“The Good Shepherd”

Oklahoma Living magazine has published a fascinating profile of Br. Joseph-Marie Owen, O.S.B. (’76), the lay brother who runs the farm for the Benedictine monks at Our Lady of the Annunciation of Clear Creek Abbey in Hulbert, Okla. The article discusses the great care Br. Joseph-Marie takes in raising a herd of Katahdin sheep, his reliance on some ancient shepherding techniques, and how his work and prayer life are one in the same. “There’s great joy in this life, but all this is only provisional,” he says. “It’s a dress rehearsal.”

Br. Joseph-Marie was one of the 13 monks from the 900-year-old Abbey Notre Dame de Fontgombault in France who founded Clear Creek in 1999, along with the Abbey’s subprior, Rev. Mark Bachmann, O.S.B. (’82). There are currently 10 Thomas Aquinas College alumni at Clear Creek, including Br. Andrew Marie Norton, O.S.B. (’06), who will make his solemn profession tomorrow.