http://ozarkspub.vo.llnwd.net/o37/KSMU/audio/mp3/uniquemona_1810.mp3
A tiny Christian community living in the forests of the Ozark mountains has blended traditional Christianity with the eastern elements of mysticism and silence. In some ways, the community is the only one of its kind in the United States. From Eureka Springs, KSMU's Jennifer Moore reports.
On top of one of Eureka Springs's Ozark mountaintops rests a retreat center. It is owned and operated by the Brothers and Sisters of Charity, a unique religious community.
The community is two parts: the Little Portion Retreat center on the mountain top, which welcomes visitors, and the monastery at the foot of the mountain, where most of the community members reside.
The community is unique in that it is the only monastic community in the United States with has celibate men and women as well as married couples and children.
The director of the retreat center is Sister Peggy Loedwyks.
The focus here is on Christian meditation: listening for spiritual guidance, spending hours in prayer, and thinking about one's life.
Loedwyks says they see visitors from all faiths and all walks of life.
Some visitors come to paint, or sew, or just read while they contemplate spiritual matters. Loedwyks, who herself lived as a hermit for five years, says more Christians are beginning to see the beauty and benefits in just being silent for a while.
Nestled in the valley at the foot of the mountain is the monastery where most of the members of the Brothers and Sisters of Charity reside.
The sound of running water is all a person hears when they first arrive.
"Our community really doesn't fit into any of those categories of canon law because of the fact we integrate families with celibates."
That's Sister Caroline Enders, a celibate sister. She's dressed in a nun's attire and has been at the monastery for seventeen years.
The grounds consist of a chapel, a kitchen and community room, homes for the residents and some fields where they raise organic chickens and goats.
Brothers and Sisters of Charity follow a constitution written by their spiritual leader, John Michael Talbot. In it are the guidelines by which they operate their monastery and individual lives.
The community is currently not recognized by the Catholic Church in Rome, but Enders says she hopes one day when canon law is revised, a new category will be made for monastic communities which integrate celibates and families.
In the meantime, Loedywyks says they will continue to share their love of meditation with visitors to their retreat center. Although she says the word "Mysticism" has a foreign ring to it, many Christians can learn from the ways of the East.
She says if everyone of every faith took a few minutes a day to just listen in pure silence, they would be much enriched.
Reporting from Eureka Springs, I'm Jennifer Moore.