Musical monk
With beard and Bible, monastery leader touts the contemplative life
Take FM 1960 deep into north Houston, past the big box stores, service stations and ugly strip malls. Wheel down a side street, and stay alert for the change.
When the air turns cooler and the trees greener, when back yards are measured by the acre and life is serene, you’ve arrived in God’s country.
There, in a massive brick house at the end of a long drive you’ll find St. Clare Monastery. John Michael Talbot calls it “God’s little secret” — a suburban outpost that can help revive flagging Christian fervor.
“America needs revival now,” said Talbot, the founder and a Christian music star. “Not tomorrow, not 10 years from now, right now. If we don’t experience it, we’re going to become western Europe. The trains may still run and life continue, but we’re going to lose the heart of faith in the United States.”
Approved by the Catholic Galveston-Houston Archdiocese, St. Clare was opened four years ago by Talbot’s Brothers and Sisters of Charity. The monastery is a satellite of the lay group’s Arkansas Ozarks mother house, the Little Portion Hermitage.
With roughly a dozen members in Arkansas, two or three in Houston and a cadre of “domestic” members around the globe, Talbot’s organization is said to be the only such church-sanctioned institution in the nation.
Its Houston members — the brothers and sisters can be celibate, married or single — assist in activities at the nearby Prince of Peace Catholic Community, where the Rev. John Keller acknowledged the “blessing” of their ministry of word and song.
Days at St. Clare are filled with prayer and study.
On Tuesday nights, the monastery welcomes the larger community to sessions devoted to prayer, praise and teaching; on every third Saturday, to Eucharist adoration. In part, its operation is supported by its weekday “lunch with Jesus,” in which the public may dine in the parklike setting of the monastery’s two-acre back yard.
For Talbot and his wife, Viola, a former Catholic nun who oversees
operations of the Ozark monastery’s commercial bakery, St. Clare is a spot to pause on cross-country musical tours as they bring revival to “one parish at a time.” Meet ‘Monk Dynasty’
At 62, Talbot long has been a secular and religious media figure.
A founding member of the 1970s folk rock group Mason Proffit, Talbot gravitated first to the Jesus Movement, then, to Catholicism. As a Grammy and Dove Award-winning Christian musician, he has recorded more than 50 albums. Additionally, he has authored 28 books dealing with religious themes, and, for two years, hosted the Church Channel’s inspirational program, “All Things Are Possible.”
With graying ponytail and chest-length beard, Talbot resembles a stereotypical cloistered monk — or the hirsute ZZ Top guitarists Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill. “I’m not ZZ Top,” he quipped. “I’m ZZ Talbot.” By extension, his ministry is not the “Duck Dynasty,” he said, but the “Monk Dynasty.” The latter is the title of his 2016 history of monastic life.
Born a Methodist in Oklahoma City, Talbot came to Catholicism via a tortuous route.
“Coming out of the Jesus Movement, I was looking for something more radical. Rooted like a radish,” he said. Talbot studied the Mennonites, Quakers and Amish.
Then he read “The Silent Life” by Catholic writer, mystic and Trappist monk Thomas Merton. “It was all about Catholic contemplative monks,” he said. “I started to search and journey and dream about St. Francis of Assisi. Something was going on.”
At a Franciscan retreat in Indianapolis, mentored by the late Rev. Martin Wolter, he pored over the teachings of the early church fathers. Briefly, he considered studying for the priesthood.
“God put a fire in my heart,” Talbot said. “Father Wolter discipled me. He counseled me: ‘Don’t become a priest. You’re too charismatic. Do what you’re doing. Start a community. Sing. Preach.’ For better or worse, that’s how it worked out.” Turned to Catholicism
Talbot converted to Catholicism in 1978. He founded the Arkansas monastery two years later. Brothers and Sisters of Charity communities then were established in Israel and Nicaragua.
“We’re an integrated monastery,” Talbot said. “Jesus is our founder. The greatest law is God’s law. We’re charismatic and contemplative; contemplative and apostolic. But we also integrate states of life. We have celibate brothers and sisters, families and singles whocan marry.”
As he grew deeper in religion, Talbot said, he “went into seclusion” for five years, spending his days in study and prayer. A natural introvert, he grew more extroverted as he labored over his faith.
“Still,” he said, “I’m more contemplative. I spend more time in solitude, in prayer and meditation. When I’m with people, I’m more engaging. I no longer think about myself. I don’t take myself that seriously.”
The routes others took to Talbot’s monastery also were marked by mystery.
Viola Talbot, 76, came to the monastery after a career as nun and Catholic school teacher and administrator.
Today, she functions as supervisor of the Arkansas monastery’s Little Portion Bakery, which features such items as Viola’s Granola, St. Anthony Hermit Bars, a rich, molasses-based confection, and chewy St. Clare’s Breakfast Cookies, a compact form of granola for people on the run. ‘God’s adventures’
“My life has been God’s adventures,” she said. “He’s gone around the world with me. Jesus is the source of my force.”
Carolyn Enders joined in 1991, a year after meeting Talbot at a charismatic conference in Los Angeles.
“I was devout since I was 10,” she said, noting that she had long worked in assorted ministries. After meeting Talbot and other monastery members, “Praise the Lord, I was hooked,” she said.
Enders visited the Arkansas center, then pursued a vocation — a process that takes years to complete.
“She has an angelic voice,” Talbot interjected. Often, he said, he remains downstairs of the 7,000-square-foot monastery as women members sing in the third-floor chapel.
“I sit down here and pray along with them,” he said. “Three sisters’ voices — they echo through the house. I don’t want to go up there and wreck it all with mine.”
Brothers and Sisters of Charity say their mission is to “bring peace to the city.” America today, said Talbot, is roiling with fear and anger.
“Donald Trump isn’t going to save you. Hillary Clinton isn’t going to save you,” he said, adding “All things are possible with God.”
“In the midst of all this polarization, we’ve got good news,” he said. “There’s a radical alternative filled with joy and love and peace. That’s what the world needs.” allan.turner@chron.com Twitter: @Turnerchron