Clare's Monastery home

Back to Main MenuReal Estate TransfersBack to Main MenuLocal Grocery AdsSpecial SectionsLocal AdsLagniappeOn a sunny Sunday morning, a diverse gathering of 30 plus people meet replica christian louboutin shoes for Mass at the small chapel Uptown at the corner of Henry Clay and Magazine streets.Some light candles for special requests, others offer up concerns in their morning prayers. A baby cries, is taken outside in her mother arms, then returns, soothed. It is a ritual as old as time, this sound of murmuring human voices, sometimes lifted in prayer, sometimes in song.All marvel at the nuns whose voices lead the service, particularly Sister Helen Carroll Petty strong soprano. After greetings are exchanged, the members of the congregation drift off to their daily routines, but the nuns stay right where they are. This chapel, after all, is part of their home, the St. Clare Monastery.When a Poor Clare takes her vows, she pledges chastity, poverty, obedience and enclosure. She enters a monastery to pray, to undertake a contemplative life. The monastery becomes home, house of worship, place of work and recreation, the setting for most of her life.This monastery, built in 1912, is a lovely place to live starting with its replica louboutin gorgeous chapel. Its extensive grounds fill a city block, part sanctuary (in every sense of the word), part park, part beloved Uptown landmark.When a visitor arrives, seeking anything from spiritual counsel to Sister Mary Blosl famous pralines, she rings the doorbell for the monastery or its gift shop, and is greeted through a grate, also a signature feature of monasteries. At one time, the nuns kept their faces hidden. Nowadays, the cheerful countenance of whichever nun has door duty greets guests.Entering the main hall, the sparkling linoleum floors, wood paneling and stairways that bear the soft, glowing patina of age, and comfortable though not ostentatious furnishings catch the eye. The walls, in soft neutral tones, bear religious art or crucifixes.The first floor holds a dining room, kitchen, office, break room, library and rooms for visiting retreatants, as well as the chapel and the gift shop, an important source of income for the sisters.The space seems open and comfortable. "Everyone always says it seems like such a large building for eight women," Sister Mary said. "But sometimes it hard to find a spot to be alone."Photos by Kathy Anderson / The Times PicayuneThe monastery may be a grand building, but the nuns' rooms are spare, containing only essentials. So its wide hallways are clean and gleaming, with light flowing in through the windows. Orderly, utilitarian, serene. When life is cleared of the non essential, it seems, there is room for contemplation.Sister Charlene Toups, recently elected to a three year term as abbess, gives a tour, weaving history and philosophy and spiritual wisdom into a seamless and witty narrative.A New Orleans native, she entered the order in 1966. "I like to say I dropped out of college and into the monastery," she said. "I was driven by a real sense that the need for prayer would never change.""This is built on the same plan as medieval monasteries," she continued. "The nave is the public chapel. Behind a wall is the choir, where the nuns gather for daily prayers, morning, afternoon and night."There, the pews face each other, for the call and response of readings. Off to the right of the nave is a nuns chapel, where the women would worship in the days before Vatican II, when they were not to be seen by the congregation and so worshipped behind a screen. Now, they gather there for reflection and sharing. on Sundays and at 7:30 other days. "There a difference between solitude and isolation," Sister Charlene said. "True solitude puts you more in touch. Part of the contemplative life is to be for goodness, in whatever form it takes. Every religion has a contemplative tradition Islam, Sufism. If we ever meet on the contemplative level, if we can pray together, there a chance for peace."Rather than being withdrawn from society, the Clares are traditionally an urban order, with monasteries in the midst of or on the edges of cities."We need to be there, we need replica christian louboutin to pray for the needs of the city," Sister Charlene said. "People often say, it so noisy here, with the sounds of the trucks turning the corners. But those sounds of the city are God sounds, too. The city makes our life possible. We are not a democracy, but we are communal."The library, where the sisters read, research and write, holds books on every dimension of spirituality and religion. Clare, used these books in preparing a recent article for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, a commission conducted for the First Order of Franciscans. Her title was taken from the writings of St. Paul christian louboutin replica letter to the Ephesians: "We have not here a lasting city."Her topic? The need for social justice, concern for the environment and fragility of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.The sturdy brick monastery withstood the storm, but the lack of power and medical services led the sisters to evacuate to a monastery in Brenham, Texas.