Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey

Benedictine Life at Clear Creek

Clear Creek is a contemplative Benedictine monastery of the Solesmes Congregation. Its 55 monks devote themselves to God alone in silence and solitude, in constant prayer, and in willing penance. Following the traditional Benedictine motto Ora et Labora — 'Pray and Work' — the monks come to the church seven times each day and once at night to praise God in liturgical prayer. The community tries to be self-sufficient: cultivating the land, raising livestock, and selling products from its own workshops, while remaining dependent on the generosity of benefactors to complete construction of the abbey.

• 55 monks in community
• Member of the Solesmes Congregation
• Strictly contemplative vocation
• Ora et Labora: prayer and manual labor
• Self-sufficient workshops and agriculture

History of the Abbey

The abbey is a direct foundation of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Fontgombault in France. After exploratory trips beginning in 1991, a property was found along Clear Creek in 1998, and a charter was signed on the feast of the Assumption that year between Abbot Antoine Forgeot and Bishop Edward J. Slattery of Tulsa. The main group of founders — thirteen monks in all — arrived in Oklahoma on September 15, 1999, and the priory was officially inaugurated on February 11, 2000, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. The community moved into its permanent hilltop monastery on January 2, 2008, and on February 10, 2010, was canonically elevated to the status of an autonomous abbey with Father Philip Anderson as its first abbot.

• 1991: First exploratory trips from Fontgombault to the U.S.
• August 15, 1998: Charter signed between Abbot Forgeot and Bishop Slattery
• September 15, 1999: Founders arrive in Oklahoma
• February 11, 2000: Priory officially inaugurated
• 2003: Stone bridge over Little Clear Creek erected
• 2007: Crypt and first residence completed
• January 2, 2008: Community moves to permanent hilltop site
• May 12, 2008: Bishop Slattery blesses the new monastery
• February 10, 2010: Elevation to abbey; February 11, 2010: Father Philip Anderson named first abbot
• April 10, 2010: Abbatial blessing
• 2011: West façade, nave and transept raised; temporary roof put on
• March 20, 2017: Upper church begins regular use
• May 17, 2021: Construction begins on the Eastern Residence
• January 2023: Eastern Residence blessed by the Bishop of Tulsa

Liturgy and the Work of God

The Holy Liturgy, which Saint Benedict calls the 'Work of God,' is the center of the monks' life. At Clear Creek it has two components: the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (the Eucharist) and the Divine Office (the Liturgy of the Hours). All liturgical celebrations are carried out in Latin — the proper language of the Roman rite — and sung in Gregorian chant, which is especially suited to a community that prays the Divine Office in choir each day. With the approval of the Holy See, the monks celebrate the sacraments according to the 1962 Roman Missal and Monastic Ritual, with some minor monastic modifications at Conventual Mass.

• Latin is the language of the Mass and the Hours
• Gregorian chant sung in choir
• 1962 Roman Missal and Monastic Ritual (with Holy See approval)
• Daily Low Mass (~6:50 AM) and Sung High Mass (10:00 AM)
• Full Divine Office seven times daily, plus once at night

Architecture: A Romanesque Abbey in the Ozarks

Notre Dame architecture professor Thomas Gordon Smith designed Clear Creek as a Romanesque-inspired complex of stone and brick, intentionally drawing on the wholeness, proportion and site-responsiveness of medieval building. His successors — including William Heyer, also a student of Smith's — continue the work today. The grand portal of the abbey church was completed in 2020 with sculpture by George Carpenter and Andrew Wilson Smith. The abbey is built in phases: a stone bridge over Little Clear Creek (2003), the crypt and first residence (2007), the west façade, nave and transept raised to half height under a temporary roof (2011), the eastern chevet contracted in 2016 and in use from 2017, and the Eastern Residence with the Sacristy, Chapter House, Infirmary and monks' cells, blessed in January 2023.

• Architect: Thomas Gordon Smith (Romanesque-inspired design)
• Current work continued by William Heyer
• Grand portal completed 2020 with sculpture by George Carpenter and Andrew Wilson Smith
• Construction still ongoing in phases

Visiting Clear Creek

Day visits are welcome. Guests may attend Mass and many of the 'Hours' of the Divine Office (Prime, Terce, Sext, None and Vespers); male guests may also attend Compline, Matins and Lauds. A monk-priest is available for confession and spiritual direction. The Tulsa airport or bus station is about 70 miles away — a rental car is recommended, and rideshare pickup at the abbey is unreliable due to its remote location. The Father Guestmaster can usually arrange a ride back to the airport, except on Sundays, feast days, or before 10 AM. The front gate is locked shortly after 9 PM.

• Day visits and retreats welcome
• Rental car strongly recommended (Tulsa airport ~70 miles)
• Confession and spiritual direction by request
• Front gate locked shortly after 9 PM

Becoming a Monk — Vocations

Young men discerning a monastic vocation are encouraged to visit for 3 to 5 days the first time. There is a good airport at Tulsa, about an hour and a half by car. After a few days it usually becomes clear whether to return for a longer stay. Although there is no absolute age limit, the novitiate is designed for men in their 20s or early 30s; experience shows perseverance is most difficult after 35. Choir-novitiate candidates are expected to have a basic understanding of ecclesiastical Latin. General inquiries about vocations should be addressed to the Master of Novices by postal mail. Young women may consider the Monastery of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a contemplative women's community of the Solesmes Congregation.

• First visit: 3 to 5 days
• Target age: men in their 20s or early 30s
• Basic ecclesiastical Latin expected for choir novitiate
• Contact: Father Guestmaster and Master of Novices
• Women's vocations: Monastery of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Solesmes Congregation)

Practical Information

• Address: 5804 W Monastery Road, Hulbert, OK 74441-5698
• Phone: (918) 772-2454
• Diocese: Tulsa (founded at the invitation of Bishop Edward J. Slattery)
• Order: Benedictine, Solesmes Congregation
• Mother house: Abbey of Notre-Dame de Fontgombault, France
• First abbot: Dom Philip Anderson, O.S.B. (since 2010)
• Liturgical books: 1962 Roman Missal and Monastic Ritual (Holy See approval)
• Languages: Latin (liturgy) and English (general communication)
• Website: https://clearcreekmonks.org/