Monthly Holy Hour begins at Carmelite monastery
SALT LAKE CITY —The world we live in is in great need of prayers and more should be done to support that effort on an ongoing basis. That’s the conclusion of the Knights of Columbus Bishop Hunt Council 5214 of St. Frances Xavier Parish, so they have begun a monthly Holy Hour at the Carmel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary monastery.
The Holy Hour that they are sponsoring will be on the third Sunday of each month beginning Nov. 18 at 3 p.m.
The relationship between the Carmelites and the local council began last year when the Knights donated to the nuns funds they received from sponsoring talks by Terry Barber, an internationally renowned Catholic motivational speaker.
“The Carmelites are the last religious [monastery] we have left in Utah,” Knight and Holy Hour organizer George Jockisch said. “They are good for our community.”
In recent years, two monasteries in Utah have been shuttered: In 2013 the sisters of Mount Benedictine Monastery in Ogden returned to their motherhouse in Minnesota; and the Our Lady of the Holy Trinity Abbey in Huntsville closed in 2017.
Since the donation by the Knights to the Carmelites, their relationship has deepened. When Grand Knight Phil Garcia asked the Council to participate in the Oct. 7 Rosary Coast to Coast event, members were concerned that there might be a conflict with the 1:30 p.m. Mass at the parish church, so they asked the nuns if they could hold it at the monastery’s chapel. The Carmelites agreed. It was such a positive experience, the local Knights wanted to do more with the nuns, Jockisch said.
Carmelite Mother Therese Bui said the nuns were delighted to be asked to host the Coast to Coast rosary and to incorporate the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction.
“It was so beautiful that we thought we could do it again,” she said, explaining why they agreed to host the monthly rosary. “The intention is to pray for our Holy Catholic Church. Who can argue that the Church doesn’t need prayers? If the pope is strong spiritually, if the Church is strong spiritually, the laity will be strong and so will be our beloved country (spiritually).”
At the Coast to Coast Rosary, Catholics prayed for the nation, and because part of the Carmelite mission is to pray for the Church, at the monthly rosaries participants will pray for both.
“This is important because our country and our world need our prayers,” Jockisch said. “We want to get people involved in this.”
On Nov. 18, Dominican Fr. Dominic Briese will preside at the Exposition and the Benediction, and give the homily. Other local priests will be invited to do so at upcoming events. The nuns will participate from their enclosed side.
“We are very happy to have the rosary and Benediction here at our Carmel with the Knights so that we can praise our God together,” Mother Therese said. “For our own sins and the sins of the world, the Sacred Heart is bleeding. Our job is also to try to console Him by gathering together to praise, to worship Him in the Holy Eucharist and pray the Holy Rosary for Blessed Mother’s intercession.”
Because they are cloistered, the nuns do not generally interact with the outside world in a temporal way, but they do host what Mother Therese said are “spiritual events in response to the needs of the Church.”
These events have included a public 90-day novena two years ago to pray for a pro-life president and a recent nine-day novena after Mass for the midterm election and for the conversion of sinners. They also say a public rosary every Saturday after Mass for vocations.
St. Francis Xavier parishioners first began regularly saying the rosary before every Mass 18 months ago to prepare for the 100th anniversary of the events at Fatima, Portugal, where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three children; they have kept up the practice ever since, Jockisch said.
“You can tell more and more people are coming to the rosary now,” he said. “It’s something we need.”
The Carmelite monastery is located at 5714 Holladay Blvd., Salt Lake City.
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