www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Mt Tabor Monastery

What is the status of this monastery? How many monks are there?

It is a shame that we do not have a monastery in the United States for Eastern Catholics that shares the pilgrimage appeal and prominence of Jordanville or St. Anthony's in Arizona. The only place I hear Mt. Tabor being mentioned is online, namely, on this forum. I have never seen it profiled in any of the eparchial newspapers, websites, or by any of the hierarchy. To my understanding, it is oldest Eastern Catholic monastery in the US.

I know for a while the Sheptytsky Institute held its summer program at the monastery.

Has anyone here visited?

The monastery, hopefully, will now enter a rebuilding stage. Effective February 2, His Grace Bishop Richard of Chicago had asked the previous abbot, Joseph, to resign and appointed Fr. Theodore as the administrator for a period of one year. On February 2, 2011 the monastic community will elect a new abbot, likely to be Fr. Theodore. The past 10 years, under the leadership of Joseph, have been very difficult ones for Mt. Tabor. Guests were no longer really welcomed and most of the benefactors were lost or driven away. Bishop Richard had been receiving an increasing number of letters from the faithful concerning the deteriorating state of the once healthy and vibrant monastery, so he acted. Several of the former monks have been in touch with the monastery and there is, truly, a sense that the rebuilding is beginning. Let us pray that this effort is a success, a new springtime if you will, and let us pray for Fr. Theodore.

Rybak,

Thank you for the update. How Eastern-minded is the monastery? Or, perhaps the better question to ask is with the new administrator, will it become more 'Eastern?'

Most of our parish is going on retreat there in a couple of weeks. I'll let you know what our experience is when we return.

Elizabeth

ukrainiancatholic,

If you were not aware, the monastery has its own website: www.byzcath.org/monastery/ [byzcath.org]

I didn't know about this change in leadership.

A couple of our parishioners, who are themselves from Latin Churches, love going on retreats to Mt. Tabor/Holy Transfiguration Monastery. I've only met the monks once when they celebrated the Divine Liturgy at a new monastery of the Latin Church locally. I was uncomfortable with the Liturgy. I forget now if the discomfort went beyond the homily which was of a decidedly Latin tone I thought. I enjoyed visiting with them during the meal we shared. The whole experience dissuaded me from any interest in going to the monastery on retreat. If I were able to get away I'd likely go to St. John of San Francisco in Manton which a number of our parishioners want to go to together.

Prayers for the monks at Mt. Tabor Monastery in this time of transition.

Off topic -- I'm always confused by it being called Mt. Tabor. Many places on their website they are referred to as Holy Transfiguration Monastery and many other places as Mt. Tabor. In very quickly scanning the history I don't see anything that helps clarify this.

Years ago, the monastery had gone through -as their website states- a "certain crisis" that lead to Abbot Boniface retiring and Abbot Joseph becoming superior of the community. I can't recall the specifics of the crisis. I believe it involved some of the community wanting a new direction for the monastery. Eventually, some monks left.

I do hope the monastery prospers. I enjoyed the retreat I made there years ago when Abbot Boniface was still superior.

Christ is in our midst.

This monastery (Mt. Tabor, or Holy Transfiguration) is located in Redwood Valley, Mendocino County, California, about 120 miles N of San Francisco. It is a lovely spot in mountainous terrain. The monastery has undergone major changes and is down to just a few monks. I understand the bishop has been involved, but I am not sure exactly what has transpired. We all should pray for the monks and the future of Mt. Tabor. The Church has a tremendous need to preserve its ancient monastic tradition.

There is a small but strong Byzantine Catholic (UGCC) parish in nearby Ukiah . . . St. Peter's. Its pastor, Fr. David, is an excellent homilist and celebrates the liturgy with great care. This parish is worth a visit for all who are in the area. It is located on Brush Street in Ukiah.
Sunday matins are at 7:30 a.m. (usually) and Divine Liturgy starts around 9:00 a.m.

That is great to hear about Mt. Tabor. I am from California originally and attempted to make a retreat there but was dissuaded by the monk I spoke with on the phone, and actually ended up going to the Trappist monastery in Vina. Abbot Boniface was indeed a wonderful man, and a brilliant man, but unfortunently in his autumn years it was rumored his psychological health began to suffer. While most of this is sheer speculation and rumor I guess the monastery enetered a somewhat fanatical period regarding certain hot-button issues, so no one from my former Byz Catholic parish ever went there, opting for Newberry Springs instead (now Valerymo). I guess over the last few years the life there has become much more eremetical and so visitors are left without as much involvement in community life. Hopefully there will be a new Springtime. Abbot Boniface wrote an excellent book entitled "Eastern monasticism and the Future of the Church" available through the Ruthenian Metropolia. I had heard there was a mass-exodus of monks, so I hope they will be returning. Mt. Tabor could do with its own independent and updated website, and a guestmaster. I wrote to them numerous times about vocation questions and all I ever recieved back were leaflets.

Our parish had a retreat at the monastery from March 18 - March 21. We were welcomed by the monks, but had very little contact with them. Our retreat was led by Fr. David from St. Peter's parish in Ukiah. We were truly blessed by this holy priest, who was described by our cantor as being a "walking encyclopedia, with footnotes".


One little oddity that might shed some light on this question: the monastery celebrates the Feast of St. Joseph on March 19, in honor of the Abbot Emeritus, Joseph. The liturgy was beautiful and peaceful, but I can't report much on the homily, as I was dealing with a fussy baby at the time.

Lucky you! Our deacon has been trying to get me up to visit Fr. David Anderson since I started going to this parish. I finally met Fr. David at the 2011 PSALM: Liturgical Singing Seminar [tinyurl.com]. Fr. David was not scheduled to speak at the LSS but I think almost every one of the presenters asked him to come up with them several times during their own presentations to address something. They apparently also thought him to be a "walking encyclopedia, with footnotes" , combined with a joy-filled spirit. He added so much to the seminar, it was a blessing having him there. I think he said it had been 11 years since he'd last attended it. Off topic, I said to him near the end of the seminar when we were standing near one another that a high light of the LSS for me had been seeing him and Fr Stephan Meholick (whose church I'm in many times in a year) having such a good time together. They sat together for every lecture and I was many rows behind them so they were in my line of sight in all the lectures.

His parish doesn't have a website but they do have a parish newsletter. That's how we heard he was coming to the PSALM LSS. I still hope to find a way to get up to visit him and his parish one day.


So this in some ways connects with my own very limited experience of them here. Since the question came up earlier about "How Eastern-minded is the monastery?" I will speak my mind to say that I again find this off putting and would dissuade me from going there, although if it were a retreat by someone orthodox like Fr David I'd gladly go! Why celebrate a saint who is celebrated in the East, on the date used by the Latin Church and not the traditional Eastern date?