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My Time as Chaplain for the Monastery of Poor Clare Nuns in Kokomo
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August 6, 2020For the past three years, I have been the chaplain to the Monastery of Poor Clare Nuns in Kokomo, Indiana. This has been a joy. I celebrate Mass every morning at 6:30 am. While this can be a challenge some mornings after a full day and evening at the Retreat Center, I have enjoyed my time with them!
Before my time as official chaplain of the Poor Clares, I served on a rotating basis with the other Kokomo priests celebrating Mass for the sisters. Thus, for seven of my ten years as a priest, I have been ministering at the Monastery! The Poor Clares have been a big part of my priestly life!
The Poor Clares have been in Kokomo since 1959. They came as seven nuns from the Chicago monastery. The Poor Clares are a cloistered order. They take the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience; plus, a fourth vow of enclosure. This means that they do not leave the grounds to do outside ministries. Rather, their mission is to pray for the universal Church, the Diocese, and the city in which they reside. Their life is structured around the prayer of the Church: the Liturgy of the Hours. This means that they gather seven times a day for liturgical prayer in their chapel along with daily Mass.
The Poor Clares day begins at midnight with the Office of Readings (Matins). They return to bed around 1 am only to rise again at 5 am for Morning Prayer (Lauds) at 5:20 am. After a time of meditation, the first of the daytime prayer, mid-morning prayer (Terce) is prayed at 6:10 am. Mass follows at 6:30 am. The next daytime prayer is mid-day prayer and it is prayed at 11:10 am (Sext). After Lunch, mid-afternoon prayer (None) is prayed at 1:30 pm. Evening Prayer (Vespers) is prayed at 4:40 pm. Finally, Night Prayer (Compline) is prayed at 7:30 pm. During the times between formal prayers, there are meals, work time, study, rosary and holy hour, and personal prayer time. It is a full day to be sure!
There are three interesting connections between the Poor Clares and what is now Saint Joseph Retreat & Conference Center, formerly the Motherhouse and Academy of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Tipton.
First, according to the 1959 St. Joseph Academy yearbook, on March 2 of that year, the Poor Clares “visited the Motherhouse and were entertained with a short concert by the Choramarians.” The Academy girls’ choir, the Choramarians, sang at various events on and off campus through the years.
A second connection is in the cemetery of all places! Here are buried two of the original seven Poor Clares. Their permanent and present monastery not having been built or completed by the time Sister Gerard and Sister Pius died, the sisters were buried at the Motherhouse cemetery of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Tipton. They were buried right in line with the deceased Sisters of St. Joseph with the understanding that the Poor Clares would not move their bodies when their own monastery and cemetery were established.
The last connection is found in several items that the Poor Clares donated to the St. Joseph Retreat & Conference Center. Among these include a beautiful cope and humeral veil that is used for benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, a humeral veil stand, two crucifixes that are found in the main confessional in the St. Joseph Chapel, and a lovely picture of the Nativity of our Lord currently located in the Calvary Chapel on the third floor of the Retreat Center.
All these connections make for a special relationship between the Poor Clares and the St. Joseph Retreat & Conference Center. As I make my transition from being the Chaplain to the Poor Clares to more devoted time at the Retreat Center, these connections will help remind me of the prayers of the Poor Clares for all our retreatants and that special bond that exists between these two places of prayer in our Diocese.
To learn more about the Poor Clares of Kokomo, visit their website at thepoorclares.org.
