Cowboy Bethlehem: The Story of Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey

I'm happy to report the publication of Cowboy Bethlehem: The Story of Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey, written by my friend Theodore J. King with his late father T. Gavin King. Our Lady of the Assumption of Clear Creek Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in western Cherokee County, Oklahoma, north of Hulbert, west of Peggs, in the hills east of Fort Gibson Reservoir near Lost City. The abbey was founded in 1999 as a daughter house of the Abbey Notre Dame de Fontgombault in France. The book has been a long-term labor of love for the Kings, who started visiting the abbey from its beginnings and early on recognized the importance of capturing the memories of those who began the work and sharing them with the wider world. They collected interviews and stories over the years. Sadly, T. Gavin King, a retired Tulsa attorney, passed away in March 2024 at the age of 90, as this book was being prepared for publication. I was honored to write one of three endorsements that appear on the back cover of the book: In Cowboy Bethlehem, Ted and T. Gavin King capture the history and character of Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey, a Roman Catholic redoubt in the midst of little country Baptist churches. The reader learns about the daily routine of the monks, the lay community growing on the farms and ranches around the abbey, and the lives and backgrounds of the monastery's leadership. The Kings trace the spiritual and intellectual lineage of Clear Creek Abbey back to John Senior and the Pearson Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Kansas, a 1970s experiment in Great Books education that led some of its students to Fontgombault Abbey in France and ultimately to its daughter foundation in Oklahoma. Cowboy Bethlehem is food for thought for anyone pondering Christian formation and community in a world increasingly hostile to the faith. My endorsement follows that of two Tulsa Christian leaders on the back cover of the book. David Konderla, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa:

A beautifully unique feature of Catholic life in the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma is the presence of the sons of Saint Benedict at Clear Creek Monastery. How they came to be in our midst and what they do for us and with us is a very interesting story. Ted and T. Gavin King have done us a good service in collecting much of that story so we can read it and thank God for Clear Creek and the life of prayer they give us.

Deron Spoo, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Tulsa:

Clear Creek Monastery cannot be explained; it must be experienced to be understood. The Kings allow us to see the monastery and its history through their attentive eyes and Clear Creek's importance to our world. This book captures the beauty of an ancient community and its contemporary impact.

The chapters of Cowboy Bethlehem are a collection of stories and interviews that you can dip into at leisure and read a few at a time:

• Discovering Clear Creek: T. Gavin King remembers the challenge of finding the abbey on his first visit in 1999 (pre-Google Maps)
• Clear Creek Inaugural: An account of the inaugural mass celebrated at the abbey.
• Fontgombault: The setting and history of the French abbey that gave birth to Clear Creek, founded almost 1000 years ago in 1091, with a discussion of St. Benedict and his monastic Rule, and the connection between Fontgombault and John Senior's Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Kansas.
• Dom Abbot Forgeot: A brief remembrance of the retired Abbot of Fontgombault.
• Lent: The additional austerity of the monks during the penitential season.
• Workday: An annual spring opportunity for outside supporters to help maintain the abbey and its grounds.
• Brother Nick: Interview with a lay brother of the monastery
• A Day in the Life of a Monk: The daily routine and daily times of prayer
• The Idea of a Village: An account of the inaugural 2016 conference near Clear Creek, hosted by Andrew Pudewa and the Institute for Excellence in Writing, featuring talks by Rod Dreher, author of The Benedict Option, and Baylor literature professor Ralph Wood. (I attended this conference and greatly enjoyed it.)
• Father Bethel: Interview with Clear Creek's prior
• Clear Creek and Environs: A visit with former Rogers County Assessor Fred T. Morgan, who grew up in the area
• Kansas Origins: The Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Kansas in the late 1960s, its ongoing influence in higher education, and its connections with the monks of Clear Creek
• Father Abbot: An interview with Philip Watson Anderson and his surprising background
• Brother Vianney-Marie Graham and the Conversion of a Child-Killer: Monks as prayer warriors, seeking the conversion of death-row inmate
• The John Senior Colloquium: An account of a conference at Clear Creek remembering the Integrated Humanities Program at KU, including an interview with Oklahoma City's Archbishop Coakley who was a student in the program
• Building Clear Creek: The design and construction of the abbey's buildings
• Pilgrimage: A report on a 35-mile two-day pilgrimage from near Tahlequah to the abbey in 2020
• Villagers: The lay Roman Catholics who have moved to Cherokee County and formed a community in the vicinity of the abbey
• We Are Called to Be Faithful, Not Successful: Account of a brief attempt to establish Our Lady of the Angels convent near the monastery.
• Criticism of Clear Creek from a Former Monk: The monastery didn't live up to expectations of one traditionalist brother
• A Clear Creek Christmas Memory: Memories of 2005 Christmas mass in a converted horse barn with a visiting French family
• Epilogue: Eternal perspective and the monastic life

Ted King is also author of the 2009 book, The War on Smokers and the Rise of the Nanny State. Economics professor and syndicated columnist Walter Williams said of the book: "Theodore King has done a yeoman's job assembling evidence that the success of tobacco zealots has become a useful template for those who want to use health issues to control our lives. The War on Smokers and the Rise of the Nanny State is not only a story about the attack on tobacco users, but a story about how decent Americans can be frightened, perhaps duped, into accepting phony science, attacks on private property rights, and rule of law. One need not be a smoker to be alarmed by the underlying hideousness of the anti-tobacco movement." Cowboy Bethlehem is available directly from Dorrance Publishing in both hardcover and digital, through Barnes & Noble online, and in many Christian bookstores including Catholic Book and Gift Store on Yale south of 31st in Tulsa (near Livi Lee Donuts), Eighth Day Books in Wichita, Trinity House Catholic Books and Gifts in Overland Park, Kansas, De Sales Catholic Bookstore in Springfield, Missouri, and the Catholic Information Center Bookshop in Washington DC. Ted says that the Tulsa store is sold out at the moment but should be getting more in soon. You'll also be able to order the book from the soon-to-launch CowboyBethlehem.com website. I'll update this entry when the site is fully operational.
- August 31, 2025 at 05:17PM
Cowboy Bethlehem: The Story of Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey
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