By means of this letter, I wish to indicate my unconditional support for the monks of Subiaco Abbey and their capital campaign to raise $10 million in order to enlarge their tuition assistance program, which will enable more students to afford to study at Subiaco Academy and to renovate the classroom buildings along STEAM lines so as to keep the academy’s academics competitive with other schools in the area.
In addition to my desire as bishop to support all of the work of the Church, I also have a personal reason for supporting this campaign: my own family has benefited profoundly from the work of the monks of Subiaco since the 1940s. At that time the monks of Subiaco served at St. Mary of the Assumption parish in Fort Worth, to which my grandparents belonged and in which my mother was raised. Moreover, my father was educated at Laneri High School in Fort Worth and has told me stories about the Benedictine monks from Subiaco who were his teachers there, some of whom were real “characters” about whom my father is especially fond.
A number of years ago my Dad came to Subiaco and visited the cemetery where all of his former teachers are now buried. And finally, my parents were married by Fr. Meinrad of Subiaco at St. Mary’s in Fort Worth. Little did the monks know at the time that in serving my family and nurturing my parents’ faith, they had a hand in the remote formation of the man who would one day be their bishop!
Though Subiaco no longer has a presence in schools or parishes in Fort Worth, its monks continue their ministry of education at Subiaco Academy and in several parishes here in Arkansas…and so continue to form young men and change lives through their ministry today. I encourage everyone to support this capital campaign generously—especially those of us who ourselves have been direct or indirect beneficiaries of their selfless service. Many of us—I included—owe them a debt of gratitude, which this capital campaign provides us an excellent opportunity to begin to repay!
Sincerely in Christ,
+Anthony B. Taylor
Bishop of Little Rock