By God's goodness and the assistance of generous hearts, we received enough financial support for the necessary down payment and escrow account required to be able to take out a mortgage loan to purchase our new Merciful Heart of Jesus Farm at E3161 State Highway 56, Genoa, Wisconsin (southeast of La Crosse). We closed on the house, pole shed and 10 acres of property on June 26th, 2025.
The closing date for our Marshfield farm should be around the middle of October, after the rezoning change paperwork is completed.
Mother Veronica is in Genoa on the new farm assisting workmen and volunteers who are helping us. The barn, fencing and a new shed for storage of bulk shavings, manure, hay and workshop space are needed before the rest of our Sisters and animals move to Genoa.
Phase 2 Needs:
After we pay off the mortgage on the Marshfield farm we will have money left over. However a good portion of it will be used to pay back people who have enabled us to be able to fix up the new barn, to obtain and to build the fencing, begin the new shed, buy materials and pay the workers. A number of professionals working for us have graciously deferred payment on their wages and are waiting for us to pay them. We also have been given some other breaks including some no interest short-term loans which have enabled us to be able to get things ready to move without having the money to do so. Other businessmen have supplied us with lumber and fencing, again deferring payment. If it were not for the goodness of all these people and the volunteers, we would never even be able to move. In the end we will have waited about four months between the closing on the Genoa property and the closing of the Marshfield property. We have a lot of people to pay back. I cannot emphasize enough that if it were not for all of these people this would never have happened! Thank and praise God and bless all of these wonderful people! Please pray for them.
The center of monastic life is the Holy Eucharist and the chapel. The house has a 25x38 ft "great room" on the second floor. It will make a beautiful chapel for Our Lord with plenty of room for a growing community. Skilled volunteers are ready and willing to do carpentry, woodworking and tile work in the chapel. We have obtained almost enough tiles to tile the floor. Our plans for this chapel will be shared in greater detail in the near future.
Three young ladies are very interested in discerning with our community. We would like to set up the second floor of our garage with appropriate rooms, cells actually, for ourselves and our prospective community members. The Genoa house is huge, but there are only four bedrooms in it, twice the size of a normal monastic cell. One is being used for a chapel currently, another for an office. Two of the Sisters will share another when they come to Genoa. That leaves one private room left, if Mother Veronica sleeps in the office. It is important that each Sister has her own cell to be alone with Jesus. The house has tremendous potential, but excepting the bedrooms and the bathrooms it has an open concept which does not lend itself to monastic life very well. We would like to set up a cell wing, confessional, and sacristy above the garage right across from the chapel. Then, as needed, we can set up the rest of the building for monastic life.
We need a private room to meet with those who come to us for more personal spiritual direction and coaching. We plan to put this under the chapel in the large "public" room in the back of the middle section of the house. The room has a bathroom attached to it. We will use it for those who come to us for classes and various groups that come to us. The house has three sections, so we can keep our living quarters separate from the public rooms.
We are going to need to build an indoor horse and multi-purpose arena. This will provide space to work especially with the horses but still keep things comfortable and contained. Horses are the number one therapy animal and they can do amazing things to help heal people.
It will cost about $300,000 to complete a heated indoor arena with a viewing place. This will be a step up from what we had in Marshfield being larger and being heated and having a comfortable place where people can observe. Better facilities will enable us to do so much more. We can then work with children, adults and animals year-round. Too much cold interferes with being able to focus on learning or feeling or processing.
In addition, this will enable the sisters to work year-round towards their further education in working with the children, people and the animals together. This is really important since I, Mother Mary Veronica, am not getting any younger and need to be able to pass on what I know while I can still do all these things. There is a lot to pass on. This is not a matter of months of teaching, it is a matter of years of teaching. Then the Sisters who come after me can continue the work in the best way possible.
The arena is also a great play space for the children as they very much like to play on the horse obstacles and in the whole space in general. Its softer footing helps cushion children when they tumble as they play. This facility will also be useful in our dog programs.
Phase 3 Needs:
After paying off the mortgage, which is a $450,000 mortgage. We would like to purchase the additional 42 acres, adjacent to our Genoa farm. Obtaining this property will be necessary if we are to make this a permanent home!! -- Our community needs space to grow. If it stays small, the amount of help we can give people will be relatively small. The amazing man who sold us our new property is willing to hold the rest of the land for us for a while, at least.
Having the additional land would obtain for us a building site for our Motherhouse and monastery. This monastery would provide housing for both active and contemplative sisters. The motherhouse would become a place where Sisters could be trained, formed and sent out to found other monasteries so that we can help more people. The additional land would also allow us to have more space for nature hikes, trail rides and adventuring with the children which is an important element of our program. Interactions with nature are in itself very healing.
Phase 4 Needs:
For another short YouTube on our mission and work, you can check out "Nuns Run a Farm" from EWTN News In-Depth.
Nuns run a farm video