Holy Cross Monastery

09/06/2026

"What would it be like to live where every member of a community can be seen and known, and can participate in the salvation drama of falling short and beginning again without partiality and with sincere absolution?" From the sermon by Br. Randy Greve OHC for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, September 6, 2026.
To read this and our other sermons, click here:
https://ohclectionary.blogspot.com

09/05/2026

09/05/2026

Our website has added registration request forms for each programmed retreat as well as for individual retreats for your convenience. We hope this easier method of scheduling will inspire you to consider visiting us soon!

09/02/2026

Today the Order remembers Francis William George Parker, OHC, who died on September 2, 1958:
"Fannie" Parker, as he was known in the Order, was born in Boston, Lincolnshire, in England, on January 1, 1889. He was confirmed at the age of 15 by Edward King, the saintly Bishop of Lincoln. As a young man he emigrated to the U.S., and was naturalized in 1937.
His early training and work was in business before he discerned a vocation to the priesthood. He was educated at Racine College, enrolled in Nashotah House, was ordained deacon in 1920 and priest in 1921, receiving his B.D. in 1922, and an S.T.M in 1928. He was vicar of St. John's Church in Shawano, Wisconsin, in the Diocese of Fond du Lac, from 1921 to1926 and in 1926 entered Holy Cross. He was professed in 1929 at the age of 40.
He was Prior of St. Andrew's from 1932 to 1939. His business experience helped him steer the school through the worst years of the Depression. The tradition is that Fr Parker rescued St. Andrew's "from what seemed certain failure in the time of depression and fire."
In 1939 he returned to West Park. He was Guestmaster and also, active in mission work, he established the Order's ministry at Sing Sing prison.
From 1940 to 1955 Fr. Parker was Commissary of the Holy Cross Liberian Mission, a job to which he brought his great business skill and ingenuity. He edited "The Hinterland", the newsletter of the Bolahun Mission for many years. And he was an indefatigable fund raiser for the work in Liberia. His obituary in the Holy Cross Magazine records, "For some years the income of some Kansas wheat farms were devoted to this cause, and the Father attended with great care to the temporary bonanza, putting the farms into fine condition for the comfort of the farmers and for the securing of a good dividend for the missionary work." He was for many years a successful mission preacher. And for many years he was the Director of Associates.
Fr. Taylor remembered him in his later years, when Fr. Parker, who had been so well organized in his work and had been a clear and persuasive preacher and missioner, was beginning his long decline: "[He] took great joy in the Holy Cross vocation, the life, the monastery, what we did, everything. He was always busy." But, continued Fr. Taylor, "he could hardly read his own writing, and when he gave a sermon or a retreat address it would start off integrated and clear, but in two paragraphs it was so jumbled up you couldn't find out where he was located or what he was trying to get at. It was just that so many ideas came into his mind."
Fr. Parker brought the gifts of a trained businessman to the Order at a time when they were sorely heeded, and the fruits of his labors were evident at St. Andrew's and in Bolahun for many years.
He developed heart disease and was ill for quite a long time. He died at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx on September 2, 1958, at the age of 69. Fr. Hawkins, who was infirmarian at the time, was with him.

08/30/2026

From our Monastery Column blog:
Getting ready for the return of our guests
https://monasterycolumn.blogspot.com/2026/08/getting-ready-for-return-of-our-guests.html

08/29/2026

Today the Order remembers Raymond Alan Gill OHC, who died on August 29, 1989:
Raymond Alan Gill was born in Philadelphia on August 7, 1915. He was sent to Sunday School in the Reformed Episcopal Church and found the Episcopal Church in his teens. He was educated as a mechanical engineer at the University of Pennsylvania and at Temple University, from which he received his Bachelor of Science in 1941. He then went to Nashotah House and graduated and was ordained in 1944. He worked for a very short time as priest-in-charge of St. Andrew's Church in West Manayunk, Pennsylvania, and then in 1945 went to Liberia to work with Holy Cross. He returned from Africa two years later and for two years was vicar of St. Bartholomew's Church in Philadelphia. He then entered the novitiate of Holy Cross and was life professed in 1952.
During his life he was stationed in nearly every house of the Order, usually for short periods of time, and did Guesthouse work, mission and retreat preaching, and also engaged in parish work in the Diocese of Albany and as an interim pastor in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was involved in the Cursillo movement from its earliest days in the Episcopal Church. It was perhaps as a confessor that his pastoral talents came most to the fore. He was sympathetic and always eager to help, and his insight was often pastorally helpful.
Ray is remembered by many as an exotic character. A quiet, reserved, and basically friendly man, he was constantly at cross-purposes. All his life, he struggled to be useful in the community and helpful to those around, but his efforts very often resulted in chaos. Many stories survive about him concerning his almost uncanny ability to make disaster out of the simplest situation. His desire to be of help and to use his engineering background led him to attempt to do repair work and when the results were spectacular failures, as they often were, it was a painful embarrassment for him. But small, helpful devices that he invented - a measuring scoop for the incense blending and a fastener for the dishwashing trays - survived around the monastery.
His life held tragedy as well. He was often preoccupied and carried away by his train of thought and was a fair menace as a driver as a result. While stationed in Santa Barbara he was involved in an accident in which a teenager was killed, and at the insistence of the insurance company was forbidden to drive from that time on, which was a severe handicap and a painful reminder to him for the rest of his life.
His death was as puzzling as many of the situations in his life. He had been stationed at Holy Savior Priory, Tower Hill, since 1982, but characteristically had a difficult a time finding his place there. After a disagreement with one of the brethren on the afternoon of August 29, 1989, Ray took the bicycle with which he often roamed the property and disappeared. His body was later found by a farm worker, half under a fence to the field where the local farmer kept his bull. His bicycle was in the field and was quite mutilated. An autopsy revealed that the aorta leading from his heart had been severed, and it was assumed that he was attacked by the bull and died as a result. What he was doing in that place was never learned. He was 74 at the time

08/27/2026

Today the Order remembers Br. James Ibraimah Boniface Adams OHC, who died on August 27, 1997:
Boniface Adams was born in Tamale in northern Ghana on August 6, 1955, to a large Islamic family and he was raised in that faith, though few of the family members were devout. He attended St. Joseph High School in Saboba, run by the Divine Word missionaries, and then came under the influence of Fr. John Rye, Companion of Holy Cross, at his large mission station at Bolgatanga. One of Boniface's favorite stories was of the day he requested permission from his father to become a Christian, and of his father's graciousness in granting his wish.
Fr. Rye directed Boniface to Holy Cross, and he joined the novitiate of the Order in Liberia in 1980. In 1982 he moved to West Park, where he made his first profession. After a period in Toronto, he returned to Africa and was one of the men who established the new monastery at Cape Coast in Ghana. He enrolled in St. Nicholas Theological College in Cape Coast, which the Order was overseeing at that time, and graduated in 1985. That same year he was life professed and ordained deacon and priest. He enrolled at the University of Cape Coast and received a post graduate certificate in education.
Boniface then returned to the United States, was on the guest house staff at West Park, and then moved to Absalom Jones Priory in Manhattan. He enrolled in Fordham University where he received a master's degree in religious studies and Spirituality. His dissertation was on Christian polygamy in contemporary African culture. He returned to Ghana where he was Prior of Philip Quaque Monastery, instructor in pastoral theology at St. Nicholas, and also lecturer at the Ola Training School. In addition he cared for the parishes in Elmina and Ayifua.
He was a man of ceaseless energy - some of his friends called him "One Man Thousand" - and though from humble circumstances, he became one of the best-known figures in the Anglican Church in Ghana - preaching, ministering and maintaining an ever-growing number of friends. He always seemed to have time for one more project. He needed another academic degree in order to be a full faculty member at St. Nicholas Theological College since he had never earned a bachelor's degree, and so he enrolled in the University of Cape Coast to study for a master's degree in education. But that degree was never finished.
In 1995 Boniface began to notice a pain in his back which steadily became more severe. Neither western nor traditional medicine had any effect, and the pain became gradually worse. In the spring of 1997, he was told by doctors to come to the U.S. for a spinal fusion. In a state of almost unbearable pain he made the flight - lying on the floor of the plane during most of the time and entered the hospital in Kingston. It was discovered that he had a multiple myeloma, already far advanced. He had chemotherapy and radiation treatments, which had little effect, and made the decision to discontinue them. He moved back to West Park in July, and was cared for by the brothers. His sweetness of temper and his deep faith were apparent both to the community and to the stream of guests who came to see him in his last illness. Many of those who came to offer comfort left cheered and blessed by their time with him. His humor never deserted him and he teased everyone around him and told many stories and jokes. During the latter part of his illness an aunt and one of his brothers were able to come to West Park from Ghana to be with him. A brief improvement in his health after he returned to West Park offered hope and his faith deepened. He declared that he was ready either for life or for death and took every moment of enjoyment that a very painful illness offered him.
Brothers Andrew Colquhoun and John Forbis were with him at his death. His body was returned to Ghana, as he had requested. There were many services and the principal funeral was at Christ Church Cathedral in Cape Coast. His body was buried at Philip Quaque Monastery. He was 42 at the time of his death.