SUMMER 2009
‘In the presence of the angels I will sing to you’ - Psalm 137 [138]:1
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columns
Features:
Faith 05 . . . . . . Clothed with God’s Will In Our Lives
07 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From the Desert
Memories of Camp St. Maur . . . 4 Our Fall issue feature on Camp St. Maur stirred fond memories for many former campers. Inside we share a few.
10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Obl ate s 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . in aWord c
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. A Monk’s Trimming 21 . . . Marked with the sign of Faith 9For. .four decades Larry Domann has been
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Grateful Response liturgy & the life of the church
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Abbey notes
Contributing writers:
the Abbey barber. Look inside the Abbey’s shop where the hum of clippers and conversation are part of the rhythm of monastic life.
P EAC E I N AN UNH AP P Y P L AC E . . . 1 2
Fathers Bruce Swift and Louis Kirby share Benedictine hospitality behind prison walls.
Abbot Barnabas Senecal “Multiple sclerosis prevents a lot, but not Father Michael’s appreciation for others and for sports.” From the Abbot (3) - Abbey Notes (5)
Brother John Peto “A Christian is known by his happiness in the Lord!.” Oblates (10)
Father Daniel McCarthy “Fishing for words and for supper elicits patience, skill, intuiting the depths and teamwork.””
1 7 . . . P UT T I NG B. I N B. C . The Rule of St. Benedict is the wellspring of one of the top college ministry programs in the country.
A Grateful Response (22)
Abbot Owen Purcell “It’s all a day at a time” Marked by a Sign of Faith (21)
Nathan Byrne -
“Prison was just like it is in the movies. Except Morgan Freeman wasn’t there and they gave us cookies at the end.” Peace in an Unhappy Place (12)
Prior James Albers “Run while you have the light of life, that the darkness of death will not overtake you.” -Prologue RB Clothed With Faith (5)
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Publisher: Abbot Barnabas Senecal, O.S.B., bsenecal@kansasmonks.org Editor: Dan Madden, dmadden@kansasmonks.org Art Direction: J.D. Benning, jbenning@kansasmonks.org Photography: JD Benning Kansas Monks magazine is published by the Office of Development. For a free subscription: 913.360.7897, or development@kansasmonks.org.
From the Abbot
SUMMER 2009
The Fr. Michael Santa ‘touch’
Father Michael Santa types with his still-supple left hand. Much of his body is restricted by multiple sclerosis. He spends a good part of each day watching television, keeping up with news and events of the day. His bed is covered with a Notre Dame blanket. Icons of loyalty to the Chiefs and Royals are in his room. My brother Richard “Dick” Senecal died in April. This news didn’t escape Father Michael. He rode his wheelchair down to the parish church and concelebrated the Mass of Christian Burial. Michael typed a note to me a few days later. “In 1961 Dick coached the St. Matthew’s grade school football team in Topeka and with the decline of Hayden into the doldrums, Dick, in a little known datum of history, applied for the head coaching job at Hayden,” Father Michael wrote. “We chose Matt May instead since he had experience in helping bad teams. Dick may have been lucky since Matt lost fifteen games in a row before he finally turned the program around in his third year. If Dick would have done better than Matt, he probably never would have become a lawyer.” He also concluded with “You did well in leading the Raven fight song at the funeral.” This was done, with permission of the pastor, Father Gerard Senecal. Folks stood and even clapped as the song was sung. Yes, being a lawyer is what identified Dick Senecal and put him
into relationship with many, many people and institutions. And, yes, he was a fan of athletics, from high school to professional sports. He loved the Raven football program and rallied friends in the old Winnebago to go to away games, and around the gazebo near the field of Larry Wilcox stadium for home games. Father Michael is a sports enthusiast. He has been all of his life. And he is gracious and thoughtful. I stopped to visit Bill Arnold at Hayden after his Hayden Wildcat team had won the 4A Kansas State championship last fall. Bill is a Benedictine College graduate. During his college years he worked for me at Maur Hill in supervisory roles. Bill told me that Father Michael had typed him a note of congratulations after each of the regular season and postseason football games last fall. He had followed the team and took the time to give compliment and encouragement. Father Michael had 25 years as a priest of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas before he requested admission to the abbey community. He was Father Tom Santa as a priest working at Hayden and as pastor of St. Joseph’s Parish in Shawnee. He became Father Michael when he left St. Joseph’s to enter the novitiate of St. Benedict’s Abbey. Folks who have known Father Michael in his various roles in academia and pastoral work ask often about him when I attend various events around the Archdiocese. Only last week a lady, now an eighth-grade teacher, asked about Father Santa. She admitted that when he was her high school principal she didn’t always understand his teaching or administrative techniques. Now that she has participated in these activities, she appreciates the way in which he drew the student or the staff member into decision-making and understanding. Her admiration of him has grown through the years. Father Michael’s seminary classmates get together in reunion each year. They always make phone contact with Father Michael who can listen to their words but not form many words in response due to the MS. Father Salvatore Polizzi, pastor of St. Roch Church in St. Louis, set up the 2009 phone call on the occasion of their 53rd anniversary of ordination. It is in the heart where memories are stored and valued. Father Michael has helped create and sustain those memories in many. His apostolic work as a priest and a friend continues. The message is the same, a message of encouragement and appreciation, a desire to “stay in touch.” Abbot Barnabas Senecal, OSB 3
KANSAS MONKS
Memories of Camp St. Maur letters from campers
Bug Juice & Frog Legs Thank you so much for the article on Camp St. Maur (Fall 2008). I attended from 1962-65 (I think). I was in the Kiowa Tribe. Brother Gregory was our leader. I remember he lit his cigarettes with a wooden match. He had scratch marks on his green work pants where he lit his wooden matches. He was always patient and quiet. Brother Norbert would patrol the bunk area during naps and he gave paddles to anyone who was not sleeping. I remember my cousin Tim got a paddle (whack!) once. We were talking and laughing. We drank “bug juice” at our meals—some type of Kool-Aid. And the songs after supper were wonderful; a good way to digest food and lift the spirits. We sang “I love to go a-wandering along the mountain trail…” and “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt.” I also remember singing, “You can’t get to heaven on Brother Norbert’s bus, ’cause all he does is spit and cuss!” One day we were at the canteen and there was a woman in the distance; someone said she was Minerva! Chills went up and down my spine. I remember Lake Placid. Eating frog legs there for the first time. I also remember camping out there; we could not settle down at night because we were on high alert for a sneak attack from another tribe. It was Barnabas or Matthew who used a very wise trick to get us to sleep, telling us to play possum and surprise them when they attacked. The next thing I knew it was morning! I remember Father Benjamin. I remember getting chosen as a Golden Thunderbird. What a great boost to my self-esteem. I made a gold lanyard and claw with great care. I temporarily lost the claw on
Wonderful Memories I attended Camp St. Maur in the summers of 1949, 1950 and 1951. My father died in 1945 when I was 5 years old and my mother never remarried. Attending the camp was part of the “male influence” my mom wanted me to have. I have photos and wonderful memories of those summers. The most vivid were: 1. Boxing – We would box three rounds of three minutes each. Afterward our arms felt like they were going to fall off. 2. Swimming trips to Bean Lake – We were loaded up in cattle trucks. We would stand up and could see through the slats while going to the lake. It was a whole day’s affair with a picnic, boating, swimming, etc. I remember after swimming in the lake we would smell like fish. I always preferred swimming in the swimming pools after that. 3. Mohawk haircuts. See some kids in the indoor swimming pool. (right) 4. Making braided lanyards. We all put a claw at the end. I live in Overland Park, Kan., and would like to tour the old camp grounds sometime. If there is enough interest, maybe you could sponsor a Camp St. Maur reunion. Sincerely, Larry Ebner - Overland Park, Kan. 4
the stairway and my heart sank. But St. Anthony came through! For my Golden Thunderbird initiation there were drums in the distance as I lay in my bed. Pretty soon they got closer and closer. Then someone came for me. I was blindfolded and taken outside. I was told to go after the person beating the drum. I finally found him. I was given something nasty to eat. Then, still blindfolded, I was given a blanket and I spent the night some distance out by myself. I was told not to take the blindfold off until morning. I woke up in the morning with my face covered with mosquito bites. I easily found my way back for breakfast, standing a little taller. I can’t imagine that I spent two weeks that far away from home at that young age. I don’t remember being too homesick. I will cherish your article. But most of all I will cherish the memories. What better way for a boy to spend the summer. I was introduced to the Benedictines and went on to attend Benedictine College. Father Hugh, Father Barnabas, Father Nicholas, Father Benjamin and Brother Gregory were all there waiting for me. With warmest regards, Jerome Ewald - Wichita, Kan.
SUMMER 2009
Clothed with Faith God’s Will In Our Lives Vocations rooted in family prayer
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photo by J.D. Benning
ope Benedict’s prayer intention for the month of May was that the laity and Christian communities be responsible promoters of priestly and religious vocations. Our Holy Father highlighted the responsibility we each have in fostering vocations, both as religious and lay people. It is important to note that he shared this intention during the month of May, the month of Mary. By doing so he recognized that the ground from which religious vocations will sprout is family life, and more precisely prayer within the family. Jesus’ future ministry and ability to make the ultimate sacrifice were nurtured in the context of the family life formed for him by Joseph and Mary, a life rooted in prayer. Just over a year ago, as Pope Benedict was responding to questions posed by the U.S. bishops at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., he addressed the situation of vocations in the Church. “In the Gospel Jesus tells us to pray that the Lord of the harvest will send workers… Strange to say,” the Holy Father said, “I often think that prayer—the unum necessarium (the one thing necessary)— is the one aspect of vocations work which we tend to forget or to undervalue!” He added that while praying for vocations is necessary, simply prayer itself within the context of family life is key to raising up young men and women who have the foundation to truly discern God’s will for them. “To the extent that we teach young people to pray, and to pray well, we will be cooperating with God’s call,” Pope Benedict offered to the bishops, “…the discernment of a vocation is above all the fruit of an intimate dialogue between the Lord and his disciples. Young people, if they know how to pray, can be trusted to know what to do with God’s call.” The Holy Father noted that to give young people the knowledge and grace of prayer, prayer formed in family life, is to give them the tools to venture through life and to know the subtle nudges of God’s will. As I recently reflected on these comments from the Holy Father, the situations of two young men discerning God’s call to our community came to mind. In mid-April I received an email from one of them, saying his parents were making a weekend drive to Atchison— eight hours one way—and they wanted to meet with me. I will admit my first thought was that they wanted to try and dissuade their son from considering the monastery. How wrong I was. After another monk and I talked with his father and mother for about a half hour, the mother said, “We were thinking that if one of our sons or daughters were getting married, we would want to meet the family, so with our son wanting to join the monastery we decided to drive down and meet the ‘family.’” In a similar opportunity a couple of the monks met the parents of another young man discerning our community. The mother, though she was having difficulty with the possibility of having her son so
far away—more than a day’s drive away—resolved, “I just want my son to be happy, and this decision seems to be making him happy.” With both of these examples, we see trust in God. And this trust, whether it be a young man learning to trust God in his discernment, or family members allowing Prior James Albers him to make that venture, it is necessarily founded on the grace that can only come from prayer. Within prayer we encourage young people to think of their relationship with God and to trust in him. In Pope Benedict’s prayer intention for May we are called to that same trust in God and in the young people of today. To this point our Holy Father in his April 2008 visit to Washington said, “It has been noted that there is growing thirst for holiness in many young people today, and that, although fewer in number, those who come forward show great idealism and much promise. It is important to listen to them, to understand their experiences, and to encourage them to help their peers see the need for committed priests and religious, as well as the beauty of a life of sacrificial service to the Lord and his Church.” At the heart of building up youth today, of encouraging them to consider a priestly or religious vocation, is the gift of prayer. It is a gift that must be fostered within the family if vocations are to come forth for the Church. Recognizing this, we pray for the intention of our Holy Father, turning to prayer, asking God for the ability to trust in his will, a trust cultivated by a rich life of prayer within our families and communities. We ask that we truly be responsible promoters of priestly and religious vocations.
Brother Simon Baker began his year-long novitiate in August 2008.
If you are a young man interested in a monastic vocation or if you know of someone who might be, please contact the St. Benedict’s Abbey Director of Vocations, Prior James Albers. He can be reached at jalbers@kansasmonks.org or by telephone at 913-360-7830 5
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From The Desert God is My Debtor?
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eah, yeah, yeah! I already see the emails, phone-calls, and teasing coming my way, but here’s my story. A couple of weeks ago I had a meeting in Atchison with priests and some others of the Atchison Region. Now most of my friends and parishioners know I do not like long meetings, especially at night. I must admit I left that meeting early to get back to Hiawatha at a “reasonable time.” I also admit, when it comes to driving, I have a “heavy foot.” I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw the car turn around— then its’ red and blue lights came on. I pulled over and prayed, “Jesus, please let it be Joe, please let it be Joe!” I was praying, I must shamefully admit, that the trooper who pulled me over would be a parishioner, Joe Whitman. However, the good Lord did not answer my prayers. The trooper walked up to my door, asked for my driver’s license and told me he had caught me doing 70 in a 55. I said I was sorry. He said, “Sir, I’m letting you off with a verbal warning.” I thanked him. I called Joe Whitman on his cell phone the next morning. Instead of him I got his brother, who it turns out was also with the Kansas State Troopers. I told him the story and he got a big kick out of it. He turned the phone over to Joe. He laughed too. Now I know what you are thinking and you are right: I didn’t receive a ticket because I was wearing my habit and my collar. While I know my penalty would have been very costly, I think around $150, I would have felt better if the trooper had given me a ticket. I feel weird for getting a warning. [Talk about “Catholic guilt” and the desire for penance!] So, I asked Joe to tell the trooper that I would offer up a prayer for him. I have, a few times. Not only for the trooper who pulled me over, but for Joe and all State Troopers and other law enforcement officials (quite of few of them are friends of mine in Johnson County), firemen, E.M.S. et cetera. Question for you: Who is the debtor here? Answer: It is not the trooper. It is not me. The answer, I submit: God, as it were, is the debtor. Why would I say God is “the debtor?” Because I offered up a sacrifice of prayer, and prayer, speaking to God, is more efficacious, more precious, and more valuable than paying a speeding ticket. Now why the story? I love to read, so much so that I’m juggling about four to five books right now. One is called, The Heart of the Mass. As I have written The Heart of the Mass is available from Amazon.com for $14.00 in other columns, sometimes
SUMMER 2009 I’ll come across a passage which stops me in my tracks. Sometimes I have to take days to digest what I have read. I have to pray over it. I might chew on a paragraph for days. Then, the more I pray the more humbled I am that God has called me to my vocation as a priest. I, unworthy as I am, am called to celebrate the sacrifice of the holy Mass for the forgiveness of sins on behalf of the whole world. I believe Father Gabriel Landis and feel this deeper than ever after reading the passage from this book. Before I share it, please read this passage from the first prayer right after the consecration in the Roman Canon for the Mass: “Father, we celebrate the memory of Christ, your Son. We, your people and your ministers, recall his passion, his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension into glory; and from the many gifts you have given us, we offer to you, God of glory and majesty, this bread of life and the cup of eternal salvation.” Reflecting on this prayer, the book, The Heart of the Mass states: “This offering is so precious that it exceeds in value the whole world with all its treasures; it is a treasure so costly that it outweighs the vast humanity and all their infinite riches; for the humanity of Christ is so noble, so sacred, that nothing equal to it has ever been or ever will be created by the hand of God. This offering, therefore, causes infinite gratification to the Most Holy Trinity, and God becomes, as it were, our debtor, for what we offer Him is worth infinitely more than what we owe Him” (page 73). The line in italics is what stopped me dead in my tracks: “God becomes, as it were, our debtor…” Do you see why I have been chewing, reflecting and praying on this for the last couple of weeks? Humbling isn’t it? The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, where Jesus the High Priest offers himself as the Holy and Immaculate Victim. So beautiful is the Latin for this prayer; Puram hostam, sanctam, hostiam immaculatam, Panem sanctum vitae aeternae, et Calicem salutis perpetuae. Something I know quite well is that I am a sinner. Saint Paul says in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” I guess I am in good company. Each one of my sins, even the tiniest venial one, offends God. My sins and yours wound Jesus. Yet Saint Paul tells us in Romans 5:20-21, “ But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ Our Lord.” It is a good and right thing to pray to God that he reveal our sins to us, only so that we may be more grateful for his Divine Mercy. We owe God a lot for our sins, but there is never any way we could on our own make up for our sins. So thanks be to Jesus Christ for his Sacrifice on the Cross. Praised be Jesus for the Sacrifice of the Mass, where Jesus in his human nature lies upon the altar, only to be offered up by Jesus in his divine nature, through me as a priest, along with each one of you, as you unite with me in making the oblation. This treasure infinitely and exceedingly makes up for all the accumulated sins of all generations of the past, present and future. So, my brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, do you understand why I was blown away when I read, “God becomes, as it were, our debtor?” For the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass we offer up to him is…it is priceless. My Lord and my God, so often you move me to tears! 7
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A Monk’s Trimming
SUMMER 2009
by Dan Madden - photos by JD Benning
Brother Robert and Brother Anthony like to talk gardening. Father Matthew usually gets around to politics. Young Brother Leven talks about the progress of his experimental peanut crop. Another monk recalls baptizing a girl 20 years before. She’s all grown up now. Larry Domann, wearing blue jeans and a Hawaiian shirt, keeps the clippers and the conversation humming. For 40 years, Domann, a resident of nearby Nortonville, has visited the old barber shop inside St. Benedict’s Abbey to serve the barbering needs of the monks. In his easy Kansas drawl Domann chats with Father Donald as he trims the silver hair along the monk’s neck. Domann first ventured into the Abbey as a 19-year-old apprentice barber, working under the elderly Bill Matzeder, a lifelong Catholic who had accepted the job of Abbey barber, a duty that had previously been shared by novices and fraters, young monks studying for the priesthood. Matzeder had passed spare work to his young employee and when he retired handed over the entire business to the young man. Domann, also Catholic, has been an Abbey regular ever since. Domann spends each Wednesday at the Abbey. He says he appreciates the conversational penchants of the monks. It passes the time. The barber shop, which looks like a slice out of a Norman Rockwell painting, fits Domann. Even when he’s away, his scissors, clippers and shavers rest in just the right place. Mildly humorous barbershop cartoons, yellowed by age, hang on the walls along with a quote from the Rule of St. Benedict on the care of tools of the monastery. And the chair worn by use, glides silently under the barber’s seasoned hands. The monks pass through with friendly talk and the rhythm of daily life of a monastery. “It’s about the same as it was 40 years ago,” Domann says.
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Obl ates Abbot provides ‘tools’ for a good Lent
Each Lent Abbot Barnabas selects a book for all the monks to read during Lent. We then meet every Tuesday evening to discuss certain chapters of the book. One of the monks, a volunteer, leads the discussion. This Lent the Abbot selected Mark Braaten’s book, Prayer as Joy, Prayer as Struggle. In 11 short chapters the Rev. Braaten truly brought various aspects of prayer to life. Each chapter is entitled with some phase of what prayer might be at any given time for each person. Some of the titles of the chapters might whet your appetite to buy the book—“Prayer as Thanksgiving,” “Prayer as Request,” “Prayer as Hope,” “Prayer as Listening.” Mark Braaten is the senior pastor of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Tyler, Tex., and you can buy his book at a book store or directly from Liturgical Press in Collegville, Minn., at its Web site, www.litpress. org. I especially relished the Chapter on “Prayer as Listening.” I have been reflecting on the various prayers that are proper to each celebration of Mass Brother Martin Burkhard such as “Opening Prayer,” “Prayer over the Gifts” and “Prayer after Communion.” I would like to take some examples from the prayer after Communion and the strong challenge leveled by that prayer. At the end of every Mass we are directed to go on our way and live out what we have just celebrated. It is so easy to sit back and think that something is over and we now return to our everyday life. On the contrary, what we celebrate in daily or Sunday Mass must become a reality in our lives of faith. What first struck me in one of the prayers after Communion was the phrase “May we become what we have received.” In some way or other I have tried to recall this at the end of every Mass since that time. When we truly listen we hear things that may well change our way of thinking and acting.
Some other phrases that offer challenges follow: “Help us to live by your words”; “May these mysteries give us a new purpose”; “May the new life given us increase our love and keep us in the joy of your kingdom”; “May your celebration have an effect in our lives”; “By these mysteries help our faith grow to maturity.” It seems to me that any Brother John Peto one of the above challenges us Director of Oblates greatly as Christians. I firmly believe that our faith will only become real when we find it a daily challenge. Each of us is offered many opportunities throughout the day to become more alive in our great love of Jesus. I would like to add a couple of notes about oblates. This message in each issue of Kansas Monks is my principal way of keeping in contact with the many oblates of the abbey. The high cost of postage prohibits sending a separate newsletter to every oblate. I do however send a short note to those oblates who try to attend meetings on a regular basis. If you would like to be added to that list please let me know. The biannual convention for oblate directors and two oblates from each oblate community will be held at St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Penn., from June 26 to July 1. At this meeting there will be an election for Prayer as Joy, Prayer as Struggle by Mark Braaten is available from Amazon.com for President and Vice $10.16 President of NAABOD (the National Association of Oblate Directors). I have served as Vice President for the past four years and will not be running for office. Please pray that we will elect officers who will serve well the men and women living the Oblate way of life.
- Have you ever considered becoming an Oblate of St. Benedict? - Does it mean I make vows? Do I have more prayers to say? Does it cost money? - Do I have to make radical life changes? Come and see or contact me, Br. John Peto, jpeto@kansasmonks.org 913-360-7896 10
Word
in a
The following homily was delivered by Abbot Barnabas Senecal at St. Benedict’s Abbey Church on the second anniversary of the dedication of the Abbey church, April 29, 2009
“Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” Jesus must have confused people with that statement. Jews had such reverence for Jerusalem as their sign of favor from God, where their “chosen-ness” was affirmed. Many regarded mountaintops as places where God dwelt and could be honored in sacrifice. We reflect on Jesus’ statement, conscious that we do cling to place, especially as Benedictines. We live within that place, pray there often, and bury our brothers from this place when life ends. And yet, we know that more important than place is a spirit that gives us life day to day, wherever we are assigned to work. We know the truth of our lives from within the context of community. That community has stones on which it is built, stones that are foundations, stones that are capstones, stones that are not visible and stones that are visible. Literally, this church in which we gather was built on earlier stones. The foundation stones at this end of the church were laid in 1929. New stones were placed upon them in 1957. The old stones were quarried right here in Atchison; the new stones came from Minnesota. Some of the invisible stones on which this community was built were monks. They were German-born, men who had come to St. Vincent Abbey in Pennsylvania; they volunteered or were assigned to come to “the Sahara,” namely, to Kansas. The first monk to die here was Brother Bernard Ball, born in Catowa, Illinois; he was 27 when he died on April 25, 1882. Two hundred twenty-seven other monks have been buried, invisible to
photo by J.D. Benning
photo by J.D. Benning
A Community Built from Stones
SUMMER 2009 us who inherit their many contributions, who share their spirit and live in their truth. Our first abbots, foundation stones as it were, came from families that had come to the United States and found the Benedictines in various ways. The first abbot, Innocent Wolf, was Abbot Barnabas Senecal born in Cologne, Germany, and moved with his family to Wisconsin; from there he joined St. Vincent in Pennsylvania. He was elected our first abbot in 1876. Our second abbot, Martin Veth, was a native of Bavaria whose impoverished family had moved to Atchison in 1884 from New York. Our third abbot was born in Ireland and came to this country as an orphan, living in Kansas City. We celebrate today the dedication of this church in 2007, the year of our 150th anniversary. That ceremony was not done in 1957 for various reasons. It is now done, and we happily observe its anniversary. This is a place of prayer, private and public. It is a place where the spirit is touched and the spirit is shared. That is the truth in which we prosper. We gather living stones from many places to continue this community’s life. We are diverse and yet we have much in common. May we not be strangers but fellow citizens. May Christ be our capstone and our foundation, he being visible to us and at once hidden, giving support and guidance through the Spirit.
The original Abbey cornerstone
Prayers of the Faithful - For all who contributed funds to build our monastery and our monastic church, to be places that survive on sure foundations, - For all who have contributed their talents as members of our community, keeping it strong and giving support to many, - For all who have encouraged others in their lives of faith, sharing their spirit and their truth, - For all who come to this mountain top, this new Jerusalem, that they may find it to be a place where the Spirit lives, Let us pray to the Lord 11
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photos by J.D. Benning
PE ACE IN A N UTNH AP P Y P LAC E H E AB B E Y ’ S P R I S O N A PO S TO L ATE SUMMER 2009
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PR O GRE S S N OT P E R F E C TI ON by Nathan B yr ne
God is everywhere. Even in prison. Father Bruce Swift found this out the day he met Big Jim. The prisoners at Fort Leavenworth didn’t trust anybody. Father Bruce was there for the ‘Residents Encounter Christ’ Retreat in the 1980s. “Before we left,” Father Bruce said. “they were hugging people.” Swift describes Big Jim as a “big, muscular guy” who introduced himself by describing how he got the nickname, aside from his stature. “They call me Big Jim,” he said, “because when I yell down the hallway, it gets quiet.” And things got quiet with that introduction, but the silence would soon speak volumes. At the end of the weekend-long retreat, the prisoners shared their feelings aloud. Guess who spoke up first. “They still call me Big Jim,” he said, “but it’s because I have a big heart now.” Father Bruce has been doing prison ministry ever since.
“…I was in prison and you came to me.” –Matthew 25:36 Robert Washington has been behind bars at the Lansing Correctional Facility for two years. He signed up for the Catholic callout about six months in. “I’m trying and I’m progressing every day to be a better person,” said Washington. “This group has really helped me.” Washington finds peace in the weekly Bible study group. “It’s always a difference when you can study and read with someone else,” Washington said. “Just a different air than sitting in your cell reading.” He’s eight years away from getting out of that cell, but Washington already has plans. “I’m studying business now, I’m back into writing poetry,” he said. “It’s just constant growth.” That growth, he says, starts with the positive interaction he has with this group each week. “Find something good that you love doing,” he said. “Stick with it and grow.” He hopes to one day start a business with the poetry he writes.
Prison is the last place anyone would expect to find freedom. But Derek Coe may never have felt so free. “God has a reason for everything,” Coe said. “The reason I’m in prison is to slow down and actually think about things in my life before I go back out.” 14
Father Bruce on his way out of the maximum security section of Lansing Correctional Facility.
Coe tries to use his time wisely, studying German, Spanish and American Sign Language in preparation for a hopeful career as an interpreter when he gets out of prison this November. In the meantime, he stays focused—from the inside out—on his goals. “I want to make wiser, smarter decisions,” he said. “I pray all the time in my room for God to give me wisdom and intelligence and good guidance to light the path of my choices in the future.” For now, the 24-yearold, two-time inmate who converted to Catholicism inside a prison takes what he can from the fellowship. “There’s a lot of mentorship that can help me out through the week,” said Coe. “There’s a lot of people’s insight about what they have to say about Bible verses.” As Coe and his peers prepare to branch out, they continue their connection to the vine.
Scott Reaka isn’t usually a man of many words, but when the request for a reader was called out at Bible study— his hand went up first. “Something told me to read it,” he said. “I feel the Spirit in me to read the Bible.” A self-professed shortcutseeker, Reaka has been in prison for burglary before, and he’s there again. “The devil is always trying to throw stuff out,” said Reaka. “People always take the bait easy.” Raised Catholic, the
SUMMER 2009 German-born Reaka tried to go to church every day when he was on the outside. Now, church comes to him. And that’s good news for someone who says he tends to “go back to his old ways.” Despite that tendency, Reaka says the “hard work” of “going straight” is much easier with the support he gets every week.
It’s hard to match an educational experience like prison ministry. Father Bruce takes two or three Benedictine College students along to Lansing every year. Passing through electronically locked doors, seeing the razor wire and the mere thought of being inside the walls of a prison can intimidate almost anyone. “They don’t know what the prisoners are in there for,” Father Bruce said. Aaron Rains was nervous at first, but his outlook changed after just one evening. “Those guys need someone to come in and talk to them,” Rains told Father Bruce. “They are just normal people who made some bad choices.” “Jailhouse confession” takes on a new meaning when Father Bruce visits the prisoners. “It’s a good feeling to see these people who have made some mistakes wanting to straighten out their lives,” Father Bruce said.
“They’ve learned their lesson and they’re going to change.” Change is a powerful word these days. Even a seemingly simple change—like a change of clothes—can change the day’s outcome. Just ask Aaron Rains. This particular trip was far removed from his first visit to Lansing. The aforementioned intimidation was all but gone. In fact, Rains had grown so comfortable with the prison visits that he almost left the Benedictine campus dressed in a light blue shirt and blue jeans. Just like the prisoners. Father Bruce noticed Rains’ wardrobe malfunction in time and he was allowed to leave the prison that Wednesday evening.
Participating prisoners enjoy the routine: Bible study and Confession on Wednesday, Mass on Saturday. The combination of regularity and formality is comforting. But sometimes, the simplest things make all the difference. Being treated differently—like more than just a prisoner—allows them to talk, to feel more human. “I do not, in any circumstances, blame them for what they did, I don’t make any accusations, I don’t tell them how bad they were,” Father Bruce said. “I just listen to them more than anything else.” “Listen…”—the first word of the Rule of St. Benedict
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KANSAS MONKS
PLANTI NG S E E D S AS H E G OE S by Dan M adden
Father Louis Kirby has literally worn his fingers down in prison ministry. “Turns out when you get old they can’t get a fingerprint off of you anymore,” he says with a grin. “When I found that out I told [prison officials] I was going to get a new job—robbing banks.” Father Louis won’t be taking up new employment, but at 86 years old, he has decided to end his 15 years of work behind prison walls. When he had to ask some inmates at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary to help him up to the altar at a Mass earlier this year and later took a spill on the prison stairs he realized his time had come to hand over the vestments to another monk. Father Louis will no longer be visiting Leavenworth two Sundays each month, “one to the Prison Farm and one to the Big House” as he puts it. The whippersnapper who will be succeeding him is 78-year-old retired Abbot Owen Purcell. However, Father Louis’ Prison Ministry won’t end completely, thanks to seeds he has planted in the last decade and a half. Father Louis began prison ministry when he was at the now closed Holy Cross Abbey in Cañon City, Colo., which was in Fremont County, home to 14 prisons. In the early days, one prisoner asked to be an Oblate of the Order of St. Benedict and Father Louis obliged. The Oblates served by Father Louis grew in number as word spread. “The first thing I knew we had a little group of Oblates,” he recalls. A volunteer took over the group around Cañon City. “Prisoners move,” Father Louis says. “They take their ideas with
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them.” So did Father Louis. His Abbey closed and he moved to St. Benedict’s Abbey in Atchison, Kan. He took his Oblate file with him. Now, St. Benedict’s has about 70 oblates in 10 to 12 prisons around the country. There are oblates in prisons in North Carolina, in Illinois, and in Pocahontas, Va. There are oblates in six prisons in Colorado, in Arkansas, and at Leavenworth. There are Oblates at five prisons in Texas. “I don’t know much about prisons in Texas,” Father Louis says, “but there are a lot of them.” Father Louis keeps in touch with the Oblates with a newsletter that he sends out four to five times a year that includes lessons on the Rule of St. Benedict and other holy reading, and occasionally he shares a letter from an inmate: “It is nice to receive your Oblate newsletter and the Kansas Monks. I always find at least one spiritual message that inspires me even more so in a prison setting,” one imprisoned Oblate wrote. “We have to take one day at a time or we will spend an inordinate amount of time on things that can’t change. The past and the future need to stay just where they are—in the past and in the future. The most important thing I do is to live one day at a time and start each day with the Divine Office.” “These are human beings,” Father Louis says. “They need spirituality. Many of them didn’t get much on the outside.” Father Louis says many of the prisoners he has met are good people, “sincere people who want to evolve spiritually.” Father Louis receives many letters, and he will continue to visit their authors with his newsletter and with his prayers, planting seeds as he goes. “The Book of Psalms was daunting and difficult to follow, but knowing that millions of other believers were praying the exact same prayers was somewhat empowering,” wrote one inmate. “It’s more than just the prayers, though. After spending a good portion of my life doing as I pleased, I needed guidance. Wouldn’t you know St. Benedict thought of that also…Through trust in God, with the help of St. Benedict’s Rule I am learning happiness and peace in one of the most unhappy places.”
PU T T I NG THE B. I N B. C . SUMMER 2009
photo by J.D. Benning
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KANSAS MONKS
RUL E I S W EL LSPR ING OF COLLEGE MINISTRY by Dan M adden
It was in the water in the old days. The students of St. Benedict’s College used to drink up the Benedictine spirituality almost unconsciously, as if from a Kansas well. “You had monks who were prefects in the dorms, who were professors in the classroom, who were pastors in the chapels,” Father Brendan Rolling notes. Today, putting the “Benedictine” in Benedictine College is more like visiting a Flint Hills spring. “Today, we are very intentional about weaving the values from the Rule of St. Benedict into the Student Life program,” says Father Brendan, the college’s director of ministry and mission. A fountain for those values is the college ministry program under Father Brendan’s guidance. Through the program the monks provide pastoral care, celebrating Mass and the sacraments with the students, and some voluntarily provide individual spiritual direction to students at the Abbey. Father Brendan says it is important to maximize student contact with the Benedictines. He also points to the Partners in Prayer program in which a student can join a sister from Mount St. Scholastica to pray the Liturgy of the Hours and share a meal. Sign-ups climbed more than 69 percent for the program this year. Benedictine College President Steve Minnis doesn’t hesitate for a moment in declaring his school’s Ministry Office the best in the nation. The number of activities available in the program, the number of students clamoring to participate, and the quality of preparation those students receive to assume leadership positions in their parishes once they leave Benedictine are “almost staggering,” Minnis says. The confident president is backed up in his assertions by the Cardinal Newman Society, which has declared Benedictine College one of the 20 best Catholic colleges in the country, and by the dramatic increase in the college’s ministry reach and participation over the past two years. Recently, Minnis hosted Bishop James V. Johnston Jr., of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau who had heard good things about the B.C. ministry efforts and wanted to see for himself. “He came for a tour and was blown away by the faith life on campus,” Minnis says. President Minnis is equally certain that there is a direct lineage between his school’s 21st century ministry success and the wisdom of
Father Meinrad Miller, Benedictine College Chaplain, provides spiritual direction for Tylan Ricketts.
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Father Brendan Rolling, Benedictine College Director of Campus Ministry, is a spiritual resource for Benedictine students.
a 5th century saint—St. Benedict of Nursia—whose spiritual descendents, the Benedictine monks of St. Benedict’s Abbey and sisters of Mount St. Scholastica Monastery, founded the college and continue to shepherd it today as a primary apostolate. Sitting outside his Ministry Office in the B.C. Student Union, across a small study area from the basketball coaches’ offices, Father Brendan Rolling, director of ministry and mission, discusses the the program with the Xs-and-O’s air of a coach. “The goal is to be effective,” he says. He explains that he chose early on to model Benedictine’s program after an athletic department. “They have their head coach, their assistant coaches, their varsity and junior varsity. The goal is optimal participation. We ought to set ourselves up the same way.” Father Brendan says he didn’t face the same challenges as other campus ministers. Getting students to participate or to attend Mass is not a Benedictine College problem. “One study I read said that 80 percent of students lose their faith during college,” he said. “At Benedictine, 80 percent of students go to church services on Sunday. The typical kid at Benedictine is an all-star at a Newman Center on another campus.” The problem that led to a reorganization of the B.C. ministry program was a bottleneck, Father Brendan says. There were simply too many students wanting to participate. The program was spread too thin. “We’re getting students turning down full-ride scholarships at other schools because they want to be in a Catholic environment,” he says. “They are making faith development a priority. They are bringing their faith to their professional development. And that requires a sacrifice. Anything that requires a sacrifice is going to attract smart, talented and generous students.” Benedictine’s college ministry is divided into seven teams. Each team is led by three or four students who have completed training in the Benedictine Leadership Seminar, a program based on principles from the Rule of St. Benedict. Father Brendan says the leaders’ jobs are to “recruit, train and empower” student volunteers. “Each team’s job is to implement the documents of the Church that are relevant to the teams’s mission,” Father Brendan says. With its wider reach the ministry and mission program has broadened from seven students to 27 this year. One hundred ten students—
SUMMER 2009 thirteen percent of the college’s student body— are now signed up as liturgical ministers. The Rereat Team has gone from four volunteers to 76. Eleven retreats serving 563 teens last year increased to 20 serving 1,105 this year. In the past decade the college has gone from two praise-andworship choirs to nine who can sing chant, chorale and hymns, and who feature organ, piano and guitar accompaniment. In that time Bible study groups have increased from two to 44. The college has also offered and increased participation in self-funded alternative Spring Break mission trips to El Salvador, Belize, North Dakota Indian Reservations, and a mission of Mother Teresa’s order in Los Angeles. Prior James Albers and Brother Leven Harton led this year’s trip to El Salvador. “Father Brendan has this ability to see talent in young people,” President Minnis notes. “And they flourish under his leadership.” Mike Schaad came to Benedictine College a freshman planning to play tight end on the football team, but wound up starting for Father Brendan’s team. Schaad, who grew up Catholic in a parish with a strong youth program, attended a campus retreat not long after arriving at Benedictine and wasn’t impressed. “I felt like it was wasting the time and money of the students who were attending,” he recalls. “It was really thrown together. There wasn’t a theme; there were no sacraments, there was no Mass. It was pretty shallow and fun in the sun.” Schaad approached Father Brendan and voiced his concerns. “I said I think you should fix it, and Father Brendan, as he always does,
Brother Leven Harton participates in candle light adoration vigil for vocations.
said, ‘Why don’t you fix it?’” Schaad stumbled back to his dorm room with a few sleepless nights ahead of him. He hadn’t planned on getting involved in campus ministry, but he couldn’t get Father Brendan’s abrupt challenge out of his head. Schaad had developed his own fence-building business back in his hometown of Dallas, Tex. He thought perhaps, his organizational skills could be put to use in helping Father Brendan’s efforts. “God kept kicking me,” he says. Schaad dropped football and accepted the priest’s challenge. “Father Brendan told me he wanted me to build the most dramatic retreat program in the country,” Schaad says. As coordinator of Set Free In the next issue: Ministries, Schaad and his volunPart II of our look at the teers in the past two years have Benedictine College expanded the retreat program apostolate of St. Benefor high school and confirmation dict’s Abbey: Sacramental students in the four-state region ministry and spiritual of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and direction. Kansas (MINK) from 260 students the year before last to more than 1,100 students this year. “We’re getting there,” Schaad says with a smile. This year he will turn the program over to trusted volunteers as he moves on to his next challenge, an assistant football coach position and resident assistant at Maur Hill-Mount Academy. “It’s time to get a new group in and see what they can do,” he says. Sarah Daszczuk, a junior theology and youth ministry major, says that while Benedictine enjoys a strong Catholic environment, the ministry teams are not resting. “A lot of students already go to Sunday Mass, but now we need to take that to the next level of giving our lives to Christ,” she says. “We need to make sure we don’t get complacent.” In that quest, she says, the Benedictines are good role models. “The students love the monks, they want to see them,” she says. “We are a community that lives together and works together; we share our joys and struggles together. The most important thing to do together is pray. I consider this campus my home, and having the monks here is the perfect model of community for us.” For Schaad, the availability of the Abbey is “unbelievable.” “You can go up and hunt a monk down anytime you need someone to talk to,” he says. “They don’t just live on campus, they are part of campus. It’s a good witness of what a real man should be like.” President Minnis concurs, both as an alumnus and as an administrator looking to the future of his institution. He says it was under Father Brendan’s guidance that the school wrote the school’s Mission, Vision and Values, to clarify the college’s Benedictine spirit. The Values, which are each based on a passage from the Rule, are: Jesus Christ, Community, Conversion of Life, Love of Learning, Listening, Excellence Through Virtue, Hospitality, Stability, Stewardship, and Pray and Work (Ora et Labora). “The Rule of St. Benedict is the oldest living organizational tool in the world,” he says. “Our values are inspired by it. The Benedictines are a great example to our students on how to live out their faith.” Minnis notes that 50 years ago the average student at St. Benedict’s College would have gone through elementary school, high 19
KANSAS MONKS school and college with fewer than five teachers who were not from a religious order. Today’s Benedictine College student may go through the same levels of education and have only one religious teacher. “It is important for us to take advantage of the religious we have and get them in front of the students,” Minnis says. “It is important that we promote vocations and help sustain that legacy here in Atchison. And finally, it is important that lay people understand what it means to be Benedictine and revel in this rich tradition that has been handed down through the generations.” Perhap Daszczuk summed it up best. If it weren’t for the monks and sisters, “Benedictine would just be a name instead of who we are.”
Characteristics of Benedictine Leadership 1. Place of Christ – teach according to His instruction 2. The leader is responsible for the flock yielding no profit 3. Lead by example more than words, and give the commandments to receptive disciples with words 4. Avoid all favoritism (show equal love) 5. Change the ranks of others as you see fit, as justice demands 6. Lead others according to where they are in the journey a. Use argument – with the undisciplined and restless b. Use appeal (to greater virtue) – with the obedient and docile c. Use reproof and rebuke– for the negligent and disdainful (cut out the sins while you can) 7. More is expected from whom more has been entrusted 8. Keep the flock from dwindling, rejoice when it increases 9. Do not show too great a concern for the fleeting, temporal things. Rather seek first the Kingdom of God 10. No excuses. Adapted from Chapter 2 of the Rule of St. Benedict
Flying God’s Friendly Skies
a letter to the editor
Your article “Why we need Benedictines” was great and so informative (Spring 2009). Coincidentally, I had the day before received the Rule of St. Benedict from Roman Catholic Books in Fort Collins, Colo. In the accompanying article “The Vow of Conversion” Father Louis Kirby was quoted, “Everybody has to keep working to be better, to keep reforming their morals. The only difference is we do it as a vow. I guess that should help me get on the beam.” His statement, “get on the beam,” turned me on. That is the key to success whether the vocation is as a priest or a pilot or a farmer or a janitor or an editor. The success is in how the beam is used. I have carried that axiom around in my head since I was 19 years old. In 1939 the farm economy was still recovering from the Great Depression and the “Dirty ’30s.” I knew my future was not in agriculture. I enrolled in a correspondence course offered by TWA out of Kansas City. They had just begun passenger service. I signed up to be a code operator on the airlines. That is when I learned a valuable lesson—how to stay on the beam. To help airlines promote safety and save fuel, they erected transmitters on the ground and installed receivers in the passenger planes. Using carrier waves they beamed the code A(.-) on the left side of the plane and N(-.) on the right for flights between Kansas City and Chicago. If due to weather a pilot let the airplane drift too far left the code for A came on and he pulled back on beam. The same for the right side drift. If the code for N came on, the pilot pulled the plane 20
back on beam. Operating by the beam did not last long because of the advent of voice communications and new technologies. But I never forgot the value of that example for running my life. The beam is conscience and it is operated by the Holy Spirit who sends out signals for right and wrong. In monastic life it may be vows—staying on the beams of conversion, obedience and stability. But as Father Louis noted, all of us are called each day to straighten up and fly right, to stay on the beam with Jesus Christ.
Ray Wyatt Tempe, Arizona
why do we need benedictines? KANSAS MONKS
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photo by J.D. Benning
spring 2009 The bright young student, the son of nobility, fled to the hills to escape what he viewed as a city overrun with debauchery and sloth. He was certain Rome would succumb to its sins and that it would drag him down with it if he weren’t vigilant. Reclusive, living off the land, seeking shelter in a cave, this pious hermit eventually was sought out by others, who claimed they hungered for his leadership. The bits and pieces that are known about the life Benedict of Nursia have survived the past 1,500 years with the hearthside echoes of legend, captured for posterity and for their Christian wisdom, by the quill and parchment of St.Gregory the Great in his Dialogues. Tales tell of his followers, who came to bristle under his discipline, attempting to poison him, only to watch his goblet shatter before when he blessed it. Another attempt to off him was foiled when a Raven flew through the window snatched poisoned bread from Benedict’s hand and carried it away. There are tales of miracles. Of Benedict raising young men from the dead, of casting a demon from a large boulder so that his monks could lift it during the construction of a monastery, and watching his twin sister Scholastica’s soul ascend to heaven in the form of a dove. However, what St. Benedict of Nursia is best known for is his Rule, a slender volume written in the mid-sixth century, which describes spiritual doctrines and a rhythm of daily life practiced in a community. He is universally known as the father of Western Monasticism. On the following pages, through the eyes of some members of St. Benedict’s Abbey, we will explore the three vows proclaimed by Benedictine monks—Obedience, Conversatio morum, (roughly translated as “conversion of life,”), and Stability—as they embark on a lifelong journey, guided by Benedict’s Rule. In the time between when he left Rome and when he wrote his Rule, St. Benedict gained timeless wisdom that in its simplicity, yearning and humility has had much to offer people for centuries. Although a bit dry in places, the =, especially in its prologue, bursts with promise, optimism and expectation. This document, written by a gentle but practical abbot, remains as relevant today as ever. If only—and herein lies the entire challenge, and in the 21st century, the problem—one is willing to listen with humility. Lay Catholics and Protestants, diocesan priests and popes, corporate CEOs and recovering alcoholics and drug addicts. Diverse are the people who have found inspiration, serenity and direction in Benedictine spirituality. This year is my tenth as an employee of Benedictine monks. In that time many monks and women religious have become treasured friends who have shown that all are worthy of unconditional love. A monk married my wife and me, baptized my children, is godfather to my youngest daughter. Monks and sisters taught me the comforting tenet that progress not perfection was to be sought in life. They have demonstrated the richness of a mature and unswerving prayer life. They have helped me understand the importance of community, not only its value to my progress as a human being, but also my own gift as a witness to it. They have unwrapped the wonder of silence. And they have revealed that obedience with humility is liberating rather than restricting. The presence of Benedictines in our world, the monastery on the hill, people of deep faith gathering four, five or six times a day to lift the world to God in prayer, is something to behold. The secret, like with great art, is that you can’t appreciate it and learn from it unless you slow down, indeed, unless you come to a complete stop. The kind of stop that creates a moment in which you can feel your pulse slowing and hear the rhythm of your own breathing. Like a family heirloom, Benedictine monasticism is to be treasured and protected. Like an heirloom it is filled with great beauty, instilled with tradition. It is a reminder of what we value. It is passed on quietly from generation to generation, a fragile inheritance handed down with great hope that future generations will value and sustain it as ancestors have. Cultures have tried to destroy it—to be sure our current culture is inadvertently making an attempt—but a select few keep it alive and it withstands the test of time. That select few are not only those men and women who answer the call to a monastic vocation. They are simply the caretakers who are fortunate enough to hold out the monastic life and present it to the rest of us as a gift of great insight, peace and spiritual progress. Obedience, conversion and stability. These are three gifts that Benedict handed down to his followers. Through Benedictine hospitality, they offer them to their friends outside the monastery—that is if we are willing to slow down, take a deep breath, and listen. Articles by Dan Madden 15
The article: ‘Why do we need Benedictines?’, by Dan Madden appeared in the Spring 2009 issue of Kansas Monks.
SUMMER 2009
c
f
Marked with the sign of Faith
C C
Father Wilfred Fangman (1924-1999)
letus Fangman was born in Seneca, Kan., March 7, 1924. The George Fangman family lived along Highway 178, a few miles south of St. Mary’s Church, St. Benedict, Kan. The area became known as “Wildcat” after the creek there, which was so named for the abundance of those animals along its banks and surrounding timber. The Fangman family farmed on land near their home and Cletus graduated from the St. Mary’s Grade and High Schools. These schools are now a part of the B and B (Baileyville and Benedict) school system. Cletus came to St. Benedict’s College, entered the community as Frater Wilfred, professed first vows as a member of the Abbey Aug. 15, 1944, and was ordained Dec. 17, 1949. While a cleric, he was the Abbey infirmarian and a prodigious farm worker as were his confreres: Edwin, Alphonse and Hilary. After ordination Father Wilfred was sent to Maur Hill where he taught, served as infirmarian, and commuted across town to the Abbey to finish his theology studies.
He taught English and drama, and was moderator of the yearbook and student chaplain. As a teacher of developmental reading he helped many students. Perhaps more importantly he was the older monk many of the younger monks and new faculty respected and looked to for fresh ideas and ways to implement them. He was a man ahead of his time, as he seemed to anticipate in his own style the Vatican II vision of the Church. In 1969 he took up parish work at St. John’s Parish, Burlington, Iowa, then moved to St. Benedict’s, Atchison, as co-pastor with Father Roderic Giller. He served at St. Benedict’s, Kansas City, Kan., from June 1984 until his death.
Father Wilfred faced back and neck problems with courage. He also spoke from his heart and held considered opinions that were not always universally popular. He was a great homilist, concrete and to the point. It has been said that in earlier times St. Benedict’s Abbey was composed largely of two groups. One group was composed of so-called “Packing House Irish” from St. Benedict’s Parish in Kansas City, Kan. The other was “Nemaha County farmers” from Seneca, Kan., and St. Mary’s Church at St. Benedict, Kan. As I recall it was Father Malachy Sullivan who made that statement. He himself was from the group of Irish. Both groups knew what hard work was all about. “For those of us from the city who were used to a work day that went from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.,” retired Abbot Owen Purcell recalls, “it was a cultural shock to work with people who started before dawn and had supper at 10 p.m. Father Wilfred was used to work as were other monks like Father Hilary Heim and Wilfred’s late brother and former member of the community, Herman (Tom) Fangman. Wilfred had multiple tasks as a teacher, drama instructor, infirmarian, and yearbook moderator at Maur Hill Prep School, and yet he would frequently do manual labor on a Saturday or after the school day.” Father Wilfred was a catalyst for the faculty. His example drew many of us from the TV set to play volleyball and basketball with the students on a Friday night. During the spring after Sunday morning study hall there was a faculty-vs-student baseball game. A monk pitched for the students and a student for the monks. “Wilfred could drive a ball a mile and it took almost that long for him to reach second base!” Abbot Owen says. But Wilfred was not all work. He was a reader and thinker. He would decry time spent watching the “tube.” “Turn it off,” he would say when he came to the common recreation room. He loved poetry and we spent some evenings reading a favorite one. Wilfred was an alive person and one quick to catch the spirit of what was happening at Vatican Council II. He had an oversize copy of what he called “A Communitarian Prayer” on the wall of his English classroom. “Wilfred’s heroism in the face of crippling back problems for us was legendary,” Abbot Owen recalls. “He carried the same consistency throughout his life as a friend, monk, teacher, and good shepherd.” Editor’s Note: Abbot Owen Purcell is at work compiling a necrology of St. Benedict’s Abbey, a volume of profiles on the deceased members of the Abbey. This document offers a thorough and entertaining look into the history of the Abbey, one monk at a time. If you have a comment e-mail Abbot Owen: ojposb@yahoo.com.
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a Grateful Response KANSAS MONKS
liturgy & the life of the church
Gone fishin’ for a prayer Seeing the fishers at their craft, while walking along the lower banks of the Tiber river the other day in Rome, I recalled when I was a novice in Atchison and accompanied my novice master, then-Father Owen Purcell, to the South Farm for some good fishing. Abbot Owen had long found his reflective silence while fishing farm ponds and the holes of Stranger Creek in Atchison County and our own Independence Creek where Lewis and Clark stopped on July 4, 1804. Other than the perch I had caught as a child while visiting my grandparents at Fisherman’s Point on the Lake of the Ozarks, I was a novice to fishing as well. After Abbot Owen taught me a few skills and we quieted down for our task, I made a long cast towards the other shore, and the lure landed at the base of several trees, in their shade. Abbot Owen’s intuition was as certain that there would be a strike as I was unprepared for the challenge of a five-pound bass. Perhaps it was the luck of one doubly a novice, just perhaps. Walking the banks of the Tiber I recognized the same calm in these fishers as they cast their lines just above the eddy formed by the ancient pier and Father James G. Leachman co-authored ‘Appreciating the Collect’, Fr. Daniel’s first book maneuvered their bait into the hole dug out by the water’s currents since antiquity when the bridge’s architecture and its Latin inscription were new. Fishing the Tiber’s strong current requires a subtle skill to distinguish between the current’s pull and the carp’s nibble, until the strike requires agile strength to coax the fish across the current to a buddy ready to haul in their dinner. One fisher even had a wood fire prepared for the meal to follow. I was returning from a visit on Tiber Island to the renowned Papal Latinist, Father Reginald Foster, OCD, who was recovering in the hospital built on the ruins of the temple to Asclepius, the god of healing. Father Reginald had taught me Latin these past 10 years and we were working on a fishing project of a different sort. We were fishing for just the right words to express in English the meaning of prayers written in Latin by popes and scholars of every culture throughout the past millennium and a half, yet offered every Sunday in the Mass we celebrate. I was rendering Latin prayers into English, which were then revised by Dom James Leachman also of Sant’Anselmo, before I presented them to Father Reginald in his hospital bed. Finding the right words to express the sentiments of an ancient prayer is like fishing in the current of the Tiber or on the South Farm. A mastery of human thought shaped by the Latin language is necessary to perceive the structure of the whole prayer and the function 22
of each word within. When one English word did not fit well within the overall composition, the three of us by quiet reflection would cast into the deeper recesses to fish for Father Daniel McCarthy the root meaning of the Latin word and there find the precise English word for our day. The prayer tradition, like the river current, is in flux as it flows round the many cultures and people who have inhabited the tradition and kept its force vital. So we are accompanied on this fishing trip by the many monks and scholars who composed these prayers in the Latin style of their day. The scribes are our fishing companions as are the bookbinders who produced the liturgical books. We can trace the history of these books, as they were circulated throughout Europe, and see how the prayers within them were shared here and there, first as marginal updates later to be integrated into the book’s subsequent edition as part of the local tradition. Through the prayers we can trace the development of the liturgical year and come to appreciate the concerns of each age, whether the pastoral care of people in their need, and of pilgrims, or the practices and reforms of monasteries, bishops and popes. What unites us on this fishing trip is our reflection upon the mystery of life in Christ. We may see others’ hopes within ourselves and make their prayer our own, just as our efforts to appreciate the liturgy will benefit generations of the faithful yet to come. Our meditations on these prayers benefit people today, because it takes the skill of a fisher to appreciate the prayer’s words and to recite them so that in the hearing they become the prayer of the assembly capable of bearing our hopes before God. We Benedictines are properly considered contemplatives; yet our community, like the sisters of the Mount in Atchison, has a strong tradition of putting our contemplative lives at the service of both our contemporaries and of those yet to regard our contributions. My contribution, Listen to the Word, is the result of constant reflection on the opening prayers of the Sunday Mass throughout the year, and includes five homilies that illustrate how to preach from the prayer of the Church. I hope that my contemplative fishing will enrich the prayer of our common meal. Listen to the Word, Father Daniel’s book on the opening prayers of the mass, is available for purchase in the St. Benedict’s Abbey Gift Shop. For more information contact the Office of Development at 913-360-7897, or send an e-mail to shop @kansasmonks.org.
abbey notes Brother Jeremy Heppler was ordained to the transitional Diaconate in the Abbey Church, May 30 (after press time) by Archbishop Joseph Naumann. For coverage of the ordination, see the next issue of Kansas Monks. Father Meinrad Miller gave a Youth Retreat May 1-2 in Lincoln, Neb., at the diocesan youth camp, Camp Kateri Tekakwitha. He gave talks on Prayer and Work and Benedictine way of life. Father Blaine Schultz, Abbey organist and choirmaster, will participate in the Monastic Liturgy Forum Conference at St. John’s, Collegeville, Minn., July 13-17. The conference is titled: “Universal Church, Local Church: Liturgical Law and Monastic Practice.” Father R. Kevin Seasoltz, O.S.B., and Prioress Nancy Bauer, O.S.B., will give the keynote addresses. The Benedictine Musicians of the Americas will also meet at this time and place. He will also attend the National Pastoral Musicians Convention from July 6-10 in Chicago, Ill. Father Matthew Habiger was a presenter for a Clergy Conference at SS. Peter and Paul Church in Wilmington, Calif., April 28-29. He and Brian Murphy gave talks at St. Edward the Confessor Parish, Dana Point, Calif., April 30. “The Truth About Being Pro-Life” was the topic of this evening. Father Matthew gave a Natural Family Planning weekend at St. Boniface Church in Anaheim, Calif., May 2-3. While in California he also taped two talks at St. Joseph Communications in Covina, Calif., for use on EWTN Radio and other outlets. Brother Peter Karasz has finished a four-caster mobile book cart to assist the monks who change choir books in the choir stalls. The cart is made to hold 120 of our seasonal and sanctoral cycle books. Those books not in use at the time are stored in the hallway north of the main church sanctuary.
photo by J.D. Benning
SUMMER 2009 Brother Lawrence Bradford drew up a 200-question fill-in-theblank, final exam for the Benedictine College immunology class. He has been teaching this course in alternate years since 1992. He holds a PhD from the University of Kansas. Abbot Barnabas Senecal gave the opening prayer at TreasureFest, an event staged at KC Live near the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., May 3. The event was arranged by the Archdiocesan Catholic Education Foundation to showcase music and drama talent of students in 46 schools of the Archdiocese. It was attended by 1,802 people. Father Aaron Peters was a principal concelebrant of a Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Agnes Church, Roeland Park, Sunday, May 3, honoring the years of dedicated service by the Paola Ursuline Sisters in the Archdiocese. Father Aaron has been resident chaplain for the Paola group the past 15 years. The Paola Sisters are merging with the Ursuline Sisters of Mount St. Joseph, in Maple Mount, Ken. Nine Sisters will remain in ministry in the Paola area; two are still discerning their ministry. Abbot Ralph Koehler, Prior James Albers, Father Marion Charboneau, Brother Leven Harton, Novice Brother Simon Baker and B.C. student Joe Melnyk were one of the 25 teams that competed in the 28th annual Bob Goalby golf event, a Maur Hill-Mount Academy fundraiser, at Sunflower Hills, May 1. Monks were treated to fresh radishes and onions on May 8, the first fruits of the 2009 Abbey garden. Brother Anthony Vorwerk thanks spring rains and the hard work of the young monks and for hardy tomato plants. Pictured below are Brother Joseph Ryan (right) and Brother Jeremy Heppler (left) working in the tomato patch. The 2009 Abbey retreat will be May 31 through June 4. Our retreat master is Abbot Lawrence Stasyszen of St. Gregory’s Abbey, Shawnee, Okla. Abbey Notes are selected from the Home Pages newsletter written by Abbot Barnabas Senecal. For more from Home Pages, see the St. Benedict’s Abbey Web site at kansasmonks.org.
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KANSAS MONKS
“I was in prison and you came to me.”
–Matthew 25:36
SUMMER 2009 | VOLUME 4 | NUMBER 2
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