Monastery, Retreat Center Remains Unsold

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - A northeast South Dakota monastery and retreat center that housed Benedictine monks for more than six decades remains unsold a year after its residents voted to shut it down.

Blue Cloud Abbey has been looking for a religious group to buy the 80-acre property. But Abbot Denis Quinkert now says the order probably has to look into opening up the property to a public sale.

The monastery's 14 resident monks voted in May 2012 to close the Marvin monastery. Quinkert says its members were aging and new ones were not joining.

The order hasn't settled on an asking price, but Quinkert says it would be "willing to talk and negotiate."

The abbey's American Indian Culture Research Center collection has found a new home at Augustana College in Sioux Falls.

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