July & August 2022 at Santa Rita Abbey

July & August 2022 at Santa Rita Abbey

If June was all about Sr. Hildegard and our special visitors, July and August were all about the weather!

 

This year’s Arizona monsoon season began a little early with our first good rainstorm occurring on June 20.  The annual” green miracle”, as one of our sisters calls it, began to unfold, and by the day of Sr. Hildegard’s change of stability, the grass in our yards and fields had turned a vibrant green. More rain followed in July and August, especially between July 22 (the tears of St. Mary Magdalene?!) and August 20. As of this writing the monsoon season brought us 17.60 inches of rain! What a great blessing! But there was a downside, too.

Late in the afternoon of August 10th lightning struck the metal roof of our carport, instantly destroying the lightning arrestors and fuses on our two main power poles, cutting off our electric power. The hard-working linemen of Sulphur Springs Valley Electric had our power restored before nightfall. It wasn’t until the next morning that we realized that the lightning had also fried our in-house phone system. It took a week to get the system fully operational again (that is, all extensions working and all of them at the same time!), and two weeks before all of our external phone lines were back in order. If you had trouble phoning us between August 11 and 26, that’s why!

 

The Retreat House

Meanwhile, down at the retreat house, the roof developed some serious leaks. The building is twenty-seven years old this year, so a new roof is definitely in order. We’ve accepted a proposal from a local contractor and hope to have the roofing project completed by the end of 2022. The projected cost of the new roof is $18,990.00. Please would you prayerful consider supporting this project? If you find yourself in a position to contribute financially, we would be so very grateful. Your prayer support would be most welcome as well.

Hospitality is an important part of our Benedictine and Cistercian heritage. Chapter 53 of the Rule of St. Benedict opens with these words: “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” Our present retreat house was constructed in the early 1990’s precisely in order to share our beautiful rural location and contemplative monastic environment with those who desired a time apart in solitude and silence to deepen their spiritual life and their relationship with God. Since then, hundreds of people from all walks of life have enjoyed our retreat center.

In the winter of 2019-2020 extensive repairs were made to the exterior stucco of the retreat building and the entire exterior repainted. But then came the Covid pandemic with all the shutdowns. The place has been largely empty ever since. This summer volunteers were hard at work painting the interior of the rooms when the roof leaks appeared. We were hoping to reopen to the public this fall, but the roof needs to be replaced, the drywall damage repaired, and the affected rooms repainted, before we will be ready to do that. Please would you help us?

To ensure your donation is properly directed towards the retreat house, please download and fill out the form below, and mail it along with your check to:

Santa Rita Abbey / 14200 E Fish Canyon Rd / Sonoita, AZ 85637

Retreat House Roof donation form

Thank you and God bless you!