Alumnus Priest Named Clear Creek Subprior

There are 11 Thomas Aquinas College alumni serving at Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey in Hulbert, Oklahoma, and one of them — Rev. Joshua Morey, O.S.B. (’00) — has recently been named the community’s subprior. Abbot Philip Anderson, O.S.B., appointed Fr. Morey to his new position this past spring, less than seven years after his ordination in 2009. As subprior, Fr. Morey succeeds another alumnus of the College, Rev. Mark Bachmann, O.S.B. (’82). In addition to his responsibilities as subprior, Fr. Morey teaches philosophy to the community’s seminarians and works in the Abbey’s business office.

Earlier this year, Tulsa World published a story which hailed Clear Creek as “a global attraction in rural Oklahoma,” and quoted Fr. Morey about the challenges and joys of religious life. “I know where I’m going to live and where I’m going to be buried,” Fr. Morey told reporter Bill Sherman; being a monk means “giving up your own plans … your own routines, your own ways of doing things.” And yet, in this sacrifice, there is the freedom of Christ. “There’s a certain liberation,” he said, “from things that hold you back.”

This comment recalls another that Fr. Morey made back in 2009, around the time of his ordination, when he was reflecting wistfully on his beloved alma mater. “As a cloistered monk, there is a chance that I may never see the College again,” he remarked. “This possibility does not sadden me. Oklahoma is where God wants me; that is enough.”