Two articles of interest:
Cistercian nuns in Wisconsin bake hosts, are trying to build a new monastery:
Success has come at a price. Expansion of the bakery has encroached on other parts of the monastery, including the infirmary, workrooms and living quarters, known as cells.
This shortage of space was an indication that a new monastery was needed, but it wasn’t the first indication, however.
From the time six Cistercian nuns arrived in Prairie du Sac from Switzerland in 1957 to establish the only Cistercian monastery of nuns in North America, it was apparent that some day a new monastery would be needed. The farmland purchased by the sisters included two buildings – one was a stone house built in 1850 and the other was a summer home for Gov. Emanuel L. Phillip built in the early 1900s. The buildings’ design did not meet the traditional requirements of a Cistercian monastery, but the sisters made do with their surroundings.
Construction of two buildings, one in 1964 to create living quarters for more nuns, and the other in 1994 to accommodate the altar bread operation, only postponed the inevitable. Even the chapel, where the nuns spend much of their day in prayer and song, is too small.
Then, from the Detroit Free Press: JamPot!
Finally, we reached the monks. whose Jam Pot is famous mostly because men in robes and long beards work there. Besides jam they make cookies. muffins and fruited cakes whose labels mention a "lacing" with bourbon or rum. From my memory of those cakes, "dousing" is a better word.
Father Basil, at the cash register when we visited, told us his order now has 6 monks, an improvement since my last visit a decade ago, when only 4 lived here. Also new is the order’s living quarters and chapel, a stunning piece of architecture with what must be a prime view of Lake Superior. When I asked about taking a look, though, Fr. Basil shook his head and said, "We live in the 21st century in the United States of America and because all of us work right here, we cannot leave it open."
I wanted to tell him that we leave our house open all the time, whether we’re home or not. I wanted
to tell him that hospitality — a core value of Christianity — suggests opening the home to the curious. I wanted to tell him that anyone who would make the long drive up this narrow peninsula for jam from monks wouldn’t think of stealing or vandalizing, but would only want to ooh and aah.
Instead, we bought 3 jars of jam.
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