• 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 said the order probably has to look into opening up the property to a public sale.
• "We held off, trying to find a religious group," Quinkert said this week. "I think we're going to have to look otherwise now."
• The monastery's 14 resident monks voted in May 2012 to close the Marvin monastery, and their vote was confirmed by the council of the abbot president of the Swiss-American Benedictine Congregation.
• Quinkert said its members were aging and new ones were not joining. Three of the monks were in their nineties, two were in their eighties, seven were in their seventies, one was in his fifties and one was in his forties. Each resident was given the opportunity to settle into another monastery of his choice.
• The closing of the monastery was well publicized last year, giving leaders the opportunity to put the word out that the property was available, But inquiries never developed into a sale, so the abbey is considering reaching out to a wider audience even though it will still consider selling to a religious group.
• Quinkert said Blue Cloud Abbey would probably be easier to sell if it were in Sioux Falls rather than about two hours north of South Dakota's largest city. A deci

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