Hermit monks plan monastery on remote Wyo. ranch [Incomprehensible Opposition to Catholic Monastery in Wyoming]

[fkjuliano]

The Monks of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt. Carmel, a Catholic monastic order, are facing a surprising amount of opposition to their plans to build a larger monastery. Those who oppose the monastery have given some rather inane pretexts to explain their attitude, such as the monks’ property being exempt from taxes (along with other every piece of property in the country belonging to a religious institution), heavy traffic on the local roads (doubtful, since this is a recluse order that does not solicit visits by tourists), and the ultimate in provincial narrow-mindedness (or perhaps in disingenuousness), that the monks beautiful Gothic-style monastery will deface the local landscape.

In all fairness, can this be anything other than anti-Catholic prejudice?

http://www.salon.com/wires/image.html?image=814ed1b5-c6d1-44bf-95a4-1aefe548e715@news.ap.org.jpg

salon.com/wires/us/2010/09/25/D9IF3O1O0_us_wyoming_monastery/index.html

 

[MJE]

Anti-Catholic bigotry is alive, thriving & growing more bold. It now has a place @ the table.

 

[RobHom]

Catholics only comprise 33% of the population of Wyoming…and they are probably concentrated in the few cities they have… Could it be “prejudice”? Yes very possibly, but then you have to also be cognizant of the fact that people up in that area are not real anxious to accept “change”…they are rather fond of the “status quo”, and “outsiders” aren’t readily accepted… They can be somewhat “provincial” in their attitudes…

religionatlas.org/religion_region/ROCKYMOUNTAINWEST.htm

Here are some interesting local comments regarding the Monastery:

wdtprs.com/blog/2010/09/wy-carmelite-monks-efforts-to-block-their-monastery/#comments

Based on the comments here in this link…the objections to the Monastery seem to actually be limited to only a few people…I’ll leave it to you to discern for yourself…

codyenterprise.com/news/local/article_f0be418c-ab14-11df-b3fd-001cc4c002e0.html

 

[Beau_Ouiville]

I’m not sure this is exactly anti-Catholic bigotry, particularly since recently in a heavily Catholic region of Chicago there were protests against a retirement home for nuns and priests. I would consider this more NIMBY than anything else.

 

[Dale_M]

you have to also be cognizant of the fact that people up in that area are not real anxious to accept “change”…they are rather fond of the “status quo”, and “outsiders” aren’t readily accepted… They can be somewhat “provincial” in their attitudes…

I suspect this is much more likely the cause of most of the opposition… Rural people are famously conservative, and reluctant to embrace change. Oil and lumber industry trucks are part of what residents grew up with, so residents don’t resent that traffic. However, a monastery is unfamiliar and worrisome to residents. They don’t know what changes it might bring, and what strangers will stream into their area. They worry that their lives will be changed in ways not to their choosing: altered viewscape, insufficient water, impact on wildlife etc.

Fear of negative changes is a big part of NIMBYism.

From an earlier news story:

Grabbert said the monks’ project has the overwhelming support of adjacent property owners.

“The agitators that are complaining are six miles away or eight miles away down the road,” he said.

powelltribune.com/index.php/content/view/3680/58/

 

[the_phoenix]

Praying for the expansion of the Catholic Monastery in Wyoming
according to the Holy Will of God.

 

[Borg0014]

I think there is just a growing opposition to religion in general. I seem to be noticing more of a anti religious trend growing as of late, this seems like one of those instances.

 

[mdgspencer]

I think of the great difficulties Saint Teresa of Avila had in starting her first convent. I found the site below, that speaks of this. (skip over the preface and translator’s note.)
www.umilta.net/teresavila.html
How to explain such opposition? It seems crazy, absurd now from what we now know about St. Teresa. In her case, though, I chalk it up to the trials God lets those he loves go through so that they will grow closer to Him.

 

[Dee_Dee_King]

“The plans look like someone took an old cathedral and just dropped it onto our beautiful landscape,” Mary Elliott, who lives about 15 miles from the site, wrote to the Planning and Zoning Commission. She noted the religious order wouldn’t be paying property taxes.

“As their contribution to this community will be prayer rather than property taxes the town will take a large loss on the currently paid property taxes,” Elliott wrote. “As for prayer, I am sure we are all grateful for that but are capable of doing that ourselves.”

this lady is a piece of work. at first i thought that it may have been resistance from fundamentalists or mormons, but that’s not the case here. she’s clearly an anti-catholic secularist. anyone who complains about the lack of taxes collected is clearly a leftist. like that article said, if these people complain about monks as neighbors, who wouldn’t they complain about. probably only wealthy gay couples from california.

it’s interesting that this woman’s arguments sound very similar to the ones put forward against oil and gas development on our federal lands by environmentalists.

 

[HCC]

According to Wikipedia, Catholics make up only 16% of the religious affiliations in Wyoming.

This from Wikipedia:

Religion
The religious affiliations of the people of Wyoming are shown in the table below:
Christian – 79%
Protestant – 53%
Lutheran – 8%
Baptist – 8%
Methodist – 6%
Presbyterian – 4%
Episcopal – 4%
Other Protestant or general Protestant – 21%
Catholic – 16%
LDS (Mormon) – 11%*
Jewish – 0%
Other Religions – 1%
Non-Religious – 18%
The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2000 were the Catholic Church with 80,421; the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as of December 31, 2008 recorded 61,430; and the Wyoming Southern Baptist Convention in 1980 counted 17,101.[19]
[edit]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyoming

 

[Elixir]

I have to admit that a Gothic cathedral reaching up to 15 stories would look a bit out of place in the Wyoming landscape. Perhaps something a little more aesthetically compatible with the surroundings.

As for people protesting the idea of a monastery nearby we shouldn’t be surprised because people don’t like any type of development close by as it is and get used to hearing municipalities squalling about a lack of taxes being paid on property owned by religious institutions. I think it’s only a matter of time before that privilege is removed by broke, tax hungry cities/towns/counties & states.

The lady complaining about the only contribution to the community to be prayer…well it’s a fine sign of the times and illustrates a total misunderstanding of what a monastery is for and what it does.

 

[fkjuliano]

I have to admit that a Gothic cathedral reaching up to 15 stories would look a bit out of place in the Wyoming landscape. Perhaps something a little more aesthetically compatible with the surroundings.

How could a monastery with a moderately tall steeple possibly spoil the scenery of Wyoming, home to barely half a million people in an area nearly twice the size of England? In Europe, there are thousands of monuments strewn all over the land, and they only enhance areas of natural beauty, such as the Alps or the Riviera. By God’s grace, the monastery will bring to Wyoming a touch of culture and a reminder that, despite a few amazingly small-minded residents, it too is heir to the glorious tradition of Western civilization, of which the Catholic Church is the epitome.

 

[RobHom]

I think the “property ta loss” line is a lot of “hoooey”…if you read the explanation of agricultural land taxation in Wyoming…you will see what I mean…

timbertax.org/statetaxes/states/proptax/wyoming/

Not knowing the millage rate it would be hard to figure it out…but if Wyoming is like most states, unimproved agricultural land is virtually untaxed… I could be wrong, but I can remember when I owned 72 acres of land and my taxes were all of $65.00 a year. So I think you can see the point…there would not be any real loss of taxes to the city, county or state, but then there would be a significant boon to the local economy…but then if the area is populated primarily occupied by wholly provincial types…they will object to just about everything.

 

[Rence]

I think there is just a growing opposition to religion in general. I seem to be noticing more of a anti religious trend growing as of late, this seems like one of those instances.

I think so too. And if you allow one religion to build you have to allow them all, according to law, if the area is zoned properly. Here there are oppositions to a mosque being built as well, so it’s not just anti-Catholicism.

And, according to HCC’s post, only 16% of that population is Catholic, so I understand them not wanting to build a Catholic monestary there. They would probably like to allocate that space to another religion’s building that reflects the majority there.

 

[Elixir]

How could a monastery with a moderately tall steeple possibly spoil the scenery of Wyoming, home to barely half a million people in an area nearly twice the size of England? In Europe, there are thousands of monuments strewn all over the land, and they only enhance areas of natural beauty, such as the Alps or the Riviera. By God’s grace, the monastery will bring to Wyoming a touch of culture and a reminder that, despite a few amazingly small-minded residents, it too is heir to the glorious tradition of Western civilization, of which the Catholic Church is the epitome.

I didn’t say it would “spoil” the scenery but look just a little out of place in the western American landscape. I didn’t say Gothic style architecture is ugly but neither is it required to create holy places of worship and contemplation. New places and times often produce inspiring architecture…such as northern Europe did when Gothic architecture began there. Maybe the same could happen in this case.

Just sayin’.

 

[Dee_Dee_King]

I didn’t say it would “spoil” the scenery but look just a little out of place in the western American landscape.

just like a gothic cathedral would look out of place in saudi arabia. so what? this lady is implying that it will ruin the beautiful landscape–what a bunch of garbage. as was mentioned, historic cathedrals and churches in europe compliment the landscape. just look at a calendar of the swiss alps or the mediterranean.

 

[Another_Mary]

We had some Russian Othodox nuns in our area who ran into a lot of opposition from environmentalists. Sure, they were close to the San Francisco peninsula, but they were still out in the country in a rural area. No matter how they scaled back their plans, there were loud vocal complaints from the usual environmental groups. The nuns finally gave up and sold the property to a local regional governmental openspace district–which will not be paying property taxes either. (This order of nuns had been run out of Russia and settled in China and then run out of China and settled in San Francisco.)

So, even if the monks scale back their plans I am sure there will still be loud protests. The environmentalists hate development and especially development by any religion. Or at least Christian religion.

 

[Elixir]

just like a gothic cathedral would look out of place in saudi arabia. so what? this lady is implying that it will ruin the beautiful landscape–what a bunch of garbage. as was mentioned, historic cathedrals and churches in europe compliment the landscape. just look at a calendar of the swiss alps or the mediterranean.

Oh for pete’s sake. It doesn’t matter what the style, she was going to be against it regardless.

 

[CathFaith1]

It’s possible the opposition may be due to the size of the project?

“This is going to strengthen the whole Church in America and be a spiritual oasis for America,” Father Daniel Mary said. “A spiritual oasis for monks, nuns, priests and laity.

“Lives are going to be changed by this.”

The monastery will rise on 10,000 acres of creek-fed land — 2,500 purchased and 7,500 leased — nestled on the backside of Carter Mountain in Wyoming’s northwest corner. It sits about 80 miles northwest of the monks’ current home in desert-like Cody, Wyo. The new property, Father Daniel Mary says, “is absolutely exquisite,” featuring pines and aspens, an abundance of wild flowers — and plenty of solitude.

Why so much land?

“We are striving to recover the monastic and agrarian way of life, so much of this land will be used for our cattle, livestock, fields and gardens,” said Father Daniel Mary. “The forested areas will be logged. In keeping with the rich monastic tradition and identity, we have lay brothers and choir monks (priests or seminarians). The lay brothers work the land, both in the fields or forests, as part of their manual labor for the community.”

---

Local Opposition

Money is not the only obstacle to building the new monastery. There has been opposition from some local residents, who express concern about the size and location of the monastery and environmental impact, among other concerns.

“You have before you a request that will impact property values, affect wildlife migration corridors in a manner that can never be recaptured, further limit ranching opportunities in our community, erode our existing landscapes and Western traditions and compromise the values that make Park County an uncut gem in Western cultural landscape,” said rancher Bob Model in a statement last month.

ncregister.com/register_exclusives/a-brand-new-medieval-monasteryin-wyoming/

 

[Dale_M]

We had some Russian Othodox nuns in our area who ran into a lot of opposition from environmentalists

So, even if the monks scale back their plans I am sure there will still be loud protests. The environmentalists hate development and especially development by any religion. Or at least Christian religion.
Well, maybe. But I am not sure there is any reason to think that environmentalists are the source of the opposition to the planned Carmelite monastery. The opposition seems to be coming from area residents.