News of The Monks of Adoration, Inc.

Adoration of Jesus abandoned and forsaken striving to console His loving Heart so unloved.

Helping Jesus in the starving abandoned and forsaken where the need is most urgent

Devotion to the Sorrowful Mother of Jesus the Suffering Jesus and the suffering poor.

The Story

Edward and Catherine Driscoll raised their son Craig with a love for Jesus, His Mother, the Church and the poor, the hungry and needy. Children in need were taken into the home. Collections of clothes were done where a need was made known. Missionaries were helped. Strangers befriended. Helping those in need came first. Social Justice, helping poor Native Americans, supporting the rights of migrant workers and prompting peace and non-violence were the way of life. Priest and religious, Dorothy Day, Catherine Dorothy, Father Payton and Blessed Teresa of Calcutta would all be fruitful encounters. Craig was active at St. Bernard’s Central Catholic High School in the Theatre and Speech program, Christian Life Community and Teen Encounter Retreats. And with his parents’ apostolic works and radical frugality, “so more can be given to the poor.”

Just before graduating from High School Craig made a Teen Encounter retreat and it was there during the quiet of a Saturday night prayer vigil he heard the call of Jesus to monastic life and service to the poor. Following college in Connecticut, Ireland and New Mexico he attended the University of St. Thomas Aquinas (The Angelicum) as a lay student all the while searching for a community to join.

On August 4, the Feast of the Cure of Ars, 1983he Beneditine Abbey of Nortre Dame de Fontgambault, France Craig Driscoll who while spending a month there in the guest house to discern his vocation was called by Jesus to found The Monks of Adoration Craig returned to the Angelicum in Rome completed. in 1984, his philosophy and theology degrees with a specialization in spiritual theology where he was blessed to study under the great theologian Father Jordan Aumann, O.P.

The Monks of Adoration began in 1984 with the verbal and written encouragement of Augustin Cardinal Mayer and Blessed Teresa of Calcutta who told Brother Craig this vocation is “very important, very important.” Craig and his parents (they lived in Rome and attended the Angelicum together) had come to know Blessed Teresa of Calcutta and often helped at the Sisters Soup Kitchen near Rome’s train station on Via Carlo Cataneo.

The Monks were accepted by Bishop Gerald Mahon of Westminster, England, Bishop Jerome Hastich of Gallup, New Mexico who stated, “this is a work of Providence” and Bishop Timothy J. Harrington of Brother’s home Diocese of Worcester, Massachusetts. Having chosen the Diocese of Worcester the Monks began by renting a large farmhouse built in 1740 in the lovely town of Petersham, Massachusetts. There the Monks lived there life of Eucharistic Adoration and helping the Poor through collections of money which was sent to Catholic Missionaries in Africa to help feed the starving, clothes collected for Native American schools and missions where children had not jackets in the cold winters and the homeless helped through their friends at the Catholic Worker.

In 2001 the Monks transferred and were enthusiastically welcomed into the Diocese of Venice in Florida by Bishop John J. Nevins. The good Bishop often expressed his love and kindness to the Monks. After his retirement his successor decided the Monks should leave this Diocese as there were only two members. The Vicar General of the Diocese of Venice in Florida stated to Francis cardinal George of Chicago, “They have done nothing wrong.” The next three years have been a time of much fruitful reflection and learning.

Then only the founder remained. He and his plan were welcomed into the Diocese of Great Falls Montana but for various reasons decided not to transfer there. He continues to pray and correspond with Bishops. He is presently living privately in Sarasota, Florida and is actually grateful for these recent years to think and pray and plan the future of The Monks of Adoration. He is quietly determined to continue and is encouraged by recommendations from Father Augustine, O.C.S.O. of the Trapppist Monastery of Azul, Argentina formerly the Abbot of Saint Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts and the advisor to The Monks of Adoration and Father Anslem, O.S.B. superior of the Benedictines of St. Mary’s Priory in Petersham, Massachusetts a community who kindness and friendship the Monks have always appreciated.

Prayers are asked for discernment and for faithfulness to slowly, carefully and prayerfully follow the Holy Will of God.

The Life and Spirituality

A unity is our love and friendship with Jesus so abandoned, forsaken and forgotten in the Blessed Sacrament. To strive to console His Heart for those who do not appreciate His Eucharistic Presence. To help through our writing, web sites, blogs to make know the needs of Catholic Missionaries who feed Jesus in the abandoned, forsaken and forgotten where the need is greatest particularly the staving in certain places in Africa. And by our living of Holy Poverty and real frugality we are able to aid those so in need. “For I was hungry and you gave me to eat” Jesus still tell us.

Jesus abandoned in the Blessed Sacrament. Jesus abandoned in the starving.

For information and to send prayer requests please contact

monkadorer@verizon.net

For the latest news, more visit Craig’s facebook wall and recommended Catholic Aid Society’s feeding the staving and helping the poor see Craig’s blog

“From the very beginning I fell in love with the Blessed Sacrament and by the mercy of God have never fallen out.”

J.R.R. Tolkien

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