Cleo Epps would have a hard time imagining habited monks farming the rocky bottom land that she so carefully accumulated during Prohibition. The sound of bells erupting in the afternoon's silence and the careful cadence of Gregorian chant would have been strange sounds indeed to Oklahoma's notorious bootlegger, who assembled the secluded Clear Creek ranch by buying out small cotton and peanut farmers. Epps wanted the land because there was an abundance of sweet water for whiskey and the area was remote even by the standards of rural Oklahoma. Before settling on this property, Abbot Forgeot investigated other properties in Oklahoma and Tennessee, but none of them had the combination of positive factors that drew him to Clear Creek and to its owners, the Stan Doyle Family of Christ the King Parish in Tulsa. As Father Brown explains it, beauty is an essential requirement for a monastery since beauty draws guests and retreatants and fosters a religious atmosphere.
Benedictine life is a family life and as in any family, it is important to welcome guests.
It's likely then that the initial 12 men at Clear Creek will be hard-pressed to complete the physical renovation of the buildings at the same time that they begin putting down monastic roots in Cherokee County. Contemplative life offers so much to a diocese like Tulsa. It shows people that the religious dimension of life can constitute a life in itself, a life wholly centered upon God. She hardly lived 10 years in her Carmel, she did nothing extraordinary, but she led her life perfectly for she understood that her vocation was love. This is the secret of the fecundity of monastic life.