Monastery

Plans for a Greek Orthodox monastery have met with resistance from Apache Indians who say it will mar the gateway to a sacred area where the Chiricahua Apaches once found refuge. Greek Orthodox monks, who own 481 acres about 70 miles southeast of Tucson, have proposed a building that could exceed the three-story limit in local zoning rules. The Apache Indians say anything higher than three stories will be a blight on a spiritual area whose granite mountains once served as a natural fortress for Chiricahua Apache leader Cochise and his people.

St. Procopius Abbey, a Catholic community of Benedictine monks in Lisle, has a new abbot, the youngest in its 125-year history. Abbot Austin Murphy, 36, was named leader of the monastic community in June. "It was a unique feeling," the abbot wrote in an e-mail to the Tribune. "Being chosen by your monastic community to be the abbot is a compliment and an honor. " His primary duty is to act as the spiritual father of the monastic community. This includes looking out for the well-being of the monks, setting a good example for the community by his words and actions, approving the monks' work assignments, and being the administrator of the monastery property.

An old monastery once operated by Franciscan friars has been given new life as a brew pub. The Brewmaster's Pub, 4017 80th St., Kenosha, Wis. 53142 (414-694-9050), does not make Trappist beer but does offer guests the calm and quiet of the former abbey's barn and meeting hall. Situated on 4 wooded acres, the Brewmaster's Pub makes its own beer, about 200 gallons per batch. The old barn has 3-foot-thick brick walls, original wood beams and brass fittings. Owner Jerry Rezney plans to brew different seasonal beers.

For many beer lovers, there is no journey more coveted than a pilgrimage to the village of Westvleteren near Belgium's Flanders Fields. There, the Trappist Abbey of St. Sixtus produces very rare beer, arguably the best in the world. Though most of the monastery is closed to the public, the exhibition room and nearby Cafe In de Vrede make for a great day-trip destination from anywhere in Belgium. The monastery's brewery, founded in 1838, produces just enough ale to support its community; its Westvleteren 12, at a hefty 10.2 percent alcohol, is consistently voted the best beer in the world by connoisseurs.

Monks at the New Melleray Abbey share a worry common in hog country: They're afraid a new farm expansion will make their monastery smell to high heaven. "You put a million gallons of hog manure together, it's not going to smell like fruit salad," said Joe Fitzgerald, farm manager for the New Melleray Abbey, near Dubuque. Fitzgerald and area residents are working to halt the expansion, helped by the monastery's 35 Trappist monks and their abbot, Rev. Brendan Freeman.

Muslims and Coptic Christians clashed after Friday prayers over a land dispute, leaving 20 injured, security officials said. Police arrested 50 people following the clash in Minya province, about 130 miles south of Cairo, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The clashes began after prayers when Muslim villagers in Izbat el-Abid protested against the extension of a monastery in a nearby village, claiming the construction was on state property, the officials said.

A Buddhist group founded by Vietnamese immigrants is planning to turn a central Pennsylvania school building into its first monastery on the East Coast. The United Buddhist Church of America is set to buy the 1930s-era school building in Mifflin County this month. The group is a federation of temples, most of them in California and Virginia. Thich Van Dam, a Buddhist monk, said he found the building on eBay. "This location is very natural," Van Dam said. "Close to mountains.

Since ancient times, the chime of bells resounding from monasteries tucked in remote mountain communities or major urban settings have been an acoustic symbol of their existence. As much as calling monks to prayer, they have served as a reminder for the surrounding community that the monastery was there. But for people living near the home of the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Bridgeport, the bell tower has been silent for some 50 years--a silence that ended just last month with the arrival of three solid bronze bells.

A blond lawyer from New York, lugging two pigskin suitcases, arrived at this Buddhist monastery last week and told an English-speaking monk: "I am a drug addict. Help me." The hulking monk, known as Luang Pi (Little Brother), dropped the corn cobs he was feeding into the furnace that heats the sauna, rubbed smutty hands on his brown robe and drawled: "Man, am I glad to hear you`ve seen the light." Luang Pi, 37, known once upon a time as Gordon Baltimore from 138th Street in New York City's Harlem, had never seen his nervous visitor before.

For the second time in a year, a monastery of the Greek Orthodox church seeks to move to McHenry County to provide a home for monks and a place for pilgrims to seek solace. The three monks of the Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox monastery would live in a farmhouse on 89 acres along Illinois Highway 173 a mile and half east of Harvard. The monks have petitioned the McHenry County Zoning Board of Appeals to grant a conditional-use permit to allow construction of a 4,000-square-foot church and creation of a cemetery.

Those who might have seen Loretta Wendt merely as the mother and grandmother of celebrities — her son George was Norm in the TV series "Cheers" and grandson Jason Sudeikis is a cast member of "Saturday Night Live" — missed the opportunity to know a delightful, fiery and ebullient woman. "She was always so quick-witted," George Wendt said. "And hilariously funny. "In the neighborhood she was the go-to person whenever anybody needed a skit or a song parody for a party.

Lots of people die ironically nasty deaths in the bucolic English countryside, at least in the popular British TV series "Midsomer Murders" and in many of the much-loved 80-plus mystery novels of Dame Agatha Christie. We know because we're addicted to murder and mayhem in the British Isles and have watched every episode of the 14-year run of the "Midsomer" series, and we have faithfully followed frumpy Miss Jane Marple and pompous Hercule Poirot, creatures of the Queen of Crime's fertile mind.

Lots of people die ironically nasty deaths in the bucolic English countryside, at least in the popular British TV series "Midsomer Murders" and in many of the much-loved 80-plus mystery novels of Dame Agatha Christie. We know because we're addicted to murder and mayhem in the British Isles and have watched every episode of the 14-year run of the "Midsomer" series, and we have faithfully followed frumpy Miss Jane Marple and pompous Hercule Poirot, creatures of the Queen of Crime's fertile mind.

PRISTINA, Kosovo — The moment I deplaned at Pristina International Airport, I felt the new vitality that had emerged in the eight years since my last visit here. The crush of people waiting to retrieve luggage was just as frenetic, but instead of mostly solemn-faced men in black leather jackets shoving their way to the baggage carousel, this crowd was composed of young families with small children, 20-somethings in designer duds, a swarm of U.S. teens on a community-service trip, and men and women in business attire.

Some of you will probably accuse me of smoking that last stash of primo Hopium trimmed from the Happy Obama Chia head in my office. Once my head clears, I might accuse myself, too, but only after I search my scalp for the probe with which White House media guru David Axelrod sucked out my brains. But the thing is, I must agree with the Obama White House in the matter of this Joe Sestak patronage scandal. There's no scandal, despite the hopes of Republicans and some journalists.

Eastern Europe continues to work hard to build its tourist industry. From Prague to Poland to Turkey, plenty of changes are in the works. Prague, the region's most visited city, has nearly completed the first restoration phase on its iconic Charles Bridge. Built in the 14th century, this much-loved bridge offers one of the most pleasant and entertaining 500-plus-yard strolls in Europe. And now old-fashioned gas lighting will make an evening walk across this landmark even more of a joy. Nervous about al-Qaida threats, Radio Free Europe has moved its headquarters out of the communist-era Parliament building in Prague's New Town.

With their long black robes and flowing beards, the monks of the proposed Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Monastery say they wish to bring to McHenry County their traditions and a respite from the stresses of daily life. The monastic lifestyle and the benefits of the proposed monastery were described during a hearing Wednesday before the McHenry County Zoning Board of Appeals. The board is considering a petition to allow the monks to construct and operate a church and cemetery on an 89-acre parcel along Illinois Highway 173, about 3 miles west of Harvard near the intersection with Shields Road.

By some measures, it might be the most exclusive club in Chicagoland. Thirteen women, bound by a singular devotion to God, eat, sleep, work and pray inside a humble south suburban monastery virtually hidden in plain sight. Inside the smooth gray walls, set back beneath the trees, a cloistered order commonly called the Poor Clares lead lives of silent sacrifice. They rarely speak and move around the home with bare feet. They sleep on thin straw mattresses and eat only grains and vegetables that they've grown in their backyard or that have been donated.