Abbey Banner - Winter 2013

Abbey Banner Winter 2013–14

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All were by nature foolish who were in ignorance of God, . . . and who from studying the works did not discern the artisan: For from the greatness and the beauty of created things their original author, by analogy, is seen.

Alan Reed, O.S.B.

Wisdom 13:1, 5

Photo: Alan Reed, O.S.B.

This Issue

Recalling Virgil Michel

Then are they truly monks, when they live by the labor of their hands.

Rule of Benedict 48.8

Abbey Banner Magazine of Saint John’s Abbey Published three times annually (spring, fall, winter) by the monks of Saint John’s Abbey.

Editor: Robin Pierzina, O.S.B. Editorial assistants: Aaron Raverty, O.S.B.; Dolores Schuh, C.H.M. Fujimi bureau chief: Roman Paur, O.S.B. Abbey archivist: David Klingeman, O.S.B. University archivist: Peggy Roske Design: Alan Reed, O.S.B. Circulation: Ruth Athmann, Mary Gouge, Jan Jahnke, Danielle Schmiesing, Cathy Wieme Printed by Palmer Printing Copyright © 2013 by Order of Saint Benedict Saint John’s Abbey Collegeville, Minnesota 56321-2015 abbeybanner@csbsju.edu saintjohnsabbey.org/banner/ ISSN: 2330-6181 (print) ISSN: 2332-2489 (online)

Change of address: Ruth Athmann P. O. Box 7222 Collegeville, Minnesota 56321-7222 rathmann@csbsju.edu Phone: 800.635.7303

Efforts to be self-sufficient have given way to the interdependence and collegiality necessary for the health and vibrancy of monasticism today. At Saint John’s, the demands of operating and animating schools, welcoming guests, preserving manuscripts, publishing, caring for the land, caring for fellow monks, and much more, exceed the ability and the resources of the community. The collaboration and support of friends, colleagues, and benefactors are critical for the exercise of our monastic life and furthering our mission. Father Geoffrey Fecht outlines the goals of Saint John’s capital campaign, Forward Ever Forward.

Seeking God and serving others are at the heart of monastic life. In this issue we learn of the impact on participants of numerous Saint John’s programs that enable that search and service: The Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps, National Catholic Youth Choir, and Youth in Theology and Ministry.

Seventy-five years ago the Collegeville community was mourning the death of one of the visionary members of Saint John’s: Father Virgil Michel.

Brother Aaron Raverty introduces us to the man and to his liturgical vision.

Abbot John Klassen opens this issue with a reflection on Father Virgil as well as on the style of leadership that he exercised in his short life, a style that endures to this day.

With Abbot John and the monks of Saint John’s Abbey, the staff of Abbey Banner offers prayers and best wishes to all our readers for a blessed Christmas and Epiphany, and for God’s gift of peace and good health in the new year.

Brother Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

Pages 2,3: Monastic gardens, Saint John's Abbey

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will never forget the morning of 5 May 2000. I had arrived at Trinity Benedictine Monastery in Japan on the previous evening.

Still groggy from jet lag as I went to prayer at 6:25 A.M., I read a note on the door of the chapel: “Please remember Father Paul Schwietz who died yesterday.” Paul was just 47 years old. I was dumbfounded, scarcely able to comprehend, thinking first that the information had to be mistaken. From conversations with confreres, I learned that this was a common experience throughout the monastic community. So it must have been with Father Virgil Michel’s premature death on 26 November 1938 at the age of 47.

This issue of Abbey Banner examines the role artists and artisans play in Benedictine communities. Self-sufficiency was a goal, if not an assumption, according to Saint Benedict’s organization of monastic life. The monks designed, constructed, and repaired buildings, as well as grew, harvested, or recycled most of what they needed for supporting themselves and their life of prayer. Practicing their craft with humility, caring for the tools of their trade, and mentoring another generation were common expectations, all for the honor and glory of God. Father John Meoska outlines the history of woodworking at Saint John’s, highlighting the skill and dedication of his fellow woodworkers. In an essay probably written in the 1950s, our late confrere Father Joachim Watrin offers a critique of religious art and its cultural value. Mr. Ryan Kutter introduces Saint John’s artist-in-residence Richard Bresnahan, describing his art and craft, and noting his commitment to the Benedictine values of stewardship, frugality, and stability.

We also visit our confreres in Japan, celebrate a Norwegian culinary tradition, sample recent Benedictine books, and reflect with Father Timothy Backous on the seasons of our life.

Cover: Winter Morn, Collegeville Photo: Alan Reed, O.S.B.

Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B.

The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.

Søren Kierkegaard

Abbey archives

Virgil Michael, O.S.B., though broadly and well educated, was not a brilliant researcher, writer, or speaker. Rather, he had enormous energy and passion for a field of ideas clustered around liturgical renewal, and he was able to attract people from across the country to the cause. His single most creative contribution was expressing the relationship between liturgical renewal and a commitment to social justice in a compelling way.

At Father Virgil’s funeral there was a feeling among some, “The liturgical movement is dead!” However, it was not to be so. The movement had gained enough traction, both within and outside the community, so that supporters stepped forward to help. And there just happened to be a young Benedictine theologian named Father Godfrey Diekmann who was able to step in as a visible leader in Collegeville.

In Saint John’s centennial history, Worship and Work, Father Colman Barry, O.S.B., notes that Abbot Alcuin Deutsch, O.S.B., supported and actively contributed to Virgil Michel’s vision.

He made sure that Virgil was not working in isolation. Abbot Alcuin, too, was surrounded by groups of monks who “actively and intelligently supported each undertaking.” That is why in community (and I suspect in other organizations) it can be difficult to actually trace the way a project emerges, is shaped, and formed by many creative and energetic people.

So there is a paradox in creating a lively movement, one that does not die when a key person is lost. On the one hand, when a new project is proposed, community members always want to know, “Who is leading this? Who is the point person? Who has ‘skin’ in it?” On the other hand, we know well that the project, if it is to succeed, may never be held too tightly by one individual. To succeed, good ideas need lots of fingerprints on them. A healthy community is able to get this fine balancing act just right.

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New Monastic Prep Profession School Headmaster Abbey Woodworking John Meoska, O.S.B.

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eep within the monastery are several rooms that archive the history of Saint John’s Abbey. They contain boxes of carefully sorted and preserved documents and pieces of art, silent sentinels of the lives and work of the monks who have called Collegeville home for 156 years. There is another archive on campus, too massive for several boxes or even several rooms: the collection of furniture and features crafted throughout the years by the monks, neighbors, and students who, collectively, are known as Saint John’s Abbey Woodworking.

In his Rule Saint Benedict describes the monastery as a school for the Lord’s service (RB Prol.45). Without question the woodworking shop has been one of the storied classrooms of this monastic school at Saint John’s.

The practice of woodworking is as old as the community itself.

The first monks to arrive in Saint Cloud, Minnesota, in 1856, and later, Indianbush and the present site of the campus on Lake Sagatagan, were workers in wood. In order to secure the first land claims, the monks had to build log cabins on each tract. Thereafter they had to build their chairs, tables, beds, desks, chapel benches, and all the cabinetry and accoutrements that would make a place livable and functional for the ministry and missionary work at hand.

Construction of the first abbey church (Great Hall), c. 1880

Today when a young man comes to the monastery to discern his vocation in the community, he may be assigned to work in the woodworking shop. Woodworking demands stamina, focus, and attention to detail. To work safely and skillfully, obedience is called for—not just to the supervisor who assigns the tasks, but

Abbey archives

Brother Andrew Unterberger, O.S.B.

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Abbey archives

to other team members, to the workings of tools and machinery, and to the nature of wood itself. Woodworking teaches humility, self-control, responsibility, and patience; it evokes creativity and reverence.

And for some confreres, working with wood is an important way to counterbalance their academic or administrative responsibilities.

There’s nothing like getting out of your head for a while and working with your hands.

Throughout Saint John’s history countless monks have labored at abbey woodworking and as carpenters around the campus.

Brothers Andrew Unterberger, O.S.B., and Leo Martin, O.S.B., were two of the initial workers in wood and are remembered for undertaking construction of the first abbey church (today’s Great Hall). Each was a jack-of-alltrades, skilled in forestry, wood harvesting, frame carpentry,

building construction, furniture and cabinet making, carving, and finishing. Over the years the focus of abbey woodworking has shifted. Today the woodworkers focus primarily on furniture and cabinet making.

Forest management and wood harvesting are overseen by the Saint John’s Abbey Arboretum staff, which supplies about 95 percent of the oak, maple, basswood, and pine used annually by the shop. Carpentry chores—installation or repair of doors, for example—are handled by another shop, and finishing work—the varnishing or painting of items we produce—by another.

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hat do we make with the 30,000 board feet of oak and other lumber that come to us each year from the abbey arboretum and forest? Currently we are partnering with Saint John’s

University to design and build replacement beds, bookcases, and other furniture for ongoing dorm renovations. Recently our specialty work was the design and construction of cabinetry to display and store volumes of The Saint John’s Bible. We also provide office furniture, dining furniture, specialized cabinetry, and display units around campus; and we even made nesting boxes for flying squirrels—ordered by the university biology staff, not the squirrels!

When a monk at Saint John’s makes his first profession of vows following his year of novitiate, he is presented with a copy of Saint Benedict’s Rule and with a Saint John’s Cross, laser engraved with his name, date of profession, and the words of the Suscipe that he chants during the profession ceremony: “Sustain me, O Lord, as you

Preparing the forms for the second abbey church, 1959

Abbey archives

Woodworking teaches humility, self-control, responsibility, and patience; it evokes creativity and reverence.

have promised, that I may live; and disappoint me not in my hope.” The newly professed probably helped construct that cross during his work periods at abbey woodworking. The Saint John’s Cross is one of the most iconic items made in our smallproject shop.

If a monk somehow makes it through his monastic life without spending time at the woodworking shop, he will, nonetheless, spend eternity in one of our simple pine coffins or cremation urns. During the funeral liturgy his profession cross is placed on top of his coffin and, after monk and coffin complete their life cycle and return to the earth, the cross is fixed to the cloister wall, a reminder to us to keep death daily before our eyes (RB 4.47) and to pray for our brother.

Who is in abbey woodworking?

The shop is under the watchful stewardship of Mr. Michael Roske, 1977 alumnus of Saint John’s University, our Collegeville neighbor, and thirdgeneration abbey employee. The first non-monastic to head the shop, Michael was mentored by Brother Gregory Eibensteiner, O.S.B. (1934–2013), the shop

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New Prep School Headmaster

Monastic Art Joachim Watrin, O.S.B. Excerpted from an undated essay entitled “Religious and Cultural Values of Monastic Art.”

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eligion, culture, and art have much in common. There is a striking parallel between beauty and holiness, between culture and art. All three make for fuller living — for unity, balance, and harmony of life.

Creative minds influence their surroundings. Art, therefore, expresses both culture and religion, and reflects and produces the same.

Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

Abbey archives

Brother Gregory Eibensteiner (above, left) oversees fellow woodworkers; Brother Hubert Schneider (below, right) assists a student.

A monastery refectory chair (top, right) is among the many community furnishings designed and crafted by monks.

manager and master craftsman for over thirty years. Michael has dedicated nearly twenty-five years of his life to crafting the furniture that gives the campus buildings and rooms that distinctive Saint John’s look and feel: simple, solid, functional,

beautiful, and sustainable. The current team of woodworkers includes Mr. Robert Lillard and Mr. David Lorenz; Brothers Lewis Grobe, O.S.B., and Herard Jean-Noel, O.S.B.; Father John Meoska, O.S.B., former manager; and university student workers

Tanner Hersch and Mark Steingraeber.

The archives of abbey woodworking are everywhere: the cloister walk and the monks’ rooms, the abbey guesthouse and college dorms, the president’s office and the church, and most rooms and buildings in between. If it’s made of oak or pine, basswood or cherry, then chances are good it was made in our shop by people who have a reverence for wood.

Father John Meoska, O.S.B., former manager of abbey woodworking, is the formation director of Saint John’s Abbey.

Abbey archives

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Abbey Woodworking: crafting the furniture that gives the campus buildings and rooms that distinctive Saint John’s look and feel: simple, solid, functional, beautiful, and sustainable.

Benedictines, more than any other single agency in the Church, brought civilization and culture by the spreading of religion and the propagating of the industrial arts. The Benedictine Rule maintained a balance between devotion and labor. It destroyed the stigma which slavery had attached to labor. Useful trades and arts were not only worked at to meet the needs of the monastic community but were also taught for the betterment of the neighborhood. Monks were often skilled craftsmen, excelling both in thoroughness of workmanship and artistic excellence.

Besides cultivating and improving the soil and copying manuscripts, monks were

We find mirrored in the arts something of the spirit of Saint Benedict and his Rule: a certain sincerity, simplicity, gravity, repose, dignity, and devotion and holiness, which give monastic art a character somewhat its own, having been nourished and inspired by the ideals and virtues of the religious life.

woodworkers, ironworkers, gold- and silversmiths, masons, weavers, painters, illuminators, sculptors, architects, mechanics.

They practiced carpentering, shoemaking, tanning, spinning, smelting, forging—all activities that were necessary for the community. To the monk, art was not an end in itself but part of his “service to God.” Labor and art were closely related, and the monastery became an ideal place for fostering all these arts.

The mission of the Christian artist is as necessary as that of the theologian or preacher.

Art ties in with the customary work of a twentieth-century monastery—with teaching, pastoral and missionary work, rural life, liturgical apostolate.

Art is an essential part of these activities, an integrating and vitalizing force.

Only barbarians do not express themselves artistically. An artless civilization is a misnomer, for art has always been synchronous with civilization and interwoven with culture. Lack of art is a symptom of social decadence, and art is thus a weather vane for the sociologists, for a nation’s ideals are reflected in its art.

Religious art in this country is generally admitted to be at a low ebb. “Art” has become a matter of manufacturing so many yards of ornamentation and so many thousands of cheap pictures and plaster statues expressing little spirituality and less art. Art has been divorced from religion and offers little inducement to prayer—being lacking in the breath of life. It is not created as a service of God, but to sell in large quantities for profit like any commercial product.

Father Joachim Watrin, O.S.B. (1906–1983), trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, taught geometry at Saint John’s Preparatory School for twenty-eight years, designed cover art for Orate Fratres/Worship magazine for seventeen years, created a set of liturgical symbols, invented a hypocycloid, and assisted in the construction of a pergola and stonewalls on the Saint John’s campus during his fifty-four years of monastic life.

Icon of Saint John the Baptist, tempera on board by Robert Rambusch

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The NewSaint PrepJohn’s SchoolPottery Headmaster Ryan Kutter

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eginning on 27 September 2013 the Johanna Kiln at the Saint John’s Pottery, the largest wood-burning kiln of its kind in North America, was fired for the twelfth time. Blessed by a prayer from Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B., and ritually purified in the Japanese tradition with salt, rice, and sake, this year’s firing also memorialized three women central to the pottery’s history, including Sister Johanna Becker, O.S.B., for whom the kiln is named.

Over ten days a community of more than fifty potters, artists, families, and friends maintained the fire, prepared meals for each other, and reflected on their roles as creators within the larger creation. At the center of this community is Saint John’s artistin-residence Richard Bresnahan.

After studying at both Saint John’s Preparatory School and Saint John’s University, Richard began a four-year apprenticeship with a thirteenth-generation Living National Treasure pottery family in Karatsu, Japan. When he returned to the United Sates in 1979, he accepted an invitation from university president Father Michael Blecker, O.S.B., to estab-lish a pottery studio at Saint John’s. Today the parallels of generational learning, stability, stewardship, and artistic vocation between Saint John’s Abbey and the potters of Karatsu seem clear, but it’s only the example of the Saint John’s Pottery that gives clarity to this.

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Brian Zehowski

Tall jar with layered glazes by Richard Bresnahan

The Karatsu tradition yielded functional artwork that was made distinctive by the unique mineral profile held within the regional clay body as well as the local plant community that was used to create nontoxic glazes. Richard immediately

began searching for clay in central Minnesota that had a strength and mineral profile that would represent the local environment. A road excavation near Lake Watab, six miles from Saint John’s, exposed a high quality clay type that is usually buried too deeply to access, but was brought to the surface and mixed with iron-rich stone by glaciation. In response to Richard’s audacious plan to bring three hundred years of pottery-making clay to Saint John’s, Father Michael noted that in the fifteen-hundred-year Benedictine tradition, three hundred years was not a long time at all!

The Japanese tradition that Richard was adapting to Minnesota also avoided chemical and heavy metal glazes by using plant ash and clay to glaze work.

Because plant species have different minerals for their cell

Nate Jorgenson

Steven Lemke performs a draw test by pulling a piece out of the kiln during the firing process.

structure, each contains a unique mineral profile. Naturally occurring silica (sand) in the plant becomes the glass, or glaze, and the trace minerals react at high temperature firing to create color embedded within the glaze. Through experimentation dozens of local wood and agricultural waste materials have been used to create a palette of glazes that are nontoxic and have a direct relationship to the local ecosystem and farming community.

True to both his farming background in North Dakota and to Saint Benedict’s call for frugality, Richard developed the Saint John’s Pottery with as much recycled equipment as possible. The filter press used for screening clay is over one hundred years old and was salvaged from a dump near Omaha.

Old motors from retired equipment at Saint John’s were given new purpose to mix clay or vent smoke from the fire, and recycled red brick from Saint John’s was given a new body in the Johanna Kiln.

In 1991, when the university residence Saint Joseph Hall was moved to its current location, the Saint John’s Pottery’s first kiln was replaced by the Johanna Kiln. This three-chambered kiln uses sustainably harvested, mostly deadfall trees from the Saint John’s Abbey forest to fire pottery to more than 2500 degrees. Ash from burning wood lands on the fired work, melts, and becomes a dynamic glaze through the process of the firing.

Steven Lemke

After the firing, completed pottery emerges from the kiln covered in ash. Each piece will be unloaded and cleaned by hand.

This creates a finished work that is orchestrated by the artist but is also created by unique local materials and the unique environment within the kiln.

In addition to artistic members of the Order of Saint Benedict, who have always been central to monastic life, the Benedictines continue to foster creative and cultural light in the communities that surround them. Through the artist-in-residence program, Saint John’s responds to Saint Benedict’s call to cultivate the arts that speak most to our humanity and spirit, that we “let [artists and artisans] exercise their crafts with all humility” (Rule 57.1).

Richard Bresnahan came to Saint John’s as a child, and through the stages of his artistic vocation found mentors at both Saint John’s Abbey and Saint Benedict’s Monastery in Saint Joseph. “There are many

places in the country I could have settled as a young potter, but only Saint John’s could foster the stability that would allow for the research and generational teaching that this program demands,” observes the master potter. After thirtyfive years there are already three generations of apprentices who have studied at Saint John’s and gone on to establish their own artistic and teaching careers in the Collegeville area.

The success of the Saint John’s Pottery tells us that these values and precepts written by Saint Benedict are not meant to be restrictive but rather to focus our attention and allow for the stability and humility that further our greatest potential as both individuals and a community.

Mr. Ryan Kutter, a 2003 alumnus of Saint John’s University, is the studio manager of the Saint John’s Pottery.

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New Prep School Headmaster Benedictine Volunteer Corps here in Rome, but because travel is so easy within Europe, Jacob and I hope to visit the other great cities of Italy and put our newfound language proficiency to the test.

Patrick Moe Ciao da Roma!

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ven after months of walking past our rooftop view of Saint Peter’s Basilica, I always need a double take for it to sink in that I’m really here! Situated on the Aventine Hill, one of the famous seven hills of ancient Rome, Collegio Sant’Anselmo is home to Benedictine men from all over the world—and now two volunteers from Collegeville. Fellow 2013 Saint John’s University alumnus Jacob Harris and I have been on site in Italy since August, and while I can’t say that any day is ordinary, we’ve settled into the rhythm of Benedictine life in this international house located in the center of Italy.

What sets Sant’Anselmo apart from other monasteries, besides its location, is that its permanent community consists of but one member, the Abbot Primate of the Benedictine Order, Notker Wolf, O.S.B. All the other residents of Sant’Anselmo are from monasteries in thirty-eight different countries, here to study or to teach in the university, Pontificio Ateneo S. Anselmo, as well as at other schools across the city. Along with the thirtyeight nationalities comes nearly as many languages, but since this is Italy, the official language of the house is Italian, spoken at meals, Mass, in announcements, and at table reading. Part of our job as Benedictine Volunteers has been to attend language school, picking up enough Italian so we

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Through interactions with international residents and guests alike I have developed an even greater appreciation for the significant impact Saint John’s has had in the world.

Everyone I talk with seems to

know someone who has studied at the Saint John’s School of Theology·Seminary or has had some experience visiting or working with the monks of Collegeville. The prior of Sant’Anselmo, Father Elias Lorenzo, O.S.B., of Saint Mary’s Abbey in Morristown, New Jersey, is himself a graduate of the School of Theology.

I also continue to hear great things about the work that

fellow Benedictine Volunteers are undertaking at the other sites around the world. I look forward to the rest of my year in Rome, to becoming more proficient in Italian, to exploring new neighborhoods and museums, and to contributing more to the great reputation Saint John’s has in the Benedictine world.

Mr. Patrick Moe is a 2013 graduate of Saint John’s University.

Benedictine Values: Benedictine Volunteers BVC archives

Patrick Moe (left) and Jacob Harris share a meal with the monks at Sant’Anselmo.

can participate as members of the community, as well as answer phones and welcome guests during our shifts working in the porter’s office. My Italian is far from perfect, but considering that I knew next to none upon my arrival, I’m very excited to see where I will be at the end of my year of service.

In addition to our post in the portineria, we regularly spend time working in the gardens, cleaning the church and sacristy, helping in the kitchen, and running errands in the city.

This fall Jacob and I assisted in welcoming a leadership conference of abbots and abbesses, as well as the Congress of Benedictine Oblates held in Rome every four years.

While at the welcome desk for the oblate congress, I surprised myself by being able to use Italian, English, and French to help attendees find their way.

Beyond our work schedule we are given ample time to explore this beautiful, ancient city. As an art major and an aspiring architect, I find Rome the perfect place to be. In addition to the historical ruins, rich museums, and famous architecture through which I have guided myself, Saint John’s Father Nickolas Becker, O.S.B., a resident of Sant’Anselmo, has been very helpful, sharing his knowledge of the city with us, and inviting Jacob and me to celebrate Mass in the crypts under Saint Peter’s with the Roman–Greco study abroad group from the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University. October also brought a visit from Father Eric Hollas, O.S.B., who spent a few days with us in Rome and let us tag along on a visit to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, including a tour from the professor of church history himself! There is so much to see

I think there is an important underlying value [at Saint Benedict’s Prep] that teaching the kids the basics of how to behave as young men takes precedence over any particular set of facts being taught. Living the dream.

Ryan Wold, BVC ’14, Newark, New Jersey I’m teaching English to [high school] sophomores, juniors, and (primarily) seniors, as well as their professors!

Nicholas Olsen, BVC ’14, Bogotá, Colombia Most of my time has been spent volunteering at the Saint Benedict’s Children Centre.

Many of these boys have background stories that are truly horrific, but they showcase a type of resilience unlike anything I have ever seen. They sure are tough, and I love that about them.

Matthew Dummer, BVC ’14, Mathare slum, Nairobi, Kenya

Luke Ekelund, BVC ’10, and friends in Esquipulas, Guatemala

Just experienced an earthquake for the first time. We were fortunate enough to have everyone safe with minimal damage where we are. Thoughts and prayers out to those affected.

Colin Merrigan, BVC ’14, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala We’re happy at Sant’Anselmo to have Jake Harris and Patrick Moe serving the community this year as Benedictine Volunteers from Saint

BVC archives

John’s Abbey. Jake and Patrick are steady at the divine office and daily Mass, [have a] solid work ethic on our grounds, with hospitality, and maintenance, and fit into the communal life of our house with grace and ease. The BVC has been a great support to the worldwide confederation of Benedictine monastic communities. Saint John’s Abbey can be proud.

Prior Elias Lorenzo, O.S.B., Collegio Sant’Anselmo, Rome

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Campaign for Saint John’s Abbey to raise are crucially important to a healthy future for this monastic community. We cannot overstate how vital your support is for accomplishing the creative and innovative programs that are part of our imagination and vision for the future. We need your help!

F Feast of Saint Benedict: celebrating new vocations and honoring lifetime service

Geoffrey Fecht, O.S.B.

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n 2006 Saint John’s Abbey celebrated its sesquicentennial.

It was a time to look back on and rejoice with Saint John’s one hundred fifty years of pastoral, educational, and cultural leadership and service to the local area and to the world. It was a time to thank all those who were a part of this remarkable story.

Since then Saint John’ Abbey, in partnership with Saint John’s University, has been gearing up for a new capital campaign. In September the abbey and university announced their joint capital campaign: “Forward Ever Forward: The Campaign for Saint John’s.” In October, in conjunction with the celebration of the fifty-second anniversary of the completion of the abbey and university church, the abbey highlighted its own campaign priorities.

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Some might wonder what distinguishes a capital campaign from other types of fundraising.

A capital campaign is a timelimited effort by a nonprofit organization such as Saint John’s to raise significant dollars for specific projects. Above and beyond annual donations, the money raised in a capital campaign is used for the acquisition, construction, or renovation of a building, such as the abbey guesthouse in our last campaign. Sometimes capital campaign funds are used to build an endowment for the future, such as the fund for the education of monastic priesthood students or the monastery’s health and retirement fund. In other cases capital campaigns help support an extraordinary program, such as The Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps and its worldwide efforts.

Simon-Hòa Phan, O.S.B.

riends of the abbey have observed that the monks are and have always been the leaven of the greater Saint John’s community, providing invaluable support, inspiration, and leadership for Saint John’s University, Saint John’s School of Theology·Seminary, Preparatory

School, Liturgical Press, and Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, as well as numerous parishes, chaplaincies, and missions around the world. At the same time, the monks are well aware that Saint John’s is what it is today due in large part to our families, our benefactors, and our friends who have provided their support and made it possible for Saint John’s to flourish. For this, all of Saint John’s is humbled and most grateful.

Inspired by our founder, Archabbot Boniface Wimmer, O.S.B., who over 150 years ago coined the phrase, “Forward,

always forward, everywhere forward,” today’s monks look forward to responding to the world’s deepest hungers for learning, for believing, and for hoping in the future. The monastic community’s ongoing influence is essential for keeping the greater Saint John’s both Benedictine and Catholic, assuring that our spiritual and moral initiatives and values are actively handed on to future generations.

Whether you attended one of our schools, are a member of one of our parishes, an oblate of Saint John’s, or simply a cherished friend of the abbey, your support

Capital campaigns have a beginning and an end, and often span several years. In our case, after several years of planning, including visits and consultations with Saint John’s alumni/ae, friends, oblates, and benefactors, we determined that the most effective way to address our current needs and to ensure our long-term ministry was to move forward with this capital campaign. The Campaign for Saint John’s will conclude in 2016.

The concept of a capital campaign can trace its origins to the Book of Exodus. God reminded the Hebrew people to use their gifts and talents to achieve God’s goals (see Exodus 25:1-9; and 30:11-16). This is how we view our campaign as well. Though the abbey’s goal in this campaign is modest compared to that of the university, the funds we wish

We must move on. Forward, always forward, everywhere forward. We will not be held back by debts, by difficult times, by an unfortunate year. Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.

Abbot Boniface Wimmer, O.S.B. Letter, 17 May 1860

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National Catholic Youth Choir of the “Forward Ever Forward: The Campaign for Saint John’s” makes you a partner in our mission to provide superior education and ministry based on Catholic, Benedictine values.

To ensure the future excellence of Saint John’s, we ask you to support our goal of raising funds for the programs listed in our set of priorities.

Thank you for your generosity!

Father Geoffrey Fecht, O.S.B., is the abbey development director.

Benedictine Volunteer Patrick Deering, BVC ’10 (below, right), in Cobán, Guatemala, where he was mentored by his pupils in the ways of gospel love.

Michael Leonard Hahn, O.S.B. Campaign Priorities

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To further the abbey’s mission of faith, leadership, and service to Church and society, and to sustain our monastic witness for generations to come, the abbey seeks support for the following priorities: People: Funding to support vocation work ($1,000,000); endowment to provide for the health care and retirement of monks ($4,000,000).

Place: Funding to renovate residential spaces for monks, novices, and monastic candidates ($9,500,000); endowment to provide for the ongoing care and stewardship of abbey lands ($1,000,000); funding to repair and complete the abbey and university church pipe organ in order to address liturgical, devotional, and concert needs and to enhance the university’s undergraduate and graduate liturgical music programs ($500,000).

Programs: Funding to support the Benedictine Volunteer Corps ($1,000,000) and Trinity Benedictine Monastery in Japan ($500,000); endowment to support abbey guesthouse programming ($500,000).

BVC archives

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he National Catholic Youth Choir (NCYC) was founded by Father Anthony Ruff, O.S.B., in 1999 under the motto “spreading the Catholic faith through great music.” Every year about forty high school students from across the United States attend the twoweek summer program at Saint John’s.

Not surprisingly most of each day is devoted to choir rehearsal under the direction of Dr. Axel Theimer, professor of music at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University.

In addition to conducting the NCYC, Dr. Theimer also teaches classes in music theory and history. Yet, as Father Anthony describes, “NCYC is a choir program and a music program, but it’s much more than that— it’s a life-changing spiritual experience for young people who discover the beauty of living in community and using voices to praise God together.”

After rehearsing during the first week of camp, the youth choir leaves Saint John’s for a seven-day concert tour. This past summer they performed at parishes in southern Minnesota, northeast Iowa, and Moline, Illinois. The theme of this year’s concert was “For All the Saints,” which highlighted the Church’s treasure of sacred music ranging from Gregorian chant to contemporary liturgical music. The choir also sang for Midday Prayer at Saint Benedict’s

Dr. Axel Theimer and the National Catholic Youth Choir

Monastery and Sunday Mass at Saint John’s Abbey.

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ntil recently I only knew of the youth choir from afar, appreciating their ministry of music at abbey liturgies. But this summer I had the privilege of serving as chaplain to the NCYC, which allowed me to lead the choristers and staff in daily Morning Prayer and Compline, offer a reflection at the candlelight adoration and Benediction in the abbey and university church, and pray the rosary with them at the Mary Grotto in the abbey gardens.

In addition, the choristers participate in classes in religion, daily prayer with the monastic community, and recreation.

I was able to get to know many of the choir members during the

Chris Calderone

two weeks, and I was inspired by their resounding musical ability (as was the assembly at each place they performed) and also by their commitment to their faith and dedicated service to the Church through music.

Many of the choristers draw on what they gained from the National Catholic Youth Choir when they return home and are active in music ministry in their parishes and school choirs. A good number of them go on to study music in college. But all of them describe the experience of the NCYC at Saint John’s as integral to their development as musicians and people of faith.

Brother Michael Leonard Hahn, O.S.B., is currently a faculty resident and undergraduate theology teacher at Saint John’s University.

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Collegeville: Nursery of the Arts I am determined to have our monasteries [be] not only schools of religion and of sciences, but also nurseries of the fine arts . . . . Art must go hand in hand with religion, to give the exercises of religion that external splendor, dignity, and sublimity which make them more meaningful. . . . It is the duty of monasteries to foster, to promote, and to spread art, especially religious art . . . . I am fully convinced that a monastic school which does not promote the fine arts as well as science and religion is very incomplete, and that, in the beginning, the want of scientific learning is more excusable than neglect of the arts.

Abbot Boniface Wimmer, O.S.B., July 1849

Artwork by Father Joachim Watrin, O.S.B. (1906–1983).

Clockwise from right: Christmas card design (undated); geometric painting (18” x 39”) based on mathematical formulas, 1960s; wood carving of Saint Benedict (15¾“), 1933; Oremus and Blessing from Mass Symbols, a 1947 booklet published by The Liturgical Press; and geometric painting (18½” x 14½”), 1968 Page 31: Root of Jesse (undated)

Virgil Michel: Liturgical Visionary European stay he envisioned the publication that would serve as a vehicle for his newfound liturgical fervor: Orate Fratres (later, Worship magazine). Blessed with excellent communication skills, Virgil was an industrious worker—a workaholic and a “multitasker.” He also kept up an extensive campaign of writing letters, many of which served as a ministry of spiritual counseling.

Aaron Raverty, O.S.B.

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eorge Michel, born in Saint Paul on 26 June 1890, the second in a family of fifteen children, first encountered the Benedictines of Saint John’s Abbey at the Church of the Assumption in downtown Saint Paul. Following studies at Saint John’s Preparatory School in Collegeville, he began thinking seriously about priesthood while enrolled at Saint John’s University. Encouraged

by Father (later abbot) Alcuin Deutsch, O.S.B., he entered the novitiate on 4 July 1909, taking the monastic name of Virgil, and professed solemn (lifetime) vows on 26 September 1913. He was ordained a priest on 14 June 1916, celebrating his first Mass at his home parish at Saint Paul’s Church of the Assumption.

Abbot Peter Engel, O.S.B. (1856– 1921), sent Father Virgil to The Catholic University in Washington, D.C., where he completed a doctorate in English. His first love was philosophy, but his burgeoning interests in liturgy and education were later to become the driving forces in his life. He journeyed to Europe in February 1924 to study philosophy at the international Benedictine college—Sant’Anselmo—in Rome.

Traveling widely in Europe, with side trips as far afield as the Holy Land and Egypt, Father Virgil studied philosophy at Louvain in Belgium and honed his study of Saint Thomas Aquinas and Scholasticism. Exposed to the inklings of liturgical revival during monastery visits, he was introduced to the concept of the

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Abbey archives

Mystical Body of Christ, an idea that was to play a central role in his vision of liturgical renewal.

His wide-ranging European travels also revealed extensive socioeconomic disparities and the status abuses of clerical privilege.

Upon Father Virgil’s return to the United States in 1925, Abbot Alcuin appointed him the first general editor and director of the latter’s hoped-for project, the Liturgical Press, positions which he held for the rest of his life. For Virgil, Europe supplied the dynamic setting for the incubation of his ideas of an American liturgical renewal supported by a collection of pastoral liturgical works, the Popular Liturgical Library— initiatives he pursued through Liturgical Press. During his

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he European liturgical movement in Belgium, France, and Germany emerged from the unsettled socioeconomic conditions and the ever-widening gap between clergy and laity in the Church.

Those in the vanguard of this renewal attempted to engage the Church’s liturgical resources not only to close this gap but also to reconnect liturgy to the [T]here can be no truly Catholic life, least of all any such spiritual life, without the liturgy. The latter is par excellence the spiritual life of the Church and therefore officially also that of the faithful as members of the Mystical Body of Christ.

Virgil Michel, O.S.B. “Liturgy and Catholic Life,” p.223

education and energy of the laity—the people of God—to restore the Church to its original unity. Father Virgil caught fire for this cause, and returning to the United States, he was eager to play it forward.

Because of his indomitable energy and his widespread travels in Europe, Virgil was strategically situated as the change agent in the American liturgical movement. Individualism, deemed

by Virgil as the plague of the rise of industrialism, was stifling the Church’s mission while simultaneously eroding the social fabric. His vision of the communal purpose of social justice and equality that had fueled the gospel message in the early days of the Church was carried forward in the key idea of the Mystical Body of Christ. Burning with apostolic zeal, his promulgation of the liturgical movement in the United States was set in motion through Liturgical Press and the publication of Orate Fratres. His ideal of Christian leadership was service, apostolically embodied in the liturgical movement.

Father Virgil advocated a “return to the sources” to educate the laity that liturgy was something beyond rubrics, vestments, and church accoutrements. The writings of the Church Fathers and the social encyclicals, along with the idea of the Mystical Body of Christ, were, in his mind, crucial in moving liturgical education forward. Besides deploring the ravages of American

[W]e must apply . . . Christian concepts to all the forms of our social life, the family, the community, the state, and thus build up anew a Christian social order of life.

Virgil Michel, O.S.B.

“The Scope of the Liturgical Movement,” Orate Fratres 10 (1936): 485–90

individualism and its affront to human dignity, he commented upon the ecclesiastical role of women, noting the importance of deaconesses in the early Church.

He advocated the dialogue Mass—active participation of the laity in interactive responses with the celebrant—and use of the vernacular, even suggesting the idea of Saturday evening Mass in fulfillment of the Sunday obligation.

Virgil perceived the misunderstanding among both clergy and laity regarding the dynamism of the liturgy in Christian life, pushing for the idea that religious education must be radically reformed and rooted in the liturgy. He attempted to revamp liturgical education by initiating new grade school and high school religion texts.

Moreover, he insisted that liturgical renewal necessitates the revival of the sacred arts: visual, architectural, and musical. His biographer, Father Paul B. Marx, O.S.B., commented: “His unique contribution to American Catholic social thought and action was the integration of the

liturgy with all phases of social action.”

Father Virgil died long before the Second Vatican Council.

Pneumonia complicated by a subsequent bacterial infection claimed his life on 26 November 1938 in the abbey infirmary.

Still, his work and ideas had an impact on the council and on liturgical renewal. Father Godfrey Diekmann, O.S.B. (1908–2002), inheriting the editorship of Orate Fratres/ Worship magazine from him, was himself a peritus, a theological expert, at Vatican Council II, furthering Virgil’s agenda of liturgical renewal. Through Belgian Dom Lambert Beauduin, O.S.B. (1873–1960), who had an abiding influence on Virgil, came the notion that liturgy creates human community, an important idea that found its way into Vatican II’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.

Father Virgil believed that liturgy must encompass the full participation of the laity rather than be restricted to priests and religious. This is the essence of his notion of the Mystical Body of Christ, which follows from the communio church model— the pilgrim people of God, the principal paradigm that suffuses the documents of the Second Vatican Council.

Brother Aaron Raverty, O.S.B., is a member of the Abbey Banner editorial staff.

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Conversion of Heart

Trinity Benedictine Monastery Roman Paur, O.S.B. Robert Koopmann: Japan concert tour

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t’s all about generosity and timing and talent! Early this year I mentioned to Mrs. Mariko Jimbo, a friend of the Fujimi community, that the monastery is in the market for a used piano suitable for concerts by accomplished musicians.

Some months later, following the death of her elderly sister, Mariko said she would be honored if the monastery would accept the gift of her sister’s Yamaha piano. That set the stage for a performance by our talented confrere, Father Robert Koopmann, O.S.B., who had been invited to Japan to give four benefit concerts for the victims of the devastating earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, the proceeds going to Caritas Japan.

Father Bob arrived at Trinity Benedictine Monastery in early August, several weeks before his official concert tour was to begin. After adjusting to jet lag, he relaxed with confreres and practiced his music. While he was here we wondered: why not offer a concert for the community and guests! Bob generously agreed, and the tuner twice prepared the piano for the grand performance on the instrument that Bob described as the “top of the line” of Yamaha upright pianos. On 17 August Bob presented the same program in the monastery chapel that he was to give on his

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four-city tour. About a hundred guests packed the chapel and were delighted with Bob’s magic on the keyboard, fingering selections of Rachmaninoff, Mozart, Franck, Brahms, and Ravel, and concluding with his own improvisations on sacred themes.

and has included performances on the chapel organ, piano, Japanese koto (a traditional string instrument), violin, and guitar, as well as choral groups.

Japanese Ecumenism

Soon thereafter Father Bob, dressed in his monastic habit and carrying the banner of Trinity Benedictine Monastery, was off to Sendai, Tokyo, Nagoya, and Hokkaido for sellout performances. Undoubtedly the grand pianos of the tour were a cut above the Fujimi gift, but the crowds were no more appreciative.

It is not surprising that Bob was asked to return for another concert tour of Japan. And the monastery is also looking forward to welcoming him back.

The monks of Trinity Benedictine Monastery participate regularly in a monthly prayer gathering of regional ministers at a nearby Lutheran church. In October, however, the gathering was hosted by the monastery and included the prayer meeting, Vespers, and a pasta dinner.

These gatherings, initiated

by Pastor Erik and Noriko Froyland, attract up to a dozen clergy from an array of Christian faith traditions to engage in pastoral conversations and to pray for identified causes including world peace.

Father Bob’s recital was part of the Trinity Benedictine Monastery Cultural Program Series, which is free and open to the public,

Father Roman Paur, O.S.B., is the prior of Trinity Benedictine Monastery in Fujimi, Japan.

Roman Paur, O.S.B.

Father Bob Koopmann performing at Trinity Benedictine Monastery

Bridgette Powers

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lessings can happen unexpectedly, even on an ordinary Wednesday night after faith formation class. On one particular night during my first year in high school, the youth minister at my church in Montevideo, Minnesota, asked me if I wanted to attend a camp called Youth in Theology and Ministry (YTM) held at Saint John’s. Even though I had never heard of YTM and only faintly knew of Saint John’s, I agreed.

Fortunately that yes opened me to the heart of the Benedictine spirit of ongoing conversion through a conscious decision of saying yes to God. That next June I hesitantly packed my bags and headed to Saint John’s. By being open to the YTM program, which includes theology classes taught

by Saint John’s professors, afternoon service projects, Evening Prayer, and vocational discernment opportunities, all my expectations were surpassed. I learned that the Benedictine spirit includes being open to change. This led me to experience the challenge and grace of this openness as my aspirations gradually shifted from becoming an actress to pursuing ministry. As a response to this call, I started spending more time at church and less at the theater.

The Benedictine call to ongoing conversion is only possible if done in a stable and welcoming setting. This lesson

Abbey archives

The monastery library, mural by Brother Clement Frischauf, O.S.B. (1869–1944)

was made clear to me first at YTM, but even more while an

undergraduate studying theology at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University.

Like many, I was immediately struck by the stability and warm hospitality of these places.

However, I realized after a few years that those values were the necessary foundation to the challenging task of conversion.

Hearing the call to serve others, I later joined the Dominican Volunteers to serve as a youth minister in a predominately Hispanic parish in Chicago for a year. I constantly tried to bring the Benedictine experience to all with whom I worked so that they too would be able to live the Benedictine life of seeking God. I even tried to bring it to the community that I lived with, though the Dominican sisters there were understandably cautious to all of my references to the Benedictine Rule and values.

I recently returned to my Benedictine roots as a graduate student at Saint John’s School of Theology·Seminary to experience further conversion while I discern my personal and professional vocations. During this time, I was pulled to begin a dialogue with Saint Benedict’s Monastery and was blessed to spend a month with the sisters last summer while discerning whether my deep joy might meet the deep need of the world there. Whether or not I decide to become a professed sister, I know I am truly, at heart, a Benedictine in that I seek ongoing conversion so that I am open to God and others.

Ms. Bridgette Powers, a 2009 graduate of the College of Saint Benedict, is pursuing a master of divinity degree at Saint John’s School of Theology·Seminary.

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New Benedictine Titles Lauren L. Murphy

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enedictine life and prayer provide abundant material for deepening one’s spiritual life. Since Saint Benedict wrote his “little rule for beginners” (Rule 73.8), people have been inspired by his explanation of and writing about the tools for good works, the steps of humility, the balance of ora et labora (prayer and work), and the insights into living in community with others. At Liturgical Press, we are influenced by the rich Benedictine tradition and aim to publish works that exemplify Benedictine values. This year we have three new titles that draw from the deep well of Benedictine wisdom: Word and Image by Michael Patella, O.S.B.; The Art of Leadership by Notker Wolf, O.S.B. and Enrica Rosanna, F.M.A.; and Reaching for God by Roberta Werner, O.S.B. In Word and Image: The Hermeneutics of The Saint John’s Bible, Father Michael Patella places the Bible project within the context of the tradition of illuminated bibles. In order to understand The Saint John’s Bible, readers are invited by Father Michael and Benjamin C. Tilghman, an assistant professor of art history who contributes a chapter to this text, to appreciate the history of illuminated manuscripts and how this manuscript fits into that tradition. As the chair of the Committee on Illumination and Text—a group of scholars, artists, and

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religious who provided the theological background for the illuminations—Father Michael knows more about the exegetical and theological content of the Bible project than perhaps anyone else. As a member of Saint John’s Abbey, he appreciates the place that the Bible in general and this project in particular holds within monastic tradition.

The temptation, when viewing The Saint John’s Bible, is to revere it merely as a piece of art, evaluating its artistic merit alone, or to enshrine it as Sacred Scripture, divorcing it from the cultural and theological context in which it is situated. Father Michael shows that there is a third way to view this sacred art.

He examines the artwork of the Bible and demonstrates how the illuminations and texts, when put in conversation with each other, can lead viewers of the Bible to a deeper understanding of both word and image. As he writes in the introduction, “We should never consider art and theology separate entities. Indeed, the word written in calligraphy and the accompanying images expressing a salient point are both art. In this sense, the art is not only a vehicle to express the theology but also an embodiment of theological thinking, wonderment, and exploration. Moreover, in its best moments and pieces, the art functions as a window into the divine.”

Who Will Separate Us (Romans 8) by Thomas Ingmire. Copyright 2011, The Saint John’s Bible, Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota USA. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

The Saint John’s Bible provides one such window, and Father Michael’s Word and Image summons readers to engage the text and illuminations, thereby strengthening and deepening their relationship with God.

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nother offering we have this year is The Art of Leadership by Abbot Primate Notker Wolf and Salesian Sister Enrica Rosanna. Both have held significant leadership positions within their communities and the Church. In this book they focus on leadership within businesses, politics, and schools, using the Rule of Benedict as the foundation on which leadership qualities can be built. In his first chapter Abbot Notker asks if the Rule is still relevant today.

He points out that “Benedict’s main concern is to formulate the essential qualities of the leader and set standards for a leadership that is both efficient and humane.” As such, the Rule is “timelessly valid.” To emphasize this validity, he and Sister Enrica provide real-world examples of leadership successes and mistakes, and they explain what it takes to become an effective leader. Their view of leadership as artistry, authority, dialogue, and discernment has much to offer to everyone.

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third title that we have recently released is Reaching for God: The Benedictine Oblate Way of Life. In her introduction Sister Roberta Werner explains that this book is a compendium of

Benedictine spirituality for the layperson. She brings together the significance of Benedictine spirituality, the history of lay oblation, and resources for readers. By providing questions for reflection, Sister Roberta invites readers to dive into the Benedictine values—for example, seeking God daily, stability and fidelity, humility, authenticity, moderation, and liturgy—and to ponder ways to foster them in their own lives. Her explanation of the oblate program will prove useful to anyone discerning oblation, and the prayers and information on lectio divina can help readers deepen their prayer lives.

Sister Roberta writes that “Benedictine spirituality advises and points the way to living the Christian life to its fullest extent by deepening the person’s relationship to God and developing a personal relationship/friendship with Jesus Christ.” Reaching for God assists readers in embracing these relationships with God and Jesus by walking the Benedictine way of life.

All three books are available from Liturgical Press online at www.litpress.org or by calling 1.800.858.5450.

Ms. Lauren L. Murphy is the managing editor of the academic and trade department at Liturgical Press.

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Meet a Monk: Hidenari Peter Kawamura Roman Paur, O.S.B. While this “Meet a Monk” feature was being prepared for publication, Father Kawamura suffered a heart attack and died two days later on 6 November 2013. The funeral Mass was celebrated at Trinity Benedictine Monastery on 11 November, with Bishop Raphael Umemura, a seminary classmate of Kawamura, presiding. Abbot John Klassen and the monks of Saint John’s Abbey celebrated a memorial Mass for Kawamura on 12 November. Rest in peace!

Editor

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ather Hidenari Peter Kawamura, O.S.B., the first of two children of Zenzo and Ayako (Takamatsu) Kawamura, was born on 15 January 1949. His brother Takasi was born three years later. Their mother gave birth to both babies in her home with the help of a midwife, which at the time was quite common in the small village of Ori in northeastern Japan.

Hidenari’s parents were ShintoBuddhist but the religious cultural tradition was not particularly important to them personally nor in their boys’ upbringing. They were married in March 1948 in a civil ceremony. Hidenari’s father served in the Japanese military as a tank driver and after World War II, with only a high school education, became an elementary school teacher and administrator in his home town.

Hidenari’s mother took care of the household.

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Father Kawamura (as is the Japanese custom, people are referred to by their last names) describes his childhood through high school years as generally happy. He recalls, however, that his father pressured him to study hard. From time to time Kawamura enjoyed tobogganing and skiing, popular sports in that snowy region of Japan, and learned to play the recorder.

Following his high school graduation in 1968, he worked for six years as a land surveyor in Tokyo and Ori. He then tried college but found the academic work too demanding and withdrew during the first year.

While in junior high school Kawamura became interested in Christianity, and he began to attend Mass in his hometown Catholic church over the vehement objections of both parents. This was a source of

stress for Kawamura. Later his parents would also strongly disapprove of his entering the seminary. Kawamura’s interest in Christianity had been ignited while he was bedridden with severe back pain. His father bought him a copy of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment, and Kawamura became fascinated by the Christian references. (This fascination was shared by many Japanese who felt disillusioned by the Japanese leadership and military because of the devastating experience of World War II. Some who questioned traditional values, including Kawamura, found solace in Christianity.)

Kawamura began catechetical instructions in the Catholic faith in 1972 with the pastor of his local church, Father Kenji Yokojima. Kawamura reports

Roman Paur, O.S.B.

Father Peter Kawamura and seminary classmates celebrate his silver anniversary of ordination.

1988. Father Kawamura began his priestly ministry as the associate pastor of Saint Anselm’s Parish while Father Aloysius was still pastor. Although shy by nature, as a young priest Kawamura enjoyed meeting and working with the faithful in the many activities of his pastoral ministries.

Kawamura extends hospitality to a friend of the community.

that the classes, however, were too difficult for him, and Father Yokojima discouraged his continuing studies. Kawamura discontinued the classes but insisted on being baptized Catholic. Father relented and in the summer of 1973, when Kawamura was twenty-four years old, he was baptized and given the Christian name, Peter.

Three years later Bishop Raymond Augustin Chihiro of the Sendai Diocese gave Kawamura permission to begin priesthood studies in the Tokyo Seminary, but he had to wait a year because the enrollment deadline had passed. The first year of theological studies was especially difficult for Kawamura, and he often had severe headaches.

The second year of the sevenyear program was easier, and in 1983, at the conclusion of his formal seminary studies, he was ordained a deacon. Then came a significant personal decision that upset his bishop: Kawamura wanted to become a Benedictine monk.

Trinity Benedictine archives

Kawamura had discovered the Benedictines while in the seminary. His fellow seminarian and friend, Tsutomu Itagaki (now a priest in the Sendai Diocese), recommended that he become a monk and referred him to Saint Anselm’s Priory (founded

by Saint John’s Abbey) in the Meguro district of Tokyo. The support of a community and common prayer were especially appealing to Kawamura. He became a candidate and worked with Brother Nicholas Thelen, O.S.B., during this discovery period. He asked to become a novice and was accepted by the community and Father Aloysius Michels, O.S.B., the superior and pastor. Following a year-long novitiate, Kawamura professed his first vows as a Benedictine monk on 24 March 1985.

Having completed his seminary studies as a deacon, Kawamura was ordained a priest by Archbishop (later Cardinal) Peter Seiichi Shirayanagi of the Tokyo Archdiocese on 15 September

Kawamura lives with a severely restricting heart condition and bipolar vulnerability, regularly monitored and managed with appropriate medications, but is active in community life. In addition to monastery chores, his responsibilities include several priestly ministries: presiding at the community Mass, ministering the sacrament of reconciliation, serving as chaplain once a week at a nearby residence for the elderly, and assisting in regional parishes on weekends. He also provides spiritual direction for guests of the monastery.

A gentle person with a warm smile and a good sense of humor, Father Kawamura was honored by his Fujimi monastic community on the occasion of his silver jubilee of priesthood in September 2013. Remarkably, since Saint John’s Abbey began ministering in Japan in 1947, Father Hidenari Peter Kawamura is the first Japanese-born monk of only two (Brother Makoto Paul Tada is the other) who professed solemn vows and persevered!

Father Roman Paur, O.S.B., a native of Waubun, Minnesota, is the prior of Trinity Benedictine Monastery in Fujimi, Japan.

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Raphael Olson

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he third child of Oscar William and Mary Margaret (Foley) Olson, Brother Raphael Olson, O.S.B. (baptized Maurice Andrew), was born in Minneapolis on 25 May 1929. After graduating from Holy Rosary Parish grade school in Minneapolis, he enrolled in the MacPhail Center for Music for one year. His discernment of a monastic vocation led him to Saint John’s Abbey in September 1947. He entered the community’s novitiate in March of the following year and professed vows as a Benedictine monk on 21 March 1949.

We break bread and share the cup in celebration of Brother Raphael’s life in our midst. And we pray that all of us together may break bread at the Heavenly Banquet.

Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B.

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Brother Raphael was a jack-ofall-trades who served in a variety of venues: in the sacristy, book bindery, abbey woodworking shop, and abbey gardens.

Throughout his sixty-four years of monastic life, however, he was never far from the kitchen or bakery. From 1949 until 1950 he served his confreres as refectorian, describing his work as “a one-man crew for the entire abbey dining room. The hours were long, 5 A.M.–9 P.M., with time out for prayers and recreation. But the three daily settings for meals, clearing of tables, sweeping and mopping, and putting particular items out for different meals kept me really busy.”

In 1950 Brother Raphael was sent to assist in the kitchen at Saint Maur Priory in South Union, Kentucky, the first interracial monastery in the United States. He described his work there in a letter to Abbot Baldwin Dworschak, O.S.B. (1906–1996): “I’m cooking for 14 now. I make pies, cakes, and rolls. Our water is a little dirty at times, but we can still drink it. I like my work very much. I have succeeded in making good bread. I make most of our bread.” Returning to Saint John’s three years later, he again took up his job as refectorian for the abbey. In 1977 he accepted a position at Benilde–Saint Margaret’s School in Saint Louis Park, Minnesota, as a cook and head custodian for the Benedictine community that worked there. Returning to Collegeville in 1985, Brother

Abbey Chronicle Raphael served as a baker, making 400 to 500 loaves of Johnnie Bread each weekend night.

In addition to his fresh bread, Raphael will be fondly remembered by his confreres as a baker of pies for Christmas, Easter Sunday, special feasts, or just because he felt like baking that day. He always thought big and baked abundantly. No one would mistake his creations for a “store bought” pie. The flaky, tasty crusts were made with lard; the pie fillings overflowed with fresh apples, pecans drowned in Saint John’s maple syrup, or mounds of real whipped cream on the pumpkin center. He didn’t know what margarine or sugar substitutes were.

Raphael loved community life and welcomed the attention of his confreres. For those whose nasal passages missed the aroma of his bread or pies, fresh from the oven, he announced his presence with wild, screaming Hawaiian shirts and red suspenders.

Brother Raphael died on 29 August 2013. The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated for him on 3 September, with interment in the abbey cemetery.

have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9:1). Choir rehearsals, holiday cleaning and baking, penance services, and tree trimming add to the expectation: the Lord, the unending day, is near! Alleluia!

September 2013

Alan Reed, O.S.B.

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he late summer drought was ended by abundant rainfall in September and October, rejuvenating the grounds to green and regularly spoiling Johnnie home football games. Missing this autumn was the usual array of brilliant colors; the fall foliage was dull. The first snow of the season appeared on 20 October, whitening and brightening the landscape before it melted the next day. All Souls’ Day was peaceful, warm, and calm for the annual prayer service in the abbey cemetery. The first week of December, however, was bitterly cold with subzero temperatures and six inches of snow. Lake Sagatagan closed for the season on 24 November.

In contrast to the dark, dormant days and outdoor chill, the indoors are alive with light and cheer. The prophet Isaiah and Advent liturgies fill hearts and hearth with hope: “The people who walked in darkness

• Mr. Brian Walsh, a chorister with the 2005 National Catholic Youth Choir, and a 2010 Saint John’s University alumnus, has been accepted as a monastic associate of the abbey for 2013–2014. As an associate he will learn about the monastic tradition while living with the junior monks and attending community prayer services, meals, and conferences. Brian is currently serving as the assistant director of The Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps, of which he was a volunteer in Tabgha, Israel, in 2010–2011.

The Saint John’s Monastic Associates program assists young men to consider a monastic vocation while experiencing the life fully for a specific period of time.

October 2013 • Saint John’s Preparatory School was named one of the Hennepin Theatre Trust’s Spotlight Schools for 2014.

This prestigious program supports Minnesota high school musical theater organizations.

Becoming a Spotlight School means Saint John’s Prep will be given special access to professional workshops, mock auditions, backstage tours, and technical training. The Hennepin Trust will also offer professional critiques of prep school performances. Hennepin Theatre Trust, which fosters the arts and cultural development, is the owner of the Historic Orpheum, State, Pantages, and New Century theatres in Minneapolis.

• The Gregorian Chant Schola has released a compact disc entitled Singing with Mary and the Saints, a recording of sixteen works of Latin chant with a bit of English chant focused on the Catholic liturgical year. Featuring fifteen voices of monks of Saint John’s Abbey and students of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University under the direction of Father Anthony Ruff, the CD was released in the U.S. in late October by Jade Music/Warner Music Group and is expected to have its European release in early 2014.

November 2013

Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

• For the first two weeks of November an altar of remembrance/altar de muertos

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New Prep School Headmaster final oblation. Mr. Begotka of DePere, Wisconsin, is considering becoming a permanent deacon.

Mr. Dusek and Mr. Kercher are active in the Fargo, North Dakota, oblate chapter, where their oblation was celebrated.

Mr. Stachnik of Minneapolis is a volunteer of the abbey and celebrated his oblation and patronal feast day by playing the organ for the community Eucharist on 11 November, feast of Saint Martin of Tours.

Oblates are Christian men and women who seek God and seek to integrate the spirit of Saint Benedict into their daily lives through a formal relationship with a monastic community.

Alan Reed, O.S.B.

was maintained in the monastery entryway (above) near the abbot’s office, accessible to the monastic community and the public.

Photos and other memorabilia of deceased loved ones were placed on or near the altar. The altar de muertos is a Mexican tradition for remembering and honoring the souls of the departed on the feast of El Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead/All Souls’ Day). Throughout the month of November the monks of Saint John’s Abbey also offered prayers for their own deceased loved ones as well as those identified by some six thousand friends of the monastic community as part of the annual November Month of Remembrance.

• Four Saint John’s oblates, Jim Begotka, Steve Dusek, Don Kercher, and Martin Stachnik, recently made their

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• Mr. André Heywood has been named the 2013 Outstanding

Young Choral Director by the Minnesota chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). Mr. Heywood, who became the artistic director of The St. John’s Boys’ Choir in 2007, is currently on leave at the University of Toronto to pursue doctoral work in choral conducting. In 2011 he was also recognized by ACDAMinnesota with the VocalEssence Creative Programming Award for his work with the Boys’ Choir.

December 2013 • Between 26 October and 5 December 35 deer were harvested during the twelfth controlled/antlerless deer hunt, and first archery hunt,

During a solemn vespers service on 6 November at the Cathedral of Saint Mary, vicar general Father Robert Rolfes read the apostolic mandate from Pope Francis, confirming the appointment of Bishop Donald J. Kettler as the next bishop of the Diocese of Saint Cloud. Abbot John Klassen represented Saint John’s Abbey at the service as well as at the Mass of installation the following Saint Cloud Chancery afternoon. The ninth bishop in the history of the Saint Cloud Diocese, Bishop Kettler was born in Minneapolis and raised in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He studied at Saint John’s University and Seminary before being ordained to the priesthood on 29 May 1970. Following ordination he served in various parishes and offices in the Sioux Falls Diocese. He studied canon law at The Catholic University of America and in 1983 was awarded a licentiate degree. Since 2002 Bishop Kettler has led the missionary Diocese of Fairbanks. He succeeds Bishop John Kinney who headed the local diocese since 1995.

in the abbey arboretum and forest. From over five hundred applicants, 108 archers were selected by lottery. Concerns about the safety of campus residents and visitors (Johnnie home football games typically attract thousands of spectators) led Saint John’s administrators to move from a firearms hunt (the norm since the 1990s) to an archery hunt. The goal is to harvest fifty-five deer this year, reducing the current, estimated fifteen deer per square mile to approximately nine deer per square mile. A reduction in the deer population is needed to sustain both the herd and the vegetation of the woods.

• Brothers Bradley Jenniges (below, right) and Michael Leonard Hahn were ordained to the diaconate on 7 December by Bishop Donald Kettler during his first visit to Saint John’s following his installation as local bishop. Brother Brad has previously served Saint John’s as a member of the monastic formation team, assistant treasurer, volunteer firemonk, and assistant fire chief. He will

The abbey gardeners continue to take stock of this year’s harvest, still weighing the walnuts and counting the kale. So far the tonnage tally tops six thousand pounds of fruits and vegetables, including a whopping 2,315 lbs of squash, 1,020 lbs of potatoes, 947 lbs of tomatoes, and 437 lbs of pumpkins. Other produce produced for the monks’ table includes: Saint John’s Alpha grapes 65 lbs Asparagus 39 lbs Beets 121 lbs Broccoli 57 lbs Cabbage 101 lbs Carrots 54 lbs Cucumbers 137 lbs Lettuce 44 lbs Peppers 53 lbs Radishes 34 lbs Red cabbage 63 lbs Rhubarb 67 lbs Sugar pea pods 40 lbs Watermelon 122 lbs Zucchini 166 lbs Ninety pounds of honey were also harvested from Saint John’s three hives. continue his pastoral ministry at the Church of Seven Dolors in Albany, Minnesota, and his practical service of bike repair at the abbey. Brother Michael Leonard, an alumnus of Saint John’s University and of the Benedictine Volunteer Corps,

teaches theology and serves as a faculty resident at the university.

As a deacon he will continue his pastoral ministry for the university, assisting at student Masses as well as at abbey Masses.

Alan Reed, O.S.B.

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Fifty Years Ago Excerpted from The Record, official newspaper of Saint John’s University:

27 September 1963 • A liturgical committee composed of priests, brothers, and clerics has been appointed by Abbot Baldwin Dworschak to initiate immediate action in the Church’s liturgical renewal program. Attempts are being made to bring the central theme of the Mass into more accessible reach and participation by all while remaining within the confines of the present Church legislation. The community will experiment with two forms, the sung Mass with the deacon, and also congregational dialogue accompanied by English hymns.

• The American Benedictine Review was recognized for general excellence by the Catholic Press Association of America.

Father Colman Barry is the editor.

In the citation the judges stated: “The American Benedictine Review demonstrates issue after issue a depth of editorial concern which entitles it to a high place among the comparatively small number of indispensable Catholic journals.” In awarding first place to The Review for typography and layout, the judges continued: “The magazine demonstrates that attractive results are possible even though very few type sizes are used. The design of the book is noteworthy, and distribution of type is excellent.” The Review is designed by Mr. Frank Kacmarcik and printed by North Central Publishing Co. of Saint Paul.

• The new Saint John’s Preparatory School buildings and the architectural firm of Hanson

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Monks in the Kitchen and Michelson were given an Honor Award on 20 September by the Minnesota Society of Architects in affiliation with the American Institute of Architects.

Construction of the two buildings began in September 1961 and was completed a year later.

Two Honor Awards were given this year, the other to the Guthrie Theater [and Ralph Rapson, architect] in Minneapolis.

25 October 1963

29 November 1963

Norwegian Lefse

• The White House staff and the world mourned when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on 22 November. A Saint John’s monk was visiting in Washington at the time and took part in the official mourning at the White House. Father Paul Marx knelt before the President’s casket for more than an hour Saturday morning as part of a continuous vigil kept by the city’s priests. “We were in the East Room where the body was lying in state. In the middle of the room was a catafalque on which the flag-covered casket was resting, the same catafalque Lincoln’s body lay on.”

Ælred Senna, O.S.B.

[According to the monastery newsletter Confrere, Abbot Baldwin Dworschak pontificated at a Solemn Requiem Mass for President Kennedy on 25 November. Father Camillus [Don] Talafous, college chaplain, gave a brief eulogy. The church was filled with college and prep students and parishioners.]

13 December 1963

Abbey archives

• A 12th century Madonna and Child statue (above) presented to the abbey by James B. and Mary Mabon of New York City was installed and dedicated yesterday in the Lady chapel. The 36-inch walnut sculpture, carved from a single piece of wood, is one of few of its kind to survive the centuries.

• “California Here I Come” was number one on the Saint John’s list of popular tunes last Tuesday as the Johnnie football team boarded a charter plane bound for Sacramento and the Camellia Bowl. The Jays clash with Prairie View (Texas) A & M tomorrow in the game which decides the national (NAIA) small college football championship.

[The Johnnies became national champions by a score of 33–27.]

J

ust in time for Christmas, Novice Nicholas Moe taught me about lefse, a Norwegian flatbread, somewhat similar to a tortilla, but bigger and made with potatoes!

Nick recalls that the lefsemaking tradition came from his mom’s side of the family. “Aunts Alvina and Cora, my grandpa’s sisters, passed down the tradition from their Norwegian heritage.

With their mother, they used to make it on top of a woodburning stove.” When Nick’s Aunt Alvina visited the family, she would make lefse with his mom. “I have many memories of Alvina providing instruction (and warnings) about doing it correctly: the balls of dough had to be the right size. Beware: lefse easily sticks to the pastry cloth when it’s being rolled out. And don’t leave it on the grill too long or it will dry out.” Nick started as the “cooker” a few years ago; only last year did his mom allow him to be the “roller.”

“The best part for us kids was eating the fresh lefse,” remembers Nick. “But we were encouraged to eat the defective ones, saving the best ones for later. Our family’s favorite way to eat lefse is with butter and sugar. Mom’s family used to have it with lutefisk, rømmegrøt, and Swedish meatballs.”

Richard Crawford, O.S.B.

Novice Nicholas Moe (left, with lefse stick) and Father Michael Peterson celebrate their Norwegian heritage.

Brother Ælred Senna, O.S.B., is the vocation director of Saint John’s Abbey.

God Jul og Godt Nytt År . . .

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Aunt Alvina’s Lefse •• ••

••

5 lbs. potatoes ½ lb. butter

Salt

• •

1 cup whipping cream 4 cups flour

After peeling and cutting up the potatoes, boil them in salted water (at least 2 t.). When a fork can puncture the potatoes, drain them. Put the hot potatoes through a ricer, add melted butter; mix well. Salt to taste. Cover and refrigerate.

Add whipping cream to the cold potatoes; mix well. Divide into two equal parts. Add 1½ cups flour to each; mix well. Reserve remaining flour for rolling.

Preheat lefse griddle to 500 °F. Make two logs of dough; divide into balls, 1 T. each. Place each dough ball on a well-floured board covered with taut pastry cloth.

Sprinkle flour over the ball. With a floured, cloth-covered rolling pin, roll the lefse into a thin circle. Gently insert a lefse stick under the rolled out lefse, raise it from the board, and roll it onto the grill.

When bubbles form, use a lefse stick to roll it onto the grill on its other side. Grill until brown spots appear on both sides. Fold the lefse once, place it onto a cooling rack covered with a dishcloth; cover with another dishcloth.

When cooled, fold the lefse into fourths, wrap in plastic wrap, and store in an airtight container in a cool place.

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In Memoriam

Nature’s Rhythm

Please join the monastic community in prayerful remembrance of our deceased family members and friends:

Timothy Backous, O.S.B.

Richard “Dick” Atkins

Mary Imelda Koch, O.S.B.

David Reitter

John Bauer

Robert P. Koenig, Obl.S.B.

Sebastian Samay, O.S.B.

Eric Buermann, O.S.B.

Joleen Lauer Krueger

Michael Thomas Santa, O.S.B.

Marcella “Marssy” Cheeley

Colin N. Larson

Herman Schaefer

A

Ruby Ann Dommer

Devota LaVoie, O.S.B.

Joan C. Schneeweis

Demetrius Dumm, O.S.B.

Agnes “Aggie” Ledermann

Mary Schnettler

Dennis Fremo

Rita Lickteig

Geneva Schreiber

Merrie Gerlach

Justin Lothert

Delora Schweitzer, O.S.B.

John Hantke

James P. “Jimmy” Lynch

Thomas J. Sinner

Thomas Hughes

Eleanor S. Molus

Loretta M. Sis

John Huls

Thang Xuan Nguyen

Ignatius Smith, O.S.B.

Jerome R. Johnson

Dorothy Noll, O.S.B.

Msgr. Daniel Joseph Taufen

Mary Anne Kaufman

Jerome A. Plantenberg

Dennis Tauscher

Hidenari Peter Kawamura, O.S.B.

S. John Bernard Plantenberg, O.S.B.

Vivia Theisen, O.S.B.

Marguerite Kettler

Margaret Pohlman

S. Christopher Weber, O.S.B.

Louis Kirby, O.S.B.

Mardelle Proulx

Ruth A. Klein

Abbot Owen Purcell, O.S.B.

Precious in the eyes of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones.

Psalm 116:15

A Monk’s Chronicle Father Eric Hollas, O.S.B., offers spiritual insights and glimpses into the life of the Benedictine community at Saint John’s Abbey in a weekly blog, A Monk’s Chronicle. Visit his blog at: monkschronicle.wordpress.com.

s I was leaving my apartment complex one early October day, I noticed a piece of equipment that was being readied for the inevitable. It was a snowblower being cleaned, oiled, polished, and fueled. I’m sure all the other residents in the building saw it there too and tried, as did I, to avoid staring directly at it for fear its purpose would suddenly become more immediate and real. Yes, we were thinking, the arrival of “those days” is coming soon, and resistance is futile.

When our little corner of the world is clamped shut with this hard, white lid, it leads to all kinds of soul-searching questions, the most common being, “why exactly do we live here?” At the same time, we understand and embrace the beauty of nature’s rhythm, that continuous cycle of dormancy and explosion with all the intermediate steps that punctuate a year. The turning of the seasons somehow dictates the deepest mysteries of life because nothing ever stays the same for long, and rebirth always follows death. While we can’t be too euphoric about spring and summer with all its vibrancy and life, so too we can’t be fatalistic about fall and winter. They are all part of an ongoing story that is retold again and again.

But unlike the irritation of most repetitious narratives, this one resonates deeply in our souls. The changing of seasons is more like the upward spiral so wonderfully described by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: each pass is an improvement on the previous one. Each turn brings nature (including us) closer to a convergence.

I wish this moment could last forever.

I know it may seem a stretch to consider one winter as an improvement over the last, but that’s because human experience is often weighed down by the sameness of everyday life and the rhythms of a year.

Hours, days, weeks, and months blend together and, incredibly, fly by with great speed. It is up to us to figure out how we can enjoy them more deeply. Every once in a while we catch ourselves saying, “I wish this moment could last forever.” Wouldn’t it be nice if that were the mantra of each day?

Father Timothy Backous, O.S.B., is vice president for mission integration and Benedictine sponsorship at Essentia Health in Duluth.

Father Don’s Daily Reflection Father Don Talafous, O.S.B., prepares daily reflections on Scripture and living the life of a Christian that are available on the abbey’s website at: saintjohnsabbey.org/reflection/.

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The most telling and profound way of describing the evolution of the universe would undoubtedly be to trace the evolution of love.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.

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Winter 2013–14 Volume 13, Number 3

4 This Issue Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

17 National Catholic Youth Choir Michael Leonard Hahn, O.S.B.

5 Recalling Virgil Michel Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B.

18 Collegeville: Nursery of the Arts

6 Abbey Woodworking John Meoska, O.S.B.

20 Virgil Michel: Liturgical Visionary Aaron Raverty, O.S.B.

9 Monastic Art Joachim Watrin, O.S.B. 10 The Saint John’s Pottery Ryan Kutter 12 Benedictine Volunteer Corps Patrick Moe

22 Trinity Benedictine Monastery Roman Paur, O.S.B. 23 Conversion of Heart Bridgette Powers 24 New Benedictine Titles Lauren L. Murphy

14 Campaign for Saint John’s Abbey Geoffrey Fecht, O.S.B.

Benedictine Days of Prayer 24 January 2014:

Saint Paul

21 February 2014:

Lent is coming

16 May 2014:

Religion: I don’t practice it anymore

The day begins at 7:00 A.M. with Morning Prayer and concludes about 3:30 P.M. Cost: $50. This includes retreat materials, breakfast, and lunch.

Rooms are available in the abbey guesthouse for the preceding overnight.

Register online at abbeyguesthouse.org; or call 320.363.3929.

26 Meet a Monk (Obituary): Hidenari Peter Kawamura Roman Paur, O.S.B. 28 Obituary: Raphael Olson 29 Abbey Chronicle Robin Pierzina, O.S.B. 32 Fifty Years Ago 33 Monks in the Kitchen: Norwegian Lefse Ælred Senna, O.S.B. 34 In Memoriam 35 Nature’s Rhythm Timothy Backous, O.S.B.