Our new websites will always be,
by the Hand of God,
a 'Work in Progress'.
About Us
( ...in the 1960's )
When the initial building proved inadequate for the growing community, plans were made to build a larger,
permanent monastery in Sherwood Park just off Military Trail. November 1967 ---- there were only three other homes
in the neighborhood when the Sisters moved in. Besides these few homes, our only other "neighbors" were the cows across Military
Trail and the foxes that roamed the open fields nearby. Eventually that changed, and now many homes surround the monastery.
Emmanuel Catholic Church is right next door. The new monastery was dedicated by Archbishop Carroll on February 5, 1968.
Ever
since moving to Sherwood Park in west Delray in 1967, we have been privileged to have as our chaplains, the priests from St. Vincent
de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach. Bishop Carroll's desire from the beginning was to have a connection between the monastery
and the seminary, so that the Sisters would pray not only for the priests and people of the area but also for the men training
to become priests for all of Florida and beyond.
In 1988, Bishop John Nevins of the Venice Diocese saw a need for a local monastery
on Florida's west coast, and invited the Poor Clares of Delray Beach to help establish it. Sisters Mary Emmanuel, Mary Frances
and Agnes were the pioneer Sisters who made that foundation of Poor Clares at Fort Myers Beach.
Planning for our future ----
we are now looking toward a New Beginning. During the past fifteen years especially, our efforts to maintain our present building
have become more and more futile. This is due to many factors, including the age of the building, nearly fifty years old, the sprawling
design which makes it difficult for our Sisters with physical limitations to traverse, and the ever-rising cost and lack of available
repair parts for the antiquated mechanical systems. To make matters worse, we have endured several great hurricanes that
had created more destruction than we have been able to restore, even after several attempted renovations. We have never quite recovered
from the damaging roof leaks and resultant loss of living space. We know with certainty that we can not occupy this present structure
for much longer -- we're running out of patches!
We plan to significantly reduce our property size to something more manageable
for us. We will build a smaller monastery that is energy efficient, cost effective, low maintenance, and handicapped-accessible.
In addition to living space, there will be offices and a larger area for our altar bread work. We plan to have a chapel where
people can come to worship with the Sisters. The cost of this effort is substantial. Obtaining needed funds for this project and
also for our ever-increasing, daily living expenses, seems an incredible task, but through God's grace and the help of many
kind benefactors, we believe that we can accomplish our goal.
Palm Beach Post Archives Ad, January 21, 1966