Love me true

John Paul, John, Jennifer and Jacob Schmidt admire baby Gianna, dressed in a baptismal gown made just for her by John’s mother. “We were in awe of how beautiful she was,” said Jennifer.

Pregnancy becomes a celebration of family, an act of faith

By Kara Hansen

Courtesy of The Leaven Archdiocese of Kansas CIty in Kansas

Twenty weeks into their third pregnancy, John and Jennifer Schmidt were on top of the world.

They’d just told their two young sons—Jacob, 5, and John Paul, 2—that there was a new baby on the way.

Now, all four of them were crowded into the examining room, waiting for the sonogram to show whether the baby was a boy or a girl.

Suddenly, it didn’t matter.

The perinatologist first grew very quiet, then looked almost frantic.

“All he told us was that something was very wrong,” said Jennifer.

The Schmidts’ baby had a condition called bilateral renal agenesis. She would not develop a kidney. If she survived labor and delivery, the obstetrician said, she would die within a few hours.

“I remember thinking this was just a nightmare and I’m going to wake up from this,” said Jennifer. “It just can’t be real.” But the news was grimmer still. John and Jennifer were warned that babies with this condition often go full term because they have all they need while in utero.

Could Jennifer face carrying the child to full term, knowing her birth meant certain death? More than half of couples in their situation choose to have an abortion, the Schmidts were told. Or they could choose to induce delivery early. Neither, the Schmidts decided, was an option they could consider.

The power of prayer

couple called on Benedictine Father Brendan Rolling of St. Benedict’s Abbey for advice. A family friend from Jennifer’s time as a residence hall director at Benedictine College in Atchison, Father Brendan couldn’t help but hurt for the couple.

“I was shocked when they told me,” he said. “It was very painful to hear there was not much the doctors could do.” But the parents made it clear that the options they had been given were not options for them. With the help of Father Brendan, they decided what they would do instead: pray.

Almost immediately, John and Jennifer sent out an e-mail to nearly everyone they knew.

“We sent out a prayer request first asking for a medical miracle,” said Jennifer, “and if that was not God’s will for us, asking for the strength to carry the cross of infant loss with grateful hearts.

“We needed prayer to just be able to emotionally and spiritually survive this, and at first we were just so numb. We were completely at the mercy of others’ goodness.” It didn’t take long for help to arrive.

Just a few days after the sonogram—and shortly after their prayer requests had gone out—John and Jennifer began to notice the grace of those prayers working in their lives.

“John and I just had this sense of peace that can¹t be explained,” said Jennifer. “We knew there was a very difficult road ahead of us, but we knew—somehow—we would be able to do this.” The couple also gave their baby girl a name: Gianna, after St. Gianna Beretta Molla, a Catholic doctor who heroically risked her life for her child during her pregnancy.

Moving forward

Besides their family and close friends, the Schmidts sought support particularly from their faith community at Prince of Peace in Olathe and at Benedictine. Even relative strangers were in contact with John and Jennifer, due to the wide circulation of their email prayer requests.

“We were e-mailed constantly by people we didn’t know. There were amazing people all over the world who let us know they were praying for us—from cloistered nuns to prison inmates,” said John. “It was very humbling to be lifted up in prayer by so many.” The couple also sought contact with other families who had experienced infant loss. People told the Schmidts about Patti Lewis, director of Alexandra’s House, a perinatal hospice program in Kansas City, Mo. Lewis offers support to expectant couples experiencing a prenatal diagnosis.

From the moment the Schmidts and Lewis met, the couple knew they had found a rock of support.

“She really gave us hope that regardless of what happened, we could face this cross with grace,” said Jennifer.

During her time working with the Schmidt family, Lewis says she was moved by the dignity with which the family both carried their burden and enjoyed their short time with their daughter.

“John and Jennifer and their kids are like a Catholic family handbook with hands and feet,” said Lewis. “They of course wanted healing for their daughter, but they trusted and were at peace with God’s will, whatever it was. They made sure Gianna had dignity in her short life.”

Fr. Brendan Rolling

Celebrating Gianna’s life

As the weeks passed, Jennifer felt Gianna moving constantly. Knowing their time with Gianna would be limited to the pregnancy, the couple began seeking out ways to treasure their time with her and celebrate her life while she was still in utero.

“We really wanted to bring Gianna to places that were special to our family,” explained John.

For the Schmidts, that included everything from a family Christmas trip to Crown Center in Kansas City, Mo., to a small chapel with special significance to the family. Friends of the Schmidts organized a prayer service—which John and Jennifer consider to be the highlight of their pregnancy—at St. Joseph Chapel, located in the basement of St. Benedict’s Abbey.

“It was completely overwhelming. We were expecting five or 10 of our friends, and instead, the chapel was filled with friends and family praying for Gianna,” said John.

Continued on next page

Baby Gianna rests peacefully, rosary in hand.

They also did the normal, everyday things that families do. John, Jennifer, and their young sons talked to Gianna constantly. Jacob and John Paul liked to kiss and pat their mother’s stomach.

In fact, during this—the

most difficult time in their lives—said John and Jennifer, the mood around their house was peaceful, almost serene.

“A part of us didn’t want this pregnancy to end,” said John. “We were very aware that we had a little saint living with us, and we knew she wouldn’t be with us long.” But that didn’t mean putting the family’s life on hold in order to grieve.

“It was heartbreaking,” said Jennifer, “but we tried to keep a healthy perspective. That included normalcy in our everyday lives, as well as humor and allowing ourselves to fully grieve.” That grieving required as much spiritual as emotional support.

“What really touched me was that at different times, John and Jennifer each called to talk,” said Father Brendan. “Each in their own way described this overwhelming feeling of helplessness and suffering, ending in prayer where they would just ask God for help. And through that

prayer, each of them described this sense of God comforting them and letting them know things would be OK.”

A child is born

John and Jennifer had been forewarned that Jennifer’s labor could be much more difficult than her first two, due to a lack of amniotic fluid commonly associated with Gianna’s condition. Plus, there was a real possibility that Gianna would be stillborn.

With the first contractions of Jennifer’s labor, the Schmidts were keenly aware that this was both a beginning and end. They prayed fervently for just a little time with their baby.

“We wanted so much to welcome our baby and have her time on earth be completely filled with joy and happiness,” said Jennifer.

Mercifully, Gianna was born alive. After baptism by Father Brendan, and held gently by her father, she opened

her eyes to the sight of her big brothers coming into the room to admire and make over her.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud of our boys,” said John. “They just showered Gianna with kisses, and John Paul kept trying to tickle her. The pure, unconditional love they gave her just blew me away.” Just as amazing to John and Jennifer was the sense of pride they felt in their new daughter.

“I had been scared to see Gianna,” said Jennifer, “knowing she would die. But all that was gone when she was born. She was so beautiful.

“We were sad to be losing her, but John and I were both in awe. She was gorgeous!”

Lewis, who was in the delivery room with the family, said it’s normal for a mother to hold her baby right after delivery.

“What struck me most was that John was the one to hold Gianna right away,” said Lewis. “He just knelt down with her in his arms while their boys just kissed and loved on her, with Jennifer smiling and looking on.

“It was almost like Jennifer knew she had the time to hold Gianna all throughout her pregnancy, and now it was time for John and the boys.”

Forty-five minutes after she was born, Gianna Marie Schmidt peacefully drifted off to sleep and her breathing slowed to an eventual stop. Her time on earth was over.

Healing

They say time heals all. The Schmidts will tell you otherwise: It was the grace of God and the kindness of others that brought them peace.

“I think this story really shows what a Catholic, prolife family can do in the world with their witness to Jesus,” said Father Brendan. “Our world is so afraid of suffering and bad news, we often want to run from it. But what I saw was Christ transforming their lives and the lives of people around them.”

Though Gianna’s life didn’t end the way the Schmidt family wanted, they take consolation in knowing she is in heaven—and that she was loved during her time on earth.

“We never in our lives had to surrender our lives and will to God so much. But Gianna forced us to do that,” said John. “We had to pray with grace and dignity, even through the rough moments, and embrace her life and our time with her.

Marked with the sign of Faithc f

Thomas Hartman 1910-1996

Abbot Thomas Hartman knew that to be elected the abbot of a monastery was a great honor and privilege. It is not an easy job, though being an abbot has many rewards.

Many of the abbots of the community have faced difficult circumstances; Abbot Innocent comes to mind as he labored for over 40 years to save the struggling community and college. Abbot Martin Veth oversaw the expansion of the campus to the river bluff, changing the nature of the glorified high school into the modern St. Benedict’s College. He spearheaded the building of the new abbey and the attempt to firm up and regularize the monastic observance.

The challenges that Abbot Thomas faced spanned parts of two eras: pre-Vatican Council II and post-Vatican Council II. The one era was a “business as usual” sort of time. There were challenges in the expanding college, dropping the long-time favorite sport, football. The other era was one of changes not only in the renewal of the religious life but also in the life of the very church itself. The role of laypersons in the Church expanded prompting a lay advisory board for the college and a lay dean.

But perhaps most painful of all was the departure of members in the community. Loved confreres and potential leaders asked for dispensations, theological and liturgical differences surfaced, modes of dress varied, the liturgical language changed from Latin to English, and still there were more sensitive areas. Amid all this Abbot Thomas suffered and yet was unfailingly kind to all who felt the need to go elsewhere.

He shepherded two renewal committees and many subcommittees through examination of every aspect of the daily monastic life. His was not an easy abbacy! He found it hard to dope out what exactly some in the community wanted.

Abbot Thomas was born in Wathena, Kan., and graduated from St. Benedict’s High School, Atchison, and from St. Benedict’s College in 1932. He had made first profession in 1932, then attended the Abbey School of Theology, being ordained in 1936. After ordination he earned a masters in mathematics from the University of Iowa in 1937 and began a career of teaching math full time at St. Benedict’s College until 1959. At the College Abbot Thomas was dorm prefect at St. Joseph Hall and athletic director. He was at the gym each day and was a terrific handball player. His partners were some clerics, and, often, Father Francis Broderick.

Abbot Thomas amid all the other matters demanding his attention was fully involved in the affairs of the College, and was the chancellor both of St. Benedict’s College and Maur Hill School.

He visited the mission in Brazil once a year.

After he resigned as abbot in 1973 he became pastor at St. Charles, Troy, and a parttime teacher at Maur Hill. He returned to the Abbey in 1984 after symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease began to appear. He was a conscientious father to his monks, suffered the departure of some, but treated them with kindness and respect. Abbot Thomas was truly a giant among giants.

Editor’s Note: Abbot

Owen Purcell is at work compiling a necrology of St. Benedict’s Abbey, a volume of brief profiles on each of the deceased members of the Abbey from its founding to the present. This document offers a thorough, poignant and often entertaining look into the history of the Abbey, one monk at a time. In order to provide our readers with some insight into the lives of the men who have made the history of St. Benedict’s, Kansas Monks will publish one or more of these profiles in each issue. If you have an anecdote about the monks you read about in these profiles or about any other deceased monks, Abbot Owen would enjoy hearing from you. You may contact him by telephone: (913) 360-7817, or more easily by e-mail: ojposb@yahoo.com.

Let silence disturb your noisy world

Stillness offers inner strength, majesty of nature

This word at times in our noisy world can be disturbing. We are so used to noise around us and when there isn’t any, we fill the void with television, radio or CDs.

The other day an oblate took me to lunch and when I got into the car I could not believe the noise coming from the CD player. I wondered how a person can think with such noise.

I have a couple of favorite places where I enjoy something more than the usual silence of the monastery. I am an early riser and spend time in the small chapel used for the sick. I love nothing better than sitting by an open window, even on the coldest days, and enjoy the crisp silence around me.

The presence of God not only in the Blessed Sacrament but in the stillness of the early morning hours gives me inner strength to face whatever the day may bring. I try to spend at least an hour and a quarter or more in prayer, much of it silent. Even the sounds of spring, such as birds chirping, do not disturb the silence.

The other place where I enjoy silence is sitting on the benches in our cemetery in an overlook above the majestic Missouri River. How blessed we are to live high on the bluffs. The stillness here is a different kind, as the majesty of nature spreads forth during all of the seasons of the year.

Wrapped up in a coat during the winter brings a crisp sense of silence and wonder and now, in spring and early summer, with new life springing up everywhere, a feeling of the Resurrection is so present. The dead has come to life once more. Even those branches so ruined by the great ice storm of last year bravely are bringing forth new life. The silence is often disturbed by a car on the river road or machinery now preparing the new turf for the college football stadium, but even these sounds do not really break the silence and awe. Nor do the young voices of college students rushing by.

I know that with these places of silence I am able to face the time that lies ahead. It is my belief that part of the oblate life is enjoying the great silence which brings with it that great Benedictine value of peace.

Brother John Peto Director of Oblates

July Celebration

A hidden feeder in flowered lattice, a hummingbird almost unseen, perched, surely nourished, on Minnesota abbey grounds.

Friends gathered with monks on a summer day, celebrating one-hundred fifty years of common life, nourished near woods and lakes.

We are nurtured in the shade, protected from too much sun, relishing memory, greeting friends, not eager to move away.

The hummingbird, on the other hand, is hidden, eats quickly with rapid beat in its body, in its wings, ready to fly away if disturbed.

We live like the hummingbird, midst the beauty of nature, kind of hidden within self, thinking, pondering, even rejoicing.

We live like the picnic person, sitting, visiting, rejoicing in being seen, willing to share closeness with another, sensing what heaven must be like.

Text and photo by Abbot Barnabas Senecal

Coach Don Tabor:

A hero with humility

By Father Michael Santa

Don Tabor and I were originally football enemies in 1946-1947 football seasons. I was an end for the Immaculata Raiders; Don was a back for the Maur Hill Junior Ravens. Immaculata, which had just resumed football after WWII, was fearful of Maur Hill but would’ve liked to beat the Ravens who were very confident, even cocky. But the Junior Ravens crushed us on a cold day at Amelia Earhart stadium in 1946. Maur Hill also crushed Immaculata on a sunny day at Veteran’s park in Leavenworth in 1947. Don played well in both games.

My old gridiron rival died of cancer March 19.

Strangely, I do not remember Don as a football player later at St. Benedict’s College, but I do remember him well as a basketball player. The Ravens lost 11 games in 1949, but on page 49 of the 1950 Raven Yearbook, under the heading BENEDICT’S BRATS, there is a picture of reserve guards Don Tabor and Lou Oldani. When the varsity was doing badly, Coach Bill Walsh would put in Don and Lou to electrify the crowd with their speed and quickness, accompanied by occasional high jinks. This helped me realize that Don had both showmanship and a sense of humor.

In the 1960s, St. Benedict’s dropped football. I was working fulltime at a Catholic high school and I noticed we had 10 former St. Benedict’s College football players on staff. Where would such persons come from in the future? Enraged, I wrote a letter to the president of Benedictine College. He took my letter seriously; he came and visited me. His explanation was not sufficient. When I joined the Abbey in 1984 I noticed that football was back and that in the late 1990s the sport pretty much saved the college from going down the tubes.

I learned also that Don Tabor was a highly successful football coach at Bishop Leblond High School in St. Joseph. He also had sons enrolled at Benedictine. One of them, Chris, was a very fine quarterback at Benedictine. He went on to be head coach at Culver-Stockton College and a highly regarded backfield coach at Western Michigan University. He now has moved on to the Chicago Bears as backfield coach. He should improve the Bears’ horrible passing. Chris is one of my few former students who appears when I type his name into Google. He is a small guy but has a powerful will to win, no doubt inherited from his parents Don and Mary Jane.

Everyone in the area was amazed when in 1984 Don’s relationship with Bishop Leblond was severed. But he moved to Benton High School in St. Joseph. I always thought this was good move since his teams at Benton were immediately successful. Not only that, I observed Benedictine College student teachers at Benton and had a chance to visit with Don and see his excellent classroom demeanor. I suppose, because of his dedication to family and students, some would refer to Don as “saint.” I suspect Don would have laughed at that. I hope, however, he would have been more accepting of the name “hero,” someone we should all imitate in our attempts to seek success in our lives.

Love

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“This was such a hard experience that we could have easily missed out on it becoming a beautiful, life-changing event.”

Countless people reached out to grieve and celebrate with the family, help around the house, and provide meals during the pregnancy. Families from Jacob’s kindergarten class at Prince of Peace School created a rose garden in honor of Gianna.

“We will forever be touched by the kindness others have shown us. It helped us be able to survive day to day,” said Jennifer.

Little sister saint

Jacob and John Paul, too, help their parents through the hard parts, sometimes quite unintentionally. It’s difficult to resist the boundless energy— and equally boundless faith— of the two little boys.

“When John Paul sees pictures of Gianna, he says, ‘That’s my baby Gianna.’ He talks about her and wants to remember what she looked and felt like,” said John.

Jacob, on the other hand, shares his birthday with Gianna: March 5. But it is a happy, not a sad, occasion—and not because he has forgotten his little sister, said Jennifer. “He tells people, ‘My little sister is a saint in heaven—pretty cool, huh?’”

Still, one of the most healing experiences for John and Jennifer has been sharing their story. Though it started as a simple prayer request, the couple has continued to be very open about their experience with Gianna in the hope that it will help other families who experience infant loss.

“I think sometimes people don’t know what to say or do, so they don¹t say anything,” said Jennifer. “And I think had we heard of a family with a situation like ours before, I probably would have said, ‘Oh those poor people, how incredibly sad for them.’ And I would not have known what to do or say.

“What most people don’t realize is that despite the pain, we feel incredibly blessed to have been Gianna’s parents.”

Don Tabor, right, with his son Matt and wife Mary Jane.

Abbey After Hours

St. Benedict’s Abbey, for the first time, hosted the Atchison Chamber of Commerce After Business Hours event April 3. Clockwise from the left, 1) Brother Anthony Vorwerk chats with Kathleen McKelvy; 2) Rich Dickason, CEO of Exchange Bank, visits with Cecilia Carpinelli; 3) Abbot Barnabas Senecal and Linda Henry catch up; 4) Benedictine College President Steve Minnisvisits with Courtney Marshall; 5) The monks laid out a hearty spread for the Atchison business community.

Artist

Continued from page 19

of Kellas’ unfinished pieces is of Chrystal Cole, a young black aviator from Wichita, who recently became the first woman inducted into the Tuskegee Airmen. These are just a handful of the women famous and not, who appear in Kellas’ work.

Peggy Long, a member of the Ninety-Nines , says Kellas’ work is worth spending some time with. “There is so much to see in each piece,” she says. “I love studying each piece and seeing what I can find.”

Long says Ninety-Nines appreciate Kellas’ art and often buy her work.

“There are very few people out there, other than the Ninety-Nines , who seem to appreciate the role of women in aviation,” Long notes. However, she encourages newcomers to the topic to take in the show.

“Not only is Judi’s work attractive and enjoyable to look at, but there is so much energy in it,” she explains. Pointing to Kellas’ portraits of Wagstaff, the flamboyant aerobatic champion, Long says Kellas captures her beauty and the transcendent vivacity her celebrity exudes.

“If you’ve ever seen Patty perform,” Long says, “there’s so much energy, and she’s always got a huge grin on her face as if she’s having the time of her life.”

The energy on Kellas’ canvases is evident in her voice and in her broad smile as she discusses her art and the women she has chosen to portray.

“I want to tell the world about the remarkable women who have been involved in aviation from about 1910 until current times,” Kellas says. “I want to tell everyone about their audacity and their tenacity and their courage and their bravery.”

For more information on the work of Judy Geer Kellas or the women in flight featured in her work, see her Web site:www.geerkellas.com

The Warrior and the Bishop

Abbey publishes two new books

Two historical books on two remarkable monks of St. Benedict’s Abbey have been published by the abbey and are now available for purchase.

A Warrior in God’s Service, a memoir of Father Henry Lemke, the adventurous missionary priest who was the first Benedictine monk in Kansas, is available for $15. Father Henry, who ventured west from Pennsylvania, with a wagon train, and whose pioneer spirit led to the founding of St. Benedict’s Abbey, wrote his own story of heroism and endurance, of troubles with superiors and a spirit of independence and adventure. Father Henry accepted Bishop Miege’s invitation to serve in Kansas. He claimed homestead land, and experienced the struggles of the Civil War.

To Be Seed, also available for $15, is a collection of tributes to and historical stories about Bishop Matthias Schmidt, one of three initial monks who volunteered for missionary work in the Abbey’s foundation in Brazil.

Father Matthias went on to become a bishop, beloved in the Diocese of Jataí and then for 20 years in Ruy Barbosa, an impoverished area of North Central Brazil.

By the time he died of a heart attack in May of 1992, at the age of 61, he had become beloved by the people of the region for his courageous work on their behalf for peace and justice.

He wrote his message of love and service in the

on courageous confreresSt. Benedict’s Abbey celebrates its 150th anniversary of its founding in Kansas. Our date of foundation is April 27, 1857, the day that Father Augustine Wirth, O.S.B., and Father Casimir Seitz, O.S.B., arrived in Doniphan and began community life there. A year later they came to Atchison. Father Henry Lemke had preceded these two monks to Kansas, and was asked by Bishop John Baptiste Miege to be a pastor in Doniphan. He left Pennsylvania “on his own,” without delegation by Abbot Boniface Wimmer of his home community, St. Vincent in Latrobe. We honor Father Henry as a pioneer Benedictine. A native of northern Germany, a Lutheran minister become Catholic, he encouraged monks from the monastery of St. Michael in Metten, Bavaria, to come to the United States where he had already come to work with German Catholic immigrants in Pennsylvania. He came to Kansas with that pioneering spirit. His life here was hard, brief and rewarding. His spirit was the same as that of his abbot, a spirit of building up the Catholic Church in the United States by helping Germans to maintain a sense of community in their work and their prayer. Our monks knew there was a German edition of Father Lemke’s memoirs. We sought and gained permission from the monks of St. Boniface in Munich to produce and publish a translation in English of the text and the notes as a sesquicentennial project. Abbot Barnabas Senecal, O.S.B. St. Benedict’s Abbey, Atchison, Kansas hearts of thousands, and they in turn wrote this book of tribute to his memory.

Naming

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Cope, Stole, Humeral Veil $2,500

(For Benediction & Other Eucharistic Events)

Cope, Stole, Humeral Veil $2,000

(For Benediction & Other Eucharistic Events)

Two Altar Covers for Liturgical Events (1 Set) $2,000

Four Sets Available

Chasuble & Stole for Presider at Mass $1,000

16 Sets Available

Dalmatic & Stole for Deacon at Liturgical Events $1,000

Eight Sets Available

A Warrior in God’s Service

Henry Lemke, O.S.B. AWarrior In God’s Service

The Memoirs of Peter Henry Lemke 1796-1882 To Be Seed

Commentary and Editing German Edition Willibald Mathaesar. O.S.B.

“In peace, he lies down, Soon. he slept. Awakes because the Lord sustained him..” Translation to EnglishMaria Bastos da Silva Marc Rottinghaus Ruy Barbosa, BADeborah Sudbeck

To Be Seed

The memory and witness of Bishop Matthias Schmidt

Benedictine Monk and Bishop of the Diocese of Ruy Barbosa, Bahia.

Compiled by Luciano Bernardi, OFM Conv. Diocese of Ruy Barbosa 1992 Translated by Duane Roy, OSB Saint Benedict’s Abbey Atchison, KS 2002

To place an order contact the Office of Development at, development@kansasmonks.org or by telephone at 913-360-7897.

Four Stoles for Concelebrants at Mass (1 Set) $1,000

20 Sets Available

Five Albs for Concelebrants at Mass (1 Set) $1,000

Eight Sets Available

Development Ofiice: 913-360-7897 or by email at development@kansasmonks. org. Gifts can be mailed to:

St. Benedict’s Abbey 1020 N. 2nd St. Atchison, KS 66002

Banners

Continued from page 15

how I think I can best evangelize. But God doesn’t always call us to the place where we will accomplish the most, or the place where we think we will be must fulfilled; no, he calls us to where he wants us to make that priestly sacrifice. For some, that might be in the priesthood or religious life, maybe here in Atchison. For others, it might be in the life of marriage; whatever and wherever, it will be a call of sacrifice.

The heart of Catholicism 150 years ago was not here in Doniphan and Atchison, yet God called three monks to be ministers of Christ’s Word and his Eucharist; he calls us still today. Listen to God. What is he calling us to? If we don’t live our Christen faith, if we don’t speak it, if we don’t allow it’s power to radiate through us, if we are not willing to sacrifice our lives for the gospel, then who will we bring to Christ. And if we don’t listen, truly listen, setting aside our desires, our ideals, our wants so that we are truly able to do the will of God, then what fruit will we bear?

We celebrate today the harvest of Father Henry, Father Augustine and Father Casimir, and the many Kansas Monks after them who planted their lives in this rich Kansas soil. From that harvest we are the bridge-builders, we are the mediators bringing the message and power of Christ to the world. Christ has chosen you for his purposes, listen to where he is calling you and live it out. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.”

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fund-raising event.

Pray With Us

The mother and father of

Jeff Hovorka, a 1986 graduate residing in Devner, both died in 2008. Mike Gaughan, also a BC graduate in Denver, has asked that we remember Jeff and his family in our prayers.

Father David Linnebur

has experienced a recurrence of cancer and is not tolerating chemotherapy treatments. Bishop Jaekels has asked that prayers for his healing be made through the intercession of Father Kapaun.

Matt and Jessica Darling

have experienced the miscarriage of their fifth child. Brother Gregory Dulmes asks for prayers for the couple.

Kevin Cotter underwent a heart procedure recently to eliminate a second pathway in the heart. He asks for the prayers of the community.

John Bongers, a Maur Hill graduate of 1955, is in a David City NE, nursing home, with Alzheimers. He will appreciate our prayers.

The family of Tony Ruda,

Atwood, KS, requests prayers for Tony and themselves, as Tony, 67, has died. Emily List is suffering from a malignant tumor on her face. Pat Marrin, former Journalism teacher at BC, asks that we pray for her and her family.

David O’Reilly, son of Charlie O’Reilly and the late Helen O’Reilly, was injured in an accident a few years ago, and has been dealing with some unjust litigation since the event. Please offer prayers that he be taken care of by those involved in the accident.

Photo by Dan Madden

Abbot Barnabas gives Jim Stadler a retirement gift.

Sarah Macy, daughter of Joan (Torline) Macy, BC ’90, and Steve Macy, is a threeyear old whose cancer has metastasized. She had a fivehour surgery recently.

Leon Henry had a cancerous kidney removed at St. Luke’s in Kansas City. Theother kidney will be treated with radiation. Leon is a 1976 Maur Hill graduate, a brother of State Representative Jerry Henry.

Vincent Henningsgaard

has asked for our prayers for a good friend of his mother. The friend has a tumor underneath her heart and is receiving chemotherapy. She has a small 10-month old son and other children.

Lucia Schoenecker is a 14-year-old daughter of Dan and Susan Schoenecker, cousins to Father Meinrad Miller. A grapefruit sized tumor has

been discovered in Lucia’s uterus.

Cindy Dooley requests prayers for her brother Mike as he undergoes tests to determine the nature of an abnormal growth on his brain.

Dorothy Randall, mother of Vernon Randall of our health care staff, was transferred to Heartland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph after a bone scan at the Atchison Hospital revealed cancer spots. She has been experiencing severe neck pain.

Gregory Vertin of Wathena suffered broken vertebrae and other injuries when a tractor overturned. He is in the KU Medical Center.

Brother Joseph Ryan requests prayers for his Aunt Mary who has been ill and for his friend Ruth Noble who is still weak after a recent neardeath experience. He also asks prayers for Charlie and Pat Goasher who were killed in a car accident on June 1.

Father Meinrad Miller requests prayers for Katrina Baker, a BC graduate, whose mother Sonia had colon cancer surgery recently. He requests prayers for BC student Johny Greenhalgh’s grandfather, Henry Greenhalgh, who died in Philadelphia.

Sister Margaret Ann

LaCapra asked that the community prayer for her brotherin-law, Bill Dooley.

Mick Hundley of the Maur Hill-Mount Academy staff requests prayers for Marylou Hayford who died in Hobe Sound, FL, recently. Warren Hayford, her husband, is a 1946 graduate of Maur Hill.

Fr. Gilbert

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dict’s as a post-WWII refugee from Europe. Planning to enter medicine, I wanted to major in biology and minor in chemistry and physics or mathematics. As dean of studies at the time you made me choose philosophy as a second minor so that I would not be too onesided in the natural sciences. This opened my eyes to a new world and studying St. Thomas Aquinas taught me to think very accurately. I consider my studies in philosophy and theology invaluable. I have told the story many times but now am belatedly able to thank you.”

Father Gilbert continued to be a regular traveler to the library in his older years. He was beloved by the staff and they watched as he learned to use the computer to transfer his diary notes onto a disc for future printing. His reminiscences have come to an end. His envisioning his future has been realized. We thank him for his example, for his living life as a man of Atchison, as a Benedictine, as an influence in the lives of many.

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beautiful doe dash across the flood plain to the south. Then, four large turkeys crossed my path and scurried into the timber. Despite the ruts and the fact that I still didn’t know where the monument was, my trip to this point was peaceful and enjoyable. Eventually, about two miles down the road, I came to a levee and a large sign that said, “Road Closed.”

Worrying a bit, but undeterred. I backtracked to the main intersection and found that Monument Road went the other direction as well. So I headed east, passing a perfectly good home where I could have asked directions. That would be the Bishop house. Mrs. Bishop would be very helpful later.

By this time I had called a monk back at the Abbey. He told me the monument was at the top of a steep hill. I told him I hadn’t seen any steep hills on Monument Road. I assured him I would stop and ask for directions. He thought that would be best.

I hung up my cell phone and decided to drive just a little bit farther. About a mile down the road I rounded a corner and found a steep hill.

Aha!

I crested the hill, which seemed a bit rocky, but it was a hill. At the top I kept going. After about 100 feet I came to a massive mud hole. But like a child who isn’t thinking any further than the next step, I drove through it. A few hundred feet more and I made my way through another mud hole, and then came upon a third, larger one. After barely making it through, I looked at the scarce road ahead of me into beautiful, even more rustic terrain and said to myself, “What, are you nuts! The monks wouldn’t drive all the way up here for a Mass!”

Heeding my first sound thought of the day, I found a place to turn around. I approached the large mud hole and decided there was no way I would risk that twice, so I drove up on the grass bank, bent on driving around it. I almost made it, when I lost my nerve and let off the gas. My right front wheel caught a rut and the entire car slid into the mud hole with a whoosh!

In mud-caked shoes I walked around two mud holes, down a rocky hill, around a curve in the road and came to a farm house. Luckily a very nice man named Herbert was home. I asked him if there was anyone available who could assist an idiot.

With a peaceful look on his face he obliged. When I told him what I had done, there wasn’t a hint of sarcasm in his voice when he told me he had tried to flag me down when he saw me pass by earlier. “There’s been a fellow running cattle up on that ridge in a one-ton truck,” he said. “He left some pretty big ruts.”

“Yes, he did,” I said drily.

We got in his pickup and when we crested the hill and saw two big mud holes and a third with my car buried in it, he didn’t even laugh. While I on the other hand was thinking, what kind of imbecile would get himself in this fix? But Herbert, either in a Herculean effort of restraint—or

compassion—quietly preceded down the road as if he ran into people like me every day. He good-naturedly pulled my car out of the hole, then waited like a nurturing father to make sure I could maneuver the two other holes to freedom.

When I told Herbert I was looking for the monument, he asked me if I remembered an earth contact home back up the road. I said, yes. He told me the monument was on a hill behind it.

Got it, I replied.

Problem was, I didn’t. I had no idea what he was talking about. I guess I just wanted to look competent. So I lied.

I drove back into Doniphan and did what I should have done two hours before. I pulled into the driveway of the Bishop home.

Trish Bishop answered the door, and we both laughed at the car parked in her drive, which had formerly been white but now was the rich brown of Doniphan County river bottom farmland. Although she didn’t know exactly where the monument was, she kindly made a couple of telephone calls, in which I overheard her reply, “no, he’s already been in the soup,” and soon she was directing me to the monument, which by the way was nowhere near Monument Road. Having reached my destination, I assured myself that I would learn my lesson, find a car wash in Atchison and simply ask directions the next time.

Unfortunately, I’ve been in such predicaments before and have made the same assurances. The next one may not be a mud hole, and there probably won’t be a monument, but rest assured I’ll be writing this column again.

Photo by Dan Madden

In a cruel twist of fate the monument I sought was not on Monument Road. I sacrificed a pair of shoes, two hours of my time and my dignity to this quest. We welcome your comments: development@kansasmonks.org

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are going to pop up,” he said. “But we’ll get along with what we have.”

For now, the parish will make due with photocopied music and an electric keyboard.

Eileen noted with a sad grin that her parish, not necessarily known for its strong singing, had come alive the Sunday before the fire.

“I told Walt the singing was super,” she recalled.

Walt remembered a parish-

ioner approaching him and telling him, “Your wife had that organ going red hot.”

One thing has remained a constant since Gene Hegerty returned from two years of military service in Japan as a young man.

“When you saw the water tower and the steeple of St. Ann Church, you knew you were home,” he said.

However, in the emotional aftermath of the fire, Hegarty has found other constants. On Tuesday morning, with heat still rising from the ashes, Father Ben arrived at the parish hall early to prepare for 8 a.m. daily Mass.

“It felt good,” Hegarty said. “There were a lot of strong feelings. Yes, our building may be gone, but we were having daily Mass like we always did. We were continuing on.”

Hegarty said with confidence, “We’re going to have a new church. As we get further down the road the sadness will ease and we’ll still be the same community.”

Sitting in that Tuesday morning Mass, Hegarty recognized another constant in the face of Father Ben.

“Everything that has gone on in that Church, the many memories that appeared to be evaporating in that fire— the funerals, the baptisms, the marriages—every one of them, a Benedictine monk has been part of.”

He said it’s important that as the community moves forward it embrace that. “I look at every happy memory and every sorrowful memory in the past 75 years that I’ve been a member of this parish and a priest of St. Benedict’s Abbey was a part of it,” he said. “The Abbey is more than a building up on a hill.”

Also lost in the fire was a framed list of the 36 pastors who have served St. Ann’s since its foundation in 1867, all but one a monk of St. Benedict’s. Hegerty kept a copy of it, which he intends to return to a place of honor in the new church when it is finished.

St. Ann will rebuild. The new church probably won’t resemble the old one, but Father Ben said the parish hopes it can salvage the cross from the top of the old steeple and the bell within.

For the time being, Hegerty will have to find comfort in the lonely structure of the water tower when he returns from trips out of town. That and the daily Masses, which continue as always.

“A few years back, the CCD students took a beautiful picture of St. Ann Church and sold it to raise money,” he recalled. The picture hangs on a wall in Hegarty’s home. The church’s red brick looks extra red, the summer sky overhead extra blue. White, puffy clouds hang idealistically in the sky. In the picture, the old church looks like it can easily stand for another century or two.

“I’m sure glad I bought that picture,” Hegarty said.

Gene Hegarty

Walt and Eileen Wohletz had planned to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in St. Ann Church in August. This photograph, sold in a CCD fundraiser and hanging on a wall in Gene Hegarty’s home, is a poignant reminder of the buiding where many of his family memories were made.

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ordained for five years, and Casimir, 28, ordained only a few days, began their days in Doniphan.

“These two young Bavarians… thought highly of their place and encouraged Abbot Boniface (Wimmer) to come to visit this new foundation,” the Abbot said. “If he came he would be more willing to do what was expected in a monastic house, send a brother to be their cook.”

Abbot Barnabas shared that Abbot Boniface eventually allowed many more men to journey to Kansas, even the man whom he had hoped would be his successor at St. Vincent, the man who would become Abbot Innocent Wolf, the first abbot of St. Benedict’s Abbey, who would serve for 46 years.

Abbot Barnabas told the story of Father Louis Mary Fink, who became the first bishop of the then newly established diocese of Leavenworth.

“The combination of good sense and sound spirituality that had made him a good monk and a good religious superior made him also a good bishop, particularly of a rural missionary diocese,” Abbot Barnabas said. Quoting one author, the Abbot said of Fink, “He was one of the most active and zealous of the western prelates in encouraging colonization and providing for the wants and necessities of the Catholic settlers.”

For all the men sent west by Abbot Boniface, when St. Benedict’s became an abbey it truly became a Kansas abbey.

“The responsibility for new members rested more with the Catholics of Kansas,” Abbot Barnabas noted. “And the settlements begun under Bishop Fink became sources of students and monks. Kansas itself became a place of springs.”

Springs, the Abbot said, that are still flowing.

“Our beginnings were in Bavaria and in Pennsylvania. Our beginnings were in the faithful families who gave us birth and nurtured a vision of life that stressed service to others rather than accumulation for self,” he said. Our individual beginnings were in the companionship we experienced in a simple way of life that involved hard work, a desire to learn, and a desire to live in community. To all who have brought us to this day… we give thanks and continue to walk with ever growing strength.”

Papal Rally

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stage to wild cheering and shouting. He greeted the prominent cardinals and bishops, and then ascended a set of steps to a gold and white throne. For what seemed like fifteen minutes or so, the crowd cheered and chanted, and energetically waved their white and gold towels. My arm, too, twirled a gold towel as I yelled the Pope’s name in Italian. The Pope was clearly gratified by the crowd’s response.

Then the best part happened. The stage had two walkways extending out in a “V” from the center of the stage toward the “mosh pit.” The Master of Ceremonies leaned into the Pope’s ear and motioned toward the walkways, evidently telling him he could walk out to the crowd if he wished. When we figured out what he was suggesting, we roared our approval. We excitedly watched the Pope’s red shoes carry him down the steps and out to the first walkway, swarms of security men gathering around him. Now, I had managed over the past hour and a half to wiggle my way to within a couple persons of the fence at the front of the mosh pit. When the Pope came to the end of the walkway, I was only fifteen feet away from him. I believe I managed to catch his eye at one point! He is not a tall man, so I had to stand on my tiptoes to see him clearly.

The actual ceremony took longer than they had planned. Young children and teenagers presented the Pope with gifts of various kinds of bread, as well as images of six holy American men and women, canonized or on their way. Some of the children didn’t know what to do when they went up to meet the Pope, and instead of kissing his ring, they kissed his cheeks!

At one point, we sang Happy Birthday to the Pope – in German! The program tried to give us phonetic pronunciations, and we muddled through, but the Holy Father graciously complimented us, saying we deserved an “A plus” for our German.

The Holy Father delivered a long but excellent address. In terms of personality, he is basically a reserved intellectual who is most at home with the written word. They put the microphone right next to his mouth, since he speaks softly, but we had no problem hearing him. The entire crowd remained attentive, perhaps because his thick German accent required close listening. For that reason, though, what he said probably sank in much deeper. The crowd enthusiastically erupted once, that I remember: when the Pope declared that “ultimately truth is a person: Jesus Christ!”

Amen, Holy Father, amen!

The rally turned out to be a much more edifying experience than I had hoped for. Being up front near the stage made it a more exciting time for me, since I could clearly see the Pope at all times. Just being there with at least 25,000 other people (some estimates were higher) marked this as an event of special significance, especially since they had come from all over the country. Other people who had seen Pope John Paul II when he visited the United States had been inspired by his presence. Until now, I had no way of empathizing with them. But now I can.

It is electrifying to actually see in person this man whom I have seen on TV and in whose writings I have found edification. When the Pope came into my presence, I realized that right here, right now, is the man who has succeeded to St. Peter, the fisherman whom Jesus made the earthly head of His Church; a feeling of awe came over me. Seeing him a dozen feet away from me made me feel close to Jesus and the Apostles. In the presence of the Pope, our common spiritual head on earth, I felt at one with the crowd: we all loved him, all felt the same, and all came away from the rally feeling great to be Catholic and inspired to do better and greater things for Christ our Lord.

Courtyard in Bloom

Father Donald put many hours of work into placing a vinyl lining in the fishpond in the Abbey’s north courtyard, completing the project before the June 2007 General Chapter meeting. His vision expanded into a plan to renew the entire courtyard. The zoysia grass was dug up from the lawn and between the walkway stones. New grass was planted. Trees and shrubs were cut back and new trees and flowers placed very tastefully. Doors were painted. Benches and swing seats were placed. Father Eugene Dehner longed to see the day that the fishpond would be effectively sealed. That has happened. All the monks rejoice and give thanks for the beauty that now blesses us through the vision and energy of the monks who volunteered. -Abbot Barnabas Senecal

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