If you are looking for a way to help a good cause all the while enhancing your own mood, some monks in Italy could use a little assistance.
The Latin-liturgy chanting, beer-brewing Benedictine monks of Norcia, Italy, the birthplace of St. Benedict, are living and praying in temporary structures after an earthquake in August damaged their buildings and a big quake in late October razed their basilica, except for the facade.
The monks have not been able to brew beer since before the summer quake, but in a newsletter to supporters in mid-December, they reported that bottles shipped earlier to the United States are available for Christmas gift giving. Their U.S. online store has all the details.
The purchase of beer will help the monks rebuild and will help the devastated town of Norcia.
“The monastic presence in Norcia is extremely important for the identity of the town, so rebuilding the monastery means giving new life to a town that finds itself sorely tried,” the monks wrote on the website. “Our neighbors count on our solidarity, both spiritual and material.”
Before the earthquakes, the monks were tithing 10 percent of beer profits to charity. Now, they said, 15 percent of profits will go to charity and a portion of all earthquake-recovery funds raised will be used to help the people of Norcia rebuild.
Thankfully, the brewery itself wasn’t destroyed, but it is in the basement of the building that was, so the property is condemned at the moment. They are going to move the brewery’s equipment as soon as it is safe to do so and begin producing beer again.
Any time I can combine recreational drinking and charity, I’m all liver. If I can do it during Christmas season, well just DECK MY HALLS.
I used to go on retreat at a monastery in Kentucky that makes and sells Christmas fruitcakes, which probably would not have been as great a commodity in a time of crisis. Beer is a language everyone understands.
Here is the link to the monks’ site where the beer can be purchased.
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