Doing God’s work is never an easy task, but for a group of nuns in Marengo, Illinois, the challenges of serving the holy one have never been so hard – or tasty.
The nuns of the Fraternite of Notre Dame – a monastery separate from the Catholic church – own 95 acres of land in suburban Marengo. In addition to their monastery, they want to build a nursing home, a private boarding school, and on top of that, a winery. Oh yeah, and a brewery.
While it may seem bizarre that nuns would want to break into the alcohol trade, history tells us it’s anything but. Christian institutions have often relied on the production and sale of alcohol to fund their charitable endeavors. The winery and brewery profits would pay for the nursing home and school. Check out the Trappist monasteries of Belgium, or these monks who produce wine that gets you so drunk, even the police have asked them to quit. Maybe the idea has really freaked out the residents of Marengo, because they’ve seriously pushed against the nuns’ plans.
That’s right, people don’t want nuns to produce beer and wine. Fun haters.
“Our founder had this inspiration to help the elderly, it’s part of what we call the works of mercy,” a Sister from the Fraternite of Notre Dame told WGN-TV of Chicago. “I think as religious people we have a right to set up the charity work we want to do.”
In all fairness, the residents of Marengo say they don’t oppose the plan per se, they just don’t want all the hullabaloo (construction, traffic) that comes with it. While it’s true that construction is indeed a nuisance, we think that in this instance, it’s worth it.
H/T WGNtv
