it does not answer or comment to play unless harm is done and prove unfairn legislative practices. those are very high hurdles to beable to realize or to looked to afford to bring to the ftc. >> watch the communicators on c-span2. >> this weekend, american history tv is joining our vine broadband partners to showcase the history of shawnee oklahoma. the citiesre about on our current tour, visit c-span.org/cities tour. we continue with our look at the history of shawnee. >> i like to describe it as a match only god can make in heaven. the original monks arrived in new orleans in 1872, thinking

they had an invitation for the catholic ship of new orleans to establish a monastery there, but when they arrived, what are you talking about? i'm looking for missionaries, not monks. so for three years these two monks were looking for a permanent home, but could not find the right situation where they were really wanted, for what ever reason, very complex. at the same time the american indian peoples were being removed to this territory because the increasing white population did not want them in the land where they were trying to expand, and so they were being removed. this territory, i suppose, was chosen because to put it bluntly know why people want to this territory yet. the monks that nobody wanted went to atlanta that nobody wanted to serve a people that nobody wanted, so it was a match made in heaven.

today we are at st. gregory's abbey, shawnee, oklahoma, 21 monks. st. gregory's abbey has been in shawnee for a little over 100 years. we have been in what is now oklahoma for 142 years. it was indian territory in 1875. our founders were from france, and after the civil war a larger number of native american tribes and peoples were being relocated to indian territory. a good number of these tribes and nations were catholic and needed catholic ministry, catholic education, but there was no structure of the catholic church in the region. our tubing monks -- two monks were looking for a permanent location to establish our community, so when the bishops of the united states established

the indian territories its own region of the church, they asked us as monks to come and provide that ministry and education programs to native american people, so we explored the whole territory and eventually entered into an agreement with the pottawatomie nation that had recently been moved into the territory and establishment sacred heart abbey, academy, and mission. that was a home base for us, and we ended up actually establishing some 45 catholic church communities around what is now oklahoma, and we also established interestingly enough three schools for african children who were the children of persons who had been slaves of indian tribes, so the

original sacred heart, which was begun in 1876, had a monastery, a school for boys of all ages from elementary through college, a school for girls similarly, a convent where sisters of mercy lived to teach the girls. it was a whole working farm, like a small village, and all of it earned one night in 1901. people, miraculously there was no loss of life or injuries in the whole complex. it burned for about 30 minutes. people always don't always remember that we rebuilt sacred heart, a second school, monastery convent, but we moved from their two to shawnee after rebuilding sacred heart.

i am proud of my community in the sense that that first generation of monks closely identified with the indian people. the first land run in the 1800s that opened our settlement, one monk was from france, preached a very fiery sermon to the non-indian people who had lined up on the banks of the river waiting for that land run, and he was reminding him that the land they were entering was not in the room at that it was inhabited with people there, and he used language and the story of exodus and the bible, saying if you treat the people here unjustly, their cry will reach the ears of the lord and there will be consequences, and so i

am very proud of that advocacy that our monastic community had for the indian people at that time. today st. gregory's abbey has 21 members in the community. our months range in age from 34 to 95. we all have different personalities, interests, skills, abilities, and in our different stages of development in life, and really that is what makes for a healthy community, so some of our monks have been dedicated to manual labor, the grounds, the gardens, taking care of our campus, working in the greenhouse, taking care of the facilities, but we all live in this community and follow the same pattern of life each day in terms of our schedule. our daily schedule does not very much -- vary much. through the course of the day we gather for communal prayer five times a day. so we gather in the church at 6:00 a.m. for prayer service that lasts about 35-40 minutes, then we have a break for about 30 minutes, during which time one can eat breakfast, which we eat

in silence, then at 7:15 we gather in the church again for our morning praise, which lasts about 30 minutes, then we have a work period from 8:00 to noon, then a 12:05 we gather again in church for our midday prayer, which lasts about 10 minutes, followed by lunch come in during which we can talk at lunch, then we have another work period from 1:00 to 4:30, then we gather for mass, and then we followed that with her evening meal which we eat together in silence.

we start together and stay at the table until the last person finishes, then fries and deal with prayer. so we are being nourished not only physically, but also mentally and spiritually. we followed that by a period of regulation -- recreation, which is something that can be lost in our culture, about 45 minutes where we gather in our community room and some monks play dominoes, some cards, some read the paper, some watch the evening use news, then the first part of wheel of fortune, then sometimes squeeze in a nap, but we are all there together affirming this value for each other, then we gather one last time in church at 6:45 for our evening prayer, and that lasts about 30 minutes. after vespers, the evening is open.

there is still sunshine to do outdoor tasks. there is no curfew or bedtime, but that bell rings at 5:30 in the morning to start that cycle all over again. so it is a way of life that is designed to promote a balance between prayer and work and study, a balance between solitude and community, a balance between dialogue in silence, and we strive for balance. i suppose what i would want people to know and realize is that from the earliest centuries, monasteries welcome people to come, a place of hospitality, to experience our way of life, to find some kind of meaningful assistance

wherever they might be in their lives, and that we also can benefit from their visit to come to see god at work in those around us, and that is people of faith and no faith, to be able to share this life together in this place that is set aside for this journey, so i would want people to know the abbey is a place of hospitality, and the values we try to live our human values that perhaps our very connected, rapid, short attention span culture, that is filled with all kinds of noise, could benefit from, so to step aside to experience the healing that can come about in a lifestyle of balance, of silence, of reflection, and

attentiveness to what is happening in the world around us. you are welcome. come and visit. >> our cities tour staff recently traveled to shawnee, oklahoma to learn about its rich history. learn about other stops on our tour at c-span.org/cities tour. you're watching american history tv all weekend every weekend on c-span3. seth eastman was a 19th-century mapmaker, illustrator, and painter. he was best known for his artwork chronicling indian life in the american northwest. art historian talks about and shows some of his paintings depicting u.s. military sports. the u.s. historical