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CHARLOTTE — A community of cloistered
nuns and the Te Deum Foundation have jointly acquired land
in Cleveland County for a new monastery and a future
seminary.
Mother Dolores Marie, PCPA, abbess of St.
Joseph Monastery, and Wilhelmina (Billie) Mobley, president
of the Te Deum Foundation, have announced the purchase of
484 acres in Mooresboro, about 60 miles west of Charlotte.
The property is about 20 miles from St. Mary Church in
Shelby. It is situated on the south side of the Broad River,
adjacent to a county-protected greenway.
The land will be split between the Poor
Clares, for a permanent monastery, and the Te Deum
Foundation, for a future regional seminary.
The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration,
who moved their community to the Diocese of Charlotte from
Ohio in 2010, have been living in a temporary monastery on
the St. Ann Church campus on Willow Oak Road in Charlotte.
They are now raising money to build a chapel and monastery
on the 333 acres they will occupy. The Poor Clares are part
of the religious order of famed EWTN founder Mother
Angelica, located in Hanceville, Ala., at the monastery at
the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
The proposed seminary would be the only
one in the Carolinas, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee,
Mississippi and Virginia. From left, Billie Mobley, Mother
Dolores Marie and Bishop Peter Jugis look at plans for the
newly purchased land. The Poor Clares of Adoration and the
Te Deum Foundation have announced the purchase of 484 acres
in Mooresboro, about 60 miles west of Charlotte. (SueAnn
Howell, Catholic News Herald)
Right now, seminarians for the Diocese of
Charlotte attend schools in Maryland and Ohio; including
Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmittsburg and The
Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus. Several also
attend the Pontifical North American College in Rome. The
Diocese of Charlotte has 17 seminarians currently training
for the priesthood.
Both the Poor Clares and the Te Deum
Foundation had been searching for land somewhere in the
Diocese of Charlotte for some time, and Mother Dolores Marie
and Mobley say they are thankful to have found a mutually
beneficial piece of property.
Through a combination of the generosity
of the non-Catholic landowner and money from the Te Deum
Foundation and the Poor Clares, they succeeded in acquiring
the piece of property valued at $2.9 million, Mobley said.
Mother Dolores Marie and Mobley met with
Charlotte Bishop Peter J. Jugis on March 1 to discuss the
project and to show him a topographic map of the site.
The two also shared a video presentation
of their complementary mission of assisting priests and
seminarians through prayer and sacrifice. They are currently
visiting parishes and groups, showing the video, and
discussing how donations can be made to the Poor Clares and
the Te Deum Foundation to further this work.
“It is great news that the sisters have
been able to acquire the land for their monastery,” Jugis
said. “I pray that God continue to bless them as they move
forward with their plans. Their witness of a life devoted to
contemplative prayer is a great blessing for the Church in
North Carolina.”
The Poor Clares spend hours each day in
Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament, praying and
interceding for the whole world, with a particular charism
of spiritual motherhood, especially for priests.
The Te Deum Foundation is also dedicated
to prayer and the support of current and future priests in
their educational needs.
— SueAnn Howell, staff writer
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