Iowa monks featured on TV in Korea

The lives of 38 northeast Iowa monks will be featured Sunday on a t-v program seen by seven million Koreans. Father Brendan Freeman, the Abbot at the New Melleray Abbey in Peosta says it was a chance to practice a little evangelism.The Abbot says New Melleray Abbey was chosen by the Koreans because a new member of the order speaks Korean.Father Freeman says the Korean t-v producers call the hour-long feature “Invitation to Silence.”The monks pray together seven times a day, starting at 3:30 a.m. with a vigil prayer. Their day ends with community prayer at 7:30 p.m. There’s a guesthouse near the Abbey that holds 28 people, and the Abbot says it’s nearly always full of people on retreat.