Our Holistic Future

Rule of St. Benedict; Chapter 53: The Reception of Guests

1 All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: I was a stranger and you welcomed me (Matt 25:35). 2 Proper honor must be shown to all, especially to those who share our faith (Gal 6:10) and to pilgrims. 
In the Benedictine tradition, the monks of Subiaco Abbey place a high priority on receiving all guests as Christ, creating a convenient, restful, and spiritual place in which to welcome them.

8 After the guests have been received, they should be invited to pray; then the superior or an appointed brother will sit with them.

A wheelchair-accessible entrance into the church and choir stalls from our guest house and retreat center will allow for unity in prayer and convenient access to the guest dining room. Building on the existing ramp-style sidewalk that extends from the front of the Coury House to the sidewalk that runs along the northern back entrance to the monastery, we have placed an inclining concrete section attached to a steel structure that elevates to a newly installed automated door. Fabricated handrails are being placed along the entire length of the ramp and inside the door, a safety gate closes off the existing staircase upon entrance to prevent falls or mishaps. Outside the ramp, concrete blocks faced with natural stone matching the exterior of the building are placed around the steel frame and a concrete slab with flagstone overlay and benches will provide a nice area for meditation or gathering to socialize.

Decades ago, the Subiaco Abbey monastic community went through an extensive process of evaluation and planning for the future healthcare needs of the monks. Because of the structural challenges of our existing monastery, the monks at that time were able to see that we could adequately care for the older generation by utilizing a vertical step-down triage process through the use of our existing elevator system. In essence, our Health Center could expand ‘up’ through multiple floors through the use of our elevator system. We had no space or capability to expand horizontally due to our over 100-year-old building, but we could expand vertically. For our aging monks that did not need immediate and hourly medical care, we could position them in upper-floor monastic cells where they could still obtain daily health services through the “Health Center” elevator that linked this section of the monastery. Likewise, those monks that needed more ongoing and regular medical care could be located in the lower ground-floor Health Center itself. Nurses and care assistants could easily move between the floors as needed through a “Health Center” elevator. Thus, our Health Center actually spans three floors with multiple types of medical facilities, but all are accessible by our ground-floor nursing staff through that elevator.

Unfortunately, that particular aging elevator was unexpectedly deemed unsafe and placed out of service by the State of Arkansas in 2011. Since that time, we have attempted to adjust by using both the only other elevator and having medical teams enter the upper floor monastic enclosure, along with now placing all our monks with any type of need in our ground-floor Health Center. Still, this year we have twice “maxed out” our Health Center capacity, and the sudden outages of our only other elevator have left stranded monks on our upper floors. The key takeaway is that we have the existing medical staffing and existing medical rooms available to care for our aging brothers, but we simply need the return of that Health Center elevator.

Renovation of the elevator serving the Abbey Health Center is a priority project in the Legacy From Tradition…Onward Together capital campaign. After many years of being out of service, because the operating mechanics and service area did not meet codes, we are thrilled to be able to move forward with this project for the needs of our monks and healthcare professionals. Today, a large crane appeared on campus to remove the old chiller in the Health Center and set up a new, more energy-efficient system. From the same location, the old elevator equipment was removed and the new one was set. Some of the work has been contracted, but we give high praise to our own Abbey Maintenance team, led by Mr. Sam Little, in all the preparations and pre-installation work that took place leading up to today’s excitement as we go Onward Together (and with the help of the elevator-upward)!

To maintain safe water consumption and use, the water tower was sandblasted inside and out, repainted, and modernized to meet required codes.