Winter - Saint John`s Abbey

Transcription

A Christmas Meditation:
The Humanity and Divinity
of Jesus and Us, 4
Sisters and Mothers Help
Brothers and Fathers, 5
Saint John’s at 150:
A portrait of this place called
Collegeville, 8
When OSB Meant “Order
of Sacred Brewers,” 10
First World Congress of
Benedictine Oblates Meets
in Rome: A Report, 12
Faith on the Frontier:
The Parish of Saints Peter
and Paul, Richmond,
Minnesota, 14
Christopher Fair, OSB,
brings fresh focus to Abbey
Woodworking, 20
Classic Cars Cruise
Collegeville Campus, 30
Winter Comes to
Collegeville
Contents
Page 4
Cover Story
Fran Hoefgen, OSB
The Humanity and Divinity
of Jesus and Us
by Don Tauscher, OSB Features
5
Sisters and Mothers Help
Brothers and Fathers
by Dolores Schuh, CHM
10
When OSB Meant “Order of Sacred
Brewers”
by Andrew Coval, OSB
8
Saint John’s Sesquicentennial Book
to be published soon
12
First World Congress of Benedictine
Oblates Meets in Rome: A Report
by Ford Royer, OblSB
9
Peter Engel, OSB, Saint John’s First
American-Born Abbot, 1894-1921
by Jean Scoon
19
“Some seed fell on rich soil ...”
by Bruce Wollmering, OSB
20
Christopher Fair, OSB, brings fresh
focus to Abbey Woodworking
by Daniel Durken, OSB
14
The Parish of Saints Peter and Paul,
Richmond, Minnesota
by Eric Hollas, OSB
Departments
3 From Editor and Abbot
22 Abbey Missions
29 Banner Bits
16 The Abbey Chronicle
24 Strengthening Foundations
32 C
alendar of Major
Sesquicentennial Events
Please join us online. To access liturgical services visit the Saint John’s Abbey website at www.saintjohnsabbey.org.
Click on “Welcome” to enter the site. Click on “Prayer” in the left-hand column and then click on “Broadcast Services.” On the Broadcast Services page you will find a variety of options to liturgies.
NOTE: Please send your change of address to: Ruth Athmann at [email protected] or P.O. Box 7222, Collegeville,
Minnesota 56321-7222 or call 800-635-7303. Editor: Daniel Durken, OSBddurken@csbsju.
edu
Copy Editor and Proofreader:
Dolores Schuh, CHM
Designer: Pam Rolfes
The Abbey Banner
Magazine of
Saint John’s Abbey
Volume 5, Issue 3
Winter 2005
Circulation: Ruth Athmann, Cathy Wieme,
Mary Gouge
Printer: Palmer Printing, St. Cloud, Minnesota
Member Catholic Press Association
The Abbey Banner is published three times
annually by the Benedictine monks of Saint
John’s Abbey for our relatives, friends and
Oblates.
The Abbey Banner is online at
www.sja.osb.org/AbbeyBanner
Saint John’s Abbey, Box 2015, Collegeville,
Minnesota 56321.
FROM EDITOR AND ABBOT
Tsunamis,
Hurricanes,
Earthquakes,
Mud Slides and
Christmas
Saint John’s
Capital Campaign:
One Generation
to the Next
n October Saint John’s Abbey
and University announced
a joint Capital Campaign to raise $150 million to be
used for educational and ministerial programs. Designated
One Generation to the Next, the campaign is asking the
current generation of alumni and friends to raise funds to
benefit the next generation. Of this goal, $92 million has
already been raised. The abbey hopes to raise $15 million
to support the following priorities: A
Letter to the Editor in
a Catholic weekly reminded me that the cause of
current natural disasters is not human neglect or
environmental abuse but God’s dramatic way of telling
us to change our sinful behavior. The writer appealed to
the Bible which is “loaded with examples of God sending
disasters because they turned away from him.”
If it is really the hand of a wrathful God that stirred up
the tidal wave, whipped up Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and
Wilma, shook the earth in Pakistan and buried Guatemalan
villages in avalanches of mud, killing tens of thousands—
then the ultimate terrorist of our time is not from Iraq or
Iran or Saudi Arabia but from heaven above. The terrorist’s
name is God.
I do not believe the God we call Our Father planned and
executed these catastrophes as a cosmic power-point presentation on repentance. I do believe in the God of Christmas. This is the God of
whom it is written, “God so loved the world that he gave
his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might
not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send
his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the
world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17).
The Christ of Christmas came to save us, not shame and
blame us. He rebuked the wind and calmed the sea when
a violent squall threatened to perish his disciples (Mark 4:
35-41). A Samaritan village snubbed Jesus by refusing to
welcome him and his disciples had the solution: “Lord,
do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume
them?” But the Christ of Christmas “turned and rebuked
them” (Luke 9:55).
To a woman caught in adultery Jesus said, “Neither do I
condemn you” (John 8:11). Of a man born blind Jesus said,
“Neither he nor his parents sinned” (John 9:3). On the cross
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they
do” (Luke 23:34). Christmas comes at the beginning of the liturgical year
and at the end of the calendar year. So whether we are
coming from a year we would rather forget or going into a
year of unknown incidents and accidents, we can be sure
that the Christ of Christmas remains with us. +
by Abbot John Klassen, OSB
I
• Abbey Guest House: A Place of Spiritual Renewal – Scheduled to open next fall, this will be a place of spiritual renewal for retreatants and other guests. Monies are
needed to endow the essential positions of guest master,
Oblate director and director of spiritual life.
• Breuer Church Pavilion – Includes renovation of the
Blessed Sacrament chapel, installation of an elevator,
construction of a pedestrian tunnel between the guest
house and the church and renovation of the chapter house
for a meeting space for retreatants and other guests.
• Vocations – Increased efforts to cultivate monastic vocations through new and innovative programs to encourage
young men to explore Benedictine life and to assist in
ministry.
• Entrepreneurial Enterprises – 1) Modernize Abbey
Woodworking which produces fine furniture for use
at Saint John’s and for commercial sale; 2) develop a
cemetery for alumni and friends; 3) begin other creative
projects.
•C
are of Sick and Elderly Monks – Provide for health
and retirement needs of monks who have dedicated their
lives to the service of students and the Church. •M
ission Outreach – Support ministerial outreach to
parishes, the poor, our mission in Japan and monasteries
in developing countries.
We are on the verge of celebrating the 150th year of our
presence in central Minnesota. This Benedictine community is profoundly grateful for the ongoing support of
men and women who have stood with us and assisted us in
every way to make exciting things happen. We trust in your generosity as we go forward to creatively meet the needs of the next generation. +
The Abbey Banner Winter 2005 page 3
SPIRITUAL LIFE
The Humanity and Divinity of Jesus and Us
by Don Tauscher, OSB
“May we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.”
W
hen we hear the words “humanity and divinity,” especially at Christmas time,
we likely say, “That’s right! Jesus
Christ is fully human and fully divine.
He is the Son of God in the flesh.”
But right now I want us to appreciate the truth that WE are also both human and divine. Not exactly the way
Christ is, but nonetheless genuinely
so. Combing through the works of
the earliest Christian writers, we find
numerous theological jewels including
this one from Saint Athanasius: “God
became human so that humans might
become God.” Is this some heinous
heresy? No, not at all.
the Son of God who loved me and
gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
Here we have clearly commingled the
human and the divine.
When the gifts of bread and wine
are prepared for the Eucharist, while
adding a little water to the wine the
presider prays silently, “Through the
mystery of this water and wine, may
we come to share in the divinity of
Christ who humbled himself to share
in our humanity.” This is so tremendously beautiful and powerful that I
wish we could always say these words
aloud.
Is this a fantasy world? Or is this a
sample of why God went to a lot of
trouble to become human?
Years ago a child could hear a
Christmas song declare, “All I want
for Kwithmuth is my two fwont
teeth.” Well, all I want for
Christmas is an elevated
consciousness of and a
deeper appreciation of my
humanity and my honestto-God participation in the
divine nature, along with
the grace to treat others
the way I would like to
treat Jesus Christ himself.
I want that for all of you,
too. +
The reality Athanasius verbalizes
finds its expression in the Second
Letter of Peter: “God has bestowed on us the precious and
very great promises, so that
through them you may become participants of the
divine nature” (1:4). Stop!
Take a deep breath for this
is not fluff. It is one of the
most profound truths about
who we are and what we
should do about it. Don Tauscher, OSB, is the
director of the Spiritual Life
Program at Saint John’s.
Abbey.
Artist unknown
Saint Paul puts it this way:
“It is no longer I who live,
but it is Christ who lives in
me. And the life I now live
in the flesh I live by faith in
If we could actually believe that all
of us do indeed already participate
in the divine nature, might we see
less apathy, less fraudulent disenfranchising of others, less gossip,
war and road rage? Might we spend
less money on making professional
entertainers exorbitantly, scandalously
wealthy and spend more on providing
good education, health care, housing
and formation in interpersonal relations?
The Adoration of the Magi
page 4 The Abbey Banner Winter 2005
FEATURE
The Franciscan Sisters at Saint
John’s pose for a community
photo. The former greenhouse is
in the background.
Abbey Archives
Sisters and
Mothers
Help
Brothers and
Fathers
by Dolores Schuh, CHM
The story not told in Worship and Work, Saint John’s centennial history
Abbey Archives
When the Presentations left, 24
Sisters of the Third Order of Saint
Francis from Dillingen, Bavaria,
arrived to manage the dining service.
Frank House was enlarged to accommodate these nuns who worked for 45
years before moving to their motherhouse in Hankinson, North Dakota. A smaller group of Mexican-born
Benedictine nuns staffed the kitchen
from 1958 until 1964 when the service
was operated thereafter by lay women
and men.
The monks remember the hardy
German meals provided by the “good
Sisters.” Every supper included fried
A Franciscan Sister (in white) shows several Mexican Benedictine
Sisters the fine art of preparing pastry.
potatoes. One evening when this staple was omitted, a monk eating with
students omitted the prayers before
and after meals with the comment,
“This isn’t a meal!” Another monk
recalls that he liked the food except
for liver dumpling soup. That stuff, he
says, was bad news!
A single woman monastic who
made a major academic contribution
to Saint John’s was Mary Anthony
Wagner, OSB. Her leadership led to
the formation of the unique Benedictine Institute of Sacred Theology that
later became Saint John’s School
of Theology. She served as its dean,
(continued next page)
Saint Benedict’s Monastery
“B
ehind every great man
there’s a great woman.”
This old adage may read
a bit differently at Saint John’s Abbey, but the message is the same: “In
the shadows of all the good monks are
found good women who provide valuable services.” Early in the twentieth century women religious worked for the monks.
From 1904 to 1913 a small community of French Presentation Sisters
cooked the meals at the abbey. Their
role was so important that a convent
(now student housing called Frank
House) was built for them.
Mary Anthony Wagner, OSB, leading
founder of the Benedictine Institute
of Sacred Theology, dean of Saint
John’s School of Theology, editor of
Sisters Today
FEATURE
Abbey Archives
Agnes Ramler, seminary
housekeeper and hostess of
monk friends
Who can forget Agnes Ramler, the
spunky little German lady who lived
in a tiny white house in Flynntown
(where the Seton Apartments stand
today) and worked as a housekeeper
Bertha Eich, Saint John’s
laundress for 41 years
While the Hueschles kept the
monks clad, Bertha Eich kept the
monks’ clothes clean. Week after
week Bertha laundered, mangled,
Nancy D’Heilly
Women religious did not have a
monopoly on providing services at
Saint John’s. This article highlights
just a few of the many laywomen who
made significant contributions to Saint
John’s and are now deceased. Sabina Diederichs, the first laywoman
employed by the monks, served as the
resident nurse in the campus infirmary
from 1920 to 1945. The monks recall
Sabina’s cheerfulness, keen intelligence and no-nonsense approach to
monk and student infirmities.
Agnes generally consulted her German-English dictionary to verify the
meaning of a word. On one occasion
she heard the word “virgin” and found
it translated as “young girl.” Shortly
thereafter, in a visit with one of the
monks, Agnes said, “When I was a
virgin, I could have had any man I
wanted!” Agnes’ interpretation of the
tall, gaunt statue of Saint John the
Baptist in the baptistery of the abbey church is legendary. When asked
about the seven-foot height of the
tarnished statue, she explained, “Yah,
dat’s vare da art comes in!”
The Hueschle sisters, Catherine
and Marie, lived in a house across
the road from the apple orchard and
made and mended monastic habits.
Catherine and Mary (as Marie was affectionately known) kept their sewing
machines stitching in one large room
of their home. Mid-morning they
walked to the Great Hall to get their
newspaper and exchange cheery greetings with monks, students and staff,
always with a twinkle in their eyes. ironed and folded the monks’ personal
clothing. If all the t-shirts and socks
Bertha washed in her 41 years of service were laid out side by side, they’d
cover a myriad of football fields. Bertha lived her whole life in Collegeville,
daily walked the mile to work and died
January 31, 2005.
Idell Gasperlin, secretary to
many monks
Somewhat more visible on campus
because of her position was Idell
Gasperlin. She provided secretarial
services to many of the monks in the
’60s and ’70s, including Fathers Don
LeMay, Gordon Tavis, Florian Muggli and Don Talafous. Idell considered
her years at Saint John’s the best years
of her life. After work one day she
went to the hospital for tests and died a
month later, in the spring of 1978. Saint John’s University Archives
Sabina Dietrichs, resident nurse
and first laywoman employed at
Saint John’s
in the seminary (now Emmaus Hall)? She often entertained the monks in
her home and it was rumored that she
served “ordinary wine” to the “ordinary monks,” while the good stuff
was reserved for the abbot when he
stopped for a visit.
Alcuin Eich
Abbey Archives
taught for many years and for over
two decades was the editor of Sisters
Today, the periodical published by
Liturgical Press. Mary Anthony died
September 19, 2002. Marilyn Douvier, manager of
Saint John’s phone system
Another familiar face on campus
was that of Marilyn Douvier, hired as
a switchboard operator in 1967. Over
FEATURE
Abbey Archives
a too-clever student dubbed her “Eilatollah Perlmutter,” a nickname that
stuck for years. Her relentlessness in
exacting excellence was an expression
of her love and most students thanked
her for it. Twelve times she took
students to London during the January
Term to see live theatre.
Emigrating from Finland with her
parents at age five, her early years
gave her the background for her
novel, Sirkka, a story of 200 Finnish
immigrants struggling to survive the
Great Depression of 1934-41. Eila
died in June 2000.
Eila Perlmutter, professor of English
An early and memorable woman
faculty member of Saint John’s University was Eila Perlmutter. When
her husband was hired as Vice President of Academic Affairs in 1972, Eila
was soon hired to teach in the English department. She quickly earned
the reputation of being a passionate
teacher. A colleague described her
as “demanding, stylistically quirky,
stunningly effective, an acknowledged
tyrant from whom there was no stylistic appeal.” After the 1980s fall of
Ayatollah Khomeini, the Shah of Iran,
In reading Colman Barry’s Worship
and Work (the centennial history of
Saint John’s), I found a real dearth
of information about women’s role
in this illustrious chronicle. It would
require a not-so-small volume to
acknowledge all the female employees
who have dedicated many years in the
service of the abbey. Maybe I’ll write
a book! +
Dolores Schuh, CHM, is the copy
editor of The Abbey Banner. She lives
and works at the Humility of Mary
Center in Davenport, Iowa. Abbey Archives
the next 27 years she was a key figure
in the development of the telecommunications systems at Saint John’s.
For many years she could be seen at
the information desk in the Great Hall
where she sold Greyhound bus tickets
and managed the student workers.
Early in her tenure, when she sold a
bus ticket to a somewhat senile monk
who managed to escape the notice of
the retirement center staff, she was
advised not to sell any more bus tickets to “kooky” monks. “And how am
I to know which ones are ‘kooky’?”
she asked. She succumbed to cancer
in 2004.
Frances Pond was the first paid
secretary at Saint John’s. She worked
for Fathers Godfrey Diekmann and
Walter Reger, and served as Abbot
John Eidenschink’s secretary for
several years. Along with clicking the
typewriter keys with great alacrity,
Frances was known to click her knitting needles with the same rapidity
and made many beautiful afghans for
friends and family.
Frances Pond, the first paid secretary
at Saint John’s
SESQUICENTENNIAL
The cover of the Sesquicentennial Book—photo by Lee Hanley,
design by Ann Blattner and Joachim Rhoades, OSB
Saint John’s
Sesquicentennial Book to
be published soon
Celebrating 150 years of Benedictine life and education
in central Minnesota
S
aint John’s at 150. A portrait
of this place called Collegeville
is the title of the sesquicentennial book due to appear in April 2006.
Edited by Hilary Thimmesh, OSB,
Saint John’s University president
emeritus and professor of English, and
designed by Ann Blattner, editorial
art manager of Liturgical Press, the
book has a foreword by chancellor
and abbot John Klassen, OSB, and
an afterword by university president
Dietrich Reinhart, OSB. An introduction by Annette Atkins, professor
of history at Saint John’s, provides a
quick survey of Minnesota history and
American life outside the Pine Curtain
as background for the Saint John’s
story.
Twelve chapters by a dozen writers—from the monastery, the faculty,
the rest of the world—present personal essays on topics in Saint John’s first
150 years that the writers find interesting, from the missionary lifestyle
of the first monks to cameo images
of a few current college profs in the
classroom. Sidebars and special features add
thirty more writers to the mix for short
pieces that are appealing because of
the authors as well as the topics. For
example, Katherine Powers on her
father, J.F. Powers; Bill Kling on the
founding of Minnesota Public Radio;
Jon Hassler on Steve Humphrey,
his prof as a college student; Thomas
Merton on the beauty of a summer
afternoon at the chapel across Lake
Sagatagan.
And there are numerous pictures,
some of them historic black and white
photos by Peter Engel, OSB, before
he was elected abbot in 1894, others
more recent in full color. The book is not a comprehensive
history. Only a couple chapters have
endnotes—in small print. But the
contents are historical and the index
references the surprising number of
people and places and events that
finally get mentioned in this 160-page,
9 x 12 book celebrating 150 years
of Benedictine life and education in
central Minnesota.
The price of this hardbound edition
is $39.95 and will be available at the
Liturgical Press (www.litpress.org
or 1-800-858-5450 or 320-3632213) and Saint John’s Bookstore
(www.csbsju.edu/bookstore/
default.htm or 1-800-420-4509 or
320-363-2405). +
SESQUICENTENNIAL
Abbey Archives
Peter Engel, OSB, Saint John’s
First American-Born Abbot,
1894-1921
by Jean Scoon
Editor’s Note: As we approach our
Sesquicentennial Celebration, a
cause for gratitude is the quality of the
abbey’s leadership these 150 years.
Ten abbots were chosen to “hold
the place of Christ in the monastery”
(Rule, chapter 2). To single out one of
them for a special tribute was no easy
task. This brief essay is proof that
the choice of Abbot Peter was not an
arbitrary one.
T
he eldest son of German immigrant farmers, Peter Engel
admits in his memoirs that he
didn’t like farming but credits himself
with “some aptitude for study.” Born
in Wisconsin two months before the
1856 arrival of the Benedictines in
Minnesota, Peter came to Collegeville
in 1869. He made his first profession of vows in 1875, was ordained
in 1878 and elected the community’s
first American-born abbot in 1894.
He is described by abbey historians
as the “most beloved of the abbots
who served during Saint John’s first
century.”
Peter did indeed have an aptitude
for study. By the time he became abbot, he had studied and taught natural
philosophy, physics and chemistry;
developed a physics laboratory;
opened a meteorological station;
installed a wireless telegraph station;
and begun an astronomy observatory
on the water tower.
His favorite words were crescat,
crescant (“may it grow”) and the
27 years of his leadership saw Saint
John’s bloom academically. He became the first abbot to send monks for
graduate studies, staffing Saint John’s
classrooms and labs with PhD and
Master’s-level teachers.
Both the science curriculum and
scientific research flourished with
Peter’s encouragement. Labs were
added, monks published textbooks in
chemistry and astronomy, and James
Hansen, OSB, established the third
largest plant collection in Minnesota.
The community beyond the classroom benefited as well. Research into
locally hardy fruits yielded grapes
and pears grown throughout the
region. Systematic reforestation was
introduced, beginning the practice of
environmental stewardship so fundamental to Saint John’s. As the monks
traveled to parish assignments, they
often advised farmers on seeds and
rotation of crops.
It is fitting that the science center,
renovated in 2000, was named for
Abbot Peter. But science was not
his only domain. He also oversaw
the formation of the first organized
extramural athletic program in 1901,
saying to one objector, “We have to be
up to the times, Father.” It was Peter
who ensured that electric lights lit
Saint John’s in 1899. His passion for
photography left the abbey a valuable
pictorial history of Collegeville at the
turn of the century.
From the day of his election as
abbot and president of the university
in 1894 until his death in 1921, Peter
protested that he wasn’t the right man
for the job. He wept at his election and
recognized that “God likes to choose
the weak.” But history teaches us otherwise: Combining his commitment to
modernism with a deep Benedictine
spirituality, this humble man guided
Saint John’s into the twentieth century
with a sure and steady hand. +
Jean Scoon is the director of advancement
publications and communications at Saint
John’s University.
FEATURE
Angelo Zankl, OSB, enjoys a beer on his 104th birthday.
Daniel Durken, OSB
When OSB Meant
“Order of Sacred Brewers”
Another story is told of Rembert
Bularzik, OSB, who, after his last
anointing, was asked by the abbot,
“Is there anything else we can do for
you?” Father Rembert’s eyes opened
and he sat up, “Y-e-a-h,” he managed
to rasp, “Let’s share a beer together.” Amid dumbfounded looks, the abbot sent for beer, and Rembert died
peacefully within the hour. More than a millennium’s worth
of such tales testify to one indisputable point: beer and monks go together like blue lakes and Minnesota. Monks, it could be argued, are the
fathers of beer. Like many father-son
relationships, however, there have
been bumps along the way, and the
saga of American Benedictines is no
exception.
“Let us at least agree to drink moderately, and not to
the point of excess” (Rule, 40).
Soon after Boniface Wimmer, OSB,
founded America’s first Benedictine
abbey (Saint Vincent) in 1846 in
Latrobe, Pennsylvania, he acquired
a brewery. In America this created a
wave of controversy among temperance advocates and the local Irish
bishop. While Archabbot Boniface
soon closed the brewery, the debate
went all the way to Rome where it
was decided by none other than Pope
Pius IX, who concluded, “St. Paul
wrote to St. Timothy he should take a
little wine for his weak stomach, and
so you must have something.”
But even the pope could not keep temperance activists from condemning the
Benedictines and ridiculing their OSB
initials as the “Order of Sacred Brewers.” Finally, the abbey brewery approved by papal decree closed its doors
in 1898, while the other town brewery
grew into the seventh largest brewery
Simon-Hoà Phan, OSB
A
t his 104th birthday last April
19, Angelo Zankl, OSB,
made an unexpected request.
Asked if he would like anything special, he looked up, surrounded by his
confreres in the monastic refectory,
and answered with a glint in his eye,
“A BEER.” by Andrew Coval, OSB
Homegrown hops in the abbey garden
FEATURE
When the Benedictines came to
Minnesota in 1856, they nobly gave
up brewing for the sake of peace. In1878 they tried to “Americanize” by
discontinuing the custom of serving
beer in the abbey school on special
occasions. But even this could not
prevent another clash with temperance advocates and another powerful
Irish bishop, John Ireland. Prohibition temporarily solved the dilemma,
but rumors persisted of underground
monastic stills, some even claiming
that monks were behind Holdingford’s
infamous bootleg “Minnesota 13.” Alexius Hoffmann, OSB, Saint
John’s first historian, tried to set the
record straight in 1934: “Some of our
enemies, even priests in the diocese of
St. Paul, said that we used to have a
brewery. We never did . . . We never
brewed beer and we never made wine. Only an old gardener (Anton
Schaefer) used to make a cask of
wine for himself and that cask
remained dry when he passed
away in 1898.” But not for long.
Shortly after Father Alexius’
defense, Saint John’s began producing its famous “Abbey Gas,”
a punchy red wine concocted in
the old butcher shop. Besides
being used for the celebration
of the Eucharist, it was served
at table every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday as well as on
special feast days. After almost
fifty years, “Abbey Gas” presses
ceased production in the early
1980s.
But with the end of one era
comes the dawn of another: On
February 6, 2005 (Super Bowl
Sunday) Prior Raymond Pedrizetti,
OSB, prayed the official beer blessing
from the Roman Ritual over the historic first batch of (licit) beer brewed
at the abbey. One hundred fifty years
in the making, its commemorative
first label was masterfully designed
by Joachim Rhoades, OSB, with the
proud name, “Black Monks Ale.” Novice Peter Sullivan, OSB
Since then, the fledgling brewery
has fermented Irish Stout (in honor
of the Irish bishops), Bavarian Hefeweizen, English Pale Ale, Chocolate
Cream Ale, and a golden Kölsch. The
monastic garden has seen the addition
of three hops varieties—German Hallertau, English Fuggle, and American
Cascade.
The oft-disputed relationship of
monks and beer is still open to debate. After a millennium and a half, we
can do no better than Saint Benedict
himself, who “with some uneasi-
Daniel Durken, OSB
in the U.S. with its now world-famous
Rolling Rock beer. Brewmaster Andrew Coval, OSB, pours a
bottle of homemade “Black Monks Ale.”
ness” permits each monk a hemina of
wine per day (an amount still undetermined). In the Rule’s chapter “On
the proper amount of drink,” he also
warns against excess and drunkenness and above all—as is his constant
refrain---murmuring.
As for what the future of abbey
brewing will bring, the story is ongoing. We can say that the hops have
blossomed, a barley crop is planned,
and Angelo has his 105th birthday
coming up. Just as Minnesota means
“sky colored lakes,” perhaps those
early temperance advocates had it
right: OSB does mean “Order of Sacred Brewers.” +
Andrew Coval, OSB, teaches Spanish at
Saint John’s Preparatory School.
“Black Monks Ale” label and a promotional
bottle draped with a monk’s robe made by
Novice Peregrine Rinderknecht, OSB
FEATURE
Participants of the First World Congress of Oblates,
September 2005
First World
Congress of
Benedictine Oblates
Meets in Rome:
A Report
by Ford Royer, OblSB
S
“There is a tremendous thirst among Christian laity for affiliation
with Benedictine monasteries.”
everal years ago Abbot Primate
Notker Wolf, OSB, of the Abbey and International College
of Saint Anselm in Rome, suggested
to the Council of Italian Benedictine
Oblates that they organize a World
Congress of Benedictine Oblates. A
committee headed by Luigi Bertocchi, OSB, of Saint John’s Abbey
brought the suggestion to reality September 19-25.
Three hundred Benedictine Oblates
from over 35 countries converged
on Rome for this first ever gathering. Three delegates from Minnesota
represented their respective communities: Anne Pierskalla, Saint Benedict’s
Monastery, St. Joseph; Mike Lawson,
Saint Brigid of Kildaire Monastery,
St. Joseph; myself from Saint John’s
Abbey, Collegeville.
The Congress began with Monday
evening Vespers and introductions by
Angela Fiorillo, national coordinator of Italian Oblates, and the Abbot
Primate. Since these presentations
were given in Italian, participants
were provided with wireless headsets
programmed for live translation into
their respective native languages. It
gave one the feeling of being at the
United Nations.
The theme of the Congress, “Communion with God, Communion with
the World,” was divided into three
topics: Communion with Monks
and Oblates; Communion with God
(contemplation); and Communion
with the World (mission). These topics were the subjects of presentations
given over the first three days of the
Congress.
Each day began with Lauds in a
different language, followed by the
morning presentation. Later we gathered for the celebration of the Eucharist (again in different languages) and
then lunch. There was an afternoon
presentation, a question and answer
session and group meetings organized
by language. The groups were given
discussion questions pertaining to the
Pope Benedict XVI addresses his “Benedictine family” at
Castel Gandolfo.
FEATURE
L. to r.: German Oblate, Paschal Morlino, OSB
(Saint Vincent Archabbey, national coordinator
of USA Oblates), Luigi Bertocchi, OSB (Saint
John’s Abbey, chair of organizing committee);
German Oblate, Ford Royer, author of report
day’s presentations. The day concluded with Vespers and dinner. On Friday we met for a concluding
presentation at which time summaries
of the individual group sessions were
given and proposals for future Congresses were discussed. The Abbot
Primate gave the concluding remarks
and presided at the noonday Eucharist.
Delegates were free in the afternoon
to do some sightseeing in downtown
Rome. Early Saturday morning we boarded
buses for the ninety-mile trip to the
venerable Abbey of Monte Cassino,
founded in 529 by St. Benedict.
Archabbot Bernardo D’Onorio, OSB,
superior of the twenty-plus member
community, presided at the Eucharist
in the magnificently restored abbey
basilica. We toured the abbey with
stops in the museum and gift shop,
followed by a box lunch in the monastic refectory. After Vespers (in Latin)
we returned to Rome for dinner and
farewells by Angela Fiorillo and the
Abbot Primate.
The final day began with Lauds
and Mass and then a trip to Castel
Gandolfo for an audience with Pope
Benedict XVI. His Holiness prayed
the Angelus with us, recognized our
delegation with “Welcome to my
Benedictine family” and gave us his
blessing. This was a very touching
and spiritual moment, knowing that
the Pope himself is also a Benedictine
Oblate.
Thus the Congress concluded and
we returned to our respective countries, renewed in our vocation as
Oblates—not as monks living in community but as followers of the Rule
of Saint Benedict, carrying his message and spirit into the world through
our daily lives. We are inspired by
the remarks of Norvene Vest, author
of books on Benedictine spirituality
and herself an Oblate. She comments
that the growth of Oblate programs
demonstrates “a tremendous hunger and thirst among Christian laity
throughout the world for affiliation
with Benedictine monasteries.” This author continues, “It is a
perplexing trend, for it suggests
that while traditional forms of monasticism are not growing in most
places—though they remain a stable
center—something about the Benedictine charism is very important in this
time. A powerful reason for growth
in the Benedictine Oblate movement
is not just the hunger for more meaningful spiritual practice, but is also
because of the thirst to understand
more clearly what is going on in this
bewilderingly complex world and how
to respond to it as Christians.”
This is what being a Benedictine
Oblate is all about: bringing Benedictine spirituality, hospitality, balance,
respect for human dignity, manual
labor and the beauty of creation into
the world of business, politics, family
life and work. And above all “that in
all things God may be glorified.” +
Ford M. Royer has been an Oblate of
Saint John’s Abbey since 1999 and is a
member of Saint James Episcopal Church
in Minneapolis.
FEATURE
The church of Saints Peter and Paul, Richmond, Minnesota,
built in 1885
The Parish of Saints Peter
and Paul, Richmond,
Minnesota
The rutted road east of town on the
farm of Edwin and Margaret Torborg
is the last local remnant of the Central
Minnesota Ox-cart Trail that connected Winnipeg to St. Paul, and it’s
a reminder of commerce here in the
1830s and 40s. But the real story of
Richmond began in 1855 when the
first German-Catholics arrived. The
missionary priest Francis X. Pierz had
tantalized settlers with the promise of
rich farmland, a benign climate, and
the opportunity to re-create the culpage 14 The Abbey Banner Winter 2005
A Benedictine, sesquicentennial parish
of the Sauk River Valley
tural heritage they left behind. What
they found was challenge.
Although life was not easy, a strong
faith and hard work combined to
quickly make Richmond a viable
town. Father Pierz celebrated the first
Mass in 1855, and following a parish
mission on August 15, 1856, Benedictine Bruno Riss became the first pastor. A log cabin church was replaced
by a frame building with a steeple
in 1860. A larger church was erected
in 1866. Only in 1885 did the present church appear with its impressive
brick exterior and an expansive interior noted for the absence of a center
aisle. School buildings and rectories
paralleled church construction.
1856-57 threatened their very existence. Another complaint was the
absence of brides for the lonely male
settlers. Finally, the Sioux Indian
uprising of 1862 posed an unexpected
scare when a war party rode to the
outskirts of Richmond. There they
encountered frightened townspeople
huddled with their pastor behind a
seven-foot earthwork they had built
around the church.
But it was challenge that distinguished the lot of the early residents
who were ill-prepared for the severity
of the winter. Grasshopper plagues in
Stephen Beauclair, OSB, 27th pastor
of Saints Peter and Paul Parish
Lee Hanley
“P
robably the greatest
ministry one can give to
these people is simply to
be present to them,” says Stephen
Beauclair, OSB, pastor of Saints
Peter and Paul Parish in Richmond.
The varied faces of the monks who
preceded Father Stephen as pastor tell
the story of Benedictine presence in
this community founded nearly 150
years ago in the Sauk River Valley of
central Minnesota.
Lee Hanley
Bill Harvey
by Eric Hollas, OSB
FEATURE
Edwin and Margaret Torborg
Paynesville promises to knit together
communities with deeply rooted traditions and blur the identities that have
distinguished towns like Richmond. Proximity to St. Cloud and to the
granite industry in nearby Cold Spring
has fueled the steady construction of
new homes. Add to that the numbers
who commute to Saint John’s or work
in the region’s resort industry, and one
begins to appreciate Richmond’s future role as a bedroom
community.
The settlers toiled hard to build a
substantial town set amid prosperous
farms. Though residents never enjoyed the mild winters they had been
promised, they did succeed in creating
a vibrant version of their European
heritage on the American frontier.
Successive generations were educated
in the parish school; dozens of young
people pursued religious vocations;
and Richmond emerged with a clear
identity among the settlements of
Stearns County.
Today Richmond and its parish
confront a new frontier in which the
fertile soil counts far less than the
expansion of Highway 23, which
skirts the southern side of town.
Urban growth between St. Cloud and
The changing face
of Richmond means
change for the parish,
Stephen point out. Today the parish numbers
some 900 families,
and it is still the only
church in town. But
the influx of new
citizens means that
Richmond is no longer
the German-Catholic enclave it once
was, and the RCIA program signals
a new demographic. The pastor also
notices the change that summer brings
to the congregation. The annual urge
to migrate, so characteristic of Minnesota, means that locals flee to their
cabins in the north, while people from
the Twin Cities drive north to occupy
both area resorts and church pews on
Sunday.
Lee Hanley
Yet Richmond is likely
to retain its character far
into the future. Farming will continue to put
its stamp on the local
economy and way of life.
So too will the current
descendents of the German-Catholic families
who braved the frontier to
shape a unique culture here. Nonetheless, Richmond and its parish will
evolve—as they always have. During
the pastorate of Dominic Ruiz, OSB,
the parish church installed stately
granite in its aisles and a polished
wood floor in the sanctuary. Master
organ builder, KC Marrin, renovated
and expanded the organ in the church
loft. Another constant in that evolving
culture is the role of the Saint John’s
Benedictines. Since 1856 monks
have served in this parish. Genera-
Parish Archives
Edwin and Margaret Torborg stand on
the pioneer Ox-cart Trail that once
crossed their farm land.
An early photo of Richmond
parishioners with their pastor
tions of students have attended the
Prep School and University; youngsters sing in the Saint John’s Boys’
Choir; townspeople continue to work
in many different capacities at Saint
John’s. Through most of these years
the cross and the medal of Saint Benedict have adorned the parish church
and become symbols of a lively and
growing faith on the frontier. Both
Richmond and Saint John’s Abbey can
rightly celebrate 150 years in 2006. +
Eric Hollas, OSB, is the senior associate
of arts and cultural affairs at Saint John’s
University.
The organ renovated and enlarged by KC Marrin
THE ABBEY CHRONICLE
A stone arch at an entrance to a trail through wintry woods
God sprinkles the snow like fluttering birds;
it comes to settle like swarms of locusts.
What’s Up?
The Abbey Chronicle
August 2005
 The monastic community hosted
the annual Clergy Day for the bishop, priests and permanent deacons
of the Saint Cloud Diocese on August 2. After joining us for Evening
Daniel Durken, OSB
T
he daily temperature and precipitation reports of Bradley
Jenniges, OSB, the abbey’s
weather-monk, reveal that the Collegeville summer and early fall were
typically warm and wet. July’s twelve
and August’s five days of temperatures in the 90-95 degree range kept
air conditioners and fans humming.
Summer showers were infrequent during July and August but September’s
6.32 inches and October’s 5.14 inches
banished all thoughts of drought.
Simon Bischof, OSB, energetic
member of the grounds crew, was kept
busy mowing lawns that maintained
their emerald elegance until they were
covered first with leaves and then
with snow. The first significant frost,
enough to activate windshield scrapers, was on October 25.
Simon Bischof, OSB, mows a
monastic lawn.
Prayer the clergy were wined and
dined in the abbey’s refectory. Five
days later our guests were members
of Saint Benedict’s Monastery. The
sun and shade of the monastery’s
back yard overlooking a sparkling
Lake Sagatagan provided the setting for a reception
and picnic supper.
These get-togethers
are welcome opportunities to meet and
eat with friends and
give witness to our
multiple ministries.
Biblical Association met at Saint
John’s August 6-9. Three hundred
Scripture scholars from 46 states
and foreign countries registered
for the meeting. Michael Patella,
OSB, associate professor of theology at Saint John’s School of
Theology•Seminary, chaired the
committee on local arrangements
and was a panelist on the exegesis,
scholarship and art of The Saint
John’s Bible. Dale Launderville,
OSB, associate professor of theology at Saint John’s, discussed “Defilement and Purification in Ezekiel:
The Politics of Sacred Space” at
one of the sessions and was celebrant and homilist at the closing
 For the first time
Monastics of Saint Benedict’s Monastery join us for a picnic.
in its 69-year history the Catholic
Daniel Durken, OSB
Fran Hoefgen, OSB
Sirach 43:18-19
THE ABBEY CHRONICLE
Daniel Durken, OSB
“The Collegeville Station”: l. to r. John
Hanson, OSB, Patrick Dwyer, John
Dwyer, David Cofell
September 2005
 The Saint John’s and Saint Benedict’s communities were quick
to respond to the devastation of
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Both
schools offered evacuee students the
opportunity to attend CSB/SJU on a
temporary basis. Special collections
at Sunday Masses and in student
housing netted more than $8,100.
Saint John’s Abbey gave $10,000 to
Saint Joseph Abbey, St. Benedict,
Louisiana, for repair of hurricane
damages. Supported by a Saint
John’s University paid release time
Daniel Durken, OSB
 Parking lots and roadways
crammed with SUVs, pickups and
U-Hauls, and sidewalks and lawns
crowded with students and parents
signaled the beginning of another
academic year. Enrollment figures
are as follows: Saint John’s University, 1,875; Saint John’s School
of Theology•Seminary, 121; College of Saint Benedict, 2,045; Saint
John’s Preparatory School, 315.
The traditional “Meet a Monk”
session followed with 23 monks
visiting groups of 15-20 students as
a gesture of hospitality. One group
learned that the secret of success at
Saint John’s is knowing the difference between OSB and SOB. allowance, Tom Kroll, Saint John’s
land manager and arboretum director, spent several weeks in Texas as
a volunteer in a shelter that served
8,000 displaced people.
Daniel Durken, OSB
 On the evening before classes Saint
John’s first year students joined the
monastic community for Evening
Prayer. Abbot John then spoke to
the newcomers, encouraging them
to do three things: 1.Take a walk
through the woods to the Stella
Maris Chapel across the lake. 2.
Visit the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library to view The Saint
John’s Bible. 3. Join the monks at
one of our daily community prayer
services: 7:00 Morning Prayer,
Noon Prayer, 5:00 Eucharist, 7:00
Evening Prayer, 9:00 Compline.
Eucharist of the convention. Abbot
John Klassen, OSB, presided at
the opening Mass of the meeting.
“The Collegeville Station,” a musical group led by John Hanson,
OSB, provided music during a
convention social hour.
L. to r.: Caroline Linz and Joanne
Ricker organized the donation of
blankets from the Liturgical Press
to survivors of Hurricanes Katrina
and Wilma.
 Joanne Ricker and Caroline Linz,
employees of Liturgical Press, collected $251 from co-workers and
purchased fleece blanket material at
a 50% discount from Crafts Direct
and Joann Fabrics in St. Cloud. Employees then made 27 adult and
22 child blankets from this material and delivered them to the Red
Cross office in St. Cloud for distribution to hurricane survivors.
 The wish of Saint Benedict that the
abbot may “rejoice in the increase
of a good flock” (Rule, ch. 2) was
realized this month with the investiture of two novices, Peter Sullivan
and Peregrine Rinderknecht, and
the first profession of Andrew
Coval, OSB (see page 28).  At its annual dinner on September
15 the Central Minnesota Community Foundation presented its
President’s Award to Hilary Thimmesh, OSB, professor of English
and president emeritus of Saint
Incoming students purchase steel frames and mattresses for their room lofts.
THE ABBEY CHRONICLE
October 2005
 A poem by Helen Hunt Jackson
(1830-1884) provides the context of
this magnificent month:
O suns and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October’s bright blue weather.
Wilfred Theisen, OSB
 On October 18 at “Lunch and
Learn,” a professional development
opportunity sponsored by the Vocation Project for CSB/SJU employees (funded by Lilly Endowment),
Wilfred Theisen, OSB, professor
emeritus of physics, discussed “The
Monastic Practice of Hospitality.” Apologizing for not giving a powerpoint presentation “because I never
got beyond the use of colored chalk
in my fifty years of teaching,” Wilfred nevertheless informed and entertained the audience with insights
on Saint Benedict’s priority of
hospitality, especially to the poor. page 18 The Abbey Banner Winter 2005
He insisted that genuine Christian
hospitality does not just include the
poor but is practiced primarily for
the sake of the poor.  A quantum leap towards the construction of the Abbey Guest House
was made on October 25 when the
monastic community approved
by a substantial margin the total
construction cost of the guest house
with funding to be provided primarily from donor designated gifts. AN INVITATION
Richard Oliver, OSB, president of
The American Benedictine Academy,
extends an invitation to all monastics,
Oblates and friends of Saint John’s
Abbey to become members of the
Academy. The only requirement is
for you to be interested in the Benedictine heritage and the purposes of
the Academy. For the two-year full
membership fee of $25 you will receive printed copies of The American
Monastic Newsletter and be eligible
for the reduced registration fee for the
ABA convention every two years. To
learn more about the Academy visit
the website www.osb.org/aba/ or contact Sister Adel Sautner, OSB, 415 S.
Crow Street, Pierre, SD 57501-3304
or [email protected].
Remember our loved ones
who have gone to
their rest:
Alette Benson
Marie Diekmann
Stephen Freund
Mel Reichert
Natividad Castro Santos
Clarence Soyka
Frederick Stein
William Theisen
Mark Wood
May they rest in peace!
Placid Stuckenschneider, OSB
John’s University. The award recognizes Hilary’s long-term support of
the foundation, especially as board
chairman from 1992-95. FEATURE
A pail full of Dunstan’s vine-ripened tomatoes
Daniel Durken, OSB
“Some seed fell on rich soil
and produced fruit . . .
“. . . a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold” (Matthew 13:8).
by Bruce Wollmering, OSB
S
ummer 2005 presented the opportunity for six monks—Linus
Ascheman, Isaac Connolly,
Andrew Coval, Dunstan Moorse,
Raphael Olson and myself—to
practice our garden skills. Each of us
took responsibility for our area and
followed the full cycle of crop production from planting to weeding, watering and harvesting. John Elton, Saint John’s master
gardener, served as consultant and
Jennifer Anderson, dining service
dietician, suggested which produce
would best serve the kitchen’s dietary
needs. I served as produce production personnel coordinator and general
manager of the project.
Linus specialized in four varieties
of scrumptious tomatoes: Fourth of
July, cherry, Early Pick and Big Boy.
His plants yielded 220 pounds of full
flavor tomatoes.
Andrew produced three varieties of
hops for beer making, hundreds of
Bolivian rainbow peppers and two
bushels of Andean purple potatoes.
Isaac harvested one hundred pounds
of Condor zucchini, sixty pounds
of Yellow Crookneck
summer squash, and
forty pounds of Dusky
eggplant.
Daniel Durken, OSB
Dunstan managed a
mix of vegetables and
spices including carrots, yellow wax beans,
kohlrabi, dill, chervil,
Italian parsley and
290 pounds of thirteen
Heirloom varieties of
tomatoes. He also grew
five varieties of flowers
to be dried and pressed
for greeting cards.
Raphael grew hundreds of gladiolas in
a rainbow of colors to brighten the
church, monastery and guest areas. I supplied the salad table with 20
boxes of lettuce, 15 boxes of radishes and two varieties of peppers
plus another 512 pounds of tomatoes
(to bring our total to 1,022 pounds),
20 pounds of onions, 45 pounds of
cantaloupe and over 1,500 pounds of
winter squash. I also renovated the
root cellar for winter storage.
With the 2,010 pounds of tomatoes
produced in the abbey garden by
Brother Urban Pieper, the grand
total of juicy, red tomatoes harvested
this summer is 3,032—over a ton and
a half. Brother John Hanson harvested 25 bushels of apples from the
abbey’s orchard. Produce from the efforts of these
monks and other occasional helpers
such as Father Fintan Bromenshenkel saved the abbey thousands of dollars in food costs plus offered meaningful manual labor and a close-up
of the wonders of growth. We indeed
plant and water but only God causes
the growth (1 Corinthians 3:7). +
Bruce Wollmering, OSB, is chair of the
Abbey Forest and Lands Committee. A few of the squash harvested this summer
FEATURE
Christopher Fair, OSB, and his two-faced clock with
an abstract flower design
Christopher Fair, OSB,
brings fresh focus to
Abbey Woodworking
Lee Hanley
Founded in 1993, the Center is
dedicated “to provide the best possible education for people who want
to design and build functional, beautiful, expressive work out of wood to
the highest standard of craftsmanship”
(Mission Statement). The faculty,
composed of professional furniture
makers with exceptional technical expage 20 The Abbey Banner Winter 2005
pertise, come from the United States,
England, Canada, New Zealand and
Australia. In 2004 the school had 320
course enrollments from 37 states and
six foreign countries.
studied project design, aspects of
drawing and drafting and the techniques of wood bending, veneering,
staining and turning on lathes. Christopher
began his program learning
the basics of
woodworking
such as how to
sharpen tools
and the characteristics of
wood. “Wood
is alive,” he
explains. “Wood
moves and this
dictates what
can be done
with it.” He
Michael Roske
R
eaders probably associate
the name Rockport with
popular footwear. But for
Brother Christopher, Rockport is
synonymous not with leather but with
lumber. The Center for Furniture
Craftsmanship, located in Rockport,
Maine, is where Christopher for nine
months studied and practiced the art
of making quality furniture under the
direction of David Upfill-Brown, a
master craftsman from Australia. He
also survived six blizzards that made a
wimp of recent Minnesota winters.
Designing and building functional, beautiful,
expressive work out of wood . . .
Christopher’s maple library built-in shelves in the university
president’s office
FEATURE
Putting principles into practice,
Christopher completed eight woodworking projects, namely, a footstool,
tool box, Shaker dwarf clock, veneer
table top, the Orchid clock, several
chair designs, puzzle cubes and the
Mac-Time clock. This last project
involved research into the work of
Charles Rene MacKintosh and his
wife Margaret MacDonald, Scottish
architects and designers who were part
of the Glasgow art movement. Christopher then designed and produced the
Mac-Time clock, a two-faced clock
with an abstract flower design (see
accompanying photo). In an effort to establish a broader
customer base to ensure the continued
vitality of the operation, Saint John’s
Abbey Woodworking aims to be recognized as an apostolate of the abbey.
It seeks to provide not only inter-corporate services but also services to
outside interests. The new focus is the
manufacture and marketing of oneof-a-kind, custom furniture to outside clients such as alumni, Oblates,
relatives and friends. A brochure is in
the making. Additional information is
available at [email protected]. +
Michael Roske
Jim Dugan
When he returned to the abbey
Christopher was named shop supervisor of Saint John’s Abbey Woodworking. His staff includes Larry Notch,
Michael Roske, Gregory Eiben-
steiner, OSB, and Isidore Glyer,
OSB. Formerly known as the Carpenter Shop which concentrated on
the manufacture and repair of dormitory and classroom furniture, Abbey
Woodworking now has a new focus.
Christopher’s drop front secretary
Christopher’s Shaker dwarf clock,
five-feet tall, made of red oak and
Spanish cedar
ABBEY MISSIONS
Members of Holy Trinity Benedictine
Monastery, Fujimi, Japan, pose with Abbot
John: l. to r. Paul Makoto Tada, Nicholas
Thelen, Peter Kawamura, Kieran Nolan,
Edward Vebelun, Abbot John Klassen,
Thomas Wahl.
A Visit to
Japan and
Holy Trinity
Benedictine
Monastery
by Abbot John Klassen, OSB
The community is sinking its roots in the rich soil of Fujimi.
I
n September I visited our dependent priory in Fujimi, Japan. Although the 6,000 mile flight from
Minneapolis to Tokyo can be made in
twelve non-stop hours, it takes more
time to get one’s entire being re-assembled. Father Kieran Nolan met me at the
Narita International Airport and we
journeyed to Kamakura, a beautiful
seaport city south of Tokyo. We spent
the night there and met Oblate Gyo
Furuta for breakfast. Furuta san, a former confrere, is one of the top Catholic scholars in the country. We then
visited a local Episcopalian church
(the pastor is an Oblate) and met a
group of Oblates who had gathered for
Midday Prayer. Following conversation and some moving introductions,
we enjoyed a delicious lunch. Friend
and Oblate Fusegima san did all the
legwork for this gathering. It is important to emphasize the
positive impact of the HolyTrinity
Benedictine monastic community on
the Church in Japan: being a house
for prayer and spiritual refreshment;
a place for hospitality to people of
all faiths; a pastoral ministerial
presence to people in the local and
regional Church, both in English and
Japanese; and the beginnings of an
outreach to people through translation
and publication.
At the request of the community, Father Roman Paur has been
visiting Fujimi for extended periods
every few months. He functions as
a consultant and facilitator for their
community meetings. In June the
community discussed a wide variety
of options for leadership in the future. The consensus was to ask Roman to
be administrator for a period of one to
two years. He has
appointed Father
Edward Vebelun
as subprior and will
mentor him closely
during this time. from the local area. I spoke about The
Saint John’s Bible. The monastery has
both Illuminating the Word and The
Gospels and Acts. Calligraphy is the
highest art form in Japan and these
books and the Bible project were an
instant hit. These latter events are indicative
of the good energy in the community
and a positive sign of the fruits of
this community’s presence in Fujimi. Furuta san used the metaphor of the
community sinking its roots into the
rich soil of Fujimi. This is surely the
immediate and important task for this
community. +
One afternoon
the monks hosted
a group of fifteen
Christian ministers
Abbot John (second from right in front row) met with Benedictine
Oblates in Kamakura, Japan, during his September visit.
ABBEY MISSIONS
Gabriel Ssenkindo, OSB, associate pastor of
St. Theresa Parish, Tororo, Uganda
Graduate of School of Theology
pastors 6,000 families
30,000 parishioners, 869 first communicants and 1,266 confirmands
H
also harvest pineapples, jack fruit,
bananas and papaya and dry the fruit
for export to Germany. Gabriel Ssenkindo, OSB, a 1999
graduate of Saint John’s School
of Theology, answered that question when he visited his alma mater.
Father Gabriel is a member of Christ
the King Priory in Tororo, Uganda.
The community was founded by the
Ottilien Benedictine Congregation
of Germany in 1984 and numbers
twenty-five members plus ten novices.
Gabriel is the associate pastor of
St. Theresa Parish, about four and a
half miles from the
priory. Established
in the 1950s by the
Mill Hill Missionaries, the parish
was entrusted to
the Benedictines in
2003. Forty-seven
percent of the population of Uganda
is Catholic while
thirty-five percent
belong to other
Christian denomiLay ministers and the bicycles they use
nations. to get to their mission churches
ow do two African Benedictine priests of Uganda serve
a parish that includes sixteen
outstations and numbers 6,000 families, 30,000 individuals and this year’s
869 first communicants and 1,266
confirmands? The priory operates a vocation
school with carpentry and metal
shops, a motor garage and a small
farm. The community provides a dispensary and an ophthalmic clinic with
a resident eye surgeon. The monks
Some of the 869 children preparing for First
Communion
To answer the opening question,
Gabriel credits the indispensable help
of the parish’s eight special ministers who conduct communion
services and Christian burials. Sixteen catechists prepare
parents and children for baptism,
first communion and confirmation. One catechist instructs
couples for marriage. These lay
ministers travel by bicycle over
rough roads to their missions.
Twenty bikes were purchased from
funds of a German abbey.
The weekly parish collection averages $40. Each mission chapel contributes $1 to $4 per Sunday. Eighty
percent of the
people live on
a daily earning
of one dollar.
Their main work
is subsistence
farming. A special
concern of the
parish is the care
of children orphaned by AIDS. Parish widows
and widowers
lead this ministry. Thanks to
nationwide educational programs and
the increased availability of medicine,
Uganda has decreased the rate of HIV
infection from thirty percent to six
percent. Readers wishing to contribute to this
mission may send their contribution,
designated for St. Theresa Parish,
Tororo, Uganda, to Christ the King
Priory, Benedictine Mission House,
P.O. Box 528, Schuyler, Nebraska
68661-0528. Your donation will be
forwarded to Uganda. +
STRENGTHENING FOUNDATIONS
Abbey Archives
The monastic community at prayer
An Invitation to Help
by Year-End Giving and
Tax Benefits
by Geoffrey Fecht, OSB
Please join us in our journey and become co-workers with us.
E
ver since the first monks of
Saint John’s Abbey came to
this sacred place in 1856,
people of faith have worked with us
to provide for our needs and to enable
us to fulfill our mission of prayer and
work. By offering your support to the
abbey you become a part of the important work done by the monks. You
join us in our journey, becoming coworkers with us in answering God’s
call to do God’s work. With your assistance we strive to continue working
into the distant future to serve you and
the Church. What Your Gift Can Do
Each year our friends and benefactors make financial gifts to support the
abbey. What does a gift to the abbey
accomplish? Here are a few areas that
friends of Saint John’s help support:
• Promote vocations to the monastic
life and the priesthood
• Provide opportunities for spiritual
renewal through retreats and spiritual direction
• Educate monks so they can teach
those who come to our Preparatory
School, University and School of
Theology•Seminary
• Offer assistance in missionary outreach
• Support our Health and Retirement
Fund to assure the welfare of monks
who have served the Church for
generations
• Promote enterprises such as Abbey
Woodworking and Abbey Arts and
Crafts
• Maintain abbey buildings and
grounds
Your gift helps support these many
needs of the abbey and makes our
ministries possible. most cases you can lower your taxes
through charitable giving. The amount
of the income tax savings will depend,
of course, on your tax bracket.
But giving is concerned with much
more than tax savings. Your charitable
gifts make an important difference
in what we are able to accomplish.
Year-end gift ideas include cash gifts,
gifts of stock or real estate, charitable
gift annuities and others. For more
information please call the Abbey Development Office at 320-363-3556 or
e-mail us at [email protected]. +
Ways to Give
As you do your tax planning this year, we hope
you will consider making
good use of the income tax
charitable deduction. Your
year-end gift can significantly reduce your income taxes
while providing support for
Saint John’s Abbey. Regardless of your income, in
Don LeMay, OSB, (l.) and Arnold Weber, OSB, visit in
Saint Raphael’s Retirement Center.
STRENGTHENING FOUNDATIONS
An Additional
Abbey Guest House Contribution
Abbey Guest House
Construction Update
I
W
ith the utility tunnel for the
Abbey Guest House completed,
the Knutson Construction Services of
Minneapolis has begun construction
of the Guest House itself.
Michael Crouser
n early October we received the
wonderful news that Steve and
Barbara Slaggie of Winona, Minnesota, have given an additional $1
million toward the construction of
the Abbey Guest House. This donation is especially welcome in view of
increased construction costs. The new
gift brings the Slaggie’s total contribution to this project to $4.5 million.
Steve Slaggie graduated with a
degree in economics from Saint
John’s University in 1961. A university Regent since 1999, he is the
long-time director, corporate secretary
and shareholder relations officer for
the Fastenal Corporation of Winona.
Barbara Slaggie was born in Marshall,
Minnesota, and comes from a family
Steve and Barbara Slaggie contribute
another $1 million for construction of
the Abbey Guest House.
of fifteen. Over the years Steve and
Barbara have gotten their whole family involved with Saint John’s. We are
delighted with their continued support
of the Abbey Guest House.
On October 10 the heavy construction equipment arrived on campus
and the sounds of roaring motors and
backup beeps are heard in the land.
The digging and pouring of cement
for the footings of the building was
begun. The footings were in place before the arrival of the winter cold and
the construction of the building itself,
somewhat modified to meet budget
figures, is now in progress.
Architect Vincent James of the
Vincent James Associates Architects,
Minneapolis, assures us that completion of the Abbey Guest House can be
expected in the fall of 2006.
Note: You may follow the Abbey
Guest House construction progress
by checking the daily webcam at
http://guesthousecam.saintjohnsabbey.
org/ +
Lee Hanley
Geoffrey Fecht, OSB, is the development
director of Saint John’s Abbey.
A view of preliminary footings of the Abbey Guest House east of the Abbey Church. The square, boarded up area to the right is the entrance to the utilities tunnel
completed this past summer.
VOCATION NEWS
Members of the 2005 Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps, l. to r.: Andrew Krueger,
Andrew Dirksen, Mark Hoffman, Michael
Hahn, Paul Richards, OSB (director), Paul
Conroy
Simon-Hoà Phan, OSB
Five Benedictine
Volunteers Serve
in New Jersey,
Rome and
Tanzania
Saint John’s 2005 graduates were “infected to service” at Collegeville.
I
n this third year since its inception the Saint John’s Benedictine
Volunteer Corps (SJBVC) has
recruited five graduates of the SJU
2005 class to serve in Benedictine
communities in the United States and abroad. Andrew Dirksen, political science
major from LeMars, Iowa, and Michael Hahn, political science major
from Robbinsdale, Minnesota, work at
Saint Benedict’s Prep in Newark, New
Jersey. They are tutors of students
and teacher assistants at this seventh
through twelfth grade, 575-student,
inner city school established by Benedictines of Newark Abbey in 1868.
Mark Hoffman, music (vocal)
management major from Duluth, Minnesota, works in the library and with
the grounds crew at the International
Benedictine College of Saint Anselm
in Rome, Italy. Established in 1687
and restored in 1888, the college enrolls some ninety students in programs
of priesthood and monastic studies,
theology, philosophy and liturgy. page 26 The Abbey Banner Winter 2005
Paul Conroy, English major from
Monticello, Minnesota, and Andrew
Krueger, communication major from
Orono, Minnesota, teach English at
the Abbey of Hanga in Songea, Tanzania. Founded in 1957, Hanga Abbey
with its 150 members is the largest
Benedictine community in Africa
and operates a hospital, dispensary,
primary and secondary schools and
seminary. Paul and Andrew participated in the Saint John’s Study Abroad
Program in South Africa during the
spring 2004 semester and together
climbed Kilimanjaro, the 19,340-feet,
tallest mountain in Africa.
Why did these young men volunteer? Dirksen: “I wanted a change
of pace, time to reflect on my future
and the chance to experience a different environment and ethnic group.” Hahn: I was infected to service
during my years at Saint John’s.” Hoffman: “I didn’t have time in
high school or college to do volunteer work, so this is the opportunity
I need.” Conroy: “I want to help
others.” Krueger: “I was interested in
the Peace Corps, but when that didn’t
work I still wanted to do volunteer
work.” Volunteers are expected to spend
thirty to forty hours a week in the
work of the host monastery. They
also pray with the community once or
twice a day and join the community
for at least one meal a day. The host
community provides their food, lodging and a small monthly stipend. SJU alumni interested in joining
Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer
Corps should contact Paul Richards,
OSB, director of the program, at 320363-3007 or [email protected]. +
VOCATION NEWS
The ordination of a priest at the
Abbey of Tanga in Tanzania
Benedictine Volunteers
in Tanzania write home
“I am having an amazing time. Africa is wonderful.”
P
aul Conroy writes: I have
been in Tanzania for a little
over a month now, and I have
quickly gotten used to eating the same
foods every day: a lot of rice, occasionally pasta, meat sometimes and a
lot of bread. At the end of a meal if I
am still hungry I stuff my face with
a few pieces of bread with sugar and
bananas. The bread is homemade and
very good. While I still have the occasional craving for a Saint John’s buffet
or McDonald’s dollar menu, I am content with everything we are provided
here. Our menu is much more diverse
than many peoples’.
My knees have finally become
adjusted to the hard wooden kneelers
at church. The first time we knelt on
them, two minutes into it was like “O,
Sweet Jesus, there is no way I can do
this!” But now it is no big deal except
when we pray the rosary; that gets a
bit long.
A very interesting part of life here
I have slowly gotten used to is hand
holding. People hold hands everywhere. Men walk down the street
holding hands, women and men,
women and women, children, everyone. It has taken a little getting used to
holding hands for an extended period
of time with people as we sit and try
to converse or walk down the dusty
road. But it is part of the culture and a
very interesting one I am happy to experience . . . usually. I am doing very
well here and am having an amazing
time. Africa is wonderful.
A
ndrew Krueger writes: One
of the monks about forty years
old died here unexpectedly
from heart failure.
The average life
expectancy is something like 44. While
it was sad for the
community, crowds
of people came in
support and it was a
really good cultural
experience. The ceremony was leagues
away from anything
I’d ever expect in the States—long
church services, women wailing at
times, lots of music.
My birthday celebration was great.
One of the monks decorated our place
with balloons and beach balls and
surprised us when we got home. Lots
of monks and others showed up. After
drinks and presents a group made
their way down the hall with a large
cake singing, “Cakey, cakey, cakey”
and clapping their hands. The group
stopped in front of me and the song
changed to “Cut the cakey, cakey,”
repeated over and over until the cake
had been entirely cut. Then the song
changed to a Swahili word for distribute and, of course, “Cakey, cakey,
cakey.” It was fun to experience a
birthday in a new culture.
One of my goals was accomplished
when last week I had four separate
encounters with siafu. Siafu are the
crazy ants that you will often see on
animal and plant shows. One of the
columns was protected by soldiers,
so I made sure to sit and observe and
play with them for a while. Anything
you dip towards their stream of movement gets absolutely devoured. It’s
crazy. +
VOCATION NEWS
Andrew Coval, OSB, on the day of his
first profession of vows
Andrew Coval, OSB,
professes first monastic vows
“Saint Benedict would argue that this is the real make-over” (Abbot John).
In the context of these words,
Andrew Coval, OSB, 27, made his
initial public commitment to the
Benedictine way of life during the
celebration of the Eucharist that midSeptember afternoon.
Brother Andrew, son of Thomas
and Marie Coval of Philadelphia, has
six brothers. While earning a degree
in philosophy at Emory University,
Atlanta, Andrew made a weekend retreat at the Trappist abbey in Conyers,
Georgia. This sparked an interest in
Catholicism and he converted in 2001.
Andrew later spent three months
in the Conyers’ abbey’s guest program. He then came to Collegeville,
earned the MA in systematic theology at Saint John’s School of
Theology•Seminary in 2003 and participated in Saint John’s Abbey’s summer Monastic Experience Program of
work and prayer with the community.
After teaching theology at an
Episcopal high school in Alexandria,
Virginia, Andrew decided to begin his
Benedictine “make-over” program
and entered the novitiate in September
2004. He is now teaching Spanish at
Saint John’s Preparatory School and
occasionally pursuing a beer brewing
hobby (see pages 10-11 of this issue). +
Robin Pierzina, OSB
T
aking as his starting point the
“make-over” fad of our time,
Abbot John Klassen, OSB, in
his homily for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, September 14,
asserted, “Saint Benedict would cast a
pretty cold eye on this kind of process.
You can put a habit on in a few minutes but it takes a lifetime to become a
monk. Benedict would argue that deep
change ultimately has to come from
the inside out.”
Two Benedictine
novices invested
T
wo young men were accepted into the novitiate and clothed in the monastic garb at a simple
ceremony during Evening Prayer on
September 11. Lee Hanley
Novice Peter (Joseph) Sullivan, 31,
of Mattituck, New York, is the son of
Joseph (deceased) and Anna Sullivan. He has an older sister and brother. Peter has an MA in elementary education
from Dowling College, Oakdale, NY. L. to r.: Novice Peter Sullivan, OSB; JP Earls, OSB (director of formation);
Novice Peregrine Rinderknecht, OSB, during a class in the novitiate library
Novice Peregrine (Jakob)
Rinderknecht, 25, of Shaker Heights,
Ohio, is the son of Joseph and Gail
Rinderknecht. He has two younger
brothers. This spring Peregrine
received the MA in systematic
theology from Saint John’s School
of Theology. +
BANNER BITS
Liturgical Press
Cover of the Psalms book of
The Saint John’s Bible.
The five numbered panels are the
five books of the psalms.
The Saint John’s Bible Update:
Psalms, Exhibitions, Award
P
salms, the second of a seven-volume series of full-color, page-bypage reproductions from The Saint
John’s Bible, will be available in
February from Liturgical Press, Collegeville. Michael Patella, OSB, chair of the
Committee on Illumination and Text,
says, “I believe the Book of Psalms
will be one of the favorite books
to see when the Bible is exhibited. People love the psalms. The way
they appear in The Saint John’s Bible
provides people a way to read their
favorite psalm with new eyes.”
Visual representations of chants
from Benedictine, Native American,
Muslim, Taoist and other traditions are
the basis for the illuminations of the
psalms. Every psalm page features
a small gold image that graphically
renders the chanting of the monks of
Saint John’s Abbey.
Psalms is published in hardcover,
80 pages, 9 3/4 x 15, $59.95. This volume may be ordered from Liturgical
Press by phone (1-800-858-5450) or
e-mail ([email protected]).
Exhibition Tours of
The Saint John’s Bible
A
fter its highly successful exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts this past spring and summer, The Saint John’s Bible continues its exhibition tours to museums and galleries:
Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, January 21—April 15, 2006
The Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England, February 2—May 1, 2006
Tyler Art Museum, Tyler, Texas, June 8—September 3, 2006
The Library of Congress, Washington, DC, October 6—December 15, 2006
Naples Art Museum, Naples, Florida, January 26—April 6, 2007
National Museum of Catholic Art and History, New York City, May 18—
July 27, 2007
Meadows Museum, Shreveport, Louisiana, September 7—November 16, 2007
Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona, December 21, 2007—March 7, 2008
Mobile Art Museum, Mobile, Alabama, October 10, 2008—April 10, 2009
Colman J. Barry
Award to Sister
Wendy Beckett
S
aint John’s University will present
the thirteenth annual Colman J.
Barry Award for Distinguished Contributions to Religion and Society to
internationally renowned art commentator, Sister Wendy Beckett, to honor
her service to society as art historian,
author and television host. A Carmelite nun, Sister Wendy has hosted BBC
television documentaries on a variety
of art museums and galleries and written more than fifteen books.
The award will take place on January 30, 2006, at a private reception in
England to coincide with the opening
of the international exhibition tour of
The Saint John’s Bible at The Victoria
& Albert Museum, London. + Sister Wendy Beckett, Carmelite nun
and host of TV documentaries on art
BANNER BITS
A
Classic Cars Cruise
Collegville Campus
Lee Hanley
Courtesy Thayer Birding Software
Colleen and Roy Bernick and their rare 1933
twelve-cylinder Franklin classic car
unique parade of 23 Franklin
cars cruised through the Collegeville campus on September 16 as part of the Midwest Franklin
Tour. Hosted by Roy Bernick and
Colleen Rawlings-Bernick of Waite
Park, Minnesota, drivers and passengers parked their sparkling vehicles in
the Science Center parking lot while
visiting the Abbey Church and the Hill
Museum & Microfilm Library.
The Franklin was one of the most
innovative motor cars of its time. The
special feature of the automobile was
its air-cooled engine which eliminated
the customary radiator and problems
of overheating and freezing. When
dealers demanded more conventional
styling with a standard radiator in
front, a false radiator was put on the
1925 Franklin.
John Wilkinson was the original
designer of the automobile that became one of America’s great luxury
cars. But it was Herbert H. Franklin,
a former newspaper publisher, who
gave his name to the vehicle that he
manufactured in Syracuse, New York,
and marketed from 1902 to 1934. The Franklin also featured lightweight and flexible construction at
a time when other luxury cars were
ponderous machines. Franklins were
capable of speeds of 60 mph whereas
heavier vehicles like the Oldsmobile
lumbered along at 20 mph. In 1904 a
Franklin was driven from New York
The Franklin was one of the
most innovative cars of its time.
to San Francisco in about half the
coast-to-coast time recorded earlier by
Packard and Winton cars. Roy Bernick, retired vice president
of Bernick’s Pepsi Cola of Waite Park,
and his wife Colleen are the enthusiastic owners of 44 antique and classic
cars and six Franklins. Their collection includes a rare 1933 twelve-cylinder Franklin and an almost extinct
1930, eight-cylinder Deauville-Franklin of which there are only three in
existence. +
Much of this material was taken from
an article by Richard A. Wright on the
Internet.
1930
Franklin
Deauville
1914 Franklin
1926 Franklin
Hugh Witzmann, OSB
1915 Franklin
BANNER BITS
Jerome Tupa, OSB,
announces new web site
F
ather Jerome announces a new
web site to exhibit the various
series of his paintings, prints, watercolors and drawings. The website is www.jerometupa.com. This
site also offers an on-line store for
ecommerce.
This new web site was designed
by Jeff Voight, a friend of the abbey. In particular Jerome’s upcoming pilgrimage exhibits in New
York City and Washington, D.C.
are featured. The Road to Compostela is the latest painting series
completed for exhibition.
sequently shown
in a traveling exhibit moving from
Washington, D.C. to
New York City and
finally to Chicago.
We hope you enjoy
this site. +
2
The first showing of some pieces
in this series will be at Saint John’s
in the Rogers Art Center in the
spring of 2006 and will be sub-
Above, Jerome Tupa’s Assisi Basilica
At left, Jerome Tupa’s Compostela
Calendar of Major Sesquicentennial Events
April 5, 2006 – Opening Day to commemorate the departure on April 5, 1856, of five
Benedictine monks from Saint Vincent Monastery in Pennsylvania for Minnesota
• Presentation of Saint John’s at 150. A portrait
of this place called Collegeville
• 5:00 p.m. Eucharist at which the Archabbot
of Saint Vincent Archabbey presides
April 30, 2006 – Twin Cities Day to commemorate the arrival
Placid Stuckenschneider, OSB
of Benedictine monks in Saint Paul on May 2, 1856,
and to celebrate the long service of Saint John’s Abbey to
Twin Cities and Minnesota parishes
• 7:30 p.m. A festive Evening Prayer Service at
Assumption Church in downtown Saint Paul with the
Saint John’s Abbey Schola and a choir and orchestra
from Saint John’s University
May 20, 2006 – Welcoming Our Neighbors to celebrate the arrival of five
Benedictine monks in Saint Cloud on May 20, 1856 and to emphasize the
commitment of Saint John’s to community
• Various exhibits and activities throughout the
day, e.g., tours, historical displays, musical
groups, games, picnic
• 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Concerts by John
McCutcheon
• 5:00 p.m. Eucharist at which Bishop John Kinney
presides
• Opening of “Benedictines in Central Minnesota”
exhibit at Stearns County Historical Museum
June 24, 2006 – The Feast of Saint John the Baptist to
commemorate the discovery of Indianbush as the
location for the abbey and its schools
• 10:30 a.m. Eucharist at which the Abbot of Saint
Michael’s Abbey, Metten, Bavaria, presides
• 5:00 p.m. Anticipated broadcast of “The Prairie Home
Companion” by Garrison Keillor
NOTE: F
urther details of major Sesquicentennial events
will be released to media as the schedule is confirmed.
Nonprofit
Organization
U.S. Postage
PAID
Saint John’s Abbey
PO Box 2015
Collegeville, MN 56321-2015
www.saintjohnsabbey.org
CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Winter - Saint John`s Abbey

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