lord Jesus. For every monk there is a single goal: union with Christ. Both men and women religious may live within the monastic community and make vows of obedience, stability, conversion of life, chastity and poverty. Typically, each benedictine monastery will have its own distinctive characteristics. The Hawaii Benedictines give emphasis to Life in the Spirit; thus we gratefully accept the activity and gifts (charisms) of the Holy Spirit which Jesus promised to his disciples. As well, our community fosters a special love for Mary, the mother of Our Lord. Daily we pray the rosary together. Our
Purpose 2. Action. Our active service consists in conducting parish missions, retreats, seminars and days of renewal; by counseling individuals and families; by spiritual direction. We also coordinate a program for Benedictine "Oblates" -- these are lay people, married or single, who wish to apply the wisdom of St. Benedict in their daily living. Our
Goal. Our Daily Schedule 5:00
a.m. Rising & Meditation Benedictine
Monastery of Hawaii |
The Benedictines celebrate 25 years in Hawaii
| The Benedictines
on Feb. 21, from left, Brother Isidore Derouen, Father David Barfknecht,
Father Timothy Ottman, Father Michael Sawyer, Brother Gregory Foret, Sister Mary Jo McEnany, Sister Ann Cic, Sister Celeste Cabral and Sister Geralyn Spaulding. A blessed presence of prayer, work and ministry The Benedictines celebrate 25 years in Hawaii By Marie Sawyer Barfknecht | Special to the Herald Photos courtesy of the Benedictine Monastery of Hawaii Bishop Joseph A. Ferrario blessing the monastery house in 1987. |
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Father
David Barfknecht poses for a photo with three oblates who made their final
oblation in 2000: Tom McLaughlin, Judi Bramlett and Gwen Macaheleg. |
 The icon of Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit on display in the old chapel of the house. |
 The entrance sign, with the pavilion in the background, welcomes visitors. |
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The
cross on the hill at the back upper end of the property overlooks Waialua.
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| On Saturday, March
21, at the Benedictine Monastery of Hawaii on Oahu's north shore, the
bells will ring and praise be sung as the Benedictine Community, oblates,
Basic Christian Community members, friends and supporters gather to celebrate
25 years of blessed presence of prayer, work and ministry in the islands. A Mass of Thanksgiving at 10:30 a.m. will be shared in the Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit Chapel. Representing Bishop Larry Silva, Father Gary Secor, the pastor of Holy Trinity Parish, will preach. Registration and a period of praise will begin before Mass at 9 a.m. After Mass, celebrants will gather for lunch, tours of the grounds and an afternoon presentation. Vespers at 4:30 will conclude the day. 'Go up on a high mountain' "Go up on a high mountain, joyful messenger toZion. Shout with a loud voice ... shout without fear ... 'Here is your God!'" (Is.40:9Jerusalem Bible) In every age and culture, people have sought high places to cry out to God. Moses spoke to God and Elijah sought him on the high mountains of the Promised Land. The Hawaiian people too found high places for their heiaus. When, in September 1986, Benedictine Father Michael Sawyer's search for a property led him to Mokuleia and to the foothills of MountKaala, the highest peak on Oahu, above Waialua's cane fields, he recognized it as the land he had been seeking. Here was the space, the beauty and the fertility to build a fitting Benedictine Monastery and retreat center to praise God and serve his people! The search had begun three years earlier in September, 1983, when Abbot David Geraets of Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery in Pecos, N.M., asked Father Sawyer to respond to Bishop Joseph A. Ferrario's invitation to begin a new foundation in the islands. There were hopes, dreams and delays until a first home was found for the fledgling community on Waialae Iki Ridge, above Honolulu. By February, 1984, four members from the Pecos motherhouse had joined Father Sawyer. They began offering healing seminars, parish missions and retreats, and the first oblates were accepted. In 1987, the "perfect" property consisted of a one-story ranch house on 67 acres of lushly forested land with a grand view of rolling hills, a horse ranch, cane fields and the blue Pacific, and an access road that threatened to break axles. Today there is a renovated ranch home and three termite-proof, red-roofed dwellings where nine community members live and guest retreatants stay. There are out-buildings, shops, libraries, meeting rooms, and a seven-sided pavilion which houses the chapel, an ample conference and dining room, a state-of-the-art kitchen and a bookstore. Much of the road is paved, along with a lighted parking area. Solar panels provide electricity and a sophisticated drip system irrigates fruit terraces with recycled water. |
| These improvements and signs of growth were honored on Sunday, Jan. 13, 2002, when Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo blessed the newly completed pavilion as the community's hub and nerve center. "You are strangers and aliens no longer," the bishop said, quoting St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians. "You form a building which rises on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. With him you are being built into this temple, to become a dwelling place for God in the Spirit." |  |
| No ivory towers The home of Hawaii's Benedictines is no ivory-tower monastery. Here a group of vowed religious men and women work and pray together, rejoicing in God's provision in all things, even through the interruptions of dogs barking, cattle bawling on nearby hills, or wild peacocks screeching. The monks and sisters wear the traditional white robes, called "caculus," at communal prayer, the Divine Office and Liturgy (Mass), but one is more likely to see them cooking, cleaning, mowing, weed-whacking or repairing machinery in work clothes stained with grease, the red-clay of the earth, and the sweat of honest labor in the never-ending quest to keep things from falling apart or overtaking the desired order. None of this common daily-ness prevents them from aspiring to seek God in all things and to listen and attend to all who come for spiritual refreshment. More than land, buildings, activities But what is a Benedictine Monastery? More than land and buildings, more than programs and activities, it is a community of vowed men and women who have chosen to live together to pursue their true hearts' desire to adhere to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Rule of St. Benedict. That Rule, laid down more than 1,500 years ago in Italy, has flourished in hundreds of monasteries and been followed by thousands of like-minded Christians around the world. It is a life lived entirely to seek and serve the Lord. "Prefer nothing to Christ," is the challenge St. Benedict introduced in his Rule. The saint called his Rule, "a school of the Lord's service," guided by the maxim, "ora et labora" - "pray and work." The prayer is essentially communal: the daily liturgy, the chanting of the Office of the Psalms at three separate hours, and the recitation of the rosary. It informs, nurtures and upholds all of the work. This firm schedule is the skeleton which holds the life of work and prayer together in harmony. Work for each member is according to that person's training, adaptability, gifts, and graced desire. There is always that daily-ness of cooking, cleaning, yard work and maintenance. But major emphasis is placed on caring attentively to those who come seeking healing and peace. "Work," in the Benedictine tradition, is serving the whole person: body, soul and spirit. It is maintaining a Christ-like presence for their monastic family and toward all who come. As the Rule states, "Let everyone that comes be received as Christ." Sisters, priests, and brothers in this Olivetan Benedictine Community share in every phase of life and mission: spiritual counsel and encouragement, days of recollection, teaching and training for parish groups, and spiritual guidance in the Basic Christian Community (BCC) groups. The priests, Father Timothy Ottman, Father Sawyer and Father David Barfknecht, occasional help out in parishes. Each guest retreatant is enfolded into the life of the community, encouraged to join it at prayer, but given space and quiet time according to individual need. Grand Silence, after night prayer until morning Mass, is expected to be kept by all. The community members include three of the original five who arrived here in 1983-84: founding superior Father Sawyer, present superior Father Barfknecht, and Sister Mary Jo McEnany. Father Ottman, who had been a pastor of a Big Island parish, is now the senior member of the group. The other vowed members are Brother Gregory Foret, Sister Geralyn Spaulding, Sister Ann Cic, Brother Isidore Derouen and Sister Celeste Cabral. Each monastic community has its own distinctive characteristics. The Hawaii Benedictines give particular emphasis to the working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of individuals and the world. The gifts and charisms are honored, sought and expected as Jesus promised his followers. The community honors its chosen patron, the Mother of Jesus, under the special title "Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit." To promote authentic, life-giving peace The goal of the community is to promote authentic, life-giving peace - a peace not found in the world but found, by God's divine gift, within each person born in his likeness. In prayer, the needs of the church, of the world, of persons known and unknown, are brought to God. The community novena, recited daily at Mass, highlights what is borne and witnessed by this special group of Benedictines, "We come to you, Lord, seeking your perfect plan for us on the islands. We look to you as our God and Father to lead us in all things. We trust you to bring those persons and the means to accomplish your work." This monastic enterprise stands firm on the faith and courage of others who have shown the way, on the living faith of men and women in other times and places. Present work and life rely on the Holy Spirit who upbuilds and supports, supplying and calling forth gifts of love and service. This daily life shapes the future which is in God's hands. Founder of the Olivetan Benedictine Order to be canonized In 1344, Blessed Bernard Tolomei formed a group dedicated to the restoration of religious life by adapting the Rule of St. Benedict. This Olivetan Benedictine Order and its St. Mary of Monte Oliveto Monastery near Siena,Italy, became the nucleus from which other Olivetan houses have sprung. The Benedictine Monastery of Hawaii is one of them. Olivetan houses are independent but united in an "agape of communities" as one large extended family. Blessed Bernard Tolomei will be elevated to sainthood by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome on April 26. Several community members and friends will attend the blessed event. Oblates: the Rule for lay people "I speak to you, whoever you may be." That small phrase is from the book, "Seeking God, the Way of St. Benedict," by Esther deWaal. It is a text used in the formation of Benedictine oblates, lay men and women drawn to live the lesson in St. Benedict's Rule, "Seek Christ in all things." The Rule is not only for Catholics but for those of all denominations. "Listen" is Benedict's first word. "Listen with the ear of the heart" is the life-time work of every Benedictine, whether a vowed member or a lay oblate. People seeking a life formed by Gospel values, centered in love and peace, come to see and be drawn in by typical Benedictine hospitality. It is not "just the hospitality of the table," as deWaal puts it, "but the hospitality of the open mind and open heart," and desire to be one with that life. After a year of formation - spiritual reading, prayer and monthly oblate days at the monastery spent in learning and sharing - candidates are accepted in a blessing ceremony and presented with their oblate beads. These beads are similar to the Jesus beads and Benedictine cross worn by the community's vowed members. In their jobs, their families, their parishes and communities, the oblates strive to live out what they pray, to know and love Christ, themselves and others, and to daily "listen with the ear of the heart." Marie Sawyer Barfknecht is the mother of the Benedictine superior Father David Barfknecht and sister of Father Michael Sawyer. |