Sisters bless community with bread, soap and prayer - Nodaway News Leader

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  Sister Joy Ann Wege and Sister Laurentia Doyle package altar bread for shipping.

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  Wanda Goodspeed and Sister Catheleen Marie Timberlake stir a batch of soap.

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  Altar Bread Manager Tim Stiff stands next to Marcia Redden as she checks the altar bread for imperfections before stacking it to be cut into circles. The cutter can slice through 100 sheets of bread at a time.

By Christina Rice

The Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde have been serving members of the community for many years through their altar bread and handmade soap ministries.

The group originally came to Maryville from Switzerland in 1874 to teach English to German immigrant children. The sisters did not know how to speak English themselves and were often only one week ahead of the children on their lessons. They opened an academy and an orphanage and operated a farm and dairy herd.

As they made their own altar bread for services, other community organizations began asking for their bread. The sisters asked the Vatican if they could quit teaching children and focus on altar bread production. Their request was granted.

There are three types of nuns. Apostolic focus on outside works and are typically nurses, teachers and missionaries. They drive cars and can live in the community outside of the monastery. Cloistered monasteries are typically found in Europe. Cloistered nuns never leave the monastery and sit behind screens during church services because they can not be seen.

The nuns residing in Clyde are semi-cloistered; all their work takes place inside the monastery. Their main vocation is praying for others and the world. However, they do leave the facility for doctor appointments and other necessities. They also take two weeks of home leave, during which they may visit family.

Altar bread

The altar bread baked by the sisters in Clyde is their main source of income. They are one of the nation’s two largest altar bread manufacturers and are the largest religious wholesaler in the nation, selling and distributing their bread worldwide. They employ 12 full-time employees who bake nine million wafers a month.

“They enjoy baking the altar bread because it is a very quiet and humble work area,” Director of Communications Kelley Baldwin said. “They are able to maintain a constant state of prayer throughout their work.” 

In recent years, there has been a growing number of individuals suffering from gluten allergies and celiac disease. The sisters prayed about how to meet this need in their community. Their doctrine believes the communion wafers must contain wheat because it is believed that the bread Jesus ate was wheat-based, but the sisters did not want people to be sick.

The sisters did some research and had many failed attempts – the bread was too sticky or runny – at making low-gluten bread. But finally, one late evening, they combined two failed batches and created the low-gluten bread recipe they use today.

The low-gluten wafers use wheat starch and contain less than 0.01 percent of gluten. A celiac sufferer would have to consume 270 wafers in one day to reach a dangerous level. The low-gluten wafers are produced, packaged and shipped from a separate location to avoid cross contamination.

Each batch of altar bread is blessed and prayed over by the sisters and several Maryville churches purchase the products.

For more information about the altar bread, visit altarbreadsbspa.com.

Soap making

In their spare time, some of the sisters have branched out into other endeavors. Sister Catheleen Marie Timberlake makes homemade soaps, lotions, body scrubs and lip balms.

She began making soap after receiving a bar as a gift. She decided that it was something she could do and made her first batch in a slow cooker.

Today, she creates products using all-natural ingredients in 50 different fragrances, making her workshop smell comforting and inviting, mirroring her genuine hospitality. She also makes a fragrance-free, gentle baby soap called Little Blessings. Her body care products ship to locations all over the world.

“I like seeing something come from being a wish and a desire to see it flourish and to be touching people’s lives throughout the country,” Sister Catheleen said. “It is a way to meet people through the products we make and the prayers we say. I wanted to include our life of prayer into everything that we do. I love it.”

Her full-time employee, Wanda Goodspeed, helps create the healthcare product line. Goodspeed can make 300 bars of soap in one morning. Once the bars have been poured, they harden for a day on the drying racks before being cut into 4.5-oz bars. After cutting, they dry another day before being packaged into their trademark cloth sacks bearing the monastery’s wax seal. Smaller bars can be purchased for wedding or baby shower favors and are wrapped in colored tulle bags.

“It is very peaceful. I like to bake; making soap is like baking and it smells good,” Goodspeed said. “It is a fun place to work. I work, but I get to play and be creative.”

Customers can purchase products from monasteryscents.com or at the Maryville Hy-Vee.

Tours of the monastery are free upon appointment.

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