Kansas Monks Winter 2010

WINTER 2010

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From the Abbot

KANSAS MONKS

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A monastery is a family home, a sacred place. It is where we make progress as a community. Abbot Barnabas reflects on the changes throughout the Abbey grounds.

contributing writers: Abbot Barnabas Senecal “Thank God we have this place.”

From the Abbot (4) | Abbey Notes (23)

Brother John Peto “A Christian is known by his happiness in the Lord!”

Oblates (7)

06 . . THE LAZARUS PROJECT Abbey’s friend revives computers for those in need with a good heart, skillful hands and an insistent plea -- “Help out!”

07 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Obl ate s 08 . . . . . . a Grateful Response 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SomosweIrmãos are brothers 11 . . . An 83 year old monk turns 19 liturgy & the life of the church

Father Daniel McCarthy “The liturgy nourishes us all along the process of our human maturation.”

A Grateful Response (8)

Abbot Owen Purcell “It’s all a day at a time.”

Marked by a Sign of Faith (19)

Brother Christopher Start “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans!”

Clothed with Faith (17)

Father Hugh Keefer “All things are possible for God.” An 83 Year-Old Monks Turns 19 (11)

Prior Duane Roy “Working at the daily task of being monk”

Father Hugh Keefer reflects on his recovery from addiction.

Somos Irmãos (10)

12 . . . . . .walking the The monks of St. grounds Benedict’s have always been stewards of the land, whether that be in farming, tending vineyards and gardens, or simply finding balance in God’s creation. Exploring the Abbey’s grounds is an adventure in nature’s beauty and a community’s history.

Stewardship of the earth lends a balance to Benedictine life. In this issue Abbot Barnabas Senecal and Dan Madden look at St. Benedict’s Abbey’s kinship with the land.

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faith 17 . . . . . . clothed with God’s Will In Our Lives 19 . . . Marked with the sign of Faith 20 . . . . . . Jubilarians monks celebrating anniversaries

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From The Desert

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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 (cover), Father Jeremy Heppler, Abbot Barnabas Senecal, Father Daniel McCarthy, Dan Madden, Brother Joseph Ryan Kansas Monks magazine is published by the Office of Development.

For a free subscription: 913.360.7906, or development@kansasmonks.org.

May the music of Christmas open our hearts to one another. May weWINTER know the 2010 joy of being with family gathered at a meal, of being one with the shoppers in a store, worshippers in a church, and riders in cars with radios on FM. May we help one another overcome the loneliness that can become part of the Christmas season for some. They miss the routine of daily life. They have lost a family member or neighbor in recent months. They have begun life in a nursing home. They have been diagnosed with a terminal condition. They are unable to give the gifts they would like because of less available income.

If we can stir the hearts of others, even our own, with song, then let us enter into the chorus, knowing the joy of a child who is born, of a family that has begun, of a sense of optimism that is created and shared.

A friend forwarded to me a YouTube segment entitled A Random Act of Culture. It was an inspiration. Members of the Opera Company of Philadelphia mingled among the October shoppers at Macy’s. Music was being played on a pipe organ. Then, the first bars of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus rang out. Singing brought everyone together, joy appearing on their faces, children being lifted above the crowd, a grand spirit of oneness focused not on any product but only on the “more than ordinary” spirit of celebration of the heart. A culture that brings people together in peace and joy is to be valued greatly. The link to this event is this: http://youtu.be/wp_RHnQ-jgU The video has been viewed over 4 million times.

- Abbot Barnabas Senecal

3 The Monks of St. Benedict’s wish you a blessed and merry Christmas

From the Abbot KANSAS MONKS

This is where we used to . . .

Monasteries are places in which men live out careers, have hobbies, obey call bells, accept assignments and create their own entertainments.

Some of these get documented in the monastery news magazines and the personal letters that may be stored in the archives. Some are undocumented, but very present in the mind of the elders.

There was a sand green golf course of a few holes. Each time the college built a new dormitory between the abbey and Second Street, another hole was lost. It was not a serious loss. A few older monks putted around, drove a few balls, and declared the day good if they returned with all the equipment they started with.

When the football stadium was completed, an old toboggan run was done away with; we were safer without it.

Several old chicken houses were torn down at the northeast corner of the land claimed as stadium.

They were vacant, but had once been the scene of novitiate work assignments, the slaughter of young chickens that had been grain fed from chicks by Brother Francis.

About the same time a regal old, green horse barn was torn down. Brother Leo and Brother Norbert used to house some workhorses there. Some novices experienced working with a horse in preparing ground for a peanut patch on a field down the bluff toward the river. A favorite stallion of Camp St. Maur days was Old Red. A famous ballad was written about the time Brother Raymond rode this horse; a taped musical rendition was done by Ben Dehner.

In the carpenter shop that faces the stadium, Brother Walter and others did a great deal of carpentry work. Some of the heavy equipment, a plank planer and several large band saws, stand idle, once the tools of trade for monk and hired men.

In the area of the shop we used to park an old road bus that Leo Pusch drove for the sports teams. When we have home football 4

The Abbey Church was under construction in 1957. The golf course once lay just to the west (upper right) of the Abbey. games now, a set of four smaller but newer team buses are parked there.

Further north, on land we now rent for pasture, there was a vineyard. Young monks learned something about pruning vines and tying them up, hopeful of grapes in the coming summer. These grapes were pressed for altar wine, and a second pressing for table wine. Neither was of high quality.

The wine press is still in our possession. A famous picture (below) of it is among the 30 photos that Gordon Parks shot here in 1955, a young Brother Anthony and a young Brother Philip holding high the press bar. Several persons have asked us to sell that press to them, but it would be like selling an heirloom.

We have cultivated a new walnut grove north of the Abbey garden. Just to the east of this is the foundation of a building where six monks slaughtered steers and hogs to feed the college students and monks. They butchered seven hogs and four steers every Saturday

WINTER 2010

photo by Abbot Barnabas Senecal

Further in the depths of the monastery, Brother Robert used to have a shortwave radio that enabled us to talk to the monks in Brazil. Brother Nicholas stored old cardboard and empty cans in special places, for sale later. We stored water and survival crackers in cooperation with Civil Defense strategies.

Many spaces within the monastery were places where small altars were set up and each priest offered a “private Mass,” each day. When we built the monastery church in 1957, we were able to eliminate these for the beautiful crypt Basball fields once rested in the shadow of the Abbey’s vineyard. Current score: Monks 4 - Monks 2. altars. morning. Brother Norbert was one of the last to contribute to the There is the room at the north end of the second floor where table in this way. we practiced Gregorian Chant by the hour, almost daily. We all Within the monastery there are places where we used to cut up showed up and Father Anselm did his best to improve our perforarmy surplus canvas for sheltering Camp St. Maur kids and equipmance. We were really pretty good. ment. Brother Raymond had an area where he cast thousands of The monastery is greenware pieces for Camp kids to glaze and then bake, prizes of like a family home. It craftsmanship for parents. holds many memories Many a spring month was spent in preparation for Camp St. of people and events, Maur summer camp. We made our own target arrows, fletching of the beautiful and the and painting them in colorful code. Father Benjamin would climb ordinary, of the new trees to find crow nests. Father Luke used to feed them on the and the well-used. Every walkways of the courtyard, mascots for an Indian tribe. space becomes sacred Father Benjamin loved gathering animals for the Nature Room, because every space is and would allow young men in the last session of camp to take where we made progsnakes, owls and hawks home with them. Having shinnied up a tall ress in community living, A former Abbey chicken house. tree to a nest high above, Father Benjamin found two owls. The where we became more aware of our similarities and our differowls were then named Malachy and Bernard, in honor of two wise ences. monks who taught many of us.

Thank God we have this place.

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AwayThethe Stone.

Lazarus Project

photo by Dan Madden

KANSAS MONKS

by Dan Madden The fans usually break down first. So Richard Piezuch uses an air compressor to blow out the dust.

It’s not as dramatic as beckoning a dead man from a tomb, but Piezuch doesn’t claim to be a miracle worker, just a guy trying to revive hope, one P.C. at a time.

From his basement near Paola, Kan., Piezuch’s aptly named Lazarus Project has brought more than 1,500 donated computers “back from the dead” to be distributed to international and local charitable organizations, including St. Benedict’s Abbey and its Brazilian foundation, St. Joseph Priory, which have received laptop computers. Shells of old computers line a hallway and components clutter the top of ping pong tables as Piezuch explains his small operation that does big work, thanks to his persistent tinkering, a viral word of mouth campaign, and the help of the countless volunteers that Piezuch is constantly cultivating–a part of his mission that he considers as important as the recycling of computers.

In fact, he would only agree to an interview if he could stress that one of his project’s aims is to encourage others to volunteer their time to charitable causes. He relishes the projects that bring people together.

“We had one project where we took computers from Holy Trinity School in Lenexa, recycled them and put them in St. Rose School in Garnett,” he said. “That really got people involved in helping each other out.”

Once the dust is clear, Piezuch makes sure the fan is turning freely or replaces it, fires up the computer to see what other parts need replacing, installs a new operating system, word processor, and antivirus software. He sometimes sends along a software CD so its new owner can reinstall everything if they “mess it up” once they receive it. He smiles at the awareness that some users have at least one software catastrophe when they get a new computer.

Piezuch started the Lazarus Project in 2000 after retiring from IBM. The need was there, he said, and there was also the environmental issue of used computers filling up the landfills. He traveled to Maryland for a class on how to recycle computers.

He started small, providing computers for the Catholic Campus Center at Haskell Indian Nations University and parochial schools in Kansas.

His desire to do good works and encourage others to do the same came together in the form of three

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young Girl Scouts from Topeka who were looking for a Gold Award project. They moved into the nearby Ursuline convent in Paola and helped Piezuch recycle computers for priests and seminarians in the Diocese of Juarez, Mexico.

When it came time to deliver the computers to Mexico, a friend of Piezuch’s had arranged with a trucking company for discount shipping. He said the girls and their families were at the loading dock to see the computers off. They had insisted on donating $700 they had raised selling cookies over the years to help pay for the shipping.

Piezuch said he thought the bill would likely be around $3,500, even at a discount. But when the final bill arrived in the mail, it was exactly $700.

“That is one of those things where the Spirit is at work,” he says.

Father Aaron Peters, a monk of St. Benedict’s Abbey and former chaplain to the Ursuline Sisters in Paola, met Piezuch when he asked the monk to help him establish a branch of the U.S. Submarine Veterans, Inc., in the Greater Kansas City area. The two sub veterans struck up a fast friendship. Father Aaron has since worked with Piezuch to help bring computers to the Abbey and the Brazilian monks. “l learned what remarkable people Richard and his wife Alice are,” Father Aaron said. “Not only have they founded Lazarus Project to provide refurbished computers to those in need, but they are also master gardeners and give their time and service to others in that area as well. One of the most charitable persons I know, Richard lives his Catholic faith daily. He is also concerned with his civic responsibilities in the Paola and Osawatomie communities. I am honored to call them friends.”

Piezuch’s computers have gone to Catholic Charities, Refugee Services for distribution to refugees from Miramar, Afghanistan and Iraq, and to the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity in New Mexico. Benedictine College students, anonymous corporations, and numerous other volunteer agencies have helped channel recycled computers to Guatemala, Pakistan, Tanzania, Ghana, Uganda, and India. Piezuch has also provided computers to needy military veterans.

photo by JD Benning

Piezuch will only recycle computers for reputable charitable organizations, whom he trusts to get them to the people who need them. To recycle computers for individuals would complicate the operation. He also doesn’t solicit money for his organization. He counts on generous volunteers to help him get the computers where they need to go. Whatever equipment he needs he gets through nonprofit software programs and from his own pocket.

Piezuch insists on the help of others not because he’s afraid of a little hard work, but because he hopes to spread the spirit of good will

Obl ates

I am not sending you a Christmas message but something I have long been considering and wondering how to approach. So many oblates find it impossible to attend meetings with any regularity. I am sure you question how you can still remain involved in the oblate life. The monthly meetings here at St. Benedict’s serve as a source of spiritual growth and rejuvenation for the oblates of the Abbey. Each year we take a deeper look at some aspect of oblate life, usually through our study of a book. Each month we also try to find a new challenge from the Holy Rule and also spend time in our own personal appreciation of Lectio Divina or holy reading.

My suggestion for those of you unable to attend meetings is to set aside one day a month when you will spend an hour or two deepening your oblation.

The day could well be the same day as our regular meetings, either the second Saturday of the month at 10 a.m. or the third Wednesday at 2 p.m. It would be a good idea to have some kind of visual reminder of the importance of what you are doing such as an open Bible on a table before you or a copy of the Holy Rule. You might also have a picture of Benedict and maybe a lighted candle. Place yourself in the presence of God. The format of your time could well follow that of our meetings.

Begin with the following prayer:

“God our Father, you made St. Benedict an outstanding guide to teach men and women how to live in your service.”

God our Father, you made St. Benedict an outstanding guide to teach men and women how to live in your service.

Grant that by preferring your love to everything else, we may walk in the way of your commandments.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our Holy Father Benedict – Pray for us!

St. Scholastica – Pray for us!

St. Henry, Patron of Oblates – Pray for us!

St. Frances of Rome, Patroness of Oblates – Pray for us!

WINTER 2010 around. They may not necessarily go on to continue his work, but he hopes volunteers will find a charitable work that fits their own talents, gifts and interests. The important thing is that they do something.

Almost without exception, he sees it in their eyes as they work alongside him and as they complete a project.

“These people who are donating computers and who are helping out come away feeling really good,” he says. “It feels good to make a difference.”

This prayer is followed by the reading from the Rule for the day. It is a good idea then to read a commentary on the passage. I recommend using A Spirituality for the 21st Century – the Rule of Benedict by Joan Chittister, OSB. (A Crossroad Book, The Crossroad Publishing Company $16.95) It is a new edition of her previous commentary and is Brother John Peto excellent. She has a wonderful way Director of Oblates of putting everything into words that can be easily understood and applied to our lives today.

We then read the gospel for the following Sunday and spend a little time reflecting on it. If you want to use this for lectio it is very easy to find a word or phrase that has a message for you on that particular day. Sometimes lectio seems to scare people away Let what the Word is saying become a part of your life. Take the term “stand firm” that appears in the gospel and that means to me to stick with what I have chosen to do and not be distracted by what others or the world may be saying.

The final section of the meeting would be studying the current book. This year it is How to be a Monastic and not Leave your Day Job, An Invitation to Oblate Life by Brother Benet Tvedten, OSB. Take a few pages, read them slowly and think how what you are reading applies to your own life as an oblate.

It is my hope that trying to do the above will encourage your life as an oblate. It doesn’t mean forgetting the prayer part of the office if possible and some holy reading especially of Sacred Scripture every day.

I am asking again for email addresses to update and add anyone who might like a more frequent contact.

At the January meeting we will be renewing oblations. Here is a renewal prayer: I renew my oblation and offer myself to Almighty God through the Blessed Virgin Mary and Our Holy Father Benedict as an oblate of St. Benedict’s Abbey, Atchison, Kansas, and promise again to dedicate myself to the service of God and humankind according to the Rule of St. Benedict in so far as my state in life permits. Amen.

- Are you considering becoming an Oblate of St. Benedict?

Contact Br. John Peto: johnpeto1@gmail.com | 913-360-7896 7

KANSAS MONKS

a Grateful Response liturgy & the life of the church

The Great White North Growing up on the high plains of Kansas my image of the great white North was the expansive plains of Canada deep with snow and framed to the West by the Rocky Mountains and to the East by the Hudson Bay. I imagined the native Americans and early Father Daniel McCarthy trappers who braved the winters far more harsh than our Kansas snow and slush and who lived off the abundance of the land during summers far more fair than the beating Kansas heat. To my surprise, then, I have discovered the moderate climate of the northern reaches not of North America but of Ireland and England and Scotland. After giving a community retreat on the prayers of the liturgy to the monks of Pluscarden Abbey last year, I returned this year to give a research seminar with Father James Leachman.

Hudson Bay lies at the same northern latitude as most of Ireland and England, Wales and Scotland, but to my surprise the currents of the gulf stream coast temper their climate. Palm trees and even a rare banana plant grow in the gardens of London. The gulf stream travels up the English channel to warm the furthest reaches of Scotland. From the same source in the Gulf of Mexico the warm moist air moves across the Kansas prairies where it slips under the cold dry air down from the northern Rockies to produce our violent tornadoes.

A much slower violence occurs when the ground shifts and plates slip past one another. Deep beneath the Kansas plains lie the remnants of long dormant plate tectonics. From the northern extension of the Appalachian trail in the Long Range Mountains of Newfoundland the Cabot Fault extends to the Great Glen Rift that divides the Scottish Highlands and forms Loch Ness and Findhorn Bay which opens to the Moray Firth and the North Sea, warmed as it is by the further reaches of the gulf stream. There the Speyside watershed produces a rich Barley harvest that supports over fifty distilleries including the better known Glenfiddich, Cragganmore and Glen Moray. It seems incongruous that Scottish Presbyterians would produce such great whiskey.

Nearby this opening of the Rift valley to the warmed North Sea is the Northern-most Benedictine monastery, Pluscarden Abbey near Elgin. Their climate is tempered by the warm gulf stream and supports giant sequoias, novelties procured by nineteenth century adventurers. The air is so pure in this region that the tree trunks 8

look furry because they are covered thick in lichens.

Pluscarden Abbey was founded in 1230 as a Valliscaulian community, related to the Benedictines and Carthusians. When the Calvinist branch of the reformation established itself in Scotland, the monastic community slowly dissolved after the death of its Prior in 1560. Monastic life resumed there in 1948, as sign of a reemerging Catholic presence, which continues to be low-key, as a way of gently overcoming the remaining sentiments from the reformation.

The monastic life at Pluscarden is shaped by the same forces of nature that produce for them a temperate climate, yet for us in Atchison a climate with more extremes and even violence. Their life like ours in Atchison is punctuated by sunrise and sunset establishing the daily rhythm of morning and evening prayer that frames our human labor. The yearly cycles of the sun and moon show us the time for Easter Sunday and so regulate the liturgical year along with the seasons of planting and harvesting. The generational cycle of birth and death mark our personal maturation and contribution while we have life and breath, and even our communities mark their own generational cycles.

While both of our communities are recognizably Benedictine, they each have a proper character and charism in response to their history and relationship with the local community.

To European monks I often explain the commitments of our monasteries in Atchison to the active life and to a productive contribution to the local church by explaining that when we were founded we had to dig the well, which I imagine to be true. By this they understand that we had to settle the land by our own labor both tilling the soil and cultivating the Catholic community. We served the early immigrants as circuit riders and educators and domesticators of the West. We built big buildings and institutions to establish and maintain the presphoto by Father Daniel McCarthy ence of the Catholic community.

Our focus on active commitments is evident in our former abbey church, now St. Benedict’s Parish Church dedicated in 1869 but consecrated only in 1908 after paying off the debt. That church did not include a purpose-built space for the monastic choir as does our present church. Ours is a continuation of the Bavarian tradition of active engagement and contribution to contemporary society through our parishes, schools and other forms of outreach.

The monks of Pluscarden, in contrast, live a more primitive Benedictine life, cultivating crops and producing much of the food they eat. They do all of the cooking, cleaning and manual chores of the house and so have no hired staff. They have no school, parish or other incentives for attracting people to their house other than retreatants who come to share in their liturgical life and an occasional conference held in the outlying guest house. Their manual

WINTER 2010 labor keeps the community and its worship practical. They celebrate the liturgy according to the rites revised after the Second Vatican Council, as we do in Atchison, but the more inward-focus of their communal life allows them to celebrate all the hours just as we used to do before the liturgical reforms, whereas our more active lives moderate somewhat our liturgical schedule and practices. The focus of their liturgical and communal lives allows them to pray wholly in Latin, with the Scriptures read in English, whereas the openness and welcome of our lives in Atchison suggest the near exclusive use of English.

The forces of nature originating in the Gulf of Mexico and in the great white North produce markedly different climates in Atchison and Pluscarden, calling for different responses, just as the needs of our local communities condition the charisms we offer.

The rhythms of our daily prayer and work, like the course of the sun throughout the day, and the seasons of the liturgical year give structure to our years. Over the course of a lifetime these rhythms take root in us and shape our ongoing maturation. At times in life, when one realizes that the ground on which we stand has been shaped by the movements of ancient fault lines, we may also realize that by observing the fleeting rhythms of this day and season we are part of that longer rhythm shaped by our communities over generations, even centuries.

LISTEN

to the Word

by Father Daniel McCarthy “The author skilfully demonstrates how the English prayers we currently use only offer a limited taste for the rich Latin prayer tradition.”

One other small detail unites our communities. In Atchison, the St. Joseph Chapel in the Abbey crypt features an image of the Christ child learning carpentry from Joseph. The Christ child is holding the hammer with his left hand. At Pluscarden a stained glass window in the refectory features the adult Christ with two left hands.

Order today! $17.00 + $5.00 S&H To get your copy of Listen to the Word, fill out the form below. Drop the order form off at St. Benedict’s Abbey, 1020 N. Second St. Atchison, KS 66002, place it in the envelope in this issue of Kansas Monks or call 913.360.7906. Make checks payable to St. Benedict’s Abbey.

Name: ____________________E-mail:_____________________________ Address:_____________________________________________________ City________________ State:____ Zip:_________ Phone:______________ Visa:__ MC:__ Card No.:_____-_____-_____-_____ Exp. Date:____/_____ 9

photo by Father Daniel McCarthy

KANSAS MONKS

Somos Irmãos

we are brothers

Boniface Wimmer and Henry Lemke first met in Munich, May 1845.1 They both traveled to the United States as missionaries accompanying the waves of German families migrating in search of land and opportunity. These two former diocesan priests, who became Benedictine Monks, were historical figures in the expansion of Benedictines in North America and Kansas.

As Benedictines, they contributed Prior Duane Roy significantly to 19th century Ameri- Prior - St. Joseph’s Priory can Catholicism.

Abbot Cuthbert McDonald, third Abbot of St. Benedict´s Abbey, Atchison, Kan., and Prior Emilio Jordan, founding Prior of Hungarian Benedictine Saint Gerald Priory in São Paulo, Brazil, met for the first time in early 1960 after more than one hundred years of Benedictine missionary activity in Kansas.

The two were determined to develop a Benedictine foundation in Brazil to minister to the largest concentration of Catholics in the world.

In 1962 Father Matthias Bishop Matthias joined the Abbey in 1952 and Schmidt was the volunteered to lead the Priory. founding Prior of St. Joseph Priory in Mineiros – the first Benedictine monastery in the immense Central West region of Brazil. The monks administered parishes in three counties, taught in public schools, and facilitated an array of other church ministries and social works.

Kansas Benedictines in Brazil, with their local bishops and other missionaries implanting Vatican II directives, made significant contributions both to church life and promoting human rights.

Living the monastic life in their modest priory on the outskirts of a progressive town – located a good 10 to 12 hours away from the state capitol and initially without telephone, television or asphalt highways – they blended prayer, fraternity and ministry. True to their Benedictine missionary heritage they were in partnership with the Benedictine sisters, who also rooted in this local community.

Gaining the confidence of families, men began requesting to join them. Formation of new members offered new challenges. They were distant from major seminaries but over time established ties with other Benedictines in Brazil. This led to active involvement in the budding Conference of Monastic men and women in Brazil, with quadrennial Latin American Encounters, and with the newly organized Conference of Religious of Brazil, with regional subdivisions.

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Prior Matthias Schmidt was one of the co-founders of the CentralWest Regional. The subsequent prior, Father Ralph Koehler, was active in organizing the newly founded Conference of Monastic Men and Women. In the local diocese, he was long-time member of the diocesan priests´ council, instrumental in elaborating the first statutes of this council.

Father Herbert Hermes, shown above, headed the diocesan liturgical committee, and assumed the coordination of youth ministry, while serving as pastor of a dynamic parish. As we know, this budding leadership soon left the small monastic group. Fathers Matthias and Herbert were called to the episcopacy in 1972 and 1990 respectively; and was Father Ralph elected sixth Abbot of St. Benedict’s Abbey.

Other monks also dedicated years to service to specific Brazilian dioceses. Father Kieran served ten years with Bishop Matthias in Ruy Barbosa, Bahia. Father Duane served seven years with Bishop Herbert in the Prelacy of Cristalândia, Tocantins.

These missionary monks offered formation and encouragement to those candidates who also desired to become monks. In 1987, the monks opened a house of formation in Goiânia where candidates and young monks could pursue academic studies. This house of formation, inaugurated in January 2003 in Goiânia, became St. Benedict´s Monastery. Young Brazilian monks soon assumed leadership roles, working with the remaining American monks in education and the parish apostolate.

Father Josias Dias da Costa earned a Masters degree in philosophy of education and Father Joaquim Carlos Carvalho became a clinical psychologist. The monks expanded into spiritual direction, retreats, conferences, promotion of human rights and classroom ministries all the while blending fraternal monastic observance with parish ministry.

Benedictine spirituality is down-to-earth. There are no ecstasies, visions, stigmatas, apparitions or shrines. It is a daily program of prayer and work, mingled with a love for learning in the context of community life governed by good leadership and the help of many brothers. And, of course, dedicated service to build up Churches where they are planted, in communion with their bishop, lay leaders, fellow priests and other men and women religious.

For 50 years, we have learned to give of ourselves – our best members, our best talents, energy and time – toward the building of the Kingdom. You, our readers, have been equally generous in prayerful and financial support. We thank and bless you. We continue to make our lives gift to the Kingdom, the Church, with gratuity and generosity.

1 Oetgen, Jerome. An American Abbot, Washington DC, Catholic University of America Press, 1997, p. 41.

WINTER 2010

An 83-Year-Old Monk Turns 19 I am an addict. I am grateful for that fact. I am grateful for God’s grace in my life. A power greater than myself. Twelve steps, rebirth, a new life, emotional maturity, and 19 years of sobriety that I celebrated this year.

Addiction is a spiritual disease, a disease of perception. The addict keeps secrets of shameful acts, such as defying mother’s orders or breaking any cultural code of the family, church, school or community. I suspect my addictive thinking began before I entered kinder- Father Hugh Keefer

garten when I was punished for not following orders. For example, I didn’t remain home with my grandmother until my mother returned.

At that point I realized that if I followed the rules I would not be punished. I would not feel pain. But pain is inevitable. Later, I found drugs to kill the pain.

Shame is born from an earliest age when we are taught to conform to certain ways of living, thinking and acting. First at home – what foods are good, what clothes are attractive, how we should wear our hair, what we see on television, who we are allowed to associate with, what opinions we hold, how talented we are in sports and music, how successful we are in the classroom. We are under the constant pressure of being judged by others.

Addicts feel they aren’t permitted by society to express emotions, particularly anger. They feel it is socially unacceptable. So to protect themselves they stuff emotions deep inside. This leads to halted emotional growth and often feelings of worthlessness. I suspect my emotions stopped by the time I was 8 years old.

Dr. Gerald May opens his book Addiction and Grace by noting that we all have attachments. Such attachments can result in anger, fighting, shopping, drinking, TV, gossip, gambling. All are driven by our subconscious, leaving us unaware of why we are behaving so destructively.

It is exactly for this that the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous have been crafted – a way to confront our problem and begin healing. To date the 12 steps seem to be the only effective treatment for addiction – no matter what the drug is. These steps are spiritual, completely based on a Power Greater Than Myself.

Step 1 - accept that I am powerless over my addiction.

Step 4 - dig out those subconscious drives, called character defects by AA.

Step 5 - tell God and one other person these defects, freeing the secrets that bind me.

Steps 6-8 - make amends to those whom I have harmed.

Steps 9-12 - make a new life in God. The goal of the 12 steps is to recover our lives that have been bound since childhood. In order to grow we must be sober – to use no drugs. And to become the persons God meant us to be, we must put aside the intellectual and be open to the spiritual, for God is Spirit.

We each have been created in the image of God which tells me that we can operate on the spiritual as well as the rational level. We are spiritual beings wrapped in physical bodies. The spiritual level involves experiences that are incorporeal, non-rational and cannot be measured or defined. Love, the smell of a rose, intimacy, beauty, these are examples.

In 12 step meetings addicts share on the spiritual level with each other – the deepest, darkest feelings and drives. And we support one another. We can be open to other people and other situations which would have frustrated us before and driven us to try to control others.

However, the great gift of recovery is the gift of freedom. We no longer have to to control the world around us because we learn and accept that we have no power over people, places, and things—only over ourselves, and then only with the help of God. We can now chose our actions – no longer driven by shame.

And so it is that I have enjoyed 19 years in recovery – and have hopefully grown 19 years in emotional health.

19 years ago I was reborn—with the challenge to mature into the man God has intended me to be.

And so I celebrate three births:

life - born into in the flesh

Step 2 - recognize that there is such a power.

Step 3 - turn my life and will over to God. Step 3 is the foundation stone and is extremely difficult. If we are religious, we may think that we have already done it, but, when push comes to shove, we really don’t trust God and we take the power back from him – demanding control over our lives.

A wise lady in an AA group said: the 12 steps are very easy – all we have to do is to change our whole way of life – people, places and things.

Baptism - born into a temple of the Holy Spirit.

Recovery – born into life in the Spirit.

11

KANSAS MONKS

walking the grounds

by Dan Madden

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WINTER 2010

O

nce across the noisy railroad tracks, through the business district, and into the tree-lined streets of Atchison’s steep north side, drive slowly. The quiet neighborhoods aren’t conducive to speeding. Rough cobblestones and deep dips at intersections help where police patrols aren’t present.

Approaching Benedictine College and its spiritual heart, St. Benedict’s Abbey, let the pulse rate drop with the speed limit, which plummets to 20 miles an hour entering the school zone of Atchison Catholic Elementary School and passing beneath the spires of the local parish church. Don’t miss the right turn into the college campus. The road meanders up another hill. Careful. Distracted college students will wander in front of the car like livestock, without even a glance at the heavy machinery bearing down on them. Not to worry. The peaceful grounds of the Abbey will wait. continued on the next page

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photo by JD Benning

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recruiters.

It offers an expansive view north to the wide bend in the Missouri River, where Independence Creek makes it’s secretive entrance into the brooding waterway. Yellows and greens of cottonwood and poplar trees carry the eye beyond the border to Missouri and the eastern bluffs that shrink to purple on the horizon.

The short anxious breaths from highway driving and city life give way easily to deep draughts of air filtered by leaves, wood and wild grass. Scanning back to the south, the eye captures the vastness of the flood plain that Lewis and Clark gushed over as a land of milk and honey. Today it is lined with the faint scars of farming and Missouri state highways. But the imagination and the eyes can still stretch freely, high over open territory.

At your feet, the bluff plummets steeply into brambles and underbrush, hiding the roots of a tangle of deciduous trees—oak, walnut, mulberry, elm—that smolder with fall colors.

A closer look reveals the concrete pylons where the late novice master, Father Florian, charted out his walking trails, since overgrown, which led hikers down to the Missouri River.

For Brother Joseph Ryan, the balance provided by the Abbey grounds is perhaps as simple as a child told by his mother to go outdoors and get some fresh air.

“The monastery is supposed to be a place of peace and quiet, but this is where I get my peace and quiet most of the time,” he says. “I don’t like being cooped up.” On a weekend he will start out walking and eventually slow his pace until he finds himself sitting by a tree, watching the leaves turn.

Brother Joe, a physicist and astronomer, loves to explore. Indoors, his wandering has made the Abbey a more energy efficient house. He has crawled into every nook and cranny, wrapping insulation around each duct and pipe and replacing every light bulb.

He can often be found on the roof making repairs and cleaning out gutters and waterspouts.

Outdoors, he has come to know Creation on a first name basis. He knows that the Abbey grounds are a virtual superhighway for deer. He’s

photo by JD Benning

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KANSAS MONKS arved by ancient glaciers and the mighty Missouri River, and settled by the monks in the 1920s, the land around the monastery and towering Abbey church are quietly patient, restfully welcoming those who seek them out, but content to be left alone.

The church and monastery that sit heavily on the crest of the bluff seem permanent in human time, but to the massive wave of shale, clay and limestone upon which they sit, they are young temporary fixtures.

A burning bush, named for God’s call to Moses, blazes red (right) next to the “St. Benedict’s Abbey” sign at the entrance to the crescent-shaped drive that channels visitors to the Abbey Church and Guest house. It’s easy to imagine Yahweh’s fire taking the chill out of the autumn air.

The creak of brakes, slamming car doors. At the front desk friendly chatter. A short climb to cozy rooms. Prayer with the monks. A warm meal. A good night’s sleep. Early morning vigils.

Breakfast.

Across grass wet from the dew, or roundabout on the sidewalk, the guest always finds the overlook. Just after sunrise, when a heavy fog hides the river, the sun rises up through the mists like first love.

Embedded in the sidewalk as one steps to the overlook is a plaque inscribed with the words, “The most peaceful place on Earth.”

Commissioned by her son Larry, the plaque is dedicated to the late Mildred Ebner, who often stopped off at the spot on the drive from Kansas City to visit her husband’s grave in the tiny town of Bendena, northwest of Atchison. Ebner often heard his mother utter the phrase when as a young boy he joined her on the trips.

After travelling and doing quite a bit of sightseeing in his later years, Ebner said he returned to the Abbey and admitted his mother had always been right.

The overlook, which welcomes visitors with two heavy benches under a lone oak tree (above), is popular to Benedictine College art classes, visitors on retreat, students cramming for exams, and is a must to every tour given by the college’s

WINTER 2010 Tony.” Once he tried to count the trees on the grounds. He stopped at 300. He’s lived most of his life in the gardens, hauling in tomatoes, sweet corn, okra, squash, lettuce, radishes, and cantaloupe. He points out overgrown concrete ruins hidden away in the timber north of the cemetery. “There used to be a two-story slaughter house there,” he recalls. He says further up the hill there used to be a gathering of corn bins. The monks used to raise cattle.

“Every Saturday we would butcher four steers and six or seven hogs,” he says. “They were fed to the students and the monks. The students ate a lot of steak in those days.”

Brother Anthony recalls cooking the abbey’s garbage to feed to the hogs. “They’d come up to get that hot garbage,” he chuckles. “They never did learn. They’d squeal because it burned their mouths. That was fun to watch.”

Brother Anthony is especially proud of The cemetery was relocated to it’s current location in the mid 1960’s. the walnut grove, an elegant stand of trees seen herds as large as 10 pass through on more than one occasion. he planted in a rocky field near the site of He’s heard the cry of bobcats and the yelps of coyotes. He’s seen the old slaughterhouse, with the help of the 1989 novitiate class. the sly flash of red fox, the rustling hurry of turkey. He has become They planted 169 trees disoriented in the old man-made quarry caves under the Abbey’s and every one survived. north property.

Eventually some had to Like old confreres he introduces a visitor to the six pear trees near be cleared out due to the cemetery, the lone peach tree, the new apple trees, the hazlenut overcrowding. trees. The oaks are like another religious order living on the grounds.

Brother Anthony The patriarch, over 200-years old, standing starkly by the back used to work the vineparking lot, is dying. The walnuts, sycamores, two Chinese chestnuts yards (see photo on page over behind the weeping willow. A Kansas State Champion royal 5) that were located in paulowina, the largest of its kind in the state, minds its own business, what is now 10 acres out of the way, south of the guest house, near the campus road. Near of pastureland at the the workshop on the other side of the Abbey grounds there’s a large north end of the Abbey grounds. The monks sold a few truck loads of pecan tree still bearing the jagged burnt sienna scar, from top to concord grapes, but the wine was exclusively for their own use. bottom, the result of a lightning strike. The Japanese maple in front “The first batch was for of the church is brilliant red in the fall. Brother Anthony Vorwerk the altar,” Brother Anthony planted the row of Buckeye trees in the cemetery, likely to hold explains. “The second and hillside against erosion. The Bradford pear east of the monastery third batches were no good. turns so white in the spring it seems to float off the ground. Its They were used for table companion had to be removed after it was killed by an ice storm. wine. But no one drank it Bird houses hang throughout the grounds. Swallows, jays, chickunless you were an alcoadees, wrens, starlings, warblers, finches, sparrows, blackbirds, holic.” He says the orchards hummingbirds and orioles are a few of the birds that flit around the were killed off by drifting Abbey. Owls, hawks, crows, vultures, and the familiar Vs of geese chemicals when area farmplying the sky to Brother Joe’s delight. ers began using airplanes to Hidden by the trees–broken bricks, spray their orchards.

Brother Anthony drove splintered wood, and rusted steel These days Brother are all that remains of the Abbey’s the bulldozers that helped Anthony motors through slaughterhouse. clear dead trees and terrace his territory on a Gator. the pasture land just north of The stories tumble the Abbey. And it was Brother Anthony’s gentle spirit that erected a out of him like toma- memorial to Brother John Kaighin when he died suddenly of a heart toes from a cardboard attack while splitting wood in 2002. The bench, donated by Brother box. Few have more John’s sister, and a sign nailed to a tree memorializing the 58-yearAbbey dirt under their old monk, offers a peaceful view of the Abbey’s cemetery and in fingernails than Brother the distance the tower of the Abbey church rising through the trees.

Anthony. Most of the Brother Anthony says the long slope on which the bench sits was shade on the Abbey grounds is provided by trees planted by “Brother continued on the next page 15

photos by JD Benning

KANSAS MONKS special to Brother John.

“He used to sit up here with his dog and meditate and think on worldly things,” he says.

photo by JD Benning

Brother Anthony’s help in the garden, the young guys: Father Jeremy Heppler, Brother Joseph Ryan Brother Leven Harton, Brother Simon Baker, and more recently, Brother Christopher Start and Father Justin Dean, can often be heard before they are seen on the hot Kansas days. Like Brother Joe, This statue rests at the foot of a bench they relish the break hard work in the Abbey dedicated to Brother John Kaighin. gardens affords them from studies of formation. The laughter as they chide one another reaches the ear around a bend in the road. Tying tomato plants, tilling the soil for sweet corn, the sweaty toil of Brother Leven’s against-allodds peanut patch, the young men truly seem to have embraced St. Benedict’s call to savor the moment and to bring joy and humility to each task. Time out for target practice with bruised and rotten fruit against a distant oak, shows young men are young men, whatever the vocation.

Northeast of the gardens, on a hill near the Abbey cemetery, the young monks of the Abbey brought together artistic beauty and backbreaking work to offer a bit of spiritual sustenance to those walking the abbey grounds. There, starting at the cemetery, one, or many, can follow in Jesus’ footsteps through the Stations of the Cross. The path leads pilgrims up the road and returns them to the edge of the cemetery. Conceived, designed and built by Brother Leven Harton, the stations were erected by a group of young monks and friends of the Abbey in the summer of 2007. Stations which follow a tree-lined roadway offer scriptural passages for those who follow the way of the cross. The workers who installed them not only built the stations in the Abbey’s wood shop, but dug the holes in rocky ground and poured the concrete. Retreat groups and lone visitors can often be seen observing the Stations ritual, which it is believed was estab-

16

lished by St. Francis of Assisi.

The morning after an ice storm is bittersweet. Devastation can be beautiful. The sun shining through the branches glistens like crystal chandeliers. But some of those trees will die from the deadly sheet draped so coldly over the land. It seems so peaceful. Only the occasional hum and clang of distant trucks and the bark of men cleaning up debris and repairing power lines can be heard. Then in the silence, the loud crack of tree branches snapping and the crunch of ice underfoot. Ice is meticulous. It takes the time to encrust every tree bud, each barb of fence wire, each delicate leaf.

Walking along the river bluff on the east side of the monastery is an exercise in Benedictine acceptance. Much work awaits. Branches snapped off by the sheer force of frozen water will have to be sawed up and hauled away. Whole trees may need to be removed. For now, walk in awe of nature’s beauty, her power. And yes, feel melancholy at her destructive force. This too shall pass.

Not all is as it appears, though. In the spring, if one takes the time to look over the crest of the bluff into the timber, there are remnants of something long disappeared: the sunken gardens of Father Placidus Kiefer. Brother Joe was a freshman at St. Benedict’s College when he used to stop and visit the old priest tending the unusual flower gardens behind the monastery. Then one day the old man disappeared. In reality, he had died. A quarter of a century later, flowers from those gardens still fight through the underbrush and bloom like memories.

Winter at the Abbey. Small children gazing at the East side of the monastery have seen a castle. Their parents look across an open lawn of untrampeled snow and imagine they have been transported to the ancient monasteries of Europe. The high gothic walls of limestone hearken to another time and place. The monks who planned their new home’s construction in the 1920s sought that experience, modeling it after the great buildings of the old country.

Perhaps the most visited place on the grounds is the cemetery.

Alumni visiting old teachers, families visiting beloved brothers.

Monks returning to the names of the “giants” who came before them, the men who built St. Benedict’s Abbey from a settlement on the Missouri River, who persevered through droughts, a Great Depression, a Civil War, bankruptcies.

Amid the beautiful wildness of nature, the cemetery is an example of monastic order without disruption. Sitting on a table of flat land atop the river bluff, overlooking the Missouri River Valley, the resting place of monks is sheltered from the winds blowing from the western prairie through a row of white pines. Laid out symmetrically, almost like the monastic choir inside the church, the graves are charted in a semi-circle around A silver crucifix standing out from the embrace of the trees and shrubs that surround it, without dominating the scene.

photo by JD Benning

Brother Anthony was there when the cemetery was moved to its current location. Originally it was located east of the current Benedictine College library near the bluff. In anticipation of planned campus growth the Abbey decided to move the cemetery to a more placid site to the north of the monastery.

“In three days they moved all the graves,” Brother Anthony recalls. “It was like a miracle.

As the last coffin was placed in the ground it began to snow. We couldn’t have continued with snow on the ground, It was a real miracle.”

clothed with faith God’s Will In Our Lives

photo by Brother Joseph Ryan

Providence, the Rest is Happenstance When others ask about how I arrived at St Benedict’s Abbey, the unlikely series of events, mishaps, and surprises that led me here surprise me more and more. Increasingly, the best response I have for them is simply, “Providence led me here. All the rest is happenstance!”

The first inkling that life was going to veer into unexpected paths came at baptism, or so I’m told. The infant me was in an uproar throughout the rite– up until the moment when the priest poured the holy water. I stopped crying and fell asleep, as though comforted.

My parents dismissed it as my love of water. My great-grandfather whispered, “he is happy because he is Catholic.”

It was not until middle school that I realized how central my faith needed to be, if it was to be at all. Singing in the choir, I fixed my attention on the priest during the Eucharistic prayer. At that time, I barely had words to express what it was that drew me. Throughout the rest of my schooling I became increasingly involved in my parish.

I always sought to deepen this desire that was constantly drawing me to the prayers and life of Mother Church.

In 2002, I enrolled at Michigan State University. I might say I double majored: environmental science/botany along with campus ministry. My four years in East Lansing were a dynamic tension between my studies, campus ministry, jobs, and community. My time there suddenly ended and I saw my friends scatter across the country for work and graduate school. I, however, was clueless where God wanted me to go.

Bereft of direction I did the most “radical” thing: actually work in my academic field! I enjoyed the hard work of felling trees, planting native grasses and shrubs, and traveling hither and thither across the state, but my heart was restless. Aching for something more, I would gaze up at the summer sky. I lasted all of two and a half months in my restoration ecology position with the state parks.

Unexpectedly, a new offer emerged: become a youth minister for a year in rural Michigan. For two semesters, I worked on building a youth ministry program in a parish of 500 families, along with aiding in the junior high at the parish school. Again, I loved

WINTER 2010 Brother Joseph tries to stay in the moment. Most of the time, standing amid the trees, listening to the birds, he is able to feel the true spirit of St. Benedict’s call to “keep death before one’s eyes.”

“But sometimes I look around and think, Oh, there’s more work to do,” he admits. “But this kind of work is relaxing for me. I hate to be cooped up.”

The days sometimes seem too short.

However, on nights, when the bats dart through the night sky after insects or in the fall, when a chill is in the air, work can wait. Brother Joe perches a telescope on the east edge of the bluff near the cemetery, where the monastery and church shelter him from the lights of the college. The explorer looks to the heavens. Once again in the moment, he searches for Andromeda, or the Pleiades, or Cassiopeia, Jupiter, Venus, Orion or countless other friends.

Another day ends. Who knows what morning will bring.

In October, he stared in wonder as a monarch butterfly migration passed by.

my work, especially with the dozen high school students who came religiously to youth group. Repeatedly, though, I would look out the windows (which faced Lake Huron, six blocks away) and agonize: “how could life be so good here and I still ache for something more?”

Almost on a whim, I applied to the Magis Catholic Teacher Corps, out Brother Christopher Start at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. The next two years plopped me on an intense masters of education program where I taught at a small, Catholic school in the inner city of my new home. I threw all of my energy into being the best teacher I could. Some days even that was barely enough.

However, the preeminence of prayer in my life became apparent: when I forgot to pray, I could not teach my way out of a paper bag.

Disengaged from parish life for the first time, I felt abandoned. One of my close friends (met providentially during an archdiocesan meeting) noticed my stress at being torn between prayer and work and disconnected from a church community. He suggested a retreat at an abbey that was connected to his alma mater, Benedictine College.

Not even sure what a monk was, I set out for what I thought was going to be a nice, quiet weekend. My friend and the vocation director for the community, however, had cooked up the idea that I was a vocation prospect for the abbey. Oh, I had my nice quiet weekend retreat– several of them, in fact! Something about the community, their prayer, life, and work, kept drawing me back.

Along the line, perhaps while I was singing with different choirs at Ordination masses (one for the Archdiocese of Omaha, another for the Jesuits), my mind settled on going home, to the diocese of Lansing. One last time, or so I thought, I travelled down to Atchison, this time to say farewell and thank the monks for their hospitality.

During the middle of the night, I woke up with the distinct idea to go pray in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel in the Abbey Church. Once there, my heart broke: filled to overflowing with grace, freedom, and love. I suddenly saw my life fit together as my Lord called me to abandon all for His sake! The following morning, looking up at the stonework adorning the monastery, I knew this was the place. Here the Spirit had led me to seek Christ and to glorify God in all things.

17

KANSAS MONKS

2011 CALENDAR

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18

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Incline the Ear of Your Heart also available at the following bookstores: I. Donnelly in Kansas City, Mo. Trinity House in Overland Park, Kan. and Blessings in St. Joseph, Mo. There is a $5.00 shipping charge on all orders.

WINTER 2010

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Marked with the sign of Faith

related to his work, such as his inter1912-2000 est in music and the violin. Camp rother Raymond St.Maur inspired was a kind and his deep interest generous man full in ceramics and of ideas and surprises. provided a healthy The Abbey community outlet. His desires was his whole life and sometimes were he served it in capacities further distanced as different as running than his reach. heavy machinery and At one point tending a vineyard and in his monastic pouring greenware for life, in the early ceramics and making rosaries.

1950s, Brother Ray Brother Ray could liven up a day starting at the After Breakfast received permission Coffee Club exchanging ideas with Brother Anthony Vorwerk, and from Abbot Cuthbert include a wild ride on a galloping horse at the community picnic at to try his monastic the South farm in the afternoon. He loved to play cards and tried vocation at Holy all kinds of games from Shauskopf and Bridge to Gin Rummy. He Ghost Abbey, Conywas not a passive player but entered into the games and the small ers, Ga., as a lay talk to the ultimate degree. brother. This monasBrother Raymond was a restless monk, restless for God and tery was then, as it Benedictine Pax. is now, an abbey of Ray entered the community with the desire to be a monk and the Cistercians of a priest. The academic side of this vocation proved too much. Strict Observance, or the Trappists. St. Benedict’s Abbey had some The novitiate under Father Bernard Sause was very challenging. connection with that community since our now deceased Father Bernard recommended that he change his aspirations to becoming Gabriel LaRocque had transferred from St. Benedict’s Abbey to a lay brother. The academic side of that pursuit was minimal in become a monk there. He actually directed the building of the those days and far less demanding. permanent monastery. As a footnote, Father Gabriel returned to As a lay brother Raymond helped wherever necessary. He was St. Benedict’s Abbey and died as a member of our community. always generous. The ability to stay with an assigned job was Brother Raymond returned to the community sometime in 1951sometimes problematic. He had many interests, some of them not 52. He resumed various kinds of works for our community.

Brother Ray did work on the Abbey farms and was taught to manage the Abbey Vineyards by then Brother Phillip Deitchman (Later Father Eric) Strong winds brought toxic spray used to treat apple trees down from Doniphan County. The wandering spray affected the Abbey Vineyard.

Brother Ray found another job.

Brother Raymond Peiffer was a very fine man and monk.

He had a heart full of good will and generosity, boundless at times. His famous ride at the old South Farm will live in our abbey lore forever as will his memory.

When monks gather the stories come out, often embellished. No one is forgotten but some monks are more flamboyant than others.

Brother Ray (left) aids Father Clement Nordhus with beekeeping.

Brother Raymond Pfeiffer

BF

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KANSAS MONKS

Father Denis Meade, who celebrated the 60th anniversary of profession to the monastic life, was born in Cummings, Iowa, Oct. 16, 1930, to Joseph and Ella Meade.

He transferred to Maur Hill School during his sophomore year of high school and graduated in 1947. At St. Benedict’s College he entered the Abbey novitiate in 1949 and professed vows a year later. He graduated from the College in 1952 with a History degree. Father Denis Meade browses the card Abbot Cuthbert McDon- catalog in 1973. ald sent the young monk to Rome later that year. In 1956 he earned his licentiate in theology from Sant’ Anselmo and four years later received his doctorate in Canon Law from the Lateran University. Returning to Atchison, he taught briefly in the St. Benedict’s Abbey internal seminary before it closed and then spent the next four decades teaching in the St. Benedict’s College/Benedictine College theology and religious studies programs. He also served as a dorm prefect and novice master during that time. Father Denis also served two stints in the Abbey’s Brazilian foundation, working in the formation of new members and assisting the regional marriage tribunal with Canon Law work.

Since returning to Atchison, Father Denis has primarily served as postulant director and director of junior monks, and has assisted the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas Marriage Tribunal.

Bishop Herbert Hermes, who celebrated the 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination this year, was born in Shallow Water, Kan., May 25, 1933. He graduated from St. Benedict’s College with majors in biology and philosophy.

He joined St. Benedict’s Abbey and was ordained to the priesthood in 1960.

He began his years of service in Brazil in 1962.

During 28 years in St. Joseph’s Priory in Mineiros, he held responsible offices among the monks.

He cared for parishes and their missions, preaching retreats, introducing the worldwide Marriage Encounter movement, ministry to youth and secondary and college teaching. He was named the bishop of Cristalandia 20

Father Bruce Swift, 50 years a priest, was born outside Springfield, Mo., in 1932, raised in a Catholic family, attended Catholic schools and came to St. Benedict’s College.

As a junior he spent a weekend at the monastery and “fell in love with the place.” In 1954, after earning bachelor’s degree in chemistry and biology he entered the novitiate, and a year later, professed vows. Father Bruce was ordained to the priesthood May 26, 1960. He would go on to earn a master’s degree in French, out of obedience. Maur Hill Prep needed a French teacher. For 23 years he taught at Maur Hill, covering a broad range of subjects—French, English composition and grammar, Algebra, business, biology and chemistry. Father Bruce returned to the Abbey to serve as postulant director and junior master and for five years as vocation director. He later served a seven year stint as pastor of two parishes in the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, and from 1983 to 1991 was associate director of campus ministry for Benedictine College. Father Bruce heard confessions in Rome in the Jubilee Year 2000, before returning to the Abbey to serve as novice master. Since 1983, Father Bruce has dedicated himself to prison ministry, working in the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, The State Correctional Facility at Lansing, the Ozark Correctional Facility in Fordland, Mo., and while it was open at the Atchiosn Juvenile Correctional Facility.

photo by JD Benning

Jubilarians monks celebrating anniversaries

in 1990 and his resignation from that post was accepted in 2009.

As bishop, he fostered vocations, lay leadership and education. He established the Center for Human Rights of Cristalandia and was awarded the 12th Annual Award of Human Rights from the National Movement of Human Rights in 2002. The seven bishops of the State of Tocantins have asked him to foster Human Rights throughout the state. He lives in Paraiso in a Redemptorist residence.

Father Blaine Schultz, also celebrating 50 years of priesthood, is a native of Kansas City, Mo. At age 4 he was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Fred Schultz of Kansas City, Kan. He attended St. Benedict’s parish grade school in KCK and Maur Hill, finishing there in1951. He entered St. Benedict’s College, graduating in 1956. He entered St. Benedict’s Abbey in 1953, and was ordained in 1960. He taught religion and Philosophy at the College, and was a prefect in Freshman Hall. He earned a bachelors in music at KU in 1964 and a masters degree in music history from the University of Wisconsin in 1966. He then began a 40 year career of teaching music at St. Benedict’s College and Benedictine College, retiring from the classroom in 2005. He continues his work as Abbey Choirmaster, an

WINTER 2010 appointment originally given him by Abbot Thomas in 1967. Today, he is an Emeritus Professor of music, and as an adjunct, teaching piano and organ.

Father Albert Hauser, another golden jubilarian, is a native of Burlington, Iowa. From 1960 to 1970 Father Albert worked as Director of Vocations for the abbey. During that time he was also prefect for the priesthood students (known as “Hilltoppers” at that time.) He then served as Director of Admissions, recruiter for the college, and Registrar. Beginning in 1970 he began his parochial ministry. He was pastor of Sacred Heart in Atchison from 1970 to 1973. One year at St. John’s Church in Burlington, Iowa. In 1974. He became pastor of SS. Peter and Paul in Seneca and served there until 1984. He went back to Burlington as pastor of St. John’s Church until 1990, when the parish was given back to the diocese. From 1991 to 2001 he served as pastor of Holy Spirit in Overland Park. In 2001 he was assigned to St. Michael’s Parish in Axtell where he still serves.

Father Michael Zoellner, who celebrated 30 years of priesthood this year, is a native of Perryville, Missouri.

He was ordained as a member of St. Pius X Abbey in Pevely, Missouri, on April 18, 1980. The monks took up new residence in Columbia, Mo., and the commu- Fr. Michael Zoellner at a 1981 M.A.S.H. nity disbanded in pary at St. Elizabetth Hospital, Gladstone, 1991. His last work Illinois. in Columbia was as a chaplain at the Catholic Student center for the university. He then served three years in parish assignments in the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau before petitioning to join St. Benedict’s Abbey in 1994. For three years, he worked in the Benedictine College Office of Communications, and served St. Paul’s parish in Olathe, Kan. on weekends. In 1998 he began his current assignment, serving the Sisters of Charity in Leavenworth as chaplain.

MONASTIC MILESTONES

Jubilees are the celebrations of prominent milestones in the lives of monks. The community celebrates the day when a our members made a permanent commitment to monastic life in Solemn Profession, when they accepted the call to priesthood in ordination, and when our abbots accepted the “place of Christ”in our community. Abbots are elected by the community which they are to lead. This year St. Benedict’s Abbey marked six jubilee anniversaries.

Seven other monks celebrated significant anniversaries as well. Below are all the monks marking suh milestones, including current Abbot Barnabas and retired Abbot Owen Purcell.

Abbot Barnabas Senecal 15 Years - Election

Abbot Owen Purcell 20 Years - Election

Father Albert Hauser 50 Years - Ordination

Bishop Herbert Hermes 50 Years - Ordination

Prior James Albers 10 Years - Ordination

Father Bruce Swift 55 Years - Profession 50 Years - Ordination

Father Denis Meade 60 Years - Profession 55 Years - Ordination

Father Blaine Schultz 50 Years - Ordnation

Father Paul Stengreaber 45 Years - Ordination

Father Michael Zoellner 30 Years - Ordination

Father Brendan Rolling 15 Years - Profession 10 Years - Ordination

Brother Joseph Ryan 15 Years - Profession

Brother Heraldo Carvalho Ferreira 5 Years - Profession

21

KANSAS MONKS in My Soul by the then Blessed, now Saint Faustina Kowaska.

Someone recommended that I read it. I know the month and year I bought the book, because I wrote in the front, “Br. Gabriel Landis, March, 1998.” (Some of my friends think it is amusing that I write my name in the books I buy. But it is my own strange quirk.) I guess I was not meant by God to read the book yet, for I remember reading a few passages, then placing it back on my shelf. A few weeks ago, I got one of those inspirations to start reading it. I took it along on my vacation to Colorado, and would meditate and pray A Ground of all Reality on what I had read while hiking a couple of trails.

What Jesus communicated to Saint Faustina throughout her One of the positive aspects of life was that it pained God that so many souls reject his divine living an Interior Life in the Desert mercy. In the diary, Jesus said to her; “My heart overflows with is the divine mercy of Jesus Christ. great mercy for souls, and especially for poor sinners. If only they Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen said, could understand that I am the best of Fathers to them and that “Every man is like an onion. His it is for them that the blood and water flowed from my heart as a superficial self has many layers of fount overflowing with mercy. For them I dwell in the tabernacle skins, and at the center of them all is as King of Mercy. I desire to bestow My graces upon souls, but his real self. Self-abnegation tears off Father Gabriel Landis all the outer deceptions and finally Pastor - St. Joseph’s Church they do not want to accept them.”

How sad it is that there are souls in the world who do not want reveals our true character. One of the reasons why so few know God is because they do not know to accept the mercy and graces of Jesus. Are they so comfortthemselves. They live in a world of make believe where nothing is able, living in their world of “make believe?” How can we hurt and offend the Sacred Heart of Jesus, when he says he has many graces real, and thus miss the Ground of all Reality.”

The older I get, the longer I have been a priest, (a mere 6 plus to bestow, “but they do not want to accept them?”

As a priest, this pains me. I meet or come to know people who years) and the longer I have been in Solemn Vows as a monk of Saint Benedict’s Abbey, the more I am struck by how totally unde- either are selective in living out their Catholic-Christian Faith, or they spurn Christ all together. serving and unworthy I am of the graces My guess is, each one of us know and divine mercy that God has given me. people like this. Like I said, it pains I know that Romans 3:23 applies to me: me to know this goes on in some “For all have sinned and fallen short of of the souls around me. I cannot the Glory of God.” Therefore, because I fathom life without Jesus Christ! know I am a sinner, the more I love the In my own interior life, I have divine mercy given to me through the asked Jesus to help me bear the Crucifixion of Jesus, which starts an sufferings that he gives me. Perhaps upward spiral. The more I meditate on his through suffering for others, suffering for me, his agonizing death for through sharing in the sufferings me, the more deeper the sense grows of of Christ, I can help him win souls. how undeserving and unworthy I am to After all, as Archbishop Sheen become a Catholic, a Benedictine Monk, taught, a priest is not just a priest: and a priest. And these mediations spur he is a Priest-Victim. Sometimes me on to want to share in the sufferings of with a heart on fire, I’ve asked Christ. I guess that is why I like the above Jesus to increase my sufferings. At quote from Archbishop Sheen. You either other times, when I request this, it know who you truly are. Or you do not. is a lukewarm request. The weak You either know the “Ground of all Realuntrusting part of me, fears at ity,” or you live a life of “make believe.” times how Jesus may respond. How I for one would rather know who I we frail humans play a tug of war truly am. It is a divine mercy that includes with Jesus! Sometimes we say the knowing all the gifts and warts, good and words Jesus taught to Saint Fausthe bad. It is not always pleasant to let tina, “Jesus, I Trust in you!” Other Jesus shine a spot light on your soul. As times, we are afraid to embrace he says: “Gabriel, I love you, but this part the crosses he sends us. Yet in his of your life, causes me great pain.” When St. Faustina Kowalska was canonized April 30, 2000. mercy, he says; “Be not afraid! I am Jesus addresses us in this manner, we have two options. Either we ignore him and continue to wound him by with you.” Saint Faustina prayed, “O my Jesus, honor and glory to not accepting his divine mercies, which is living the life of “make You for these trials of love! Great and incomprehensible is your believe.” Or, we cry out, “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me” and grow mercy. All that you intended for my soul, O Lord, is steeped in your mercy.” deeper in the intimacy of Jesus, the “Ground of all Reality.”

I end with a prayer by Saint Faustina: “Jesus, Supreme Light, It is funny how the Lord works in our lives. By that I mean, with God, there are no coincidences. In March 1998, I was in my third grant me the grace of knowing myself, and pierce my dark soul month of the Novitiate. I purchased the book, Diary: divine mercy with your Light, and fill the abyss of my soul with Your own self.”

From The Desert

22

abbey notes Father Bertrand LaNoue is in residence in the monastery on the main floor with ready access to the health care staff. He is using a walker or a powered chair throughout the day.

Father Gabriel Landis has taken up duties as pastor of St. Joseph’s and St. Patrick’s parishes in Atchison, Kan.. He was installed as pastor by Archbishop Naumann on Sunday, Dec. 5, at the 9:30 a.m.

Mass at St. Patrick’s and the 11 a.m. Mass at St. Joseph’s.

Father Bruce Swift was recognized by his St. Agnes High School classmates as the Outstanding Alumnus of their class, in Springfield Mo., as they gathered for their 60th reunion this Fall.

Brother John Peto is participating in Merton Discussions at the Mount’s Sophia Center, twice monthly on Thursday, October through December. Discussion leaders are Sisters Gabrielle Kocour and Sheila Carroll.

Father Maurice Haefling participated in Congregation meetings at Pt. Procopius Abbey, Lisle, Ill. November 2-5. He is one of four financial counselors for the American- Cassinese Congregation. Each year they meet to review the financial audits of Congregation’s monasteries and related schools and then report their findings to Abbot-President and his Council.

Abbot Barnabas Senecal and Father Brendan Rolling were among the 1,033 persons who attended the eighth annual Catholic Education Foundation dinner in Overland Park, Oct. 30.

Prior James Albers was a presenter at a conference sponsored by Our Sorrowful Mother’s Ministry in Vandalia, Ill. He will lead a Fan Into Flame Retreat at Lake Doniphan in Excelsior Springs, Mo. Father Kieran McInerney hosted some 60 members of his family and invited guests, offering Mass Oct. 30, in the Guadalupe Chapel, and then gathering for a potluck meal in the conference area of the crypt.

Brother Simon Baker visted Saint Vincent Archabbey Seminary in October. He will visit Saint Meinrad Archabbey Seminary in March.

Brother Simon is completing preparatory courses at Benedictine College to begin his four-year theology program in the fall of 2011.

Brother Leven Harton was interviewed about his Benedict’s Brittle peanut brittle business by Chef Alli for WIBW-Topeka television’s Hy-Vee Culinary program.

WINTER 2010 Brother John Peto and Sister Marcia Ziska coordinated the activities of the Kansas City University of Medicine and Bioethics group visit to the Abbey and the Mount, Oct. 25-29. The six osteopathic students worked with health care staffs and other Benedictine men and women in providing interaction of students and older Benedictines regarding health care and end of life issues. The KCUMB students have completed their second year of studies; they are given options for a one-week partial credit experience as they move toward two years of residency training.

Marci Penner, Director of the Kansas Sampler Foundation, asked a photographer from Sabetha to come to the Abbey Oct. 18 to produce photographs for a book on the 8 Wonders of Kansas. Prior James Albers had entered St. Benedict’s Abbey in this competition because for the past 152 years monks have continuously prayed publicly the Liturgy of the Hours, here, in Atchison. Our entry was chosen as one of the 24 finalists. One can review all of the 8 Wonders of Kansas competitions by going to kansassampler.org.

Father Kevin Bachmann, O.S.B., a member of Holy Cross Abbey, Canon City, Colo., arrived at St. Benedict’s Abbey Nov. 10 to live as a resident-guest here. Currenty 70 years of age, he professed vows at Holy Cross in 1997 and was ordained to the priesthood in 2001.

Unitl recently he had ministered in various parishes in the Publo area.

However, continuing health problems with bone marrow cancer and shingles forced him to retire from this ministry. He accepted an invitation to come to St. Benedict’s Abbey where he can live in community and receive needed medical care.

A group of 27 members of Church of the Ascension in Overland Park, Kan., made a bus trip to the Abbey, Nov. 1. They toured the Abbey church and art gallery, ate lunch with the monks, and enjoyed organ music played by Father Blaine Schultz.

Elizabeth Zeller, the artist who has exhibted icons in our gallery, did a pastel painting of Father James Downey and displayed it in Kansas City. Jerry Fennell, a relative of the Downey family, bought the painting and donated it to the Abbey. It is hanging in the main floor reading room.

Father Meinrad Miller and Father Marion Charboneau gave a weekend retreat to the Ralph Voss group from Central Missouri, Nov. 19-21.

The Abbey Development Office is producing a weekly podcast. It is available at the Abbey Web site or at the iTunes store.

Josie Marko, a Benedictine College junior, a nursing student and a Certified Nursing Aide, is working in our Abbey Health Care staff.

Her home is in Sioux Falls, S.D..

A burning bush, named for God’s call to Moses, blazes red next to the “St. Benedict’s Abbey” sign at the entrance to the crescent-shaped drive that channels visitors to the Abbey Church 23 and Guest house. It’s easy to imagine Yahweh’s fire taking the chill out of the autumn air. Excerpt from ‘Walking the Grounds’ - Full story on page 13. | Photo by JD Benning

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Winter 2010 | Volume 5 | Number 4

St. Benedict’s Abbey Podcast 24

Homilies Reflections Music and more

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