The Benedictine Way of Life

An Interview with Chris and Rita Jo Horan

Please introduce yourselves to our readers - who are you, where do you come from, and where do you reside now?

We are Chris & Rita Jo Horan. We live just outside of St. Louis on 62 acres – our little domestic monastery dedicated to a traditional Benedictine-focused life, with our 4 children, aged 9 to 9 months.  We moved from the suburbs 2 year ago.  Rita Jo was born and raised in Cape Girardeau at the Cathedral of St Mary of the Annunciation. Chris grew up in St. Louis but did not come to the Sacraments until Easter Vigil 2010. We met as interns in the summer of 2008 and we celebrated our 11^th anniversary on the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady September 8^th. Chris became an Oblate of Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey on October 16, 2022 at the hands of Fr Francis Bethel, OSB, Prior of Clear Creek.

You both have had successful careers in the corporate world - what does that experience mean to you now?

 While Chris still works in the corporate world, Rita Jo decided to step away 2 years ago.  She worked in Finance and Leadership Development for 14 years, holding senior leadership positions.  “We decided to bring Rita Jo home after moving to land to allow her time to be fully present with the children, set up the new home, gardens, and begin her studies of St. Hildegard and St. Benedict.” – Chris.  

The decision for Rita Jo to stay home has been such a gift to our family. She says, “slowing down has been really good for the soul, growing our own food has been so  good for the body, and living on land has been really good for the mind.  There is always a new skill to learn around here.”  The move to land and bringing Rita Jo home really allowed us to reprioritize and put a greater focus on helping our children (and each other) get to Heaven. 

There were and are plenty of good things that can come from working in the world as long as we are not ‘of’ the world. That said, we are blessed to have Rita Jo home with the kids as we embark on homeschooling to complement homemaking and homesteading.  It’s our “home era” and we are loving it!

“How can it be a large career to tell people’s children about the Rule of Three, and a small career to tell one’s own children about the universe?  How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone?  No. A woman’s function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute.” – GK Chesterton

Explain to our readers what the Benedictine way is and how you live that out in your family life (land, work, prayer, etc)?

The Benedictine life is Ora et Labora – pray and work. Monks do just that every day with nearly 3 hours of manual labor, Holy Mass, and coming together to pray the Divine Office 8 times. Although this is family life and not monastic life, we still attempt to have a very structured day (most days…). We wake our children with a bell, we pray our family rosary (and chant the Marian antiphon afterwards), we listen to the Office chanted by the monks at Le Barroux in France or the angelic sounds of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles in Gower, Mo.

We moved to land to allow our family to live out the Benedictine ways in a more tangible way- hospitality, farm-to-table, and time and space to awaken the wisdom of the Benedictine saints for our family. We even had a grotto erected for Our Lady which is a beautiful place for prayer as a family and for gatherings.

“As the father, I see my role most like the Abbot, therefore I take my role of spiritual leadership very seriously – I strive to lead and guide my family each day to know love and serve the Lord so we can all be happy with him in this life and in the next.” - Chris  

“The glory of God, is the man who truly lives, the man who is fully alive. These are the Saints.  Holiness is life in its fullness.  This means that God’s glory is going to be realized by the unfolding of all the potentialities he has put in our hearts.  The glory of God and our fulfillment are quite inseparable.” – Sister Mary David Totah, OSB (Joy of God book).

Explain the contrast between the corporate world and the Benedictine way of life.

The corporate world is regularly chaotic. Every day is different and is always a grind, companies wanting to ‘win’ and ‘beat’ other companies to earn the most money, have the highest stock price, sell the most product, win the best clients, etc.

The Benedictines live for the glory of God and strive to be perfect Christians daily by living according to the Rule of St. Benedict. The day is structured for work and prayer plus roughly 30 minutes of recreation. They always eat at approximately the same time, meet for Chapter (which might be the only real similarity as this is somewhat of a business meeting) and conduct their manual labor after the hour of None (approximately 3pm) every day.  While this describes the monastic approach, there is much wisdom to garner for the family life.  

What made you decide to embrace the Benedictine approach to domestic life?

We came to this after Chris read Dr John Senior’s books, Death of Christian Culture and Restoration of Christian Culture. He can be generally summed up by saying: “move to the country, look up at the stars more and ponder the wonderous grandeur of God”. He was all about getting back to the basics of life and the traditions of the Church. His love of the Benedictines made us curious about what this life really was. This encouraged us to find land (really striving for true Labora), grow much of our own food, begin regular visits to monasteries and it also has really fostered a much better, meaningful prayer life as well.

Someone said once, “We cannot will back the Christian culture, we must live it back.” It starts with all of us, choosing to raise our children in according with God’s will and the teachings and traditions of Holy Mother Church.  Living by the liturgical calendar makes the days, months and seasons feel so beautifully orchestrated.  

When Rita Jo first walked through the house and property, she felt a strong sense this would be a RETREAT like experience for her family and guests.  “Every morning looking out over the pasture I feel so much peace and now that I’m not running kids to school every day, the peace and joy runs deeper. I dream of one day sharing this space in a more intentional way for people to experience a “day in the life” of the Benedictine way”(RJ)

What benefits have you seen in your family life and spiritual lives?

• Farm to Table Life: We’ve learned skills we’d never learn living in the suburbs or in a city. We’ve created a 3000sq ft garden, built a large greenhouse, raise chickens for meat, have nearly 50 egg laying hens, 10 Nubian goats, 2 livestock guardian dogs and 2 fun barn cats (goats and dogs are Chris’ parents who live on the property with us). We are able to forage many wild herbs for health and healing and hunt deer and turkey just out of our back door. 

• Enjoying the grandeur and aw of nature: We have seen so much wildlife as well as sunrises and sunsets – beautiful witnesses to the glory of God and His creation. 

• Hospitality & Beautiful New Friendships: In the Rule of St Benedict, “let all guests who arrive be received like Christ, for He is going to say ‘I came as a guest and you received Me’ (Mt 25:35).  With this guidance, we have a greater desire to host gatherings of family and friends. We’ve enjoyed hosting often. “Something extraordinary happens when we slow down, open our homes, look into one another’s faces, and listen to one another’s stories around the table.” (Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist)

• Intentional Time: We live a more intentional Catholic life; our life revolves around the Liturgical calendar; we fast when we fast and we feast when we feast and truly, feast day celebrations make for wonderful family traditions and memories.

  "Education once seemed the gateway to heaven and earth for everyone.  Now we have tried it, and we know that schooling alone will not save our society.  Never before was there so much education, and never before so little arrival at the truth.  The twentieth century is the century of the greatest attempt at universal education in the history of the world – and yet it is the century of the most terrible conflagrations of history.  We have stuffed our children’s minds with facts, and neglected to teach them how to live.  – Venerable Fulton Sheen  

Would you recommend this approach to other Catholics? Is it right for everyone?

We would definitely recommend it to other Catholics; and we find within our own friendship circles, many have a strong desire to do the same, with some having entered the Oblate Novitiate or are discerning. It is definitely not right for everyone; others have charisms different than ours, as well as spiritual tendencies and devotion that is different than ours. The beautiful thing about the Church is that there are so many religious orders and not all live in this way.  The church offers a beautiful bouquet, each flower (spirituality/order) brings their own touch – for example, the Jesuits are missionaries and the Dominicans are preachers and teachers. Many families we know desire to live in the city to be right next to our parish and we can respect that.

“A cottage surrounded by trees, flowers, lawn, and garden, is the refuse which best satisfies the heart.  Best of all, he will see that his children have air and space in which to grow naturally, healthfully.” – The Hearth and Field Journal

From your point of view, what does the church look like today? What are you hopeful for in the future?

The Church is in shambles in most places, to be quite honest. Only really where people are truly faithful to the Church and her Traditions are things going well. It’s simple facts and data that where traditional practices are done by people and priests, the numbers of Sacraments celebrated, such as Baptism, Confirmation, Communion and Matrimony, are increasing rapidly. When we do what Holy Mother Church wants us to do, it tends to go well for us - go figure! 

We are hopeful for a greater increase in devotion to Our Lord in the Eucharist and as well as a greater love for Our Lady. For those who have a desire to know her Son, He will ensure that we foster love for His mother as well. She loves us more than we can ever know and we have to have recourse to her always!

What is it like at Clear Creek Abbey? Would you recommend others visit?

Clear Creek is always a very peaceful and prayerful time. Chris has been 4 times and the family came once. There are guestrooms for men, a house for ladies as well as 2 other houses for multiple families. One of my favorite moments there each day is the absolute profound silence during the 7am Low Masses, especially in the crypt beneath the abbey church. Upwards of 15 monks celebrating Mass at the same time and within seconds of each other, Our Lord is elevated. 

Men who are visiting can eat 3 meals each day with the monks (if they have room), do manual labor for 2-3 hours per day and there is a beautiful gift shop with many great books and handmade crafts from the monks.

Others should absolutely visit and I would recommend, if you use GPS, to turn it on before you lose cell signal. If you wish to visit, you can reserve your space here on their Lodging site https://clearcreekmonks.org/visit/lodging/, but do so well in advance to ensure you have a spot for yourself or your family. It books up quickly. 

We also highly recommend a visit to Gower to the Benedictines nuns there. They were recently in the news after the exhumation of their foundress, Sr. Wilhelmina Lancaster. They sing like the angels! Also book in advance if you are interested.

Could you recommend any books or articles on the subject of Benedictine spirituality for our readers?

• The Rule of St Benedict

• Commentary on the Rule for Oblates (one by Fr Simon and one by Dom Delatte)

• The Death of Christian Culture (John Senior)

• The Restoration of Christian Culture (John Senior)

• The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger

• The writings of Mother Mechtilde de Bar

• Spirituality and Mission of a Benedictine Oblate (article by Dr Jared Staudt)

Any final thoughts?

We are forever grateful to Almighty God for the gift of the Benedictines and for leading us to a life of Ora et Labora on our homestead. We have carved in wood on our wall in our kitchen the other Benedictine motto, “Ut in Omnibus Glorificetur Deus” (That in all things may God be glorified). This is a constant reminder that, truly in all things, we must glorify God, in the joys and sufferings and in the prayer and work

. 

Sancti Benedicti, ora pro nobis!

Sanctae Scholasticae, ora pro nobis!