Who is this Guy Joseph Ostermeir, The Okie Traditionalist Blogger?

Me, Joseph Ostermeir:

I was pondering today my new readership.  I keep getting big spikes in my viewer stats encircling posts about the Tulsa diocese.  Are there many trads from my neck of the woods checking out my blog?  Are they curious who this Joseph Ostermeir guy is?  Perhaps they are wondering if I am in the Oklahoma City or Tulsa diocese, or if I attend a Latin Mass parish and which one? Am I married, with kids?  What's this guy doing with his blog?

Well, I'll share what I can and what I can't, and I'll start with what I can't share. Considering that yes, I am a family man, I can't really give details that would pin point who I am, or that could negatively impact my family.  Such I think is the nature of a blog used in part to express controversial ideas about religion and politics.  I have to be cautious for me and mine.

That said, I will disclose I am Irish-German, work in the health field, a family man, a native Okie who enjoys gardening, cooking, and all things outdoors.  My favorite subjects are anything related to health, the Latin Mass movement, and the philosophy of St. Thomas.   I will attend the TLM at different locations, and I will simply say that I do support/defend the SSPX and leave it at that.



One New Goal for the Blog:

But before I start my end-of-the-week Friday night movie, allow me to share one purpose I've decided for this blog.  I want to use it to keep watch on the modernist revolution going on in my Local Okie Church, and considering my admiration for the traditional restorations of retired Bishop Slattery, I am making part of my blog's mission to share public news if/when those restorations are reversed.

I can't spare the brain cells nor time to report on the typical abuses things like altar girls in the cathedral or the doings of your average clerical modernist.   But I do intend to keep my ear to the ground for the rumblings of approaching local, ecclesiastical earthquakes.



That said I wish all my Online Friends a pleasant Fall weekend!

Now its time for our Friday night movie!



BJ Wexler, famous Okie host of the OETA Movie Club program.

Fall Weather!

Rounding the corner of my house, I was pleasantly surprised to see a nice spread of leaves on the ground in different shades of yellow, orange, and brown.  A breeze reminded me that it is now Fall.  The purgatory of Oklahoma heat-and-humidity in August is, thank God, over.  This is my favorite time of year in terms of seasonal change.



Visions of Football games, Chili, and Fall campfires dance in my head.  Looking across the calendar, I can't help but anticipate the Thanksgiving dinner and trimming the Tree for Christmas.

When daily Okie temperatures fall to the 70s and 60s F, the senses and powers of perception seem to rejuvenate and sharpen.  August heat in Oklahoma seems to cause a kind of cerebral edema and lethargy.  The brain becomes inflamed by the heat. But as of today I am noticing a shift in my mental faculties.  My instinct to explore all things outdoors comes out of hibernation.  The temperatures are now tolerable enough to rekindle my love of hiking and backpacking.  I wonder if I am in good enough shape to do a 2-day trip in October?



I suspect this seasonal reawakening during Autumn is a common experience, especially in regions where the heat becomes intolerable.

So besides blogging of late about ecclesiastical nightmares in my state, I also look forward to sharing my Fall weather menu from my kitchen, outdoor adventures, and anticipation of the holidays to come.  Right now it is time for the State Fair, Oktoberfest, and then Halloween/All Saints Day!

Thank God for this Fall weather!

Road Trip to Eastern Oklahoma and Clear Creek Monastery/Convent

It was a warm September day still with no AC in the car, but still well worth it to venture out on one of our frequent Saturday day-trips.  I don't know, but I think one reason I like day trips around the state is to better appreciate the subtle details of Okie life that I sometimes overlook in my not infrequent angst with Okie backwardness.

One of our favorite stops is Country Cottage restaurant in Locust Grove, which happened to be on the way to Clear Creek.   The manners and small town charm of the customers and wait staff is a refreshing reminder that the crassness and incivility I experience in the City are not necessarily ubiquitous throughout the state.



Country Cottage restaurant--Locust Grove, OK

After a nice salad and generous helpings of amazing homemade fried chicken, we kept on truckin' past Peggs, OK and ventured south into the long north-south valley that makes up the Clear Creek community.  Around every bend you catch a pastoral view of the valley in contrast to the hills, as well as bends in the creek.  After moseying down a few miles of gravel, you end up at the gate to 1,000 acres of pristine monastic ranch land.

Passing through the gate, you are now on the hallowed ground of 2 contemplative communities of traditional Catholic religious--Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey (aka Clear Creek monastery) for the men (LINK), and the Benedictine Sisters of Clear Creek for the ladies (LINK).  Sheep and cows greet you from pastures on either side of the road.

After parking, we get out and gaze upward at the vertically expanding construction of the Abbey's new Romanesque-style church.  The atmosphere is silent and peaceful.  A passing monk politely waves.  This would be a short stop-in visit, visiting the bookstore and paying a visit to the Blessed Sacrament.   Next time I want to buy some of their homemade cheese and one of their hand-painted icons.



Cardinal Burke's Visit to Clear Creek

Bishop Slattery's Legacy:

I was reminded of the decades long labor of Bishop Slattery, who recently retired, in establishing this community.  How he frequented Fontgombault monastery in France to help bring some of their monks to Oklahoma to establish a monastery dedicated to traditional Liturgy and Gregorian chant.  It was a major undertaking, and thank God the good bishop was able to fully establish them canonically as an Abbey before his retirement.  If you catch my drift.  It would take hurricane-like forces to take down their walls, figuratively and literally.

But then there are the Clear Creek Sisters, God bless them.  Several women growing in numbers, originally attached to the Fraternity of St. Peter, their Benedictine charism more fittingly places them with the monks in the lower foot hills of the Ozarks.



As we take the side road to their convent, I feel some concern. Given the incredible shut-down of the Doloran Fathers Latin Mass Order by the new Tulsa Bishop, and given the fact these Sisters are similarly not yet fully established by canon law, I can't help but wonder if these simple ladies are sitting ducks.

On our way home we stopped at a countryside gas station for refreshments and to sample the local hospitality.  Coming back out of the store, you have a wide vista of Fort Gibson lake to the West surrounded by hills.

It was definitely a restful, mindful day.

The Okie Traditionalist: Afterthoughts

Readers, after my blog post, and the initial post at The Hirsch Files blog, went VIRAL on Sunday, I feel a bit tired.  I've been getting to bed too late.  My overloaded work schedule keeps me occupied.  But the spiritual sadness of the situation set in, and I'm just now shaking it off.  LINK

This situation reminds me of my vegetable garden. Like my newish hobby of blogging, it needs nourishment and tender care.  But like any of my hobbies, I'm reminded they can either replenish or sap my energy stores.  I look out across my garden and see quite a few weeds that need to be pulled.  Its perhaps too late to plant a late Fall crop (??).



                  Weedy Garden

What we networked online took away perhaps a few too many hours from the demands of my state in life.  Gathering and organizing the details of the article took up my free time for a few days.

Considering whether or not I should spread the silenced Murder of a traditional Religious Order here in the Heartland, occupied several neural nuclei in my frontal lobe for days, at least in my subconscious mind. Checking in on the Comments section, keeping abreast of how VIRAL it had become, took up some valuable time I could also have been using to tend to my garden (literally and figuratively).



              Time: a Gift from God

And so I am resolved to give a measured amount of time to this online garden, The Okie Traditionalist blog.  I'm resolved to not let it eat up too much of my time, but I will make sure it is a fruitful, life-giving witness to all that is good, true, and beautiful.

It is time to say the rosary and to go to bed early.  I may not post for a few days. I hope to get an hour of free time to try and plant a few late Fall veggies.  Maybe kale and spinach (??).

Once again my blogging friends, GOOD NIGHT!