Our Projects
From Montefano to Butembo, DR Congo
The spirit of our congregation is expressed in the principle of ‘Ora et Labora’ or ‘Work and Prayer’ and our monastic tradition always includes a strong involvement with the local communities.
We need your spiritual and material help
Our congregation, has a working relationship with the world outside the monastery. In the last century we spread our wings beyond our monasteries in Italy and today we are present in all five continents, namely Europe, Asia, America, Australia and most recently in Africa.
Our newest monastery, which stems from the monastery of Giulianova in Italy, was founded in 2006 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) in Butembo, where unrest and recurring Ebola disease make life hazardous. In Butembo, part of the monastery has been built and a chapel. We always welcome funds to aid these projects but more importantly we always look forward to receiving containers loaded with essential machinery and equipment.
We also have started a school and there are technical courses, especially in woodwork, to help students find work. The school is in urgent need of new classrooms. Each classroom costs around A$15,000.
In Makkiyad our mission includes a monastery, a novitiate, philosophy faculty, coffee & pepper, retreat house and a co-educational school. Here, as in our other schools, funds are constantly needed to extend, hostel accommodation and other facilities.
Vanashram – Founded in the year 1973 in the Archdiocese of Bangalore, Karnataka State, Vanashram is a dependent Theological study house of St. Joseph’s Benedictine Monastery, Makkiyad. The original building was constructed with poor quality material, owing to financial constraint and resulting in water damage. An ongoing project, started in 2023, 50 years after foundation, is to waterproof the building, including a metal roof.
Vanashram – Founded in the year 1973 in the Archdiocese of Bangalore, Karnataka State, Vanashram is a dependent Theological study house of St. Joseph’s Benedictine Monastery, Makkiyad. The original building was constructed with poor quality material, owing to financial constraint and resulting in water damage. An ongoing project, started in 2023, 50 years after foundation, is to waterproof the building, including a metal roof.
An indication of this growth is that when the monastery was founded it was on the outskirts of the town. It is now in the centre, with the bus station opposite. Such growth means more classrooms and facilities are continually needed.
Benhill Monastery, a daughter house of St Joseph’s Conventual Priory in Makkiyad, founded in 1992 needs to complete the monastery with upstairs accommodation for retreatants. Here again financial constraints have meant building in stages. The community is responsible for Benhill School.
The school needs to complete an auditorium and also build hostel accommodation which will cost around A$1m.
The school needs to complete an auditorium and also build hostel accommodation which will cost around A$1m.
Ashir Sadan Ashram is another dependent house, located at Teok, Assam in the north-eastern part of the country. It runs a co-educational school, with about 370 students and 18 staff and needs to build more classrooms, provide accommodation for retreatants and build a compound wall.
Cebu, in the Philippines, St Benedict’s Monastery was founded at Corte in the central island of Cebu in 1999 and includes a formation house and pilgrim centre. The Monastery houses the miraculous image of Our Lady of Manaoag and a shrine to St Pedro Calungsod, martyred in the 17th century, aged 17, and canonized in 2000.
There is a monthly clinic run by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. There is urgent need to add accommodation to the day retreat centre, visited by large numbers.
Our Projects
In the last century we spread our wings beyond our monasteries in Italy and today we are present in all five continents, namely Europe, Asia, America, Australia and most recently in Africa.
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