Monastic life shared by pair at St. Francis > Aroostook County retreat to relocate to Peaks Island

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ST. FRANCIS — A large wooden cross hanging from a post on a white two-story house overlooking the St. John River in St. Francis is the only indication it may be a place of worship. While it’s just a couple of hundred feet from St. Charles Roman Catholic Church, it is nondescript, set back from Route 161, next door to a small country store and absent, except for the cross, of any religious connotation.

Once inside (enter through a side door a sign on the front door tells visitors), a feeling of quiet serenity pervades. The small room is made even smaller by a communion rail that bisects it. Four chairs, two small tables, a framed picture of Jesus, a large wooden statue of Mary, an old framed painting of St. Augustine, a small sign seeking donations and an intercom on one of the tables are its only amenities.

Visitors are allowed only as far as the rail, five feet in from the side door. The remainder of the building, except for another public area in a chapel in the cellar, is part of a monastery inhabited by two religious men.

When Brother Nicholas enters the room, the feeling of religious tranquility and serenity is enhanced. He tells a visitor he wasn’t supposed to pass the communion rail and knock on the interior door, rather the visitor was to use the intercom to communicate with the inner sanctum.

The enclosure rail, Brother Nicholas said patiently, “denotes the cloister in a monastery. Only monks enter. It brings us a step back, away from the world.” He returns a moment later, now with Father Seamus of Jesus.

Father Seamus Kuebler and Brother Nicholas Drouin — they don’t use their last names because of ancient connotations that last names denote status in life — spend their days in prayer for priests, for vocations, and for special requests from benefactors and friends of their monastic life.

“We pray seven times a day, plus the celebration of the Mass,” said Father Seamus.

The two monks have continued their prayerful monastic life in the St. John Valley while operating a retreat house for priests and laypeople seeking a private place for prayer and assisting area parochial priests with services.

This monastery is in the tradition of St. Augustine, born in North Africa in A.D. 352 to a Christian mother and pagan father. After his baptism in A.D. 386, St. Augustine gave up family life and became a monk.

Monks, said Father Seamus, live away from the world, their life one of “prayer and contemplation, totally consecrated to God. They believe this life passes away, the world will pass away.”

Father Seamus has been blind since age 10 and uses a guide dog, Brendan, when he is away from the monastery. The dog, named after St. Brendan the Navigator, lives with him, Brother Nicholas, Kieran, his previous guide dog, and four cats.

Brendan leads his master in processions to the sanctuary, and from station to station during Mass.

Of Father Seamus, Brother Nicholas says, “There’s nothing he can’t do. He cooks, irons clothes, whatever. He did everything for himself before I came in with him.”

Father Seamus speaks clearly, his voice offering tranquility and peace while admonishing that prayer and good living bring rewards later.

Raised in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, the blind boy was educated locally and later at Kings College, Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and Notre Dame University. He was ordained a diocesan priest in Washington in 1975 by Cardinal William Baum.

His concern for priests came early, even before his ordination. His professed dedication to pray for priests and to assist them was heard by Bishop Timothy Harrington of Worcester, Mass., who invited Father Seamus to open a monastery in his diocese.

While in Worcester he met Nicholas Drouin. Brother Nicholas had been in nursing in a Lowell, Mass., hospital for 12 years, when he decided to join the priest in his lifelong quest.

The three vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, Father Seamus said, “are the biggest problems of people. Sexuality is important, money is a necessary evil, and submitting to others is very hard to take.”

A memo near a donation basket in the public area of the monastery describes how the monks make their way, despite the tumultuous life outside their haven. It says, “The Servants of God of St. Augustine. We are a monastic community and as such we are dependent on divine Providence for our existence. We are grateful to the Lord, and to you, for any sacrificial notion you can give. May the Lord Jesus, through the intercession of his mother, bless you a thousand fold for your generosity to us.”

They soon will leave their monastery in St. Francis, which includes accommodations for people making retreats at their sanctuary.

“We will relocate. We have been here three years and have spent a lot of time in prayer. Many priests found us inaccessible to them in the diocese. Some guests felt the same way. And, we are dependent on goodness and kindness of people,” said Father Seamus.

For the next year and, they hope, for always, they said, they will make their home and their monastery at Peaks Island in Casco Bay.

Bishop Joseph Gerry of the Diocese of Portland called Father Seamus in August with the notion of moving to Peaks Island. Nuns who owned St. Joseph by the Sea are leaving the diocese after being on the island more than 50 years.

“We have no money but agreed to take occupancy by the 15th of October,” said Father Seamus. The two will remain one year while attempting to raise $180,000 to purchase the sanctuary. “We’ve raised nearly half now and we don’t even like to talk about money,” said the monk.

“We are comfortable in making the commitment. We have a dire need. We have mixed emotions about this move. We will miss the area and our friends, but we did not own here and we needed stability, a place of our own,” Father Seamus said.

Their new home will be called “Our Mother of the Good Shepherd Monastery by the Sea.” Their retreat house will be called “St. Joseph’s by the Sea.” Their new address will be 235 Pleasant Ave., Peaks Island, telephone 766-2717.

“We will be having retreats. We will have the conveniences of a large city and people will be able to reach us easily. There us a ferry both ways, year-round,” said Father Seamus. They are hopeful Peaks Island will become a permanent residence.

He said it “will be sad to say goodbye to friends we have made here. It will be a major move for us. We are bringing 11 rooms of furniture. It is a nightmare to move.”