Fire at Little Portion
Friends,
I'm writing to you from Little Portion Hermitage, the home of the Brothers & Sisters of Charity and their founder, my friend & client, John Michael Talbot. Late Monday night a fire broke out in the Chapel here. By the time the Sisters came to wake me up at 2a.m. The Chapel was completely gone and the adjacent common center was completely engulfed by the fast spreading fire.
Four volunteer fire companies responded to this remote location in the Ozark mountains. They worked hard to prevent the fire from spreading to the other buildings of the monastery. The workshops, farm buildings, convent, brother's hermitages, family residences, and the smaller Portiuncala Chapel were all spared. Unfortunately the Main Chapel and the common center were a total loss. In addition to losing their primary worship space the community lost its kitchen, dining rooms, offices, infirmary, classrooms, recreation room, stock room (full of CDs & books), and the library & community archive. This is a devastating blow to the BSC who are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year, fortunately no community members or firefighters were injured.
While I am not a member of the community it has been a part of my professional & personal life for about eight years. It's difficult to describe what it's like to watch your friends endure such a blow. Even more, words seem inadequate to describe the resilience and faith which this community and its friends have responded. By sunrise Tuesday friends and neighbors began arriving bringing coffee, food and offers of help. Working through the day the Brothers quickly restored power throughout the undamaged portions of the monastery and more importantly water, which was so desperately needed to care for both community members and farm animals. Office operations and a community gathering area were quickly reestablished in an empty residence. At 1pm the community and visiting guests crowded into the Portiuncala Chapel to celebrate Mass. Fr. Bob quoted Job: "The LORD giveth, The LORD taketh away, Blessed be the name of The LORD." At 5:30pm the community was back on it's regular schedule, gathering for evening prayer in the Portiuncala Chapel. Despite reduced phone and internet access messages of support and prayer have poured in from community friends far and near. There have been regular visitors from nearby catholic & non-catholic churches, local and regional press, and even from Subiaco Abbey, some distance away.
With the encourage ment of the community John Michael's scheduled tour to Canada will proceed as planned. John Michael, Viola & I will be leaving Saturday for the Journey to Alberta, with one concert stop in Montana along the way. All of the equipment we tour with, much of it purchased just a few years ago, was lost in the fire. There is not one cable, microphone, speaker or amplifier left. I'm making arrangements for rental equipment as we go along. It will be a simple, minimalist setup this trip.
If you are of a mind to, please say a prayer for the Brothers & Sisters of Charity. I know that they are ever grateful for all the support they receive. If you'd like to know more about the community or to make a donation please visit http://www.littleportion.org. Lastly, if you have time, stop my tour blog: http://monkrocktour.blogspot.com. As soon as I have decent internet access I'll post some pictures from the fire along with any more news and my regular updates from the road.
God bless,
John
I'm writing to you from Little Portion Hermitage, the home of the Brothers & Sisters of Charity and their founder, my friend & client, John Michael Talbot. Late Monday night a fire broke out in the Chapel here. By the time the Sisters came to wake me up at 2a.m. The Chapel was completely gone and the adjacent common center was completely engulfed by the fast spreading fire.
Four volunteer fire companies responded to this remote location in the Ozark mountains. They worked hard to prevent the fire from spreading to the other buildings of the monastery. The workshops, farm buildings, convent, brother's hermitages, family residences, and the smaller Portiuncala Chapel were all spared. Unfortunately the Main Chapel and the common center were a total loss. In addition to losing their primary worship space the community lost its kitchen, dining rooms, offices, infirmary, classrooms, recreation room, stock room (full of CDs & books), and the library & community archive. This is a devastating blow to the BSC who are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year, fortunately no community members or firefighters were injured.
While I am not a member of the community it has been a part of my professional & personal life for about eight years. It's difficult to describe what it's like to watch your friends endure such a blow. Even more, words seem inadequate to describe the resilience and faith which this community and its friends have responded. By sunrise Tuesday friends and neighbors began arriving bringing coffee, food and offers of help. Working through the day the Brothers quickly restored power throughout the undamaged portions of the monastery and more importantly water, which was so desperately needed to care for both community members and farm animals. Office operations and a community gathering area were quickly reestablished in an empty residence. At 1pm the community and visiting guests crowded into the Portiuncala Chapel to celebrate Mass. Fr. Bob quoted Job: "The LORD giveth, The LORD taketh away, Blessed be the name of The LORD." At 5:30pm the community was back on it's regular schedule, gathering for evening prayer in the Portiuncala Chapel. Despite reduced phone and internet access messages of support and prayer have poured in from community friends far and near. There have been regular visitors from nearby catholic & non-catholic churches, local and regional press, and even from Subiaco Abbey, some distance away.
With the encourage ment of the community John Michael's scheduled tour to Canada will proceed as planned. John Michael, Viola & I will be leaving Saturday for the Journey to Alberta, with one concert stop in Montana along the way. All of the equipment we tour with, much of it purchased just a few years ago, was lost in the fire. There is not one cable, microphone, speaker or amplifier left. I'm making arrangements for rental equipment as we go along. It will be a simple, minimalist setup this trip.
If you are of a mind to, please say a prayer for the Brothers & Sisters of Charity. I know that they are ever grateful for all the support they receive. If you'd like to know more about the community or to make a donation please visit http://www.littleportion.org. Lastly, if you have time, stop my tour blog: http://monkrocktour.blogspot.com. As soon as I have decent internet access I'll post some pictures from the fire along with any more news and my regular updates from the road.
God bless,
John
posted by JTC at 10:12 AM
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