Abbey Banner - Fall 2011

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

Magazine of Saint John’s Abbey

Fall 2011 vol 11 no 2

Behold, in his loving kindness the Lord shows us the way of life. . . .

And so we are going to establish a school for the service of the Lord.

Rule of Benedict, Prol. 20, 45

Photo: Alan Reed, O.S.B.

This Issue Of making many books there is no end.

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: Dolores Schuh, C.H.M.; Donald Tauscher, O.S.B. Fujimi bureau chief: Edward Vebelun, O.S.B. Abbey archivist: David Klingeman, O.S.B. University archivist: Peggy Roske.

Design: Alan Reed, O.S.B. Circulation: Ruth Athmann, Tanya Boettcher, Mary Gouge, Jan Jahnke, Cathy Wieme.

Printed in Waite Park, Minnesota,

by Palmer Printing.

Saint John’s Abbey Collegeville, Minnesota 56321-2015 abbeybanner@csbsju.edu http://www.saintjohnsabbey.org/banner/ index.html Change of address: Ruth Athmann at rathmann@csbsju.edu Box 7222, Collegeville, MN 56321-7222 Phone: 800 635-7303

--Ecclesiastes 12:12

This issue of Abbey Banner celebrates the completion of The Saint John’s Bible. Abbot John Klassen reflects on the encounter with Scripture that is at the heart of the spiritual journey of all Christians and the reason that Saint John’s commissioned this handwritten Bible.

Father Eric Hollas outlines the creative labor of many heads and many hands during the past fifteen years that made the Word of God come alive on a page. The Saint John’s Bible now begins its life of inviting believers to an encounter with the Holy One. On 11 July, the feast of Saint Benedict, the monastic community rejoiced as Brother Ælred Senna promised before God and the saints to make Saint John’s Abbey his home for life. We introduce Brother Ælred and recognize our confreres who have pursued the Benedictine way of life for twenty-five, fifty, and sixty years.

What’s the difference between a monk and a priest? Father Nickolas Becker offers his insights regarding the calls to monastic life and the priesthood, while we honor our confreres celebrating significant ordination anniversaries.

The Benedictine charism finds expression in a variety of ways and in a variety of people. Mr. Ben DeMarais introduces us to another platoon of the Benedictine Volunteer Corps; Ms. Julia Smucker reflects on the role of Saint John’s Abbey in her faith development.

We continue our observation of two significant milestones. Fifty years ago the construction of the abbey and university church was completed. Mr. Brian Millette, a junior monk at the time, recorded the three-year construction process; we have excerpted and edited his 1961 summary. Eighty years ago Benedictines began ministering to the people of Japan. Father Edward Vebelun gives us an overview of the period since World War II, including an update on the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that struck Japan this past March.

In this issue we also introduce the new Roman Missal that will become part of the liturgy for Catholics beginning in Advent; recall the challenges and service that filled the life of our late confrere Brother Samuel Lickteig; share food and fellowship with Brother David Paul Lange; and meet a monk: his name is John. Father Timo Backous closes this issue with his reflection on The Tree of Life.

Cover: The Saint John’s Bible comes home. Photo: Paul Middlestaedt.

4

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

At the beginning of a new school year and the season of autumn, we offer best wishes to all our readers for a deepening knowledge, insight, and wisdom—the lessons gained in the school of the Lord’s service; and for a bountiful harvest of God’s blessings.

--Brother Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

The Journey Inward Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B.

E

ach day the Hubble Space Telescope and other mechanical wonders take us further into space, into a world we can barely fathom. The vastness of space staggers our imaginations. Questions tumble through our minds. Did Mars have an atmosphere at one time? How are galaxies formed? The pictures from Hubble show a universe that is rich, complex, and tantalizing in its mystery. There doesn’t seem to be any end to it; it just keeps going, and going, and going. This is the journey outward.

Abbey archives

The spiritual journey inward, to the triune God who is in each one of us, is as rich, as complex, and as tantalizing in its mystery. And there doesn’t seem to be any end to it; it just keeps going, and going, and going. For monastics, as well as for all Christians, that journey is everywhere nurtured, guided, and sustained by our encounter with Scripture.

This is one of the major reasons that Saint John’s Abbey and University committed themselves to create The Saint John’s Bible some thirteen years ago. On 18 June we celebrated the completion of The Saint John’s Bible. We received the final page of the book of Revelation as part of Evening Prayer for the solemnity of the Trinity. For me personally, it was a very moving and fitting ritual, emphasizing in a simple but profound manner the biblical and liturgical character of monastic spirituality.

Mr. Donald Jackson, the creative force for the project, addressed the monastic community earlier that day. He noted that over the course of the project, time and again, he faced a text, reading the notes from the committee on illumination and text, trying to tap into the meaning of the text. He learned that he had to slow down, go deep inside the text, and there the inspiration would emerge. Listening to Donald speak that morning, I realized that he had learned lectio divina, the practice of reading Scripture slowly, savoring the words.

This is also the kind of journey on which an illumination takes us. Visually, it draws us into the meaning of the text, into the framework of the text, into an encounter with the Holy One. We are thrilled to be at this stage of the project because the real work is just beginning: sharing the fruits of the work with the world.

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

5

MONASTIC PROFESSION

O

n 11 July, feast of Saint Benedict, Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B., and the monastic community were delighted to witness Brother Ælred Senna, O.S.B., profess his solemn (lifetime) vows as a Benedictine monk.

Robin Pierzina,

O.S.B.

Brother Ælred was born Johnnie Haynes Wade in Austin, Texas, in 1963. He entered Holy Trinity Seminary in 1984 as a seminarian for the Diocese of Dallas, studying at the University of Dallas. Three years later he left the seminary program, thinking about a vocation to religious life rather than to the diocesan priesthood. After college graduation, he was a bilingual/ESL (English as a second language) teacher in Texas for several years and, through his teaching, entered the field of educational publishing.

For fifteen years he worked in development and marketing for bilingual and ESL classrooms (K-12) with Hampton-Brown, a publisher of ESL curriculum materials.

6

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

Beginning in 2006 Brother Ælred felt a reawakening of his vocation to religious life.

Having read the Rule of Saint Benedict as a seminarian, he knew that he wished to seek God in community. As he began to search for a Benedictine monastery to test that aspiration, internet technology aided by the Holy Spirit brought him to Collegeville. Minnesota winters notwithstanding, he entered Saint John’s Abbey as a candidate in the summer of 2007, was invested as a novice in September, and professed simple (temporary) vows on 14 September 2008.

As the Spirit guided Brother Ælred back to religious life, so the abbot has guided him back to his career in marketing and publishing, approving Ælred’s appointment as associate publisher for Give Us This Day, a new periodical resource for daily prayer launched last month

by Liturgical Press. In addition, Ælred enjoys cooking, baking, knitting, cutting hair (what little there is) for the monks in the abbey barbershop, and singing with the Abbey Schola. Welcome home, Brother Ælred!

Monastic Jubilarians

F

ollowing Brother Ælred’s profession, the monastic community recognized and honored fellow monks celebrating twenty-five, fifty, or sixty years of monastic life. Silver jubilarian Brother Kenneth Kroeker, O.S.B., entered monastic life when he joined the

Trappists of Our Lady of the Prairies Monastery in Manitoba, Canada. After studying at Saint John’s School of Theology, he transferred his vows to this community in 1996. Combining a love for mathematics and natural science with care for people, he obtained a degree in nursing and worked in the Saint John’s Health Clinic for thirteen years. Brother Ken now works in the abbey business office, assisting with health care accounting.

Father Stephen Beauclair, O.S.B., was honored on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his monastic profession. A half-century of pastoral and missionary activity has not diminished his zeal or his capacity for service. He has ministered in the communities of San Antonio Abad, Puerto Rico, and Saint Augustine’s in the Bahamas. He has also served as an associate pastor or pastor in the dioceses of Saint Cloud, Crookston, New York, and Saint Paul and Minneapolis. To each congregation he has brought a listening, welcoming, and caring presence, making him a most beloved pastor. And his family is relieved that he no longer carries the bovine name of Bruno!

Sixty years ago Fathers Luke Steiner, O.S.B., John Kulas, O.S.B., and Corwin Collins, O.S.B., committed themselves to the monastic manner of life.

Throughout those years Father Luke helped make the Scriptures come to life for others as he

taught the riches of the Gospels and the New Testament letters in the classroom. Father Luke also directed the semester-long programs in Jerusalem for the School of Theology•Seminary, of which he was also the dean and rector. More recently he has served as a parish pastor and is currently the chaplain of the Poor Clare Sisters in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota. He still loves the Scriptures and continues to bring them to life for new generations of learners.

Father John Kulas dedicated nearly five decades of his life to university education, being a teacher, a department chair, and scholar of German, working on the basics of learning the language as well as the richness of German literature. Outside the classroom, he served as director of junior monks and has

been an exceptional homilist, bringing new and fresh meanings from familiar texts, and offering to all an example of a good and holy life. He has retired and now resides in Saint Raphael Hall at Saint John’s.

Father Corwin, exported to Collegeville from the Bronx, began his life at Saint John’s Preparatory School as a teacher, prefect, hockey coach, and dean of students. He went on to serve as headmaster of Benilde High School and later as co-principal of the merged Benilde-St. Margaret’s High School in Saint Louis Park, Minnesota. Decades of pastoral ministry rounded out his service to the church, including twenty-one years at Seven Dolors Parish in Albany, Minnesota. Father Corwin now resides at the monastery.

We are convinced that we have found a treasure, a pearl of great price in our monastic call, in the rich tradition that we have received.

With Saint Paul we rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, and persevere in prayer.

We know that Christ will be with us to support and sustain us on this journey.

Abundant blessings have been poured in our lap because of the graced commitment of these men, who have preferred nothing to Christ.

--Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B.

Robin Pierzina,

O.S.B.

Abbot John Klassen and jubilarians (front row, l to r) Fathers Stephen Beauclair, Corwin Collins, and Luke Steiner join with Brother Ælred Senna to celebrate their monastic profession. Not pictured: Brother Kenneth Kroeker and Father John Kulas.

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

7

Monk and Priest Nickolas Becker, O.S.B. The priesthood should not cause [the monk] to forget the obedience and discipline demanded by the Rule, but rather it should make him progress more and more toward God. –Rule of Benedict, 62.4

I

t appears that Saint Benedict is not thrilled at the prospect of priests in the monastery.

In chapter 60 he makes it clear that priests who wish to join the monastery are not in for an easy admission. Chapter 62 permits the abbot to have a monk ordained a priest, but Benedict has his reservations. While there is no hint of anticlericalism, Benedict is concerned that nothing disturb the obedience and humility that are characteristic of a good monk. When one considers that the Rule of the Master (which served as the primary source for the Rule of Benedict) did not permit priests to join the monastery, much less allow monks to be ordained, Benedict’s ideas were revolutionary!

Since the Second Vatican Council there has been a clearer understanding of the distinction between the vocations of monastic life and priesthood. All monks pursue life under a rule and an abbot, growing through stability, obedience, and conversion through a monastic way of life. Some monks also pursue the personal, intellectual, spiritual, and pastoral formation necessary for ordination to the priesthood. For the monk-priest, though, Benedict’s mind is clear:

8

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

if the two vocations are blending as they should, the priesthood ought to be a help for the monk’s growth in holiness and for a profound service to the community and to the wider Church.

Father Timo

Father Nickolas Becker, O.S.B., was university chaplain and faculty resident this past year; he is now pursuing graduate theological studies in Rome.

Ordination Jubilarians During the abbey’s annual retreat in June, the community celebrated the ordination anniversaries of Fathers Timothy Backous, O.S.B. (twenty-five years), Jonathan Fischer, O.S.B. (fifty years), and Kilian McDonnell, O.S.B. (sixty years).

Father Timo has taught English and speech at Saint John’s Preparatory School and since 2006 has been the headmaster. Following ordination in 1986 he pursued studies in moral theology at the Alphonsianum in Rome and then held numerous pastoral positions in the university: teacher of moral theology, director of campus ministry, director of residential life. He was the only college athletic director in the state of Minnesota with a doctorate in theology!

Father Jonathan, ordained in 1961, has served as prefect, teacher of German and religion, director of the Melk (study abroad) program at Saint John’s Prep, and chaplain at Saint Benedict’s Monastery. He has

Father Jonathan

Father Kilian Abbey archives photos

served as associate pastor, pastor, or chaplain in several Minnesota parishes and hospitals. As field director he oversaw the work of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library in Germany for four years. He has been a hospital chaplain since 1988.

Father Kilian, since his ordination in 1951, has been an associate pastor, Sign Magazine columnist, editor, and theology professor. His world travels have coincided with his work in the ecumenical dialogue and the charismatic movements. He is the founder and president of the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, the author of a dozen theology books and numerous articles, and poet laureate of Collegeville.

His fifth book of poetry, Wrestling with God, was released by Liturgical Press last month.

Benedictine Volunteer Corps: Year Nine Benjamin DeMarais

T

he ninth year of Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps has begun with sixteen new volunteers—all graduates of Saint John’s University or Prep School—serving eight different Benedictine communities in six countries across the globe.

Tyler Etheridge and Paul Rolfes are settling into the corps’ original African site, Hanga Abbey in Tanzania, while Grant Stevens and J. D. O’Connell are living and working with the Tigoni monastic community in Nairobi, Kenya. I had the pleasure to visit both East Paul-Vincent Niebauer, Benedictine Volunteer Corps 2011(front row, l to r): Jimmy Backes, Charlie Swanson, African sites this summer Thomas Joyce, Grant Stevens, J. D. O’Connell, Nick Alonzi, and Eric Grussing; (back row, while leading an immersion l to r): Justin Rose, Tyler Etheridge, Robert Lennon, Peter Blattner, Andy Happe, Paul trip sponsored by Saint John’s Rolfes, and Paul Johnson. Not pictured: Kip Christianson and John Dwyer. campus ministry. It was overwhelming to hear the gratitude in Coban, Guatemala, the third volunteers—Paul Johnson, Andy and praise for the work done year for full-year volunteers Happe, and Eric Grussing—are in the schools by last year’s there. In the Holy Land, Peter continuing the successful history volunteers in Hanga, as well as Blattner and Robert Lennon of service at Newark Abbey and for the pioneering efforts of the are exploring the shores of the Saint Benedict’s Preparatory two volunteers who started the Sea of Galilee as they assist School in New Jersey. site in Nairobi and served street the Benedictine Monastery at Mr. Ben DeMarais, a former children in the slums. Wholly Tabgha.

Benedictine volunteer in Tanzania, flattered and humbled to be is a faculty resident of Saint John’s For the first time in the corps’ accepting these kind words for University. history, there are volunteers in volunteers who had already Ireland. John Dwyer and Jimmy returned home, I was pleased Backes will pioneer this new site, and excited to be able to respond living and working at Glenstal to questions about when the Abbey, County Limerick. next volunteers would arrive by saying, “At the end of the There are also three domestic summer! There will be more, volunteer sites this year. Charlie and they are wonderful young Swanson lives and works at Saint men, too!”

James Parish in Chicago. Nick Alonzi and Kip Christianson are Continuing the corps’ presence serving our own community in in Central America, Thomas Collegeville. And three more Joyce and Justin Rose are serving

O.S.B.

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

9

BUILDING THE ABBEY CHURCH Brian Millette

I

n April 1958 the monastic community decided to proceed with the building of the new abbey church designed

by Mr. Marcel Breuer. A month later the McGough Construction Company of Saint Paul started the work. The digging converted 22,000 square feet of monastic gardens into a sizable hole. This vacancy, however, was soon filled by a myriad of men, forms, steel and concrete, and finally, after more than three years, the completed Saint John’s Abbey Church.

Summer 1958. In July, as the footings were being dug, a lack of consistency in the soil became evident. The soil ranged from very hard clay to pure sand, and the sand was not a suitable base needed to support the concrete superstructure. All construction was halted for two weeks while soil was tested. When tests were completed, new footings were designed, larger and deeper to make up for the soil deficiency.

Fall 1958. The steel was in place for the final pour of the basement floor. The walls of the brothers’ chapel were finished, and the parish chapel was beginning to take shape. The construction of wooden boxes to form the ceiling for the basement church began. An intricate network of boxes would provide the shadow-box ceiling effect; Edited and excerpted from “St. John’s New Abbey Church: A Chronicle of Construction” in The Scriptorium (volume 20, number 1, 1961).

10

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

Abbey archives

Abbot Baldwin Dworschak (second from left) presides at the blessing of the cornerstone with Marcel Breuer (right).

the boxes also act as built-in beams to provide adequate strength for the large expanse of floor above them.

Cornerstone Blessing. Abbot Baldwin Dworschak, O.S.B., blessed and laid the cornerstone on 19 November 1958. The portion of the stone visible from the outside of the church carries the Greek inscription “Christ” and the date. The inside face of the block bears the words “Life” and “Light.” After tracing the letters, Father Abbot applied the first trowel of mortar to hold the block in place.

Sometime later a sealed container was placed in the concrete poured above the cornerstone.

It enclosed one hundred feet of microfilm containing a copy of Worship and Work (the centennial history of Saint John’s Abbey), the church plans, a copy of the Ordo, and other documents.

Winter 1959. In February the steel beams for the support of the roof arrived. These beams were put up in a graduated manner toward the front of the church. In the center of the church a huge staircase was built to provide the workmen easy access to the roof. It also proved to be a boon to all would-be sight seers. The erection of the steel beams was completed in March, and the carpenters began to lay plywood sheeting across the roof prior to the erection of the “tents” or roof folds.

Spring 1959. By the middle of April the “tents,” ranging from eight to fourteen feet in height, were up. The roof was beginning to look like the side of an accordion. A unique feature of the roof is that it was built first. The side walls were started after the folds were on the roof.

In order to pour the concrete for the legs of the bell banner, long

rubber tubes called “elephant trunks� were attached to the forms. The banner form at this stage contained more than enough lumber to build a house. Huge elm beams were used for supports. Pouring of the beams over the piers and the four columns forming the back support of the roof began. Between these columns were placed cinder blocks and building bricks; eventually the exterior of the back wall was faced with slabs of granite weighing over one thousand pounds each.

Summer 1959. Form work was completed the first week of July. The result might be called a sculpture in wood.

Because of the fine workmanship on the forms, architects and engineers not connected with the construction say that the finish of the reinforced concrete is the best they have seen.

The sides of the church nave were poured in three stages,

each covering about one third of the total wall area. Five or six alternating pours were made for each stage. There are only three horizontal lines visible in the concrete to identify the pouring levels.

The baptistery was also constructed during this period, using the same type of roof form that was used for the ceiling of the lower church. The shadow-box pattern is broken by six skylights in the center.

Fall 1959. The face of the banner was built in sections on the ground and then hoisted into position. Once a section was lifted, braced, and anchored, steel was inserted and the concrete poured.

By late September enough concrete was sprayed on the roof folds to allow the carpenters to begin forming the slab to cover them. The skylight, or lantern, was also beginning to rise above the roof level in September. By

The bell banner and north window take shape.

Abbey archives

November the roof was nearly complete. The triangles of granite were in, supported by wood forms until the concrete was set.

The first granite blocks were placed on the sides of the baptistery. This gave the masons experience with the method they would use in facing the entire concrete shell of the church with granite.

The banner was ready for its final phase of pouring in late November. For winter pouring the concrete was delivered heated between fifty and sixty degrees; it also generated its own heat. Several times during October and November the temperature of the concrete was over one hundred degrees. It was necessary to pour water over the forms to cool the cement; the water froze and formed icicles at the base of the banner.

Christmas 1959. The last pour on the roof was completed by 10 December. Saint John’s had the distinction of having the highest Christmas tree in Stearns County when, after the final pour, the carpenters and cement workers, in accordance with an old German custom of celebrating the completion of the highest part of the building, put a fourteen-foot tree on top of the 110-foot banner. The tree, with many lights and a five-foot star, could be seen for miles.

Shortly thereafter the old bell towers were partially dismantled, to the top of the gable of the

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

11

Engineers made daily checks; when a hairline crack appeared, it was immediately covered over and checked later to see if it cracked again. One of the engineers believed there was the possibility of the roof collapsing, but this was later definitely ruled out. However, as a precaution, engineers decided to modify the trusses. A long process of drilling holes in the trusses began; additional steel was tied to the original truss and more concrete blown onto it.

Abbey archives

roof of the old church, in order to remove the bells and prepare them for their perch in the new banner. The towers were shortened from one hundred fifty to eighty feet in height.

In late December sculptured wood forms gave way to sculptured concrete, over which eighteen thousand granite blocks would be placed. Except for this granite, the exterior was complete.

Winter 1960. In January the inside of the church was free of all lumber forms. In March the north window was threequarters finished. For the concrete window frames, steel forms were built, making it possible to pour seven halfsections of window at a time.

By thus joining each hexagon in the center, the window was strengthened. A solid concrete hexagon lacework now formed the fourth wall of the church, a wall of glass.

12

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

Spring 1960. The south balcony was intended to allow retired or infirm monks, entering from the second floor of the monastery, to attend worship services; the area between the two sections for these monks is for the organ pipes. Temporarily there will be a large red drapery behind a metal screen and in front of the organ pipes; a large mosaic is planned for the screen.

Summer 1960. In June the bells were lifted into place in the bell banner. In the Saint John’s carpenter shop Brother Hubert Schneider, O.S.B., built the fifteen-foot cross for the banner, using oak taken from the woods surrounding the abbey.

The exterior granite work was started in March and finished by August.

Serious delay. The interior of the church suffered a serious delay from July to November. In June disturbing cracks started to appear in the longest roof truss.

Throughout 1960 masons were laying cinder blocks for the private chapels and bricks for the floors of the lower level of the church.

Spring 1961. By February the main floor was beginning to take shape. The granite flooring of the balcony was laid in February and March; the pews and choir stalls were assembled in May, as was the three-ton wood baldachin over the main altar.

The main altar of white granite and the granite throne added twenty-five tons to the weight of the sanctuary floor.

Completion. In June the baptismal font arrived, and the baptistery was completed.

Outside, landscaping work began in earnest so as to give the new house of God a suitably clean and attractive approach for the 24 August 1961 dedication.

Mr. Brian Millette was a junior monk of Saint John’s Abbey when he wrote this article in 1961.

Church Construction Trivia • Junior monks worked more than 3274 hours, mostly in three-hour shifts during the first summer of construction.

Brothers Julius Terfehr, O.S.B., and Stephen Thell, O.S.B., put in over 6500 hours of work on the church.

• Steel for the banner totaled over 300,000 pounds.

Exterior (above) and interior of the church sanctuary and choir.

Abbey archives photos

• More than 416,000 board feet of lumber were used during the church construction.

• Steel reinforcing for the complete building totaled 1,685,204 pounds.

• The total amount of concrete was slightly over 10,500 cubic yards.

• Throughout the construction of the church no serious accidents occurred.

• The main floor of the church has a finish layer of more than 80,000 bricks.

• The north stained-glass window, 165 feet wide and 65 feet high, contains 459 full hexagons. The glass was cut and fired in the former milking room of the old barn.

• The balcony will seat five hundred people; the seating capacity of the church is about fifteen hundred.

• Some 137,000 board feet of Pennsylvania red oak were used for the three hundred choir stalls and pews. A thirty-one foot pew in the balcony is the longest single seating in the church.

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

13

The Word of God: Alive on a Page Eric Hollas, O.S.B.

he

ritual was elegant in its simplicity. At Evening Prayer in the abbey church on 18 June, in the presence of the monastic community and two hundred guests, Donald and Mabel Jackson presented to Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B., and Father Bob Koopmann, O.S.B., the last folio of The Saint John’s Bible.

Then, drawing upon the Jewish tradition in which the one who commissions a Torah scroll enters the last mark, Abbot John and Father Bob burnished two gold crosses at the end of the book of Revelation. With that, a daunting project came to an end.

But the simple gesture belied the massive effort invested. For now it was a moment of closure and an invitation to celebrate.

Sixteen years earlier, when Mr. Jackson, Scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s Crown Office, brought to Saint John’s the idea of a hand-written, illuminated, monumental Bible, it was something that no Benedictine community had undertaken in perhaps five hundred years. In medieval Europe, monasteries and cathedrals treasured such Bibles, and to commission one was at the core of Christian civilization. But there were likely good reasons why no one had ventured down that path in five centuries. Still, Brother Dietrich Reinhart, O.S.B., then president of Saint John’s University, found the idea irresistible, and so began a task meant to inspire the spiritual imagination of the world.

Translating concept into reality proved to be far more complicated than we had imagined. Mr. Jackson had to set aside all else to focus entirely on a years-long undertaking,

Paul Middlestaedt

Abbot John Klassen (l) and Father Bob Koopmann display the last page of The Saint John’s Bible while members of the committee on illumination and text look on.

14

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

and he had to recruit five scribes to assist at his scriptorium in Wales, as well as illuminators in the United Kingdom and the United States. Since this was to be in a contemporary artistic idiom but using the techniques of the medieval world, there were vellum and inks and gold leaf to be procured and prepared. Layout took place on a computer, and communication with Saint John’s more often than not was electronic.

Donald Jackson

While Mr. Jackson and his team tended to the artistic interpretation, it was Saint John’s that provided grist for the mill in Wales. Under the leadership of Father Michael Patella, O.S.B., along with his colleagues on the committee on illumination and text, the choice of translation (the Catholic edition of the New Revised Standard Version) as well as the thematic outline of The Saint John’s Bible fell into place.

Through years of deliberation the committee provided Mr. Jackson with reflections on the

The entire creation team celebrated the completion of The Saint John’s Bible in May 2011 at the home of Donald and Mabel Jackson in Wales. Shown left to right are: (front row) Sarah Harris, Mabel Jackson, Jo White, Donald Jackson; (second row) Jane Grayer, Sue Hufton, Susan Leiper, Thomas Ingmire, Sally Mae Joseph, Brian Simpson; (third row) Izzy Pludwinski, Angela Swan, Suzanne Moore, Vin Godier, Rebecca Cherry; (back row) Mark L’Argent, Sally Sargent, Olivia Edwards, Aidan Hart, Chris Tomlin, Hazel Dolby, Diane von Arx. Missing (and missed): Dietrich Reinhart, O.S.B., and Carol Marrin.

Greg R. Anderson Photography

texts to be illuminated, and these conversations recreated the dynamic that had produced the great Bibles of the Middle Ages.

The creation of a Bible was the primary goal, but sharing it with the world followed as a close second. In the past sixteen years there have been innumerable presentations, and audiences around the world have seen the BBC documentary outlining the making of The Saint John’s Bible. Hundreds of thousands have seen original folios on exhibit at such venues as the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Library of Congress in Washington, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Prints from the folios adorn the walls of churches and hundreds of homes, while volumes of the trade edition of the Bible grace coffee tables and library shelves in their thousands.

If The Saint John’s Bible flowed from the creative genius of

Donald Jackson and his team, acting in consort with the committee on illumination and text, the completion was due also to the generosity of individuals who sponsored volumes, books, illuminations, pages, and verses.

Reminiscent of the financing of a medieval cathedral, individuals came forward with gifts great and small. They too shared the vision of bringing the Word of God to life on a page, and on 18 June many were in the abbey church to see that dream come true.

Paul Middlestaedt

Linda Orzechowski, Bernadette and Edward Dunn view pages at the ceremony.

The completion of The Saint John’s Bible is a great milestone, but it does not mark the end of the project. The exhibit tour continues, with an opening at the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe, running from 21 October 2011 through 7 April 2012. Volumes of the Heritage Edition, a full-sized fine arts reproduction, now rest on the tables of individuals, as well as on the shelves of such institutions as the Vatican Library and the Naples Art Museum in Florida.

When Donald Jackson first enunciated his vision, he promised to create a Bible that people would travel a thousand miles to see. When the exhibitions are completed and the original folios are finally bound, they will come to rest at Saint John’s. And we fully expect that people will come a thousand miles, and more, to see a vision of the Word of God come alive on a page.

Father Eric Hollas, O.S.B., is senior associate for arts and cultural affairs at Saint John’s University.

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

15

The Saint John’s Bible:

Letters and Revelation

Above: Illumination of the Seven Churches from the book of Revelation. Donald Jackson.

Right: Butterfly illustration from the Wisdom of Solomon, chapter 1. Chris Tomlin.

16

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

Special treatment, 1 Corinthians 13. Thomas Ingmire.

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

17

EIGHTIETH ANNIVERSARY: BENEDICTINES IN JAPAN Edward Vebelun, O.S.B.

T

he Benedictines are celebrating the eightieth anniversary of their service in Japan; the involvement of Saint John’s Abbey came just after World War II. The founding Beuron Abbey community that arrived from Germany in 1931 had been scattered by the war. Two monks, Fathers Hildebrand Yaiser, O.S.B., and Joseph Schmerbach, O.S.B., remained, determined to continue the mission in a pastoral center at Meguro, Tokyo. They approached Saint John’s in 1947 and found sympathy for their cause.

At the time the Saint John’s monks arrived, Japan was largely devastated by the tragedies of war. The United States was investing heavily in the future of Japan as a peaceful partner, and missionaries were flooding into Japan from around the world. Benedictine women from Saint Benedict’s Monastery in Saint Joseph, Minnesota, also cooperated with the initiative in Japan to establish flourishing priories and educational apostolates from that time. Saint John’s sent money to build a parish, kindergarten, and monastery in Meguro. It also sent Father Aloysius Michels, O.S.B., as the first of many monks of Saint John’s to serve in Japan.

Father Hildebrand would later refer to then Abbot Alcuin Deutsch, O.S.B., as his second father.

18

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

Meguro parish, Tokyo.

The mission came at a time when the Japanese were again endearing themselves to Western culture and looking for a new identity. After opening in December 1948 the parish grew from eight members to over twelve hundred in the first seven years. Over the decades thousands of children were enrolled in the kindergarten. Individual monks were well known for their educational, social, and liturgical contributions throughout Japan. Meguro was one of the most vibrant Catholic centers in Tokyo and consumed the energies of the monks.

The Meguro mission was thriving, but the monastery was unable to take root. Few vocations persevered. Saint John’s Abbot Jerome Theisen, O.S.B., encouraged a monastic witness, and the community in Meguro began to pray the Liturgy of the Hours in common in the 1980s. Abbot Jerome’s successor, Abbot Timothy Kelly,

Trinity Benedictine archives

O.S.B., continued

to encourage the building of a monastic identity by challenging the community to devote their energy to monastic life while maintaining the large Meguro parish.

The community slowly charted its way toward the small town of Fujimi, where a new foundation, Trinity Benedictine Monastery, was established in 1999. A full horarium (schedule of prayer)— including the Eucharist, Office of Readings, Morning Prayer, Midday Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer—as well as time for private prayer and study has given shape to the monastic life.

Many Benedictine monks have served in Tokyo and in Fujimi: Father Aloysius, Father Neal Lawrence, Brother Nicholas Thelen, and Father Kieran Nolan each served for over two decades on assignment from Saint John’s. They held a deep love for the people of Japan

and a belief that monastic life could give witness to the hope of the Gospel. Father Thomas Wahl, O.S.B., continues his long service along with twelve other American, Japanese, and Chinese monks. The missionaries of Saint John’s, past and present, have served alongside and have been carried by Japanese confreres such as Fathers Gabriel Furuta and Peter Kawamura, and Brothers Andrew Tanaka, Marcelino Fusejima, and Paul Tada.

In the present Fujimi community, for the first time in the history of Benedictine men in Japan, there are now more Japanese monks than Americans or Europeans. It is a time of hope and transition.

It is humbling even to consider the many individuals who have supported the community over the course of eighty years.

The monastery seeks to be a witness to the Gospel through a life of prayer, community, service, and peaceful renewal. It receives guests of all faiths and backgrounds. It holds cultural and religious events, publishes a newsletter, and has a home page on the Web (www.osb. or.jp). Monks provide spiritual direction and direct retreats inside the monastery and around Japan. In their ministry to parishes, nursing homes, and monasteries, Benedictine monks serve both the people of Japan and Japan’s immigrants. Over fifty individuals are formally associated with the community as oblates. They widen the circle of Benedictine monastic life in Japan.

Dominic Takahashi, O.S.B.

Great Eastern Japan Earthquake As the spring issue of Abbey Banner was about to go to press, we briefly reported on the 11 March 2011 earthquake and the loss of family members of our own Brother Dominic Takahashi Hidenori, O.S.B. Brother Takahashi’s family home was completely destroyed, along with most of Onagawa, his home town. His mother, sister, and nine other relatives were among the 20,000 people who were swept away in the towering waves that measured more than one hundred feet.

The junior monks and I visited the tsunami region in May. I felt near despair when I saw the widespread damage. Automobiles, ships, and parts of homes were lying in rice fields at distances almost unimaginable from the sea. Debris was scattered randomly through more than sixty miles of coastal area. Nearly 100,000 people are still living in emergency shelters or temporary residences.

I was especially struck when standing at the sixty-five foot elevated platform of the Onagawa hospital (above) overlooking the bay from which the tsunami came. It was probably where Brother Takahashi’s mother and sister sought safety when the warning alarms sounded, but unfortunately the high wave swept them into the ocean.

The many lives, the homes, and memorabilia cannot be replaced. The prayers, donations, and hands of the world are still needed and much appreciated.

Father Edward Vebelun, O.S.B., is subprior of Trinity Benedictine Monastery.

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

19

A Place of Paradox

Eric Pohlman, O.S.B.

Julia Smucker

I

believe in God because I believe in Saint John’s Abbey.

If this sounds a bit sacrilegious, consider the incredible theological diversity among the many people who have affirmed with deep conviction that this academic and monastic outpost in central Minnesota, bearing the unassuming name of Collegeville, is a place where the Spirit moves. My own experience of Saint John’s resonates profoundly with such an affirmation.

As a “Catholic Mennonite,” my familiarity with the abbey began through its connections with the Mennonite-Catholic ecumenical movement known as Bridgefolk. I first visited the abbey as a pilgrim in transit at a very uncertain juncture in my life, and despite the cold winter weather I felt powerfully drawn Posted on Our Daily Thread, 15 February 2011, and reprinted with permission of the author.

20

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

further into the life of both the Collegeville community and the Catholic Church. To make a long story short, I ended up applying to a graduate program at the university’s School of Theology, eventually returning to Collegeville as a student and finally making the quantum leap into full communion, becoming a “Mennonite Catholic” through the sacrament of confirmation in the abbey church, the culmination of a long process that I can only describe as mysteriously providential.

From these experiences, I can say with a confidence I have about very few things that I know there is a Spirit that moves because I have seen and felt its movement here. I have seen it in the remarkable capabilities within the monastic community of holding the Church’s internal dissonances in creative tension, in the living-out of the Benedictine charisms of radical hospitality and attentive listening. I have felt it in the

stirrings of inspiration toward steps of faith from the barelyperceptible to the undeniably life-altering, in the agape that is nurtured among members of historically divergent traditions who share a relationship to this place.

Saint John’s is a place rich with paradox. It has long had a place both at the heart of the Catholic world and at its cutting edge. Its monastics are at the same time keepers of ancient traditions and prophetic pushers of the envelope, radically obedient mavericks, practiced acrobats walking a tightrope between the ethereal and the earthy, the old and the new—and, yes, the right and the left. In the midst of a social climate in which ecclesial polemics too often mirror the surrounding political ones, the Saint John’s community is helping the Catholic Church to keep its balance.

Ms. Julia Smucker is a graduate student of Saint John’s University School of Theology•Seminary.

The New Roman Missal Trish Sullivan Vanni

S

ince its founding in 1926 Liturgical Press has been a trusted source for publications on liturgy, Scripture, theology, and spirituality for the Roman Catholic community.

Among the products for which the press is well known are its ritual books, including lectionaries, books of the Gospels, and the Sacramentary.

Liturgical Press is currently one of seven publishers bringing the English-speaking Church the Roman Missal, third edition, which will be introduced as the new liturgical year begins on the First Sunday of Advent, 27 November.

The new Roman Missal presents a translation of the Roman Rite that has been in development for more than a decade, and it will replace the current Sacramentary.

The new version has been met with both excitement and criticism: excitement on the part of those who considered the prior translation of the Mass flawed and banal; criticism by those who see the revision process as flawed and the new translation awkward and inelegantly literal.

Whatever their position on its content, readers will appreciate the beauty and quality of Liturgical Press’ Roman Missal.

A ritual (altar) edition and a chapel edition are available.

Each will feature a durable, red cloth cover embellished with an image of Christ enthroned; an interior adorned with fifteen images by liturgical illustrator

All Saints Day by Brother Martin Erspamer, from the new Roman Missal published by Liturgical Press.

and cover artist Brother Martin Erspamer, O.S.B., of Saint Meinrad Archabbey; prayer texts by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops set on ivory stock; and five grosgrain ribbon bookmarks, forty-one stamped tabs, and gilded page edges.

“We are really pleased with the beauty and functionality of this important book,” notes Mr. Peter Dwyer, director of Liturgical Press. “One of the most noteworthy aspects is the original commissioned art throughout. Very few publishers have commissioned a living artist

to enhance the new Missal’s beauty and dignity. We are very proud and appreciative of Brother Martin’s contribution that not only makes our book unique but also grounds it in our Benedictine heritage and life.”

For more information about the Liturgical Press version of the new Roman Missal as well as other products related to it (including a parish-focused DVD), visit www.romanmissal. org or www.litpress.org.

Ms. Trish Sullivan Vanni serves as parish market publisher for Liturgical Press.

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

21

Meet a Monk: John Brudney Joseph Feders, O.S.B.

with a project organizing newspaper clippings, next becoming the registrar, and then cataloguer for the Society’s collection.

W

hen one’s mom and dad are named Mary and Joseph, one might expect a son named Jesus.

However, when Joseph and Mary (Kennedy) Brudney named their third and youngest son John, it was a perfect choice.

Like Saint John the Baptist, the patron of Saint John’s Abbey, Brother John Brudney, O.S.B., is the type of monk whose life always points to Christ and who draws little attention to himself.

Born in Omaha on 28 July 1964, John Kennedy Brudney attended Saint Joan of Arc elementary school; while a senior at Jesuitrun Creighton Prep he visited Saint John’s University during his spring break. He had ventured north once before with a parish priest to check out the University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul as well as the seminary there.

John chose Saint John’s because of its liberal arts focus, smaller enrollment, rural setting, and beautiful campus. The deciding factor was, as Brother John says, “They served chicken Kiev for supper!”

As a college student John majored in history and took additional courses in philosophy and English. He worked as a library assistant for three years; as a senior he interned in the abbey archives. However, what Brother John is most proud of during his school days in Collegeville is the fact that he

22

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

Abbey archives

“never set off a smoke alarm.”

More on that later . . . .

After graduating in May 1986 John agreed to take a crosscountry bike trip with his senioryear roommate Dave Steichen.

Beginning in Yorktown, Virginia, the two Johnnies pedaled approximately five thousand miles in two-and-a-half months to reach their final destination of Astoria, Oregon. As if that wasn’t enough, they extended their trip two hundred miles north to Seattle to visit school buddies. Except for a couple of flat tires, the adventure went without incident. For John, riding eight hours a day on back roads allowed him to better appreciate the landscape and history of these United States.

Returning to Omaha, John landed a position at the Historical Society of Douglas County (Omaha). He started

Occasionally John would travel to the Twin Cities to visit former classmates and sometimes drive up I-94 to Collegeville. On one of these trips in 1992 he stayed in the monastery overnight for a “quasi-vocation” visit. He spoke briefly with Brother Kelly Ryan, O.S.B., who was finishing his term as vocation director and ready to hand things over to the new director, the late Father Paul Schwietz, O.S.B. John admits that he was “rather quiet back then”—not as exuberant as he is now. Father Paul had to seek out Father Rene McGraw, O.S.B., John’s freshman faculty resident, to get some background information on this “quiet guy” from Omaha.

From an early age, a religious vocation was always a possibility for John, and the topic came up when he met the late Brother Dietrich Reinhart, O.S.B., who was John’s advisor at summer orientation before entering the university. Like John, Brother Dietrich had a passion for history, but he was also future oriented. John remembers Brother Dietrich’s advice for life after graduation: “Either get a graduate degree in history, or explore a vocation.” Seven years after graduation, John knew that it was time to do the latter, and Saint John’s Abbey proved to be the right place for him. He

professed his simple (temporary) vows in 1994 and solemn (lifetime) vows four years later.

community prayer, in a reverent haste, as he responds to another call—most likely a Johnnie setting off a smoke alarm from burnt microwave popcorn.

When asked why he joined Saint John’s, Brother John acknowledges that it was “out of a sense of service and not any particular job or position. It’s also this sense of service and my desire to support others that keeps me in the monastery.” His work and life over the past seventeen years are evidence of that claim.

Since August 1996, and except for a two-year break in 2000–2002, Brother John has been master of ceremonies for abbey liturgies. His meticulous attention to detail and his quiet, inconspicuous presence at the side of the abbot have enhanced our community prayer.

As a junior monk Brother John started his long career with the Saint John’s Fire Department.

He serves as the first assistant fire chief and is occasionally seen leaving church during

For his “day job” John has held a variety of positions including library assistant at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, abbey liturgy coordinator, and office coordinator for abbey

development. He has served on a dozen committees and taken minutes for most of them. Even his hobbies are work-related, as Brother John organizes and catalogues such things as the novitiate library or does woodworking projects for the fire department.

For his manner and for all he does for others, Brother John is aptly named!

Father Joseph Feders, O.S.B., is pastor of the Church of Saint Joseph in Saint Joseph, Minnesota, and the novitiate classmate of Brother John.

John Ambrose Stattelman

Rest well, Collegeville: the fire-monks are on the alert! Father Joseph Feders (l) and Brother John Brudney.

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

23

Samuel Lickteig

Abbey archives

Born: 27 November 1924 Professed: 7 October 1951 Died: 24 April 2011

B

orn in Austin, Minnesota, on 27 November 1924 and given the name Paul, Brother Samuel (known affectionately as Sam) Lickteig, O.S.B., was the twelfth of fifteen children born to Stephen and Catherine (Cassady) Lickteig.

During early childhood Brother Sam faced significant health problems: from birth he had spastic paralysis in his right arm, suffered at the time of his birth.

With limited use of his arm, he had to teach himself how to draw and write left-handed, and how to get things done with one hand. When he was four he backed into a pan of boiling water that spilled over his legs and hips, burning him severely.

Brother Sam’s formal education began in 1930 in a one-room rural school in Austin; in 1942

24

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

he graduated with honors from Austin Central High School. His family could not afford college, but an academic counselor insisted that he attend Saint John’s University. Abbot Alcuin Deutsch, O.S.B., awarded Brother Sam a generous scholarship; he would go on to be co-editor of the student newspaper, The Record, in 1945. He served as editor of the college yearbook, The Sagatagan, before receiving his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics from Saint John’s in 1946. After graduation he worked in the university registrar’s office as well as doing some teaching in mathematics and economics.

During the summer of 1949 he attended Fordham University in New York City.

In 1950 Brother Sam entered the abbey’s novitiate, taking the religious name of Samuel. After he made his first profession of vows on 7 October 1951, he worked in the business office for several years and in 1953 began a thirty-seven year career as a mathematics instructor at Saint John’s Preparatory School.

In 1966 he received a master’s degree in mathematics from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Brother Sam was gifted intellectually and loved abstract problems; he especially loved teaching mathematics (algebra, geometry, trigonometry, precalculus, and calculus). His stellar teaching skills were recognized by students and staff alike. In 1971 he received the

Great Teacher Award from the prep school; in 1985 the school presented him with its highest honor, the Armor of Light Award; and in 1989 the prep board of overseers honored him with the Distinguished Service Award. Twenty one years ago, following a stroke, Brother Sam retired from teaching. Thereafter he assisted in the abbey archives and volunteered for special events at the prep school.

With a smile that could light an entire room, Brother Sam always extended “peace and joy” at the Sign of Peace. That peace and joy became eternal on Easter Sunday, 24 April. The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated for Brother Sam on 28 April.

Dusted Brother Sam was one of my favorites. If he felt any discomfort because of his own physical limitations, his students never heard about it.

Even better, Brother Sam had a dynamite throwing arm. In one smooth turn and throw, he could hit a kid square in the chest with a large eraser from half-way across a classroom. The eraser’s impact caused a plume of chalk dust to rise into the offending kid’s face. I suppose today’s world wouldn’t countenance this tactic. Back then, for a rabble rouser with a cache of spit balls, it was almost a badge of honor to get dusted. For the rest of us, besides being a good deterrent, it was truly memorable to watch the eraser fly. Brother Sam was a Benedictine character.

--Clay Hamlin, Prep ‘84

Abbey Chronicle

A

very wet and unseasonably cool spring gave way to the “lazy hazy crazy days of summer,” also wet and, at times, unbearably humid. For several days in July dew points registered in the 80s, unprecedented in central Minnesota. Abundant rains kept the campus lush and green, while Lake Sagatagan reclaimed many feet of lakeshore and returned the Stella Maris Chapel to its occasional island status. Three pairs of loons produced four chicks; the Canada geese on the Gemini lakes also had abundant hatches. And a few maples are already announcing the arrival of autumn.

March 2011 • On 22 March Father Hilary Thimmesh, director of the Benedictine Institute, introduced a panel of graduates of Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict to reflect on the place of faith in their professional lives. Elizabeth Hayden (Minnesota senior judge), Jeffrey Korsmo (Mayo Clinic administrator), Al Eisele (editor-at-large, The Hill), and Eric LeCompte (Jubilee USA administrator) spoke about the effect of Benedictine spirituality on their careers in public service.

The panel was moderated by E. J. Dionne, Jr., columnist for The Washington Post and the first McCarthy Center lecturer at Saint John’s.

April 2011 • Brother Joseph Schneeweis successfully defended his thesis,

Tony Petroutky

Brother Walter Kieffer

Several hundred taps were removed on 13 April, bringing to a successful conclusion the 2011 maple-syrup harvest in the Saint John’s woods. The 5,620 gallons of sap produced 126 gallons of syrup. That same afternoon Lake Sagatagan became ice-free and immediately welcomed back a loon.

“Abbatial Titles and Function in the Rule of Benedict: The Monastic Superior as Spiritual Father, Teacher, and Steward,” and thus completed his studies for a licentiate in monastic studies at Sant’ Anselmo, the Benedictine house of studies in Rome. Brother Joseph serves in the university campus ministry office and as a faculty resident.

• To begin the Holy Week services on 16 April, some seventy-five oblates, friends, and neighbors joined the monastic community for the vigil office of Palm Sunday. Abbot John Klassen presided at the Easter Vigil celebration, while Prior Tom Andert and Father Jerome Tupa (pastor of Saint John the Baptist Parish) were the chief celebrants for the Easter morning Eucharist. On Easter Monday, about one hundred fifty employees of Saint John’s joined the monastic community for a

midday Eucharist followed by lunch in the Great Hall.

May 2011

Josie Stang

Father Robert Koopmann (l), Brother Mark Kelly (c), and Abbot John Klassen.

• Among those honored during the Saint John’s University Administrative Assembly luncheon on 11 May were Brother Mark Kelly (fifty years of service), Brother Damian Rogers (forty-five years), Father Robert Koopmann (forty years), Brother Paul Jasmer (thirty-five years), and Father Jerome Tupa (fifteen years). Father Daniel

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

25

years as a monk and fiftyfive years of priestly ministry, he has served as professor of theology, as a writer, editor, and director of Liturgical Press, and remained “unfailingly cheerful, unabashedly optimistic, and incurably alliterative.”

Father Daniel

Abbey archives

Durken received the 2011 Father Vincent Tegeder, O.S.B., Outstanding Administrator Award. In presenting the award, Abbot John expressed appreciation for Father Daniel’s “colorful, energetic service . . . whose influence stretches beyond Collegeville.” In his sixty-one

• On 29 May Bishop John Kinney, Abbot John, Fathers Corwin Collins and Roman Paur, and Brother Xavier Schermerhorn joined a tearful congregation of Saint Catherine Parish in Farming, Minnesota, for the final eucharistic liturgy and deconsecration of the church, founded as a mission

by Abbot Alexius Edelbrock in 1879.

Prior to receiving an honorary doctorate from Saint John’s University, Bill Kling, president of Minnesota Public Radio, and his wife Sally joined the monastic community for supper on 14 May. Mr. Kling thanked the community for trusting him, a young 1966 graduate of the university, with the leadership of radio station KSJR from its first days in 1967. He related anecdotes about gophers that disabled the first transmission lines and about then university president Father Colman Barry, Mr. Kling’s mentor. After acknowledging that Minnesota Public Radio was $151,000 in the red when it moved its headquarters from Collegeville to Saint Paul, Mr. Kling presented Saint John’s with a check in that exact amount.

Consistent with the tradition begun forty-five years ago by Father Colman, current president Father Robert Koopmann deposited the check before it could fall into the hands of the abbey’s treasurer.

June 2011 • The twenty-sixth annual Monastic Institute sponsored by Saint John’s University School of Theology•Seminary was held in late June with a focus on “Bible and Prayer in Benedictine Spirituality.” Presenters included Benedictine Sisters Genevieve Glen and Manuela Scheiba (Abbey of Saint Gertrude, Alexanderdorf, Germany), Abbot Jerome Kodell (Subiaco Abbey, Arkansas), and Fathers Michael Patella and Columba Stewart of Saint John’s.

• Twenty-five participants in the National Catholic Youth Choir, founded by Father Anthony Ruff, graced Saint John’s with their presence at community liturgies.

• The Minnesota Historical Center and the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans recently celebrated the completion of an oral history project to record and preserve the rich heritage of Minnesota’s Vietnamese community. Brother Simon-Hòa Phan, a native of Vietnam who came to the U.S. at age ten, was a narrator in the project.

July 2011

Ælred Senna, O.S.B.

26

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

• One hundred oblates made their annual retreat at Saint John’s, during which Steve Arnold, Tom Keul, Teresa Junia Roberts, and Kathleen Bronagh Weller made their final oblation.

Father Donald Tauscher was appointed director of oblates, succeeding Father Michael Kwatera, who served in that role for the past nine years.

• In honor of their centenary, Maryknoll missioners invited American seminarians and priests to China to learn more about the Church in that country. Father Doug Mullin and Brother Bradley Jenniges accepted the invitation and spent two weeks in China.

• Father Anthony Ruff was elected to the five-member board of directors of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians during the association’s national convention. He also made four presentations on English and Latin chant during the gathering.

August 2011 • Nicholas Moe, a 2007 graduate of Saint John’s University, began the monastic associate program on 8 August.

As an associate, he will live with the junior monks and attend community prayer, conferences, and meals. He will continue working as the senior sustainability fellow for the university while he discerns his future vocational path. Nick has a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford.

Paul-Vincent Niebauer,

O.S.B.

Steve Adrian

On 2–5 August more than 230 pastoral leaders attended the Collegeville National Symposium on Lay Ecclesial Ministry co-sponsored by Saint John’s School of Theology•Seminary and forty-three organizations representing the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic ministry organizations, dioceses, and Catholic universities. The symposium sought to advance effective ministry through theological research and dialogue on the vocation and authorization of lay ecclesial ministry. During the opening Eucharist, Bishop John Kinney honored and thanked these “co-workers,” without whom “the mission and work of the Church could never be accomplished.” Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago, gave a keynote address entitled “‘Understanding the Ecclesial’ in Lay Ecclesial Ministry.”

Among the many summer visitors at Saint John’s was an albino chipmunk.

Jeana Koenig

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

27

Fifty Years Ago Excerpted from The Record, official newspaper of Saint John’s University: 5 May 1961:

• The Saint John’s University TV series “The History of Christian Architecture” will feature contemporary churches on the May programs. Father Cloud Meinberg, O.S.B., will discuss the 20th century churches of North America, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and France on 10 May and present a pictorial architectural tour of the new Saint John’s church on 17 May. • The Knights of Columbus, Saint John’s Chapter No. 5136, is the first on a college campus in Minnesota and is presently the newest in the nation. Chaplain for the unit will be Father Daniel Durken, O.S.B. • Father Hugh Witzmann, O.S.B., recently captured first prize honors with a bronze statue, “The Madonna of the Gospels,” at the Fourth Annual Art Competition at the University of Kansas.

Peggy Roske

28

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

19 May 1961:

• After 100 years of living in common, college priesthood students will move from Anselm Hall to Benet Hall next fall to live in double rooms. The reason for the unprecedented move was an increased prep school enrollment, which would make conditions even more difficult in the already overcrowded quadrangle if the pre-divinity students were to remain there.

23 June 1961:

• Summer vacation for Father Charles Henry, O.S.B., ended even before all the flowers had time to bud. On 15 May Abbot Baldwin Dworschak, O.S.B., appointed him prior of Saint Maur’s Priory, West Union, Kentucky.

• Two magazines edited at the abbey have received special recognition by The Catholic Press Association. Worship, edited by Father Godfrey Diekmann, O.S.B., was cited for containing the Article Making the Greatest Contribution to Catholic Scholarship: “Liturgy and Contemplation” by Father Cyprian Vagaggini, O.S.B. The American Benedictine Review, edited by Father Colman Barry, O.S.B., received a special citation for Significant Improvement in Content and Format. Father Benedict Avery, O.S.B., is associate editor of the Review.

• Everybody knew that Saint John’s had a new member of the community when Father Joachim Watrin, O.S.B., left the refectory one night last week with a red and white carton of Purity milk.

Frolicky, cute as a bug’s ear and still on a bottle, a week-old foundling deer, appeared on the monastery door step that day.

25 August 1961:

• Saint John’s hosted its eighth annual Institute for Mental Health in July. The three weeklong workshops are designed to help clergy of all faiths fill their proper role with the mentally disturbed members of their parishes. The Institute, financed by the Hamm Foundation of Saint Paul, brings together the professional views of psychiatry, psychology, and social work.

• The new office of dean of admissions was created to handle the flow of applications for admission to Saint John’s.

Father Lanfranc [Don] LeMay, O.S.B., assumed this position.

• Come, Let Us Worship by Father Godfrey Diekmann, O.S.B., was released this week by the American Benedictine Academy and Helicon Press. The book is a summary of Father Godfrey’s thoughts on the central aspects of the liturgy and is one of a new series entitled Benedictine Studies. Mr. Frank Kacmarcik will design the typographical layout of the books.

• One hundred thirty Catholic priests gathered at Saint John’s in August for the second annual Scriptural Institute.

• Bishop Peter W. Bartholome celebrated the first Pontifical Mass of the new church immediately after completion of the consecration ceremony.

Monks in the Kitchen Brother David Paul Lange: Acting locally, eating globally Ælred Senna, O.S.B.

W

hile serving as a Saint John’s University faculty resident this past year, Brother David Paul Lange, O.S.B., and four student resident assistants (RAs), from the U.S., Trinidad, Burundi, and Sri Lanka, organized several events during the year to bring the students of Benet Hall — and elsewhere — together to share food and fellowship around a common table. They sponsored a late summer American barbeque, a Chinese heritage dinner, five brunches, a Halloween chili cook-off, Mardi Gras root beer floats, a Sri Lankan dinner, and a Burundi and Caribbean dinner.

Brother David Paul explains: “We deliberately highlighted the home cuisine and culture of each RA, since we were kind of a mini ‘United Nations’ in Benet Hall. Each took the leadership in planning a menu that featured some of his favorite dishes growing up, and a few had to call home to ask their mothers for advice!”

In bringing together such a diverse community of students, terrific memories and wonderful stories were related along the way. “The Chinese dinner,” says David Paul, “featured ten different dishes prepared by a big group of Chinese students crowded into my tiny kitchen — it was organized chaos to say

David Paul Lange, O.S.B.

the least — but we had a lot of fun, and the food was incredibly delicious as evidenced by no leftovers after sixty people joined us for dinner!” And then there is the bacon story. “We set off the smoke alarm for the entire building on a Sunday morning as we were preparing bacon for the first brunch of the year; needless to say the entire dorm showed up at the start of the two-hour-roll-out-of-bed-andcome-as-you-are brunch, instead of filtering in a little at a time.”

Brother David Paul gratefully acknowledges the help and mentoring of Father Mark Thamert, O.S.B., whose advice and many years of experience in organizing these kinds of events helped get things going in the right direction in Benet Hall, resulting in good times, great food, and getting to know neighbors from near and far a little bit better!

Halloween Chili Cook-off Ideas For a new chili experience, have participants experiment with a wide variety of chilis—the standard Texas-style, Cincinnati chili, authentic Mexican chile colorado con carne, vegetarian, green chili with chicken. There are unlimited possibilities! And don’t forget to set up a bar of fixin’s—cheese, chopped onions, cilantro, sour cream, olives, sliced radishes, corn chips, tortillas, pasta . . . and so many more.

Brother Ælred Senna, O.S.B., is associate publisher of Give Us This Day at Liturgical Press.

Abbey Banner Fall 2011

29

In Memoriam Please join the monastic community in prayerful remembrance of our recently deceased family and friends: Bishop Robert M. Anderson

Joanne Graham, O.S.B.

Doyce B. Nunis, Jr.

Delores M. Backous

Nancy Grogan

Bryant Clement Pitschka

Edward Beauclair

David Halstrom

George Popovics, O.S.B.

Rita Ann Beaulieu, O.S.B.

Suzanne Helmin, O.S.B.

Edwin A. Rath

Gregor Bergerson, O.S.B.

Leo Hinz, O.S.B.

Carol Regenfuss

Renee Cormier, O.S.B.

Malachy Hurley, O.S.B.

Werner Renneberg, O.S.B.

Luanne Coy

Milton Kaup

Paul Roche

Ben Crawford

Hugh Keefer, O.S.B.

Paul Rockford

John Bonaventure Dean

Helen Koopmann, F.S.P.A.

John Rogan

Raymond Doerfler, O.S.B.

Samuel Lickteig, O.S.B.

Paul Romfh, O.S.B.

Elizabeth A. Doyle

Carol Marrin

Peter L. Rothstein

Elvan Drayna, O.S.B.

Edwin McDunn, O.S.B.

Fred Rudy

Alcuin Eich

Catherine McInnis, O.S.B.

Robert Sum, O.S.B.

Bennett Fasbender, O.S.B.

Carolinda Medernach, O.S.B.

Fredric Supek, O.S.B.

Zhang Fenglan

Gerald Robert Meyer

Donna Marie Tembrock, Obl.S.B.

Berno Flint, O.S.B.

Trudice Morovits

William Van Cleve

Victor Frankenhauser, O.S.B.

Doris Murphy

Karin Wendt

Ralphine Fried, O.S.B.

Nivard Neft, O.S.B.

Florence J. Witt

Marguerite Gackowski, O.S.B.

Joseph Neuchter

Aquina Woehle, O.S.B.

Cordis Gaebel, O.S.B.

Mary Nolan

Dorothy A. Zilka

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

– Psalm 116:15

The Tree of Life Timothy Backous, O.S.B.

A

n extraordinary new film called The Tree of Life has taken the Cannes Film Festival’s top prize. A warning to those who like their movies light and airy: this one is not for you.

Set in Waco, Texas, in the 1950s, this is a simple story of one family that deals with the everyday bumps and bruises of life. The writer and director, however, wants us to remember that this single snippet is but a miniscule stitch in a much bigger fabric. At one point we are taken back to the very beginning of time in order to remind us that, as the psalmist says, “our lives are over like a sigh” (Ps 90:9).

What makes this movie truly remarkable is its study of life from the perspective of the three boys in the family. The house, the neighborhood, and the children themselves are truly “ordinary” in the best sense of that word. Most of their lives are depicted as simple summer fun . . . riding bikes, chasing butterflies, horse play, and games in the street. But those simple pleasures give way to the occasional darkness of life too: the parent quarrels, a boy drowning in the local pool, the father’s harsh discipline as he tries to fashion his sons into well-mannered adults. The total effect is remarkable because it paints a picture that is familiar to us all.

Our growth cannot be just reactionary; it needs to be intentional and reverent as well.

Life is very much like a tree. Its roots must be firmly planted in solid ground for it to withstand the sudden and unexpected storms.

But so too does that tree of life have branches that reach out in all directions looking for the nourishment of sun and moisture. To see a tree in its entirety is to observe a single entity, but when we study it closely we begin to realize its complexity and multifaceted essence. So too is life. It is simple in so many ways like those lazy, playful days of summer; but if we are not firmly planted, if our roots are not digging deep into the richest soil, then the tragedies of life can overcome even the most towering giants among us.

Without playing the spoiler, I can say that all three boys’ lives follow different trajectories. Each of them branches out in a unique way. In the end this visionary film reminds us that our growth cannot be just reactionary; it needs to be intentional and reverent as well.

Father Timothy Backous, Preparatory School.

O.S.B.,

is headmaster of Saint John’s

31

Nonprofit Organization U. S. Postage

PAID

Saint John’s Abbey Abbey Banner Magazine Magazine P.O. BoxBanner 2015 BoxAbbey 2015 Saint John’s Collegevi lle MN 56321-2015 Collegeville, MN 56321-2015 www.saintjohnsabbey.org www.saintjohnsabbey.org

Change Service Requ CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Abbey Banner 4 This Issue Robin Pierzina, O.S.B. 5 The Journey Inward Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B.

Fall 2011

14 The Word of God: Alive on a Page Eric Hollas, O.S.B.

6 Monastic Profession

18 Eightieth Anniversary: Benedictines in Japan Edward Vebelun, O.S.B.

8 Monk and Priest Nickolas Becker, O.S.B.

20 A Place of Paradox Julia Smucker

9 Benedictine Volunteer Corps: Year Nine Benjamin DeMarais

21 The New Roman Missal Trish Sullivan Vanni

10 Building the Abbey Church Brian Millette

22 Meet a Monk: John Brudney Joseph Feders, O.S.B.

Volume 11, Number 2

24 Obituary: Samuel Lickteig 25 Abbey Chronicle and Fifty Years Ago Robin Pierzina, O.S.B. 29 Monks in the Kitchen: David Paul Lange Ælred Senna, O.S.B. 30 In Memoriam 31 Spiritual Life: The Tree of Life Timothy Backous, O.S.B.

Benedictine Days of Prayer 14 October 2011:

Whatever happened to Mary? Reflecting on Mary in the Church and world.

11 November 2011: The times they are a-changing. The times they are a-finishing. Just ask Jesus.

6 January 2012:

I’m smart, but how enlightened am I? New Year, new life.

3 February 2012:

The winter solstice is behind us. Are you feeling any light-er?

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

Rooms are available in the abbey guesthouse for an overnight stay the night before.

Register online at www.abbeyguesthouse.org; or call: 320 363-3929.