A gift shop has opened at Saint Vincent Parish Center, adjacent to the Archabbey Basilica. The Basilica Gift Shop is open from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. Mondays to Fridays, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 6:30 p.m. Saturdays and from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays.
The shop sells a wide range of items, from holiday ornaments to monastery cookbooks to rosary beads and prayer cards.
There are fragrances created by Mountain Monastery Products in Windsor, New York.; Trappist Preserves, made by Trappist Monks; artwork from the Treasures of the Vatican collection; children’s books with a religious theme; inspirational cards and two cookbooks by a monk from Millbrook, New York.
Adding to the uniqueness of the shop are a number of items from Saint Vincent, including Archabbey Christmas cards. This year’s card, designed by the Rev. Vincent de Paul Crosby, O.S.B., is a photograph of a wood carving, “Mother and Child,” attributed to Br. Cosmos Wolf, O.S.B. (1822-1894). There is also a tape made a few years ago by the Saint Vincent Camerata, the Saint Vincent Sesquicentennial videotape and the Saint Vincent CD-ROM. Plans are also in development to add more local Saint Vincent items in the near future.
The stock is geared toward parishioners and visitors to the Basilica, according to Br. Philip Kanfush, O.S.B., who manages the store.
The gift shop is staffed primarily by volunteers from the parish and by oblates from Saint Vincent. The shop is “not about being a business,” Br. Philip said. “It’s really a ministry. It’s a way to fulfill a need for people who don’t have access to items of a religious nature. It’s a ministry of presence, a way of fostering spiritual growth and development for the people of the local community.”