FR. REGINALD At JONESBORO

SALT & PEPPER: A number of years ago, Fr. Elijah (before he became our Abbot) participated in a vocation program in Hot Springs where he talked about monastic life with Sr. Mary Clare (before she became Mother Mary Clare, the Prioress of Holy Angels in Jonesboro) and Sr. Gloria. One of the students at the program remarked (looking at the black Subiaco habit and the white Olivetan Holy Angels habit) that they looked like "Salt & Pepper." That would have been fine, but the kid THEN remarked, "You know, everybody likes salt better!" Kidding aside, the monks at Subiaco have been blessed with a close relationship with both the monastic sisters in Jonesboro, but also a close relationship with the monastic sisters in Fort Smith whom we have partnered with in ministry since 1878. Fr. Reginald (pictured here) spent the weekend offering some reflections at one of the spiritual weekends for the Olivetan Benedictine Sisters in Jonesboro. A vibrant and joyful community of Olivetan Benedictine sisters deeply committed to Eucharistic devotion and contemplative prayer, they continue to serve in the ministries of education and health care (St. Bernard's Hospital in Jonesboro), and have added Hispanic ministry, sacred art, prison ministry, and other apostolates that would have been unimaginable to those four sisters founding their community in 1887 carrying only 83 cents of money. If you are a committed Catholic woman wanting to explore the monastic life of a Benedictine sister, then contact Sister Cecilia Nguyen, OSB, their Vocation Directress. You can check out their website with contact information at https://www.olivben.org/. Our Diocese of Little Rock is blessed by God's providence in founding three Benedictine communities of monastics in our state, and for that our monks chant: UIOGD!