NAUVOO, Ill. -- An architect has begun work, and construction is slated to begin in the spring on a new monastery near Rock Island, Ill., to house 71 Catholic sisters now living here.
Sister Ruth Ksycki, prioress of the St. Mary Monastery, recently met with neighbors of a wooded 90-acre site near the intersection of 92nd Avenue and Ridgewood Road to discuss their plans for a new monastery and conference center.The Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict purchased the ground in May after selling their current monastery and a former boarding school in Nauvoo.
Ksycki said the parcel is surrounded by hills with a creek running through the middle. While the land is beautiful, she said, it had been on the market for a long time and wasn't attracting much attention from developers -- which is part of the reason they were able to purchase it for the relative bargain price of $383,000.
"They would have had to do a lot to make it into a subdivision," Ksycki said.
The sisters sold their present monastery and an adjacent school in October to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The former St. Mary's Academy, a girls high school until it was closed in 1997 due to declining enrollment, has since been renamed the Joseph Smith Academy after the Latter-day Saints church founder. Brigham Young University in Provo has announced plans to use the building for an expanded version of its Semester in Nauvoo program.
The Mormon Church's Family History Center has also been moved into the building.
There are 45 Catholic sisters still living at the monastery. Most of the sisters are involved in mission work, such as social work, hospital chaplaincy or other service fields.
The order also has several residential structures elsewhere in the city, some of which are used for guest houses.
Ksycki said it is possible the order will maintain some sort of presence in Nauvoo by using some of the other residential buildings.
"If we did, it would probably be very small," Ksycki said.
The Nauvoo motherhouse is the central headquarters for 71 sisters, some of whom are already living and working in the Quad Cities. The order has a convent in Moline which is home to eight sisters.
Plans for the new monastery call for living quarters for 46 sisters, a chapel, a library and administrative offices. A separate guest and retreat house with 12 rooms also is planned.
Ksycki said she wasn't sure what it would cost to build.
"We're not that far along," she said.
Ksycki said reaction to the sisters' departure from Nauvoo has been mixed, as have their own feelings.
"I think most people are understanding of our situation," she said.
But at the same time, she said, the sisters take some comfort in knowing the place that has been the order's home since 1874 will be well cared for.
"We know they take good care of their property," Ksycki said. "It certainly makes it a little bit easier."
The Benedictine Sisters moved to Nauvoo in 1874 and established an independent motherhouse there in 1879. Soon after their arrival, they started a school that evolved into St. Mary's Academy.
Under their sale contract with the LDS church, the sisters have up to 30 months to leave, meaning they could stay in the monastery as late as March 2001.
Once the sisters leave, LDS officials said, work is expected to begin across Wells Street where the former Nauvoo Temple is to be reconstructed.
Church President Gordon B. Hinckley announced April 8 the church would build a new temple in Nauvoo, and church officials say it's likely to be erected on the site where the original Nauvoo Temple stood until it was destroyed in 1848. Mormon officials have been reluctant to announce plans for the academy and monastery while the sisters are still there.
"They've been very respectful," Ksycki said. "We've had a very good relationship with them."