k ansas
monk s Winter 2011
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From the Abbot
Kansas Monks
4........ 6 . . . . . . . .Prophet of hope Raised in western Kansas, Bishop Herbert Hermes has spent the majority of his life working to sew “seeds” in Brazil.
contributing writers: Abbot Barnabas Senecal “My heart overflows with noble words.” From the Abbot (4) | Abbey Notes (23)
Brother John Peto “A Christian is known by his happiness in the Lord!” Oblates (11)
9. . . . . . . Marked with the sign of Faith faith 10 . . . . . clothed with God’s Will In Our Lives 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Obl ate s 12 . . . . . . . . . . . Written Confirmation
Abbot Barnabas Senecal puts his own personal touch on the Sacrament of Confirmation. We visit Seneca, Kan., to watch him work.
Father Daniel McCarthy “The liturgy nourishes us all along the process of our human maturation.” A Grateful Response (17)
Abbot Owen Purcell “It’s all a day at a time.” Marked by a Sign of Faith (9)
Prior Duane Roy “Working at the daily task of being a monk” Somos Irmãos (20)
Father Meinrad Miller “Whatever you have done to the least of these you have done to me.” Clothed With Faith (10)
Father Gabriel Landis-
16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Seeing All Sides Father Michael Santa encourages us to learn about Islam.
17. . . . . . . a Grateful Response 18. . . . . . . . Monastic Review liturgy & the life of the church
Abbot Barnabas reviews ‘Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor’ by Ben Witherington III.
Christ leads me through no darker rooms than he went through before; he that unto God’s kingdom comes must enter by this door. • From the Desert (21)
Joe Bollig “A prudent man conceals his knowledge, but fools proclaim their folly.” Prophet of Hope (6)
Father Michael Santa-
Every adult Catholic should read the holy book of Islam: The Holy Quran. Seeing All Sides (16)
20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From the Desert
Catholic Press Association Award Winner
21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SomosweIrmãos are brothers
General Excellence 2009 2010 2011
22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . in aWord
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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: J.D. Benning (cover), Father Jeremy Heppler, Brother Joseph Ryan, Abbot Barnabas Senecal, Father Daniel McCarthy Kansas Monks magazine is published by the Office of Development. For a free subscription: 913.360.7906, or development@kansasmonks.org.
Winter 2011
Have a blessed and merry Christmas! from the Monks of St. Benedict ’s Abbey
p h o to by Fat her J eremy Heppl er
Kan sa s Mo nks re ce ive s Awa rd Kansas Monks received top honors in 2011 among Religious Order Magazines at the Catholic Press Association Convention in Pittsburgh, Pa. “A simple, clean design filled with crisp photography and excellent writing,” the judges declared in awarding Kansas Monks first place in the category of General Excellence. The awards were presented by the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada. It was the third straight year that St. Benedict’s Abbey brought home honors, and the second time taking top honors in General Excellence. “This is a community award,” Dan Madden, editor of Kansas Monks, said. “The monks are very involved in every issue of the magazine. The Abbot and editorial board help decide content and edit the magazine. Our columnists write on a range of issues including spirituality, monastic life, liturgy and vocations, and this community is blessed with artistic talent behind the camera as well.” The Abbey’s art director, J.D. Benning, who is responsible for the magazine’s “simple, clean design,” also earned honors for his freelance work with The Leaven, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. He contributed to “A Day in the Life of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas,” which placed first in the “Best One-Time Special Issue” newspaper category, and second in “Best Photo Story.” Judges called it a “well-executed, beautifully photographed project.” 3
Kansas Monks
From the Abbot
“My heart overflows with noble words.” Psalm 45:1
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n recent weeks I have heard of two who lived nobly, and about whom there have been noble words written. There are many who live nobly, and for all of them we give thanks. We monks know the nobleness of our confreres who serve us and others, and have done this for 40 or 50 years or more. We know the noble quality of the young in the monastery who accept direction and use their abilities well. The Archdiocesan newspaper, The Leaven, of Oct. 21, featured one of our “nobles,” Bishop Herbert Hermes and his years of work in Brazil. That article is reprinted with permission in this issue of Kansas Monks. Jesuit Father Dean Brackley (left) died Oct. 11 after 21 years of dedicated teaching and service for the people of El Salvador. He and five other Jesuits began those years of service after six fellow Jesuits were murdered in that country in 1989. These men went nobly into difficult circumstances, determined to carry on their work for justice. Dennis Dunleavy, a professor at Benedictine College, knew Father Brackley and told me of his death the day before the feast of St. Luke. Father Brackley joined the staff of the Universidad Centroamericana in 1990 and administered the university’s School for Religious Education and assisted in schools for pastoral formation sponsored by the UCA. He was the author of “The Call to Discernment in Troubled Times: New Perspectives on the Transformative Wisdom of Ignatius of Loyola” (Crossroad, 2004) and of numerous articles in America, Revista Latinoamericana de Teología, and Grail. Lecturing extensively in the U.S. and Europe, Brackley did much to keep the memory of the recent martyrs of El Salvador alive and to continue their struggle for social justice. Claire McInerney, a niece of Father Kieran McInerney of our monastery, wrote this: “I actually was able to meet with Dean Brackley a few times while I was there. He was an absolutely incredible man and I know he will be greatly missed. He was the one who developed my study abroad program so he was greatly involved through the time I attended. It’s almost hard to imagine him that sick and now gone. He was just so gifted with the people down there and incredibly captivating for me and my family when they came down to visit and were given the chance to speak with him. My program directors have four daughters and sent us an email with a reflection from their 6-year-old daughter Hannah who said, ‘I’m really going to miss Tio Dean but I’m also glad because now his love will spread all over the world.’ And that’s the truth about as elegantly as anyone could put it.” Father Michael Lapsley (right) is an Anglican clergyman whose story is published in Bulletin 99 of the Alliance for International Monasticism; we receive a copy at St. Benedict’s Abbey. Father Michael is the director of the Institute for the Healing of Memories based in Cape Town, South Africa. Nelson Mandela said of him, “Michael’s life represents a compelling metaphor … a foreigner who came to our country and was transformed.... (His) life is part of the tapestry of the many long journeys and struggles of our people.” (His story in his own words on next page) Commenators on the Rule of St. Benedict find little reference to “noble” as a distinct quality in Benedict. However Sister M. Xavier, and others, summarize the writing of St. Gregory the Great about our patron saint: In the 6th century Pope Gregory I, who became known as St. Gregory the Great, wrote four books devoted to various Italian saints. One volume of these Dialogues (a name given to the books because they took the form of a conversation between a Deacon, Peter, and the Pope) was about St. Benedict. The fact that Gregory devoted to Benedict an entire volume shows in what veneration and respect the latter was held within a generation or two after his death, and how he was looked up to as a model. Gregory’s account is perhaps over-fanciful for 20th century readers, with legendary touches meant to illustrate a point, to stress Christ-like virtues in Benedict, or to arouse admiration that would father the desire to imitate, with God’s help, these virtues. St. Augustine had said some centuries earlier that Christian literature should delight, instruct, and motivate, and perhaps these were the aims of Gregory. Thus, the important thing is that we admire Benedict not so much for the sometimes extraordinary things attributed to him, as for his unassuming ways, his compassion, his devotion to duty, and his insistence on a similar sense of duty in his monks, and, above all, for his love of and veneration for God, which led him to such a profound consideration for other people. • Sister M. Xavier (Compton) S.G.S., Litt.B., M.A.
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Winter For nearly 20 years I was part of the liberation struggle in South Africa, becoming one 2011 of the chaplains of the African National Congress of South Africa. Back in April of 1990, after Nelson Mandela was released from prison, on the eve of negotiations, the Apartheid state sent me a letter bomb hidden inside the pages of two religious magazines. My many injuries included the loss of both hands and one eye, an injury to my eardrums. Whenever I tell the story of that night, what is important for me to tell you is not about the pain, but the sense that God was with me, that Mary who watched her son being crucified understood what was happening to me.
For 14 years before the bomb went off, I had lived in the countries of Southern Africa and travelled the world seeking to mobilize people of faith to see that apartheid was an option or a choice for death. After I was bombed I received messages of prayer and love and support from people of faith and people of good will across the globe. Often when I speak I say that I am not filled with hatred and that I don’t want revenge. After I have spoken, people tell me that I am a wonderful example of forgiveness. So far no one has claimed responsibility for what happened to me so there is no one to forgive yet. Perhaps on my return to Cape Town, someone will ring the door bell and say, “I am the one, please will you forgive me.” Now forgiveness is on the table; I have three choices of response: yes, no or not yet. Perhaps I might ask: “Excuse me, Sir, do you still make letter bombs?” “No,” he replies. “I work around the corner from you at the local hospital. Will you forgive me?” “Yes, of course, I forgive you. I would prefer that you spend the next 50 years working in that hospital rather than be locked up.” I believe much more in the justice of restoration than the justice of punishment.
Father Michael Lapsley In our times, there are many noble men and women doing their part to educate and to serve, to bring about peace and understanding, to help create an atmosphere of justice and uprightness. May their example and their Christian virtue give strength to others and bring the world closer to peace.
2012 Calendars now available A collection of photos and texts by Abbot Barnabas Senecal get your copy today
$10.00
Find it at Kansasmonks.org, the Abbey Gift Shop or call: 913.360.7906 5
Prophet of Hope Kansas Monks
kansas farm bo y tills distant fields
by Joe Bollig - From the October 21 issue of The Leaven Bishop Herbert Hermes (left) feels safer now than he’s felt in years. Murdering a bishop, he figures, has become more trouble than it’s worth. Sadly, his comparative safety has come at an enormous price — the loss of a friend and fellow worker for human rights in Cristalândia, Brazil. Bishop Herbert, 78, is a Benedictine monk from St. Benedict’s Abbey. For years, he served the people of the Territorial Prelature of Cristalândia as their bishop. Now, in retirement, he serves them still. So, too, did Sebastian Bezerra da Silva, until he was found dead Feb. 27. Da Silva’s death was no accident. He had been strangled and his body had been left half-buried in an anthill at Charity Farm, about 40 kilometers (about 25 miles) from the town of Gurupi in the state of Tocantins. Bishop Herbert, who lives in the Brazilian town of Paraiso — “Paradise” — knew immediately why his friend was murdered: to stop efforts to protect human rights. “I consider myself as the heart of our human rights centers, and Sebastian was the brain,” Bishop Herbert said later. “We see that when the brain is destroyed, the heart is [broken].” Yes, the heart was broken. But it was also outraged. And more determined than ever. How did someone born in Shallow Water, Kan., end up as a bishop and human rights advocate in the middle of impoverished, rural Brazil? 6
Monks walk in the site believed to be the city of Anapolis, Goias, Brazil, where they received language training. “In my blood is a mission calling,” said Bishop Herbert. Bishop Herbert is descended from Luxembourgers who settled near Wichita and then moved to western Kansas. They were among the stoutly religious settlers who challenged the notion that there was no law west of Wichita and no God west of Dodge City. Six months after Bishop Herbert and his identical twin brother Norbert were born, his family moved to Scott City. The Hermes were salt-of-the-earth types: economically humble and spiritually rich. There were eleven children, seven of them boys. “We were the only Mass servers in the parish for years and years,” said Bishop Herbert. In 1951, he went to St. Benedict’s College in Atchison, which was run by the Benedictine monks of St. Benedict’s Abbey. He became a novice at the abbey in 1953 and took solemn vows in 1957. He was ordained a priest in 1960. The missionary calling was awakened in the future bishop when the Abbey began to establish a mission foundation in Mineiros, Brazil. Later, some monks went to help an American missionary bishop at Rui Barbosa in Bahia, Brazil. “I volunteered as a [transitional] deacon and was accepted after [priesthood] ordination,” said Bishop Herbert. Mineiros, located in the state of Goias, reminded him a lot of his native western Kansas. Here were ordinary, God-fearing farm people. His own simple and devout life as a pastor ended when he got a call to be bishop of a prelature (or “diocese in formation”), a place too poor to be a diocese, located in the state of Tocantins.
Be My Shepherd He wasn’t sure he wanted to be a bishop. When he got the letter of appointment, he went to the chapel to pray before the Blessed Sacrament. “Why me?” he asked. He didn’t feel comfortable among the hierarchy, or with people kissing his ring and calling him “Your Excellency.” He was just a western Kansas boy who, as a monk, went to be a pastor in a rural parish in Brazil.
Winter 2011 The prelature had experienced four years of chaos and neglect. An American missionary bishop who had been there for 30 years had spent his final two incapacitated by Alzheimer’s disease. His successor, a younger Brazilian bishop, was in office for only nine months when he had a heart attack and died after receiving a transplant. “It kept going through my mind that, without a bishop, they were a flock without a pastor,” said Bishop Herbert. “So I said, ‘OK, I’ll be a pastor.’” “I always felt God used the people to call me to be a pastor, – not the pope calling me to be bishop of Cristalândia and a member of the hierarchy.” The Prelature of Cristalândia, which is comprised of parts of western Tocantins and a few counties of the state of Goias, was named for the beautiful crystals that were once discovered there. Parts of the land look like abandoned Colorado mining towns, said the bishop. Just as the mining companies exploited the land for its crystals, so, too, did they exploit the people who came to mine the crystals. When the easily found crystal ran out, the miners’ descendants became the landless squatters of today, some tricked into working and living in slave-like conditions. “[The employers] come to the slum areas and make all kinds of propaganda about high wages,” said the bishop. “These unemployed grab [onto their promises] like crazy. They load [the workers] in trucks and take them way out into the interior at night, and give them a lot of liquor on the way.” When the workers arrive, the employers take all their documents away and say they owe their “employers” for transportation and the liquor, food, and housing. And the only place to buy necessities and supplies is from a company-owned store — and at exorbitant prices. Mining has been replaced by large scale agriculture. Tocantins is a transitional land between the plains of the south and the forested Amazon basin. It has savannas and forests, so logging (often illegal) and cattle (often grazed illegally on government and Indian land) are the major industries. Soybeans are a major export. “[Corporations] come in and deforest,” said the bishop. “It’s just wrecking the environment. They clear off the land to plant soybeans for exportation, and they kick off the poor squatters who have no title to the land, and they have no way to produce food.” Years ago, the bishop tried to help some Indians who had been driven off their lands, said his brother Norbert. There were rumors that this activism put Bishop Herbert on a hit list.
He received death threats for his trouble, confirmed Herbert. “He and a Anglican minister collaborated to correct this abuse,” he added. “And one time, when he was planning to journey up there, he was warned some were threatening to kill him, so he didn’t go at that time.” Bishop Herbert would write letters to his family in Kansas and his fellow monks in Atchison, telling about his struggles and the threats. “He was living his vocation, and he knew the risks involved in his ministry and being bishop,” said Father Michael Hermes, a second cousin of Bishop Herbert and president of Bishop Ward High School in Kansas City, Kan. Bishop Herbert took another cleric as a role model, Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, he said. “I was always proud of him,” said Father Hermes. “You’re worried because you love the guy, but you’re proud of him for standing up for his people.”
Let My People Go
Bishop Herbert felt God worked through the people to call him to be a pastor.
Bishop Herbert’s plate was full before he was even ordained a bishop on Sept. 2, 1990. The prelature was poor and the people were not used to supporting the church financially. There weren’t enough parishes or priests. Nearly everyone had been baptized Catholic but Mass attendance was poor. Emotion-driven Pentecostal sects were energetically seeking to entice Catholics into their churches. Many people were used to more “regal” bishops, and the sight of a bishop in street clothes, making pastoral visits and eating humble food, shocked them. continued on next page 7
A sick, elderly woman he visited said, “Now I really believe in God because the bishop came to visit me.” Bishop Herbert contended with all these challenges. But he didn’t stop at narrowly defined “church” issues or concerns. “I can’t separate the weekdays from Sundays, just like I can’t separate the spirit from the body,” he said. He saw that the poor and powerless of Cristalândia were groaning under poverty and injustice as the children of Israel had under Pharaoh. “My whole vision is liberation, as God freed the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery,” said Bishop Herbert. “I try to free [them] from all kinds of slavery, not only physical, but also in health, education, human dignity and rights — from illiteracy and oppression of all kinds,” he continued. “And I see this as building the kingdom of God. We are supposed to be free and have the fullness of life.” His vision is also connected to the Incarnation: we glorify God when we make more perfect the dignity and rights of humans, who are made in the image and likeness of God, who sent his son to be one of us. That is why Bishop Herbert created the Center of Human Rights of Cristalândia in 1994. In surrounding towns he also established offshoots, called Human Rights Nucleos. These entities were established as nonchurch civil entities in order to protect the church from lawsuits. Bishop Herbert also made them ecumenical, inviting Protestants to join. After his retirement on Feb. 25, 2009, Bishop Herbert received the support of bishops in and around Cristalândia to continue his human rights work. One of Bishop Herbert’s disciples was Sebastian Bezerra da Silva, from the town of Araguacu. Da Silva became an active member of the Nucleo in his town, and later became articulator/educational advisor of the center. At the time of his murder, he was executive secretary of a five-state district (including Brasilia, the federal capital) of the National Movement of Human Rights. Da Silva, who was investigating police brutality at the time of his murder, had been getting death threats by telephone. He reported them to two close friends, but asked them not to tell his wife, Bishop Herbert, or anyone else. He was thinking of moving away from his home in Paraiso. “Sebastian was much, much more than a paid functionary, since he was — like me — impassioned for promoting human rights and social justice, which is why we synchronized so well,” said Bishop Herbert. The murder, its investigation, the legal proceedings that followed and the behaviors of key people involved reeked of corruption and coverup, said Bishop Herbert. According to the autopsy, da Silva was tortured “with refined cruelty” — hardly necessary for a carjacking. A military policeman, a friend of the bishop, said it sounded like the work of a professional torturer. The trial resulted in a prison sentence in August for only one of the three brothers involved in the murder. Bishop Herbert wasn’t surprised. Moreover, he believes the men were acting on the orders of more powerful people anyway. “There are a lot of people who don’t like us and our work,” said Bishop Herbert. 8
Photo by J.D. Benning
Kansas Monks
Prophet of Hope Now, close to 80, and freed of his responsibilities as bishop, the former Kansas farm boy has no intention of retiring to the safety and comfort of American life. Father Kieran McInerney, a monk who himself ministered for 33 years in the monastery in Brazil and in the Diocese of Rui Barbosa in Bahia, Brazil, sees Bishop Herbert continuing down a road he started long, long ago. “I think he cares an awful lot about the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed,” said Father Kieran. “Ever since I’ve known him, he’s been involved in legal procedures to help the poor and the oppressed,” he added. “That’s not just something he started in Cristalândia. He had that deep interest before [he became bishop].” Now, so many years later, little is changed about his fellow missionary monk. The bishop’s hair is gray now, of course. And although he now speaks “impeccable classical Brazilian Portuguese,” said Father Kieran, he occasionally struggles to find the right word in English. But if Bishop Herbert’s enemies thought the murder of da Silva would end his advocacy for the poor, they need to think again. When someone suggested that the Human Rights Center be closed, for example, his answer was quick and firm. “No, that’s what they want. “So we’ll do just the opposite.” Undeterred by the widespread systemic corruption in Brazilian society — and even the death of his friend — Bishop Herbert talks like a man whose work is not yet done. “Ah, yes,” he said, “I see hope.” In fact, the bishop represents that quality to the people. “Some consider me a prophet of hope,” he said simply. “And of change.”
For more information on Bishop Herbert or to make a donation to his efforts visit Brazilmission.net
Marked with the sign of Faith
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Winter 2011
Father Bartholomew Dacek | 1928-1989
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ather “Bart” was born in Cleveland, Ohio, July 11, 1928, the Feast of St. Benedict. He graduated from East Technical High School in 1946 and enrolled at St. Benedict’s College. On July 11, 1950, he professed first vows as a member of the community, re-entered the college and graduated from there in 1952 with a degree in philosophy. After completing his theological studies at the Abbey he was ordained June 4, 1955. We were blessed with having three monks from Cleveland. Two, Fathers Arnold Tkacik and Conrad Pillar, attended St. Benedict’s College as monks of St. Andrew Abbey in Cleveland. Later they transferred to St. Benedict’s Abbey and made final profession in our community. One factor in their transfer, apparently, was the possibility of teaching at St.Benedict’s College. Arnold taught Scripture and Conrad taught Chemistry. Father Bart was a monk in sharp contrast to his fellow Clevelanders. He had not been a member of St. Andrew. He was a people person in large measure and truly loved being of service to his fellow monks and parishioners. As an assiatant procurator he made many trips to downtown Atchison and to Kansas City, Mo. He was very handy with a sewing machine and an iron. On one occasion some of the younger monk table waiters were lollygagging around after a meal and the time was getting near when they ought to have been getting ready to send the dishes downstairs to the sisters for washing. He told the group of four monks, younger than he, “That is the trouble with this community, too many Marys and not enough Marthas!” All in good fun! Father Bart was truly a “Martha” ready to serve his confreres and parishioners. When he returned from Rome, after his heart
attack (mentioned below) he contacted his friend and former Atchison parishioner, Freda Pickman, since it was during the Christmas Season. The two made Christmas candies of all kinds, fudges and cherry-mash to mention a few varieties! Father Bart was a monk of many talents that ranged from cooking to sewing. He was ready and willing to help his fellow monks whenever he could and endeared himself, because of his service and ready wit, to the parishioners where he ministered, in the city or the country. During his years as a counselor at Camp St. Maur he became famous for his “Hoop Dance” and was tempted to put the hoop on to hop once again when the rural parishes he served needed rain. Father Bart was assistant pastor at St. Benedict’s, Atchison, for two years beginning in 1956, in 1958 he began teaching speech and religion at St. Benedict’s College, was food service and bookstore manager in addition to being residence hall counselor. From 196469 he was assistant business manager of the Abbey. In 1969 he began his service as a pastor first at St. Joseph, Atchison, until 1973, with St. Patrick’s, rural Atchison, as a mission, 1970-73. He was at St. Mary’s, St. Benedict, Kan., 1973-84. While there he took the renewal program at Sant’ Anselmo, Rome, along with Father Kieran McInerney. The first day he suffered a heart attack that eventually brought about open-heart surgery at Kansas University Medical Center. After his recovery, he resumed duties at St. Mary’s, St. Benedict, and was later transferred to Saints Peter and Paul, Seneca, where he served from 1984-89. He had another heart flare-up in 1989 and died at St. Francis Hospital, Topeka, Kan., Dec. 6, 1989. Abbot Owen Purcell is compiling a necrology of St. Benedict’s Abbey, profiles on the deceased monks of the Abbey. If you have a comment or insight e-mail Abbot Owen: purcellowen944@gmail.com.
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Kansas Monks
clothed with faith God’s Will In Our Lives Twenty five years ago this past July I moved out of the novitiate. Perhaps of all the spiritual masters, Now I have moved back in as the new novice master and forma- St. Benedict understood this best. He tion director for the Abbey. realized that the novice master is not I must admit that I was quite surprised when Abbot Barnabas there to manipulate the novices but asked me to consider this new ministry – and a bit afraid. Forma- rather to facilitate the working of grace. tion of young monks is something that is very important and about In Chapter 58 of the Rule St. Benedict Father Meinrad Miller which everyone in the Abbey, understandably, has opinions. one finds the following description of Abbey Subprior & In looking at these varying opinions, which I truly respect, I what the novice master does. Novice Master have brought these observations of confreres and others to prayer, “Let a senior also be appointed for begging the Holy Spirit to enlighten me with wisdom and under- him, who is qualified to win souls, who will observe him with great standing. There was much beauty in the old novitiates that trained care and see whether he really seeks God, whether he is eager so many monks here to be pastors, teachers, and spiritual mentors for the Work of God, obedience and humiliations. Let him be able to integrate shown all the hard the wisdom of Our and rugged things Holy Father Saint through which we Benedict with the pass on to God.” reality of their daily (RB 58). lives. I also see a I ask you to join positive side to the me in praying for freedom that came the three men who with the Second have entered the Vatican Council, novitiate this year as monks redisand for the many covered the riches who are discernof Sacred Scriping vocations to the ture and our own monastic life here monastic roots as at the Abbey. Pray evidenced by the that the School of vernacular liturgy the Lord’s service and the attempt to will continue to foster the common thrive and grow life among the here. St. Benedict, monks. in the above quote, I think in mentions the hard particular of the and rugged things examples in the From Novice to Novice Master; Father Meinrad entered the novitiate in 1985, seen here through which we life of Jesus. When kneeling before Abbot Ralph Koehler. pass on to God. the Apostles and The journey is often disciples encountered Jesus, they did not first encounter a packet difficult, but the way is none other than Christ, who is the Way, of dogmas, or a philosophical system, or a moralism (This insight Truth and Life. Toward the end of the Prologue of the Rule, St. from Msgr. Luigi Giussani and Pope Benedict XVI). Rather the Benedict says that again: Christian event is first marked by an Encounter, a love story with “Do not at once fly in dismay from the way of salvation, the Jesus. He called them, men and women, to follow him, to form a beginning of which cannot but be narrow. But as we advance in the new communion of love that he in turn shares with the Father and religious life and faith, we shall run the way of God’s commandthe Holy Spirit from all eternity. The obedience, silence, freedom, ments with expanded hearts and unspeakable sweetness of love…” and the choice to be a monk is based on a desire to allow the Holy Spirit free reign in our hearts.
What does the Novice Master do?
• provides for the monastic formation of the novices • assists them in the discernment of their vocation • acts as chair of the Formation Committee 10
Obl ates This issue of Kansas Monks comes to you during Advent as you are busy preparing for Christmas and I would like to reflect on gift giving. Some readers will recall that several years ago I suggested that Christmas cards contain written notes rather than simply printed names. I received a card from a friend that indicated that this had been her custom. When I returned from a short trip to downtown Atchison in early November, I noticed that the college was already placing decorations along the drive and was somewhat surprised. Having just returned from a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, where I thought through my reaction, I realized we do need to prepare and garlands are one way to prepare. A big part of Christmas for so many is gift giving and a great deal of concern about what to give. I hope not to the extreme of one of my late aunts who kept a record of what each person gave her each Christmas and the cost. The next year she knew she had to spend just a little more to keep the whole thing on an even keel. She must have kept excellent records for many years as she always could recall what had been spent. Recently I received a note on lined paper from a bride to be. I had befriended her throughout her college years and she has been a good friend since. Her note indicated how much I had helped her on her road in life and what my continued presence had meant. She wanted to
Winter 2011 During the last week of October six students visited the Abbey and Mount St. Scholastica from the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences’ (KCUMB) “Ignite the Spirit” program. This is the 11th group of medical students to look deeply at how monastics approach life issues. There is a special emphasis on our monastic approach to end of life issues. Sister Marcia Ziska and I have worked with all of these groups and have found each group to have particular challenges. Each group has been unique in interests and reasons for being here. I believe they have all found it a most worthwhile experience in their education in becoming physicians. The groups have always been of diverse religious backgrounds but have been vitally interested in all phases of monastic life. Sister Marcia and I have learned so much from them and what they bring to us as well.
spirit
Brother John Peto Director of Oblates say thanks as she began a new phase in life. Here is a suggestion for Christmas and gratitude for the great gift of the incarnation. If you are struggling to decide on what to give someone or if you can’t afford to send gifts to everyone, a meaningful note can mean as much or more. A message is something that can be treasured for years. Think and pray about what you are going to write. God sent a child to us, and what a gift: a simple, tiny baby. May your Advent be filled with many joys and much time to prepare to say sincere thanks daily to God for the gift of His only Son. But also take time to say thank you to the many people who mean much to each one of you.
Sister Marcia Ziska (right) has been organizing the Ignite the Spirit elective since the spring of 2004.
For more information about KCUMB visit their website: KCUMB.edu Brandon Cole and Ben Holland (at right L to R) and Marta Dahl (below) are second year students at KCUMB.
+ + + Did you know Saint Frances of Rome (1384-1440) is the patron Saint of Benedictine Oblates? She was canonized on May 9, 1608, by Pope Paul V. Her feast day is March 9, the day of her death..
Students who attended will begin rotations next August after they pass their boards this Summer.
Are you interested in becoming an Oblate of St. Benedict’s Abbey? Contact Br. John Peto: johnpeto1@gmail.com 913-360-7896 11 Photos by J.D. Benning
Written Confirmation Kansas Monks
A bbot brings personal to u ch
with st u dents ’ own words
B y D a n M a dd e n | p h o t o s b y j . D . B e n n i n g
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he corn fields are yellow and empty, no longer bearing fruit on a late October morning. Other than the occasional chirp of a rabbit being taken by a red-tailed hawk and the whine of a passing car on Highway 36, the land around Seneca, Kan., is heavy with silence.
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“I plan to...live my life with the courage of the Holy Spirit,” - C O N F I R M AT I O N C A N D I D AT E
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t first blush, the town may seem lonely. And it appears that the community’s abundance has been carried away by harvesters and grain trucks. But, along with the faint scent of chaff from the fields ,anticipation hangs in the air. Families are dressing in their Sunday best. A community will gather and the day will be anything but lonely. An old friend is returning to town and the important fruit remains to be harvested. “I started doing confirmations in the spring of 1995,” Abbot Barnabas Senecal recalls. He says he has always enjoyed the energy around the sacrament, the way everyone in the church is focused on the young people at the heart of the ceremony. “It is a celebration of family, of growing up, of young people coming to know Christ in their lives,” he says. Whether he’s at Holy Spirit Parish in urban Overland Park, where he once served as a popular associate pastor and school principal or in the rural parishes like Seneca or Baileyville in Northeast Kansas, Abbot Barnabas’ special touch has become an important part of the energy and tradition of the confirmation programs where the Archbishop asks him to celebrate. “We really love having the Abbot here,” says Gabby Deters, who was confirmed by Abbot Barnabas four years ago and is now sponsoring her younger sister Claire. “He completes it. He doesn’t seem so formal.” The mitre and crozier, the symbols of the Abbot’s authority in the Church, are set aside early in the Mass. Abbot Barnabas sings, his warm, baritone voice carrying to every corner of the church. He invites everyone to sing with him. And they do. He says that after all these years he is still amazed by how easily a room full of people will join him in singing a capella. He opens his homily with the song You are Mine:
Do not be afraid, I am with you I have called you each by name Come and follow me I will bring you home I love you and you are mine 14
Copyrighted material | Used with permission
He tells the young people that he chose the song because it expresses Christ’s intimate love. “You are called by name,” he says. “That doesn’t happen very often in the Church. Christ claims you.” As he sings, the Abbot steps down from the pulpit. Without his mitre or crosier, he strides into the center aisle until he is standing among the soon to be confirmed. The teenagers in the front row crane their necks curiously. Grandparents in the back pews scoot to the edge of their seats. A big man in a Polo shirt and Dockers turns sideways, generously, so that those packed in around him can sit forward to see. The Knights of Columbus, in full regalia, rest their hands on their sword hilts and lean forward to listen. The church gets smaller, like a front porch, or a living room. It’s time for the letters. “People say I make confirmation personal,” Abbot Barnabas says. “It’s the fact that I read the letters that makes it personal.” Before each confirmation, students are asked to write letters explaining why they want to be confirmed, their choice of sponsor and saint name, and their service project. Abbot Barnabas shares excerpts from the letters in his homily. Reading through all the letters beforehand takes hours, but through the years they have touched the Abbot’s heart. There was the boy who chose the name of his uncle who died in Vietnam; the girl who wrote about her grandpa who died not long before she was confirmed; the young person from Leavenworth whose father had been electrocuted. “I cry sometimes reading what these kids say about death,” the Abbot says. “They are sharing something personal.” The Abbot laughs, too. “I chose my brother as my sponsor because he deserves a second chance at being good,” one boy wrote. The Abbot is careful not to reveal the names of the authors but, judging by the smiles on faces in a church full of relatives and close friends, it doesn’t seem to matter. “You can pick and choose who said what,” says Hannah Stallbaumer of the Seneca confirmation class. “Since we’re from a small community that part is nice.” Claire Deters says it was interesting to hear what other people wrote. Then she heard
Winter 2011 her own words from the Abbot’s mouth: “I babysat and put my earnings into the Rice Bowl at school. I picked up trash off the highway and went Christmas caroling at the nursing homes.” “At first I was kind of embarrassed, but after a little bit I was thankful that my letter was read,” she said. Claire’s sister Gabby says the short excerpts are easily recognizable. “When you hear the kids’ letters you can tell who wrote them, because you know everybody,” she says. “We celebrate as family,” the Abbot says at the start of his homily. “I have lived in Seneca all my life and so far it has been a blast,” wrote one teen. “My sponsor is my grandma; I chose her because she is a really good Catholic. She is always there for me and is a great role model.” “So much of sponsorship and the choice of names is a celebration of family,” Abbot Barnabas says. “My sponsor is my uncle,” wrote one of the class. “He and his wife are both lawyers working with the poor in Chicago.” “I chose this name because it is the name of my grandpa who has died,” another wrote. “I chose my grandma because she is kind and nice and special to me.” “I hope you not only write these things but that you say them,” the Abbot reminds the young people. Years ago, Abbot Barnabas wrote a three-verse song. The first verse is about family, the second about learning and living in community, and the third about serving others. The song guides the confirmation class and the congregation through the reading of the letters. The Abbot invites the congregation to sing with him. The Abbot tells the class, “We celebrate your growing up, your maturing and readiness for this sacrament.” “Abbot Barnabas is wonderful,” says Susan Stallbaumer, director of religious education. “He makes the kids feel very special.” By reading from the letters, she says, the Abbot lets the young people know that the preparation and thought they have put into confirmation is important and that he has taken time to read what they have written. “I plan to finish my religious education and live my life with the courage of the Holy Spirit,” wrote one of the confirmed. “I have studied my prayers and work hard at school,” wrote one boy. “I am kind to others but not in football.” “I want to be confirmed because I want to be Catholic for the rest of my life and I want to be seen as an adult in God’s eyes.” Issac Ganstrom thought listening to the letters was “pretty cool.” “You could listen to what people were saying and how they felt about their families,” he said.
Ganstrom’s grandfather, Jerry Patterson, was impressed. “I thought it was very special,” he said. “They knew he was talking about their words and actions. He wasn’t talking to the parents. He was talking to the kids. But the parents were made aware of how their faith and the way they lived their lives is picked up on by their kids.” “We celebrate your awareness that there is great meaning in service to others,” the Abbot said. Leaves were raked for elderly neighbors, Bible school was taught, pancake breakfasts were served. One member helped deliver May Day baskets to elderly neighbors. “It was rewarding to see the old folks’ faces light up as they opened the bags and held the apples and candies and started eating the homemade cookies,” she said. “I helped my grandma by cleaning her house and scooping snow from her driveway,” said another.
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Kansas Monks “When my grandma was sick with cancer I visited her every day that she was in the nursing home.” “I cleaned my grandparents’ garage for four hours and burned things,” one boy said, “and mowed their whole lawn, and trust me, it’s huge.” For Abbot Barnabas the letters serve a practical purpose. People listen. “I don’t preach that way on Sundays,” he says. “There is more enthusiasm than there is at a Sunday worship. The focus is on the young people who are there. Most of the people in the church are related to the kids.” But the connection he seeks goes beyond preaching a good homily. “I want to try to say something to each one of them, not just test their religious knowledge,” he says. The Abbot notes that the togetherness of the members of the class and the adults who support them should be reinforced. “People have given a lot of time and preparation to these kids. Not only the knowledge gained but also the level of commitment should be celebrated.” Before returning to St. Benedict’s Abbey, the Abbot poses for pictures, munches on cookies and becomes a part of the community. A few years later, a woman in a service station will smile and say, “You confirmed my daughter!” Soon the church will stand empty. A few of the newly confirmed will certainly be glad it’s over. Families will gather for family dinners. “It’s a prolonging of the ceremony,” Abbot Barnabas says. As the Abbot leaves town in the late afternoon sun, traffic on highway 36 is light. A hawk is feeding on a rabbit along the highway. The fields are barren from the recent harvest. New fruit is growing.
SEEI NG A LL SIDE S THE IMPORTANCE OF LEARNING FROM OTHER RELIGIONS
Every adult Catholic should read the holy book of Islam, the Holy Quran. Otherwise it will be impossible to have any meaningful dialogue between Catholics and Muslims. It is important to remember that Islam started as a reform movement for Christians and Jews. Muslims had begun about 600 years after the start of Christianity, so they had a big chunk of time in which to evaluate Christian belief and behavior. Some might be surprised to learn that Muslims venerate Jesus, his mother, and many of the Jewish prophets. Muslims do not think of Jesus as God because they believe there can be only one God. Trinitarian formulations are completely foreign to Muslims. The Holy Quran shows forceful concern for the impoverished, the orphaned, and the widowed. The book does not have much to say about violence to others except in cases of self-defense. The Holy Quran does, however, contain threatening language for those 16
Father Michael Santa
who ignore God’s commands. On the other hand, the Quran places heavy emphasis on God’s forgiveness and his loving attention to human beings. Sura IX, Section 5, the Holy Quran, has statements that appear to be an avenue of discussion between Catholics and Muslims: “They take their priests and their anchorites to be their Lord’s derogation of God, and (they take as their Lord) Christ the Son of Mary; yet they were commanded
to worship but one God.” Muslims are proud of the fact that the Holy Quran is written in Arabic, the language of the common people. This makes it easy for the average person to appreciate the lessons and the poetry of the book.
a Grateful Response
Winter 2011
larger Gospel account and began to take note of the way in which the liturgy & the life of the church holy family responded to the injustices inflicted upon them by indiGift of the person vidual members of the larger society: the inn keeper, Herod. I began to Parents see themselves anew through their children’s eyes, so I appreciate the paradox of the Son of have been told and experienced from my own nieces and nephews God lying in the manger of an ox and and now from their children. With each succeeding generation ass, and adored by shepherds and the previous one sees itself afresh from the newborn’s eyes and so the lowly and royalty only from afar. Father Daniel McCarthy comes to know itself anew. I responded to the injustices visited Every year when we celebrate the birth of the son of God, the upon the holy family by my efforts to promote fairness in the scout son of Mary, we have occasion to see ourselves afresh through the troop and to encourage the weak and reticent. eyes of the Christ child; thereby we come to know ourselves anew As a young monk and pastor, my seminary training had each year and at each stage of our lives. prepared me with a well integrated web of meaning that held Born on the Winter solstice, I was a Christmas child taking my together, because it was consistent. I was developing a degree of place as the baby of now six siblings until that honor was assumed ritual competence by striving to preside in the liturgy in such a by another. The care shown to me before I could even understand way as to foster other people in their liturgical ministries and the I in turn was asked to show to my younger brother for whom I was assembly as a whole in its participation. in a new way responsible. I came to know myself and to respond as At Christmas time so many people an older brother. return home to their roots in the small This gave me new understanding of country communities, and these celebrathe meaning of Christmas, because at tions help them to know who they are first I had been the Christmas child, and when they return once again to their following upon my birthday I understood commitments in the larger world. CeleChristmas as the birthday of baby Jesus. brating Christmas in the parish commuBut once I could see the Christ child in nities affirmed our response to the my baby brother, I knew how to respond needs of the vulnerable often ignored in with gentleness as a big brother to baby the injustices of the larger society. The Jesus. parishes were able to contribute regularly When I said, “He is my brother”, I to the local food pantry, to the home for was saying, “He is my world”, as was my abused women, to services that supported family, until I ventured out to to the world literacy and job training. I also came to of other children in grammar school and see how parishioners often in humble and through their eyes came to know myself quiet ways served their neighbor in need. as a distinct person. I was taught to share I came to realize that one of my tasks as with others and to be fair to my classpastor was to provide the opportunity for mates in our work and play together. A the quiet and unassuming parishioners classmate who had greater awareness of to contribute to their parish community self and others than I had in those years without fear of the dominant parishiorecently recalled how I was solemn and ners who tended to hold sway in rural happy back then; so even now through parish and small-town life. When people her memories I am coming to more live their whole lives in a small town they consciously integrate who I once was with must negotiate long term relationships, who I have become. and one of their greatest challenges can be When I was a child in the home, I saw the difficulty of responding to Christ presthe holy family like my family. As I came Abbot Owen Purcell and Father Daniel in ent in certain people. to know myself among classmates, I came front of a mosaic of Joseph and Jesus at The paradoxes of one stage in life Sant’Anselmo in 2008, at the time of Father to see the child Jesus in someone beyond sometimes become the places from which Daniel’s doctoral defense my family. I came to understand that by we mature into the next. As a young man sharing and being fair with others I was responding to the vulner- I was not yet prepared for the reality that each community dealt ability of the child Jesus. with conflict in its own way, and that as pastor I would be expected Throughout my teenage years I dedicated myself to a Boy Scout to exercise different roles appropriate to addressing the conflict troop. I learned to discern personal values, for example, the differ- in each. I came to realize that the polarization in American socience between being trusted and being trustworthy. This experi- ety and in the Church in America was felt at every level from the ence helped me to develop a strong sense of duty to the larger soci- parish council to the national stage. So I went to Rome to study ety and prepared me to assume a leadership role in shaping that for a doctorate in Liturgy. Living according to the conditions of society. This formation helped me clarify and develop my social another country not my own, and pursuing studies according to values in a positive way, but it did not prepare me for the inequali- another academic culture, was significantly challenging. The studties and injustice in the larger society. ies in Rome helped me to understand the changing patterns of Celebrating Christmas as a teenager, I became aware of the Church history in tandem with the development of liturgy so that continued on next page
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Kansas Monks I might gain a fuller understanding of our tradition and how it is lived. I came to realize that my well-cultivated web of meaning held together and gave me a place, a perspective on life, but like a spider’s web it was two-dimensional. Through these experiences and studies there was a moment in which I become aware of what lay beyond this web of meaning like a person looking through a spider’s web focusing on the three-dimensional world beyond so that the web is no longer seen. Doctrine and liturgical tradition serve, like the spider’s web, as a guide so that once these are mastered they bring into greater focus the person Jesus Christ. I realize now that the mystery we celebrate at Christmas is also the mystery of ourselves. Perhaps the great sculptures and masterworks of art on display at every turn in Rome have helped to reveal
M ONAST IC EVA LUATION A BOOK REVIEW
This book review by Abbot Barnabas Senecal appeared originally in the Fall/Winter 2011 issue of Benedictines, a literary journal published by Mount St. Scholastica Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor Ben Witherington III Grand Rapids, Michigan 2011 William B. Eerdmans $18.00 On the day I finished reading Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor, I had devoted several hours to trimming hedge near the monastery. It was hot and humid. I like this kind of manual labor. Helping other monks in their grounds work gives me satisfaction, and as one of our elders used to say, “[Work] lets others know someone lives here.” Witherington’s small book gives the reader an opportunity to reflect on work as something all of us do, and to see it as a vocation, a call from God, a means of establishing the Kingdom through ministry. His book, both direct and approachable, is based on scripture and is aptly supported by contemporary authors such as Gene E. Veith, God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life (2002) and B. Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith, (2009). He quotes Taylor’s personal experience of a calling during her seminary studies in which God said to her, “Do whatever pleases you, and belong to me. You see, if we belong to the Lord, then we know what truly will please us is the residue of 18
in the human body the many dimensions of the human person. Perhaps the Italian practice of long conversations over meals has helped me to appreciate all the more our personal presence to one another and thereby God’s personal presence celebrated at Christmas. More recently the British have taught me the quiet demeanor and social respect for others that helps to support personal presence with another. These experiences have also helped me to see the generosity and openness for which we Americans are known. These new perspectives have also honed my understanding and commitment to my vocation. Just as the meaning of Christmas matures in us, so too our vocational commitments to one another and in service to the larger world develop over a lifetime. Suffice it to say that reflecting with you on the changing meaning of Christmas in my life has helped me to be personally present to you.
what God has placed in our hearts, what God has meant for us to be.” Witherington’s optimistic Christian views help the reader gain an enriching perspective on the value and perspective of his or her work. “It is right to take satisfaction from a job done well … It is no accident that there is a dialect established in Genesis between work and rest, between work and play, between work and worship. Work should never be-all and end-all experience, or else it will indeed be the end of us all, prematurely, as we work ourselves to death.” The organization of the book allows for a natural flow of the topics which include “The Goodness of Work,” “Vocation,” “Slackers and Sloths,” “Work and Ministry,” “Work as Culture Making,” and finally, “Finding Balance.” “Seeing the World from the Crouch Position: Work as Culture Making,” is the author’s title for chapter six. This begins with a brief summary of Niebuhr’s classic 1957 book on Christ and Culture, with its five basic understandings of the relationship between Christ and culture. Witherington quotes Christian Smith, a professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame, “American evangelicals in the last hundred years have found it easy to condemn culture, critique culture, copy culture and consume culture. It has been much harder for them to actively and imaginatively create culture.” Witherington knows the world of seminary teaching in which the future minister will be challenged to deal with people who work daily and express satisfaction or despair, seeking the Christian value of work and its relationship to the mission of sanctification. However, it is a book quite easily read by readers with a wide range of interests. Some Benedictines might take exception to his references to the Rule and his comments on the hours of work done by monks each day, concluding that Benedict’s monks were not very contemplative. One might respond that the Benedictine coenobitic life which respected both work and prayer, brought culture and civilization to Western Europe. It was, after all, a coenobitic value to be active in the lives of those around them and to retain community prayer and lectio divina as essential to their spirituality. Witherington’s book reflects the desire of a man in ministry to help others see that the world is good and that the “lifeboat mentality” of our Church is limiting and unattractive to many. We are called to actively engage others in building the Christian kingdom and sharing with them our own enthusiasm for the work that is involved.
Winter 2011
Please remember St. Benedict’s Abbey in your year-end giving How can I help the monks? There are several options for supporting the Good Works of St. Benedict’s Abbey. Giving cash or making a cash pledge are the most common. Below are other options. If you have any questions please contact us: St. Benedict’s Abbey | 1020 North Second Street | Atchison, Kansas | 913.360.7887 | development@ansasmonks.org.
Charitable Remainder Trusts
You may establish a significant gift in the form of a charitable remainder trust that can provide a substantial income to you during your lifetime and, if you choose, during the life of a named beneficiary. Upon the death of the final beneficiary, the trust is terminated and the remaining principal is given to St. Benedict’s Abbey. A charitable trust can also be flexible to allow you to make future contributions and receive additional income tax deductions.
Gifts of Appreciated Property
Gifts of appreciated property held for more than one year, such as real estate, common stock, mutual funds, bonds, IRAs or retirement plans, offer significant advantages to the donor. Gifts of securities are encouraged when supporters have the desire to make a charitable gift and avoid capital gains tax. Gifts of real estate may be accepted upon approval in accordance with appropriate gift acceptance policies.
Charitable Gift Annuities
In exchange for your gift of cash, securities or other property, we will provide you and/or a named beneficiary an annual fixed annuity payment for life. Gift annuities offer immediate tax advantages, including partial avoidance of capital gains tax on the appreciation of donated property. Annuity rates can range from 5-11% depending on your age.
Charitable Bequests
A gift in your will is an excellent way to support St. Benedict’s Abbey, one of its endowments, or to create a new endowment. You can make a specific gift amount in your will, name a percentage, or make the Abbey a beneficiary of the remainder of the estate.
Life Insurance
Many times an old life insurance policy is no longer needed. Simply name the Abbey as a beneficiary. You could also name the Abbey as the owner and beneficiary of a new policy.
Tax law extension benefits seniors
Thanks to an extension of federal tax legislation, American seniors can make the gift of a lifetime by giving their IRAs to charity without federal tax penalty. So your retirement funds can go further than ever before. For years, estate planners have recommended that retirement assets may be the most tax-effective asset in larger estates to distribute to charity. These assets are not only vulnerable to heavy taxation as part of an estate but also can be taxed again as income on the tax returns of heirs. Through 2011, retirement assets may become a preferred charitable gift for seniors. IRA distributions to charity can now receive new tax advantages. Americans age 70½ and up can make tax-free IRA contributions charities such as St. Benedict’s Abbey. You can make distributions directly to St. Benedict’s Abbey from your traditional or Roth IRA, as long as you are at least 70 ½ years old when you transfer the gifts. Such gifts can be made without increasing your taxable income or withholding. Additionally, funds transferred from your IRA to a charity will NOT subject your Social Security income to higher tax levels, and will count toward your minimum required distribution (MRD). For more information on supporting the good works of St. Benedict’s Abbey, please contact Dan Madden in our Office of Development, 913-360-7906, or development@kansasmonks. org. St. Benedict’s Abbey does not provide legal or tax advice. Please consult with an attorney or tax adviser.
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From The Desert What do you want of me, Lord? As we continue to grow our Interior Life within our own personal Desert, which we share with Jesus, soon the question will arise: “What do you want of me Lord?” This question is stirred due to the amazing graces we receive during our lives, starting with the Sacrament of Baptism, where the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling within us and forgives our Original Sin. He is there, planting the seed, whispering in our infant heart: “I have a plan for you. I have a purpose for your life, which is only yours.” As we grow in our Sacramental Life, we hear the stirrings of the Holy Spirit; his voice becomes stronger and louder. It is beautiful and amazing to hear First Confessions when our young children begin to feel the stirring, prompted by the Holy Spirit: “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.” And as we return to this Sacrament, the voice of the Holy Spirit grows stronger, in our Interior Life, in our own private Desert. We are closest to Jesus when we receive the Eucharist. We receive the Real Presence as the Gospel of John teaches in chapter six. We receive his body, blood, soul, and divinity. Is there any greater blessing than this? And while the Eucharist is within, Jesus stirs the Holy Spirit within us, perhaps to inspire us to offer our adoration, thanksgiving and praises to God.
Indeed, each of the sacraments moves the Holy Spirit within us. And the Spirit moves each time we pray or read from Sacred Scripture or spiritual texts. In his own time, in his way, the Spirit is helping us strip ourselves of our selfish ways, inspiring us to ask: “What do you want of me, Lord?” It is our choice to ask this question, but our will has been nourished Father Gabriel Landis by our Interior Life with Jesus. Our Pastor - St. Joseph’s and St. time with him in our personal Desert Patrick’s, Atchison is bearing fruit. So what happens when we ask this question, when we open ourselves for the Lord to speak? When we ask this question we are seeking holiness. Father Jacques Philippe, in his book, In the School of the Holy Spirit, quotes Saint Faustina: “My Jesus, it is truly easy to become holy; it just takes a little good will! And if He finds this minimum of good will in a soul, He quickly gives Himself to her. And nothing can stop Him, neither our faults nor our falls, absolutely nothing… God is very generous and does not refuse His grace to anyone. He gives even more than we ask for. The shortest road to faithfulness (is) to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit.” My brothers and sisters, let us ponder this question together. I ask that you pray this question often along with me: “What do you want of me, Lord?” Let us continue to seek to grow in holiness. Praised Be Jesus Christ! Now and Forever! Amen!
St. Benedict’s Abbey hosted the St. Francis of Assisi blessing of pets again this year. Father Gabriel Landis led the ceremony, blessing over 20 pets including his own dog Anna (right). Brother John Peto (left) sits with Abbey Health Services employee Vernon Randall’s dog Dora. photos by Vernon Randall
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Somos Irmãos
we are brothers
Winter 2011
Prior Duane Roy Prior - St. Joseph’s Priory
Many times memofor the initial contact ries spark sentiments of with church and civic gratitude. In the throes leaders during fall of of composing a history 1960. Father John Stitz of the first 50 years of the and others of the Archfoundation of St. Joseph diocese began the DiocePriory here in Brazil, san Mission Cooperative these sentiments of gratiprogram by which many tude are strong. Reading parishes were annual letters, reports, publicacontributors to missions, tions, and hearing what including our monasothers express, reveal that tic foundation. Many this monastic foundafamilies and friends sent tion involved a multitude donations to a special of persons over the five fund administrated by decades. the business manager It´s time – even before of St. Benedict´s Abbey. the completion of a written narrative – to use this Abbot Thomas Hartman (right) concelebrates Mass with Father Eric The no. 6 (1963) issue of Kansas Monks in Brazil space to manifest grati- Deitchman in the incomplete St. Luzia chapel in Mineiros, Goias in 1970. published almost 300 tude to all those persons. names of patrons who We frequently pray in built St. Joseph Priory in our petitions during the Mineiros, Brazil. Liturgy of Hours and at We have deep gratiMass for our benefactors, tude and admiration to living and deceased. We Abbot Cuthbert McDonask God to bless family, ald, the founding abbot friends and confreres. of St. Joseph Priory. His Even before the first vision and courage made monk left St. Benedict´s it possible. Subsequent Abbey in Atchison for abbots—Thomas HartBrazil to begin the founman, Brendan Downey, dation early in 1961, Ralph Koehler, and Owen students and professors Purcell were also equally of St. Benedict´s College generous and couraand Mount St. Scholasgeous in their interest tic College and Acadand supportive decision emy, alumni and famito send and maintain lies were donating funds for the project. Interest Father Matthias Schmidt (later bishop) first superior of Atchison monks in Kansas Benedictines at was high. Papal Volun- Brazil tells confreres at St. Benedict’s Abbey about proposal to take charge the Priory over these 50 teers was a new project of Holy Spirit Church in Mineiros. Left to right: Frater Anthony Ross, Father years. Abbot Barnabas in the Catholic Church. Henry Deters, Father Eric Deitchman, Father Matthias, Brother Norbert Senecal, during these past 17 years has been Some students and Wagner, Father Benjamin Tremmel, and Father Paul Steingreaber. constant with his presalumni of these colleges were already thinking and making plans for missionary activity ence and ongoing communication, giving us support and guidin Central America. Newly elected President John Kennedy was ance. We are grateful to them and to all the monks of the Abbey. Our story is also the story of generous people, mission-minded soon to introduce the Peace Corp program, encouraging youth to persons, who love the Benedictines and the Gospel. We rememservice on foreign soil. The Archdiocese of Kansas City was very supportive. Msgr. ber you with gratitude. Blessings of peace. George W. King accompanied Abbot Cuthbert McDonald to Brazil 21
Kansas Monks
in aWord The Following Homily was delivered by Abbot Barnabas Senecal on Nov. 27, the First Sunday of Advent at Mount St. Scholastica. “Let your hearts fill with hope. The Lord, your God, draws near.” - Antiphon from the Liturgy of the Hours - First Sunday of Advent, Vigils A story was a told on National Public Radio this week called, simply, Orange. It can be found on NPR for Wednesday or on a site called Snap Judgment, a program of interesting stories. Two voices are heard, that of the young narrator (italics) and that of the old man. It begins as the young man tells of getting on the bus in a very poor section of New York City.
out secretly, scratched it and smelled it. My cousin had written to me about oranges growing in Palestine. The moment I smelled the orange I was free, away from Auschwitz and in Palestine. I did that again and again. I decided to save the orange for when I had a bad day. That day came when a guard with a bayonet on his rifle ordered us to line up, single file. As we came to him, he said to some, “Right,” and to some, “Left.” The ones sent to the left never came back from the showers. I was told to go to the right. I gathered my friends. I have something to share. They had all forgotten the color of the orange. I peeled it and divided among them. For us, this was the taste of hope. We imagined we were free. I saved the peels. Spring came, and small plants grew in the cracks of the cement. Guards thought they were weeds. The seeds came to life. That spring we were freed from Auschwitz. I came here. The orange, it saved my life. My young man. Love the sweet things in life.
No one rides the bus except the losers. The bus was empty this day so, in protest, I sat in the seat reserved for the handicapped or elderly. An old man, must have been I add to this story my own ideas a hundred, got on. What’s the about Advent. It is Advent, and we cost? Twenty-five cents. So, it are encouraged to be watchful, not was 5/10/11/12… I see my whole to fall asleep, not to be negligent. life passing by in the count. With We are called to be alert, to be joyful the whole bus for him to choose a within our limitations. seat, he wants my seat. It is Advent, and we are to look A strange thing, he shows me for values that will give us life, that an orange. What do you think? will sharpen our vision, we are to see It’s an orange. What do you see? … the good and wait for it to be close You don’t understand. I came from enough for us to share in it. Germany after the War. Did you It is Advent, and we look for read about the War in school? … I Christ, even in the smallest, most was in this place called Auschwitz. lonely moments. Yes, I read an article about it, It is Advent, and we want to about the sign over the entrance, see the colors around us. We thank “Work makes you free.” Did it tell persons who use colors midst the you about the black and the white? black and white of life, who bring the Everything in Auschwitz was black color of a smile or a compliment or and white. The guards uniforms an encouragement. were black, their boots shiny black. A colorful character in a colorful setting, Father Aaron We could see our pale white faces Peters seen here with the Thanksgiving display in the Abbey refectory. | photo by Abbot Barnabas Senecal in their boots. The numbers on my arm – they are blue now – but they were Hope in the words of Pope Benedict XVI: black after they burned them onto my skin. Every day was gray We need the greater and lesser hopes that keep us going day from the smoke and the dust that settled all around. Our soup was by day. But these are not enough without the great hope, cooked in black kettles, a lot of water with eight or nine potatoes, which must surpass everything else. This great hope can only boiled to liquid. The soup was gray. be God, who encompasses the whole of reality and who can We worked hard, tried to stay warm. We packed paper inside bestow upon us what we, by ourselves, cannot attain. The our clothes trying to keep warm. One day I picked up a piece of fact that it comes to us as a gift is actually part of hope. God paper by the fence. I couldn’t believe it, there was an orange. You is the foundation of hope: not any god, but the God who has had to understand. No real food in six months. I held it in my a human face and who has loved us to the end, each one of us hands. and humanity in its entirety. (Spe salvi, 31) I hid it in the cracks of the wall near my bed. I would take it 22
Winter 2011
abbey notes Father Meinrad Miller was appointed by Abbot Barnabas Senecal to be Novice Master and Formation Director, effective November 1. Father Meinrad was ordained in 1994 and has served as an instructor in Benedictine Spirituality in Benedictine College, has given religious community retreats, and has served as Vocation Director for our abbey. He will continue in his role as Subprior and as the selector of readings for our Office of Vigils. Father Bruce Swift had served as Master of Novices for nearly eleven years. Prior James Albers participated in an ecumenical discussion on monasticism, at the Shepherd’s Center in Topeka on October 21. He was a guest lecturer to a Church History class at Mid America Nazarene University in Olathe on October 25. Prior James Albers, Father Meinrad Miller and Father Blaine Schultz hosted the Chaplains Corps from Ft. Leavenworth, October 20, welcoming them for a tour, midday prayer and meal. Father Meinrad gave them a talk on monastic life. Brother John Peto and Sister Marcia Ziska coordinated a weeklong course for six students of the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences. Father Aaron Peters has rearranged portraits and other community art in the Chapter room. Roof leaks on the west wall of the room necessitated repair of the photo of Abbot Martin Veth. Sun damage required repair of Abbot Thomas Hartman’s photo. A plan was made to hang abbot and bishop photos on the north and east walls. Also, Father Aaron has hung more paintings in the guest house hall and lounges. Father Bertrand LaNoue shared in restoration work and the plans to rearrange the photos.
Father Maurice Haefling continues to serve as an auditor for the American Cassinese Congregation. The four auditors and the President’s Council met at St. Procopius Abbey in Lisle, Ill.. Father Matthew Habiger gave presentations in October: Theology of the Body Mission, Yardley PA; Oblate retreat for Benedictine Sisters in Texas; Marriage Enrichment talks to clergy of the Wichita Diocese; filmed talks for Clergy Conference in Coto Caza, CA; Clergy Conference in South Gate, CA; NFP Weekend in Glendale, CA. Father Bertrand LaNoue welcomed Steven McBride as a visitor on October 28. Steve is a Senior Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City, a 1977 BC graduate and economics major under Father Bertrand. Such visits are most welcome by our retired monks. Call ahead to confirm a visit. A men’s retreat was held here organized by Ralph Voss and men from the Ft. Scott, KS area. Prior James Albers, Father Meinrad Miller, Father Justin Dean, Brother John Peto and Father Marion Charboneau gave talks on Abandonment, Baptism and Confirmation, Penance, lectio divina, and Eucharist, respectively. The annual dinner for our Abbey employees was held on Sunday, October 29. Honored were Cindy Dooley (5 years), Judy Fridell and Kathy Ball (15 years) and Vernon Randall and Helen Skidmore (20 years). Each was presented glassware. Individuals received Benedict’s Brittle or photographs of monks whom they had cared for in Abbey Health Care and were now deceased, framed in a Memories frame. Monks who prepared the festive meal were Father Donald Redmond, Brother Lawrence Bradford, Brother Damian Cayetano, and postulants Jeffrey Turner and Branson Stephens. Benedictine College officials and Board members took part in a groundbreaking ceremony November 1. A new 151 – student dorm will be constructed on the former hospital site. The dorm is to be completed for occupancy next fall. The construction cost is $6,045,000. The dorm will house sophomore men.
Brother Joseph Ryan surveys the Missouri River valley flood from the Abbey Guest House roof. Photo by J.D. Benning
23 Photo by J.D. Benning
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Winter 2011 | Volume 6 | Number 4
24 Photo by Abbot Barnabas Senecal
