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Blessed Journey
A Blessed Journey
A Blessed Journey
Abbey Notes
Brother Dominic Cason
worked in late April and early May helping to fire a wood kiln at the University of Kansas. This firing combined the work of Benedictine and KU students. Others who helped with the firing: Professor Glenda Taylor, chair of the Art Department at Washburn; Professor David Vertacnik, head of the Ceramics Department at KU; Larry Peters, former director of the Alice Sabatini Gallery in Topeka; Scott Ledbetter, art instructor at Desoto High School and classmate of Brother Dominic at KU; and Tim Mispagel, a 1994 BC graduate now teaching at Desoto.
Abbot Barnabas Sene-
cal participated May 5 in the blessing of the chapel and living areas of Santa Marta, the new retirement residence in Olathe.
Father Meinrad Miller attended the Kansas State Knights of Columbus convention May 2-5, in Hays, Kan.
Abbot Owen Purcell is working with Sister Marie Louise Krenner, O.S.B., as she is preparing to retire as our archivist on June 30. Abbot Owen will take over this work for our community. We deeply appreciate the work Sister Marie Louise of the Mount community has done for us!
Congratulations to Father Daniel McCarthy who has completed and turned in his doctoral thesis and will defend it publicly at the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy, Sant’Anselmo, Rome, on June 23. Abbot Owen Purcell will join him to represent the Abbey community. Father Daniel has developed a theology of presiding in the liturgical assembly, derived from his historical and textual study of the use of the presidential chair in the Roman Rite since the seventh century.
Father Hugh Keefer is steadily recovering from his broken kneecap. He is doing his work in the Abbey business office and participating in regular community life.
Nicholas (Brother Philip)
Padley decided to end his novitiate with us, returning to his home April 21.
Wallison Olivera Silva (novice in Brazil) discontinued his novitiate in late April.
Father Bruce Swift attended the episcopal ordination of the Most Reverend James Vann Johnston, Jr., D.D., J.C.L., on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, March 31. Bishop Johnston is the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Springfield–Cape Girardeau.
On April 2, Father William Thompson celebrated his 90th birthday.
The Abbey Facilities Committee has met twice in recent weeks with Treanor Architects to study possibilities for repair of the Abbey roof and replacement of the Abbey windows. Funds for these two projects are the focus of the present capital campaign of St. Benedict’s Abbey.
Sandy Fitzmaurice, a 33-year veteran employee of Benedictine College, began work for St. Benedict’s Abbey in the Development Office, April 1. We welcome Sandy as she joins Dan Madden, Vickie Mills and Sophia Harrison in this important public relations work. Father Ignatius Smith and Father Meinrad Miller also work part-time in this office.
Monks attended a concert of French Masterpieces in the Abbey Church, Sunday, April 6 at 3 pm. The Cantique de Jean Racine by Faure and Requiem by Durufle were performed by the combined chorales of Benedictine College and the University of St. Mary, Leavenworth, supported by the Benedictine College–Atchison Community Orchestra.
Jim Stalder retired as the custodian of the Abbey, on April 30. He was in our employee for sixteen years. He joined the monks for the noon meal on his retirement day, and was presented with a gift certificate. Jim Luce, an employee of Chartwell in our Abbey kitchen for 15 years, has taken the custodial job for the Abbey.
St. Benedict’s Abbey will enter into a contract with Praesidium, Inc., of Arlington Tex., seeking accreditation as an institute which protects minors. An on-site visit is scheduled for Aug. 11-13.
Prior James Albers, Father Marion Charboneau, Brother Dominic Cason and Brother Leven Harton were on the same team in the May 2 Bob Goalby Maur Hill Mount Academy Golf Open at Sunflower Hills. They were awarded recognition for the team having the highest score. Approximately 180 golfers gathered for this 27th annual
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Editor’s Note: Brothers Gregory Dulmes and Jeremy Heppler, monks of St. Benedict’s Abbey in seminary studies at St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Penn., attended a Papal rally April 19 during Pope Benedict XVI’s U.S. visit earlier this year. Brother Gregory wrote the following account of the experience.
By Br. Gregory Dulmes
On Thursday, April 18, more than fifty-four seminarians and fellow travelers boarded a charter bus for New York to attend a rally with Pope Benedict XVI. On the way, in addition to watching a movie, enjoying some sack lunches, and praying the Liturgy of the Hours, we prayed an “international rosary.” For each decade of the rosary, we prayed the first half of each prayer in a different language, and responded in English. We prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries in Portuguese, Spanish, English, Latin, and Vietnamese. I was privileged to lead the fourth mystery, the Carrying of the Cross–in English, of course. But the highlight was Mr. Thang Pham, a Vietnamese immigrant studying for the Archdiocese of Atlanta: he didn’t just pray the last mystery in Vietnamese, he chanted it. The beauty of the melody, the gentleness of his voice, and the exotic nature of the language moved me.
After an overnight stay in Nanuet, N.Y., we arrived the next morning at St. Joseph Seminary, which was expecting some 25,000 people for the rally.
When we arrived at the seminary, we entered through the “Seminarian and Talent” entrance. I preferred to think that both terms applied to me. The level of security surprised me—lower than I expected. Months earlier we had all submitted exact information on a government-issued identification card. The ticket we later received had a number on it. We were told that this ticket number would be checked against a list at the gate. But no such checking took place. We did, however, have to pass through a metal detector.
Once inside, each of us was given an orange bag containing among other items a program, holy cards, vocational materials, either a white or a gold towel, and meal tickets.
When we arrived at the rally site we realized how huge the event was going to be. Already thousands of people were already milling around or sitting on blankets, watching the afternoon entertainment.
Seminarians received red tickets, which granted us access to what I called the “seminarian mosh pit.” (a mosh pit is the packed and frenzied mass of humanity before the stage at a hardrock concert) Hundreds of seminarians crammed together shoulder to shoulder. As you can imagine, with our black habits and cassocks on and little airflow, that mass of bodies heated up. I was glad I had two bottles of water to get me through. In fact, the crew periodically tossed bottles of water to the dehydrated seminarians, many of whom had been there for four or five hours. Happily, I bumped into Benedictine Brother Macario Martinez of Conception Abbey in Missouri. He had traveled over 20 hours to be there, and like me was sweating it out under his habit.
A NYPD helicopter had been circling the area all day. At around 4:15 p.m. I knew the Pope was on his way, because suddenly about five more helicopters appeared in the sky. Another giveaway was the gradual appearance of numerous bishops around the stage area. I saw my own bishop, Archbishop Joseph Naumann.
At around 4:30, the Pope arrived. The two big screens on the stage abruptly cut to a live feed at the seminary entrance. A motorcade pulled up, and out of the last limousine stepped our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. Even though he may not have heard us, 25,000 voices shouted out in excitement. First, though, the Pope entered the seminary chapel, where he blessed disabled children, sat and listened to a choir performance, received gifts from the children and then gave a short address. After about a half hour, he left the chapel, every hand trying to touch him as he left. The big screens lost track of him for several minutes. Then an excited roar erupted from the back of the crowd. We craned our necks to see what was going on. Then we saw it: along the edge of the crowd, the Popemobile slowly trundled its way to the stage! A few minutes later, Pope Benedict walked out on the
