Christopher Check, executive vice-president of the Rockford Institute, is a good friend of mine. More importantly, he is a good man. I’m pasting below a bulk e-mail that I recently received from him in which he relates his edifying experience with the Benedictines of Mary Queen of Apostles. He expresses himself so eloquently that no further comment on my part is necessary. Here’s the text of his e-mail:

My Friends,

I send e-mail blasts infrequently, but I want to tell you that I had the very good fortune to give two talks to these holy sisters on Monday, though it is I who have much more to learn from them.  I hope you can make an excuse to go visit them one day.

http://benedictinesofmary.org/

My all too brief time there was more than a glimpse of life on the other side of the veil, and I was very sad to leave.  You cannot believe how young (I think their average age is 27) and beautiful they are.  I told them what, of course, they already know: that within their monastic walls is the real and best hope for the world.  If all the folks in America looking to this or that political candidate would send their money to these ladies so that they could grow and grow, the terrible and terrifying ills that afflict our deeply troubled age would begin to fade, and the West, as it was in Benedict’s time, and again in the time of Bernard of Clairvaux, would be transformed in Christ.

I know that several of you already know the Benedictines of Mary Queen of Apostles, but I encourage you to have a look at their website, get one (or all!) of their CDs, hear their angelic voices, and keep them to the fore in your prayers.  If you have priests who are dear to you, point them toward these sisters because they make the most magnificent vestments and altar linens.  If you have a daughter contemplating a vocation, send her out for a visit.

And, as if any more testimony of their character is required, I am happy to report that they have two large magnificent canines patrolling their acres and keeping the wolves at bay.

Is there hope for the world?  There is, and it as at this beautiful priory north of Kansas City on the Missouri plains.  What the world needs is man on his knees, and since so many of us are unwilling to assume that posture, these holy women are doing it for us.

Pax et bonum.

Chris