Monk of The Month Article

Vince Tinerella

Brother Francis is from Indianapolis Indiana. He has served at the Abbey for 7 years as a cleaner and helps for pumpkin days. Br. Francis came here to seek God, join the church and reach the hearts of the young especially in today’s world. He wanted to be a monk because he Had a calling since he was a kid, then he went to a Monastery on a field trip,  and fell in love with the lifestyle. He says, “There is a deeper inner self that you feel as a monk that you don’t feel anywhere else.” He also says the hardest thing about being a monk is missing out on having a wife and kids, the family life, and a social life, only two weeks of vacation a year. He currently is at Waubonsie earning his GED. Throughout life he had many struggles. He also Works at ST. George, studies byzantine theology, and talks about prayer to the kids there. He has been there doing that for 3 years. Before the monastery he was a cook. In elementary school he played basketball. His advice to students is to be nice and support each other, like Christ did to the apostles, “we are family in and out of the monastery, we have to be nice here, the job of the monetary is to be there for the students.” He regrets not being dedicated to doing things in his younger life, not being able to learn back then when he was younger, And being more mature. “You cannot live a mysterious life, you have to have some kind of fun, you have to balance to be serious and have fun,” he says he needs to work on that.