Fr. Stephen receives the novice habit
After Second Vespers of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, our community gathered in the chapter room to pray with Fr. Francis Dankoski as he received the novice habit. As you have noted, Fr.Francis will now be known as Father Stephen, having discerned that his monastic vocation emerged as he more and more draws inspiration from Saint Stephen Harding, one of the three founders of CIteaux.
In his remarks, Father Joe, our superior, spoke of how Father Stephen, from the Diocese of Steubenville in Ohio, came to know us through his long friendship with Bishop Felipe Estevez.
Ordained by the bishop of Steubenville, Fr. Francis was a member of the Congregation of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary. When Bishop Estevez came to live with us after completing his service as bishop of Jacksonville in Florida, Fr. Francis came to visit him and be of assistance to Bishop Estevez. As he became more familiar with our life, he asked for a time of discernment, living with us and fully entering into the rhythm of communal and personal prayer, work, study and community life. With time he asked to enter and he has now completed the year as a postulant, believing God is calling him to continue on this path of contemplative monastic life.
In the prayer we offer for the reception of the habit, the postulant answers the question: “What do you seek?” – and Francis (now Stephen) in a clear voice responded: “The mercy of God and of the brothers.” This call to a life of ceaseless prayer relies on the merciful love God so generously offers each of us again and again.
We hope you will join us in praying for Fr.Stephen as he responds to God’s invitation to live the monastic way. May God who has called him to be with us in this school of love, help each one of us to become whom God is calling us to be as individuals and help us to live our charism as a Cistercian community in this present time.