Our First Monastic House!
The Community of Mary, Mother of the Redeemer has started a new phase of its life!
On May 26, 2021, at the invitation of the Right Reverend Douglas Sparks, and the Wardens, Vestry, and members of Trinity Church, Michigan City, Indiana, Sister Debra Susannah Mary, Brother Joseph Mary Ignatius, and I drove up to Michigan City from Columbus, Ohio to begin a new, more monastic life at Trinity Church’s Rectory.
Trinity Church is a historic and historically Anglo-Catholic parish in the Diocese of Northern Indiana. We renamed the rectory the Abbey of Mary, Mother of the Redeemer, and, with furniture everywhere and stacks and stacks of boxes still to unpack, we started regular community worship the very next day in the Abbey’s small, but beautiful Intercession Chapel. We’ve been worshiping daily in it ever since.
It took nearly two months to begin to work our way through the boxes and arrange furniture in fits and starts, but we knew we were getting somewhere when the magnets made their way onto the refrigerator. At this point, the monastery kitchen is in full swing, and the Refectory is comfortable and has everything necessary for tea, coffee, and cold breakfasts set up. The great room (we still aren’t sure what to call it), with a living room space and a library/reading room is nice and comfortably appointed for us, for members of Trinity Church as we begin to host small events here, and for our future guests. Brother Joey’s cell, and the hearth space (what we call “cells” for married couples and families) that Sister Debbi and I share are more or less in order, and most of our books are on our shelves in various locations in the Abbey and the Rector/Abbot’s Office.
This is only the first in a series of regular posts sharing our life and work here. Please check in regularly to see what CMMR is up to!
We are grateful to Bishop Sparks and to the people of Trinity Church, and we are excited to finally be living a more monastic routine in a more monastic setting. We also can’t wait to get our guess rooms established and begin to host people on retreat.
Father Robert Antony Rhodes, CMMR (Abbot)
