Abbey Banner - Winter 2011 by Saint John's Abbey

Abbey Banner Winter 2011

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Ice and snow, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. --Daniel 3:70

Photo: John-Bede Pauley, O.S.B.

This Issue

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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: 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. Copyright © 2011 by Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved. 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.

“How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God.” --Genesis 28:17 This issue of Abbey Banner celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the dedication and blessing of the abbey and university church, completing our year-long series of articles. Abbot John Klassen gratefully acknowledges the courage, creativity, and skill of those who made our house of God possible. Mr. Thomas Fisher explores the architectural significance of the church and its design heritage, while Bishop R. William Franklin addresses the theological significance and the church’s New Testament vision. Ms. Glenda Isaacs Burgeson shares the reflections of Mr. Harold Magy, an engineer for the project, who returned to Saint John’s to revisit the building and the memories of his early career. In September the monastic community was pleased to witness our novices profess their simple (temporary) vows as Benedictine monks; we welcome our newest Brothers, Eric Pohlman and Theophane Windschitl. We also note the change in leadership at Trinity Benedictine Monastery in Japan; Father Edward Vebelun has succeeded Father Roman Paur as prior. Sixteen recent college graduates are currently serving in the Benedictine Volunteer Corps in the U.S. and six other countries. Mr. Paul Rolfes and Mr. Tom Joyce share stories of their work at Hanga Abbey, Tanzania, and Coban, Guatemala, respectively. Reverence for divine creation and for the work of human hands is part of the Benedictine value of stewardship. Mr. Nicholas Moe outlines a number of programs and practices through which the Collegeville community expresses its commitment to sustainability. In 1857, a year after the founding of Saint John’s, the pioneer monks began educating local youths. From five boys, this educational apostolate has grown and expanded to a middle and high school for boys and girls, an undergraduate college for men, and a graduate school and seminary. The campus ministry programs continue to serve and form students in the Catholic and Benedictine tradition. Mr. Ben DeMarais introduces us to the Saint John’s Preparatory School program, while Ms. Amanda Castonguay outlines the work of the university campus ministry office. Mr. Joseph Gair and Brother Dan Morgan, both educated at Saint John’s, reflect on their experience and formation in the Benedictine way. We also meet Father Julian Schmiesing; review recent publications by two confreres; and give thanks for a bountiful harvest and an abundance of God’s blessings. Father Timothy Backous brings this issue and this year to a close with his thoughts on growing in the spiritual life.

Cover: The doors of the Great Hall, the former abbey church. Photo: Alan Reed, O.S.B.

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The staff of Abbey Banner joins with Abbot John and the monks of Saint John’s Abbey in extending to all our readers prayers and best wishes for a blessed Christmas and Epiphany, and a new year of God’s favor. Peace! --Brother Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

Reflections on the Church at 50

Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B.

e recognize and believe in the presence of Christ in the gathered assembly, the Body.

I was in another great church in October, the Cathedral of Saint Mary in Salisbury, England. Constructed in a mere thirty eight years, from 1220—1258, this church is designed for processions, being 440 feet from one end to the other. In an early English Gothic design, it has a capacity of 2500 people, mostly along that horizontal axis.

Abbey archives

While our abbey and university church has a more modest seating capacity, what a difference form makes in our experience of the space and of each other’s presence! By taking the classical, long, narrow form and widening it out to a trapezoid, Marcel Breuer makes it possible for us to be visually closer together. And there is not a single support post blocking a sight line. This is what modern building materials and good design make possible: they give us a stronger sense of ourselves as a gathered community. To be fair, the cathedral in Salisbury recently celebrated its 750th anniversary. It remains to be seen how durable this structure is in the face of the expansion and contraction from the Minnesota climate! I am filled with a debt of gratitude that should not go unexpressed: to Abbot Baldwin Dworschak, O.S.B., and this monastic community of fifty-five or so years ago for thinking boldly and energetically about the future; to Mr. Marcel Breuer, Mr. Ham Smith, Mr. Val Michelson, and the committee of twelve monks for staying together throughout the design process; to the McGough construction company for the incredible creativity and care it gave to the building; to the monks who tied most of the steel, cleaned countless forms, dug the foundations, and cut the glass for the window; to the carpenters who created all the form work with such skill—they first had to build the church frame out of wood!—and to the concrete workers who had to muscle the concrete in a uniform manner around the steel; to all the donors without whom it would have been impossible to start; and finally, to all those who have prayed in this church over the past fifty years, making it a holy place. We pray as an entire Saint John’s community that we will continue to dream and live with this kind of vision and courage.

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Monastic Profession

n 14 September, feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B., and the monastic community rejoiced as Novices Eric Pohlman and Theophane (Kraig) Windschitl professed their simple (temporary) vows as Benedictine monks. Brother Eric Pohlman, O.S.B., 30, from Delphos, Ohio, was educated at Saint John the Evangelist parish schools through twelfth grade. He completed a bachelor of arts degree in religious studies at the University of Dayton (Ohio) and then joined Saint Procopius Abbey in Lisle, Illinois. After two-and-a-half years with that Benedictine house he discerned a need for greater worldly experience and left. Brother Eric found work in a food production plant in his hometown and later obtained a bachelor of science degree in construction systems management from The Ohio State University. He came to Collegeville in June 2010, working as an intern in the campus physical plant office during the candidacy program. Since May he has been an assistant to the abbey development office. He enjoys serving as a driver and pump operator for Saint John’s Fire Department and is taking the Fire Fighter I certification course. Brother Eric reflected on his monastic vocation: “I was drawn to the Benedictines because of the vow of stability and the local governance structure. I was drawn to Saint John’s because it’s a large, active house with a great diversity of enterprises and a progressive spirit. I professed

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monastic vows because I like monastic spirituality, which I see as grounded, focused on the everyday.” Music has filled the life of Brother Theophane Windschitl, O.S.B., 34, who hails from New Ulm, Minnesota. Following high school at the Perpich Center for Arts Education, Golden Valley, Minnesota, he attended Saint John’s University, receiving a bachelor of arts degree with majors in liturgical music and organ performance. At the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, he received a master of music degree in organ performance with a cognate in sacred music. Before entering the monastery Brother Theophane was principal organist/music associate at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church, Minneapolis,

and has been featured on Minnesota Public Radio’s “Pipedreams.” He is interested in historic pipe organs and has published essays in The Diapason, a monthly publication for organists. In 2007 Brother Theophane began discerning his vocation to the religious life through the abbey oblate program. “It was through the oblate process and spiritual direction that I became acquainted with the Rule of Saint Benedict. I knew I needed to pursue this longing for a deeper relationship with God,” he recalls. Brother Theophane teaches music theory in the university, sings in the abbey schola, is an abbey organist, and assists in the oblate office.

Brothers Eric Pohlman (l) and Theophane Windschitl.

Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

New Prior for Fujimi

bbot John Klassen, O.S.B., visited the community’s priory, Trinity Benedictine Monastery in Fujimi, Japan, for the installation of Father Edward Vebelun, O.S.B., as the new prior (superior) on the feast of Christ the King, 20 November. Father Edward succeeds Father Roman Paur, O.S.B., who served as prior for the past six years. Father Edward first arrived in Japan in 1999, four years after he professed monastic vows at Saint John’s, and at the same time the community was moving from Tokyo to Fujimi for a new emphasis on monastic life. At that time the community was aware of the challenges of culture and language that they had as Americans serving in Japan. They felt handicapped in receiving and sustaining vocations, so Father Edward was sent to the Asahi Culture Center and Saint Anthony Seminary in Tokyo for an experience of full-immersion study during his first three years in Japan. This training was a step toward filling the gap that has prepared the way for Japanese members to enter more comfortably and for the community to transition toward Japanese-based community life. Father Edward served as subprior and formation director of the monastery for the past six years. During Father Roman’s sixyear tenure as prior, he actually commuted from Saint John’s because he was, at the same time, serving as a consultant on sexual abuse policies, as a retreat director, and as a workshop facilitator for several religious communities and dioceses in the

Trinity Benedictine archives

Abbot John Klassen (l) and Father Roman Paur bless the new prior, Father Edward Vebelun.

United States, Europe, and the Philippines. Abbot Timothy Kelly, O.S.B., first asked Father Roman to visit Japan in 2005 to help the community deal with the health problems of one member. With Father Roman’s help the community was quickly able to address this problem and to turn toward employing his skills in administration. To date Father Roman has made thirty-six visits to Fujimi, each time bringing two seventypound boxes of supplies (the airline limit). He also brought fresh ideas and helped the community form a new vision and a more effective method of community decision making. A man of many practical skills and the capacity for seeing projects through to their final detail, Father Roman designed and crafted chapel furniture for

the monastery, and repaired, adjusted, or cleaned out almost every inch of the monastery. The past six years have been a time of growth for Trinity Benedictine Monastery. There are now five junior monks in the community who are engaged in priesthood and doctoral studies or receiving training in administrative and practical skills to shape the future of the monastery. Oblate Lenten Day of Reflection 4 March 2012, Saint John’s Abbey

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Benedictine Volunteer Corps Tanzania, East Africa: Year Seven of Service Paul Rolfes

o far Tanzania (East Africa) has been quite the adventure for Mr. Tyler Etheridge and me. Our primary occupation has been teaching. Tyler is teaching biology at the two secondary schools, while I am teaching computer and math at the primary and trade schools. Teaching has been an amazing experience, and I can often ignore the difficulties it poses when I see how eager the students are to learn more, particularly in computer class. Though there is not always power to run the computers, when there is electricity the students soak up every scrap of information I give them. In addition to teaching, Tyler and I have been helping during our free time at the dispensary run by the monastery. Hanga Abbey subsidizes many of the services it provides for the local community, which makes it very affordable. Because of this support the dispensary pharmacy stocks many more medicines than most of the government-run dispensaries in the area. While working there Tyler and I have assisted in organizing the pharmacy, examining patients, doing lab work for malarial testing, and even traveling to a nearby town to assist with dental work. Hanga is an amazing village located in the African countryside. It is small enough that we can go for short jogs out into the bush, but it is large enough

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to have regular buses running to the nearby city of Songea, the regional capital. The people in Tanzania are incredibly friendly and always willing to interrupt whatever they are working on to greet us. The members of the monastic community are even more welcoming, being especially hospitable during prayer services when they help us find the right page in our prayer books. The weather here is pretty amazing—almost always in the 80s and sunny. Because of this, even though we miss the cool fall weather in Minnesota and associated activities (such as going to the apple orchard and carving pumpkins), we really

Mr. Paul Rolfes and Mr. Tyler Etheridge, both 2011 graduates of Saint John’s University, are spending this year at Saint Maurus Hanga Abbey in Tanzania.

can’t complain. Soon enough the rainy season will begin, and we are eager to see the world around us come alive; right now most things are pretty dry, dusty, and dead. Overall the Benedictine Volunteer Corps has provided us with what is—and continues to be—an experience of a lifetime!

Spirit of Adventure: Coban, Guatemala Thomas Joyce

long with fellow Saint John’s alumnus Justin Rose, I was placed at Resurrection Priory in Coban, Guatemala, for this year of service with the Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps. We have been keeping busy ever since arriving. From helping set up computers

BVC archives

Tyler Etheridge assists at the Mpunta Village dental clinic in Tanzania.

stayed in the village community center. After ten minutes I was exhausted, and the kids had made a fool of me! Sunday, 23 October

Justin Rose and friends take a break from their distribution work.

and distributing them to nearby villages, to traveling to villages far outside the city for weekend Masses, to delivering donations of clothes, water filters, and medical supplies to those in need—we are doing our best to serve the people of Coban. Here are a few highlights of our day-to-day activities and how we are learning from our neighbors: Sunday, 28 August We kicked off our first Sunday in Guatemala with a nice Mass at one of the aldeas (villages). Because of the shortage of Quiché (K’iche)-speaking priests (the rural language), many aldeas only experience Mass twice a year. As a result, Mass is a major event for the aldeas. The Mass lasted well over two hours; afterward we had a second lunch of boneless chicken and another bottle of water, and then it was back to the monastery. The rest of the day was relaxing. Dinner, however, was the same as our lunch. Didn’t want to burn out on chicken just yet, so I had black beans and bread instead!

BVC archives

Wednesday, 31 August We went to the Ostou Aldea to deliver a large supply of water filters. The process for presentation and exchange of the filters includes about an hour of listening to incomprehensible Quiché instructions on how to use the filter. After a time, I dismissed myself to play “futbol” (soccer) with the little niños. It would have been better if I had

Yesterday proved to be a very uplifting day for our computer project. We received the completed application installation on twenty computers. This means that we might deliver them to a school in the next couple of weeks. I look forward so much to being able to teach the aldea communities how to use the computer’s applications. We celebrated with popcorn and Fanta pop! For an in-depth and personal view of our service in Coban, check out my blog at http:// tomasenguatemala.blogspot.com/.

Mr. Thomas Joyce and Mr. Justin Rose are 2011 graduates of Saint John’s University.

The Coban soccer league defeats Tom Joyce again.

BVC archives

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Sustainability and Stewardship

The Saint John’s Abbey solar farm and Collegeville campus. Michael Becker

Nicholas Moe Regard all the utensils of the monastery and its whole property as if they were the sacred vessels of the altar. --Rule of Benedict, 31.10

ustainability—meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs—has been a part of Saint John’s since its founding in 1856. The pioneer monks carefully managed the surrounding forests, fields, and lakes to provide shelter and food for the community while at the same time preserving these resources for our enjoyment today. Throughout the history of Saint John’s, community members and our neighbors have worked

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to ensure that this stewardship continues. Sustainability includes three interdependent components: economy, society, and environment. A practice is sustainable if the needs of all three components are met. Benedictine values and Catholic social teaching guide the Saint John’s community in working toward environmental, social, and economic justice. Climate change poses a serious threat to this justice. As human activities emit more carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, we experience more damaging and frequent floods, droughts, heat waves, and cold snaps across the globe. This “global weirding” tends to affect the poor and

disadvantaged the most. In response to this problem, the late Brother Dietrich Reinhart, O.S.B.—along with President MaryAnn Baenninger of the College of Saint Benedict— signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, pledging that each school would become carbonneutral by 2035 by investing in alternative energy, conservation, and education. Saint John’s made a bold step toward this goal with the construction in late 2009 of the 400 kilowatt abbey solar farm, which annually supplies four percent of Saint John’s electricity. It has produced over 1,168,410 kilowatt-hours since it began operation and has prevented the release of 1,006 tons of carbon dioxide. The farm also educates

students and the community about Minnesota’s rich solar resource. Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict jointly designated the past academic year as the “Year of Sustainability” to kick-start the campuses’ awareness of the topic. Mr. Theo Eggermont, Brother Lew Grobe, O.S.B., and I worked to engage the community and sought ways to make the campuses more sustainable. One such initiative was to make our recycling systems easier to understand and more visible by creating new color-coded signage and converting extra outdoor trash bins into recycling bins. To engage the fans in the football stadium, we added recycling bins and created an ad campaign to promote them. More people are recycling now, which has saved the university about $80,000. To give people access to information about sustainability, we improved our Web site— www.csbsju.edu/Sustainability. htm. Student interns created and distributed a “Green Guide” throughout the campus that contained tips on how everyone can help Saint John’s save energy and money. We also held a series of community forums to discuss recycling, energy conservation, local foods, and water. Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B., and former Prioress Nancy Bauer, O.S.B., joined us for one of the forums, addressing how to live simply, using our resources wisely while still living a fulfilling life. Saint John’s also works toward sustainability behind the scenes.

This past summer the campus physical plant department retrofitted over five thousand fluorescent fixtures with new, efficient lamps and ballasts. The new lamps and ballasts use forty percent less energy than their older counterparts. Since April (and continuing through October 2013) the Saint John’s powerhouse has been using only natural gas as a primary fuel instead of coal. This switch reduces its emissions by 58 percent—preventing the release of 41,000 tons of carbon dioxide. This means that emissions for the whole campus are reduced by 32 percent. Natural gas is slightly more expensive than coal, but the environmental benefits and the savings on wear and tear on the equipment make it cost effective and a better value. Though the “Year of Sustainability” has ended, we continue our work. Saint John’s undergraduate Steve Johnson is planning an on-campus solar winter greenhouse to serve the refectory with vegetables at a time of year when they are most expensive to transport from warmer climes.

The abbey, university, and local community have helped to open the Minnesota Street Market (a local food and art co-op) in St. Joseph, Minnesota, to improve access to local, healthy, and ethically produced food. The abbey’s vegetable garden continues to expand, this year providing over one ton of food to the monks’ table. And I continue to walk the steam tunnels, taking note of where we can add more insulation to the pipes to make the campus heating system more efficient. Sustainability is a long, unending path of many small, yet important contributions by the whole community. But we are emboldened by the promise that our work will help bring about a brighter future for God’s creation to ensure that, in the words of my former pastor, Father Al Ludwig, “One day the whole human family is going to live in peace.”

Mr. Nicholas Moe, a 2007 alumnus of Saint John’s University, is a monastic associate and senior sustainability fellow for the university.

Abbey Volunteer Program To assist the monks in their many and diverse ministries, Saint John’s Abbey recently established a volunteer program. Directed by Ms. Eileen Haeg, the mission of the program focuses on inviting lay people to partner with the monks in a collaborative effort, complementing each other’s skills. Volunteers may assist in the abbey’s Saint Raphael Hall retirement center, at the abbey guesthouse (receptionist, room check, library), at the abbey gift shop, or in the archives. Computer work (general, Web, eBay/ Craig’s List), sewing or mending, and church cleaning are among the many tasks volunteers could perform. To become a volunteer, contact Ms. Eileen Haeg at 320.363.3304, or ehaeg@csbsju.edu.

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CELEBRATING THE ABBEY CHURCH

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Architectural Ancestry of the Abbey Church Thomas Fisher

here do creative people such as Marcel Breuer, the architect of the Saint John’s Abbey and University Church, get their ideas? The origin of design schemes remains a mystery to many people, but architects often draw from both the recent and distant past in order to develop their proposals and design the structures we all inhabit. Mr. Breuer looked to his own work

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for many of the ideas for the church, having used a similar trapezoidal plan, for example, in his design for the assembly hall at the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) headquarters in Paris and for a theater he designed in 1927 while teaching in Germany at the Bauhaus. Mr. Breuer also drew from his colleagues. The General Assembly building of the United Nations has a trapezoidal plan, as did the assembly hall designed for the League of Nations by

Le Corbusier in 1927. But the influence may have gone back even further, to the trapezoidal plans of some ancient Greek megara, which served as gathering and worship spaces. We see similar modern and ancient references in the abbey church’s bell banner. It echoes the forms and shapes of the chairs that Mr. Breuer designed at the Bauhaus. Meanwhile the idea of a wall tower with bells inserted in it recalls those found in Spanish-American mission churches as well as the bell-tower façades of medieval

cathedrals. And the legs and arms of the concrete arch that hold the bell banner aloft evoke the ceremonial banners of religious processionals in the medieval Church. Similar references to the human form occur inside the abbey church, where the huge concrete forms that support the balcony look like giant arms with great, splayed hands raised in supplication. These gigantic supports also recall those in the earliest Romanesque cathedrals, whose stone columns sometimes seem to flex with the inner forces they contain. Likewise, the pleated sidewalls of the church bring to mind the enormous

buttresses of Gothic cathedrals as well as the massive stone monoliths of some of the oldest sites of religious ritual, such as Stonehenge. The folded roof of the church draws comparison to some unusual precedents. Its zigzag form brings to mind the repetitive gable-roof structures such as the mosque-cathedral at Cordoba, a building whose history spans several centuries and two religions. And therein lies perhaps the most important lessons of the abbey and university church. Beautifully suited for Christian worship, the church has an ancestry that connects to other religions, to

Opposite page: The blessing of Abbot John Klassen, December 2000. Above: University commencement.

other places, and to some of the very first attempts by humans to build religious space. As such, it reminds us of the larger meaning of catholic. That term refers not only to this ancient and now global religion but also to an all-inclusive sensibility that embraces people across continents and over centuries, a frame of mind that Mr. Breuer, whose own life and work spanned several cultures and continents, would have well understood. Mr. Thomas Fisher is a professor in the School of Architecture and the dean of the College of Design at the University of Minnesota.

Abbey archives

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CELEBRATING THE ABBEY CHURCH New Testament Vision: “The People’s Work “ R. William Franklin

uring the 1960s—the decade of the consecration of the abbey church in Collegeville and the Second Vatican Council in Rome—the voice of Roman Catholicism was changed by the liturgical movement, begun in Europe in 1851. Within its churches, for the first time in over a thousand years, Mass was widely celebrated in the language of the people, and one could observe the shift of altars from dark sanctuaries into the midst of actively participating congregations. More than any other church in our country, the Saint John’s Abbey and University Church was a symbol of this fundamental change. The fact that the liturgical movement was a parallel Christian movement to many other cultural movements to build community amidst the dehumanizing conditions of the Industrial Revolution is also significant to the design of the church. Above all, the theology of the liturgical movement was expressed in this church by an architect produced by the Bauhaus and the modern movement in architecture, both revolutionary movements in architecture and community, and nowhere brought together so clearly as here in Collegeville. The Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer used factory materials— concrete, steel, and glass—to provide the abbey with an open church where monks and laity could assemble as one people of God for corporate

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worship. Mr. Breuer’s design unifies monastic choir, altar, and congregation into one space through the rhythmic repetition of starkly modern elements. The whole point of the design is that the assembly is the Church, though of course the design points to the continuing hierarchical and monastic elements of the community. But the fundamental theme is unity: the clergy and laity together as mutual participants in celebrating the Eucharist. To make this clear, the form of the church is a single trapezoid. Not divided, this trapezoidal shape shelters monks and laity who together make up the Saint John’s community as one people. The church planning committee members explained that their theology was ultimately grounded in a return to the New Testament understanding of the role of all the people of God in the life of the Church. The early Christians proclaimed that God expresses the divine purpose through human communities. From Matthew to Revelation, the New Testament is attentive not simply to God but to humankind and the circumstances through whom the Creator and Redeemer intended to bestow blessings

on all the earth. At the very end of the New Testament the vision of the holy city, the New Jerusalem, is not something in a remote heaven, but rather of a city “coming down out of heaven from God” (Rev 21:2). Likewise, the voice heard by the seer declares that God comes to be with humankind. “God will dwell with them, and they shall be God’s people” (Rev 21:3). From about the turn of the fifth century, through the Middle Ages, Christian liturgy slipped quietly into new modes of celebration that could not be defined as the people’s work, in the sense of a communal action at which the laity were equal participants with the clergy. Christian liturgy lost its corporate character as it became the work of one group in the Church alone, the clergy. It was the work of the liturgical movement, of which Saint John’s was the leading American Roman Catholic outpost, to articulate this return to the ancient Christian vision of worship, founded upon this theological vision of the New Testament, amid the need to rebuild community in the twentieth century.

The abbey church is the first Roman Catholic church in modern times to express this radical New Testament theology of “the people’s work.”

Dr. Karl Adam (1876—1966), a German Catholic theologian who deeply influenced those monks of Saint John’s who shaped the theological concepts behind the abbey church, captured this Roman Catholic return to the essential message of the New Testament, which lies behind the liturgical movement: “It is indeed collectivism, community, which must be the rhythm of the spiritual movements that will replace . . . Western individualism. . . . There is more need than ever for us to find our way back to the New Testament, to its essential and fundamental Christian attitude . . . , that pristine New Testament vision of the Church as the Body of Christ.” Dr. Adam captured the theological significance of what the abbey church is still saying to us today. The abbey church is one of the great buildings in the history of architecture because it is the first Roman Catholic church in modern times to express this radical New Testament theology of “the people’s work” for the United States and North America. Insomuch as the Rule of Saint Benedict itself is a guide to how to live out this radical New Testament vision of community, the abbey church is a witness to the values of this precious strand in Benedictine monasticism. Right Reverend R. William Franklin is the bishop of the Episcopal diocese of Western New York. Following doctoral studies in history at Harvard, he served on the faculty of Saint John’s University from 1974 to 1992.

Timeless Engineering Glenda Isaacs Burgeson

fter a fifty-year interval Mr. Harold Magy stepped inside Saint John’s Abbey and University Church and relished the memory of how, as a young mechanical engineer, he had worked with famed architect Marcel Breuer to build the church. Mr. Magy launched into animated storytelling as he inspected the building, trailed by family, friends, and abbey representatives on his whirlwind tour in July. “Marcel was timeless,” he kept saying in wonder. “This building is like a pyramid,” he announced, sweeping his arm in a grand gesture, as if to embrace the sacred space. “The concrete forms are timeless,” he said, peering at the interior’s concrete texture. He ran his hand across the abrasions imprinted from wooden forms that show the grain and give the concrete the illusion of wood. The forms had to be number one timber, he explained, and could not be sanded, in order to transfer a natural look to the concrete. Mr. Breuer “wanted it to be natural, timeless.” Still in training and not yet a registered engineer, “I was twenty-seven years old,” he said quietly, when he happened upon this opportunity of a lifetime to work with Mr. Breuer. Mr. Magy’s employer, the engineering firm Gausman & Moore, had no idea of the project’s magnitude. They thought they were going to work with someone named “Markel Brewer” on “a little church in Collegeville.” For four years following his studies in mechanical engineering, Mr. Magy visited the site monthly, overseeing details. The plans were drawn by hand, and he went through reams and reams of paper to calculate air mass. Mr. Breuer was meticulous. Everything had to be precise. Everything had to be perfect. When the church was completed, Mr. Magy was so proud that he papered his basement with the plans. He has since donated the drawings to the American Institute of Architects. “There are a couple of jobs I’m very proud of,” said Mr. Magy. “This one stands above them all. This was special.”

Ms. Glenda Isaacs Burgeson is a writer/editor in the office of communication and marketing at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University.

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an say,

“All I can say, Father Abbot, is that this is the first building I have designed and the first object I have designed which has been made so sacred, or, as you would say, consecrated to God. I am more deeply moved by this than I can tell you.” --Marcel Breuer, 24 August 1961, to Abbot Baldwin Dworschak, O.S.B.

Photo: Paul Crosby

“What we told Mr. Breuer, in general, was the following: the Catholic church should be a cheerful place, one where the atmosphere is that of joy and confidence, because the prayer offered there is one of victory. Christ has triumphed over sin; life has come from the cross and the resurrection. In other words, the church should display a sense of faith and hope. The church should be flooded with light because light is the symbol of faith and of the supernatural life coming from Christ the Light of the world.” --Abbot Baldwin Dworschak, O.S.B.

Faith in Action: Campus Ministry Saint John’s Prep School

Volunteer Corps in Tanzania, East Africa, living and working at Hanga Abbey, a community of African Benedictine monks. Since returning from Africa in 2009, I have been working as a university faculty resident for freshmen in Mary Hall.

Ms. Kristi Hendricks worked as a researcher for the Minnesota Legislature after graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. She received a master of arts degree in elementary education from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 1992. Since 2008 Kristi has been supervising student teachers with the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University.

Together our team is focused on the liturgical, catechetical, and service-oriented mission of campus ministry. We have organized numerous prayer services, scheduled all-school Masses, conducted an all-day retreat for the ninth graders, and a half-day service-oriented retreat for the senior class. Prep students have opportunities for educational sessions and liturgical assemblies as well as service projects and trips. All this is made possible because of the faith-filled, competent, enthusiastic prep students who volunteer to help conduct these various activities.

Benjamin DeMarais here are three new faces in the Saint John’s Preparatory School Campus Ministry office this year. The new team is made up of Ms. Kristi Hendricks, Brother Efraín Rosado, O.S.B., and me, Ben DeMarais.

The prep school campus ministry team is also called upon to help in various other ways throughout the school. For example, in late October our team was asked to help host a group of visiting sixth graders. The team led them on a short hike along Lake Sagatagan and paused beside the statue of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha so Brother Efraín could give a brief lesson on her life. Prep campus ministry is always willing to serve! To learn more about campus ministry at Saint John’s Prep School, visit our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ sjprepcampusministry.

Mr. Ben DeMarais is the director of campus ministry at Saint John’s Preparatory School.

Brother Efraín Rosado is a Benedictine monk of Abadía del Tepeyac, Mexico, currently exploring a possible transfer to Saint John’s Abbey. Brother Efraín has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and worked as an engineer in Mexico for nine years before entering the monastery. He has more than four years of experience working as a teacher of Christian formation at the preparatory school at Tepeyac Abbey. In 2010 he completed a master’s degree in monastic studies at Saint John’s University School of Theology. I graduated from Saint John’s University with a bachelor’s degree in physics in 2008 and spent the following year serving with the Saint John’s Benedictine

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Brother Efraín Rosado introduces visiting students to Kateri Tekakwitha.

Benjamin DeMarais

Saint John’s University Amanda Castonguay

ecently Saint John’s University Campus Ministry witnessed a multitude of changes and growth. Two years ago the staff included five people, and while there was energy, we were looking for more. This year we have twenty-seven staff members including student workers, graduate assistants, and monastics. The staff is now a team dedicated to serving the undergraduate population. Student manager Natalie LeSage confirms, “The people who work in the office keep me coming in to work! They make me want to participate in the activities, from prayer to service.” We are working with faculty residents and student resident assistants so they are aware of the great programs in campus ministry. Our hope is that as we build a relationship with the residential life staff, we can be a resource for activities for their residents, including prayer nights and social justice information sessions.

Our retreat team has seven retreats planned this year. With camping and service options, we hope to open hearts and minds as students gather for conversation, build friendships, share meals and prayer, and delve into their faith lives. This semester we offered a camping retreat, F.Y.R.E. (First Year Retreat Experience), a men’s service trip to Chicago, and a ten-day trip to Holden Village in Washington. Each retreat aims to integrate students’ sense of

University campus ministry camping retreat at Lake Superior.

self and awareness of their faith with the Church and our Saint John’s community. Social justice programming comes in a variety of forms including weekly and monthly service opportunities both within and beyond the local area. Volunteers in Service to Others (VISTO) offers thirteen local community programs in which students serve children, adults with disabilities, low-income families, and the elderly. Over the last year VISTO has had more than 250 student volunteers connecting with community members in need. Other social justice programs include a trip to north Minneapolis Ascension Church and Visitation Monastery to work with children in their catechesis programs, along with fair trade coffee give-aways on campus, and Gorilla Theater—a form of social justice acting on campus. Faith formation is going strong with a team conducting RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) to seven students. There

Matthew Ott

are also weekly Bible studies, lectio divina prayer groups, and discernment groups. The Sunday 9:00 P.M. Mass, with hundreds in attendance, has the largest consistent crowd since our new beginning two years ago. “Everything we do in campus ministry is deeply rooted in the Benedictine tradition. As we serve the campus and local communities, we stand on the shoulders of the many men and women who have gone before us and made the university and abbey a welcoming home for all,” says Father William Schipper, O.S.B., director of campus ministry. The campus ministry staff looks forward to continuing to serve the campus community with creative and faith-filled programming. Ms. Amanda Castonguay, a graduate student in Saint John’s University School of Theology, is the VISTO and social justice coordinator for the university campus ministry program.

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Running the Path of Life Joseph Gair Run while you have the light of life, lest the darkness of death overtake you. --Rule of Benedict, Prol. 13

istance running and running a university are endurance events: there are no secrets or shortcuts to improving. The only path to success in endurance events is patience and persistence. Unfortunately, patience and persistence were not my strong suit when I came to Saint John’s. After living on a freshman floor in Mary Hall and then serving as a resident assistant with freshmen for another two years, I feel comfortable saying that the freshmen’s greatest strength and greatest weakness are their eager desire to do, experience, and achieve everything . . . now. As a freshman, my eager enthusiasm to participate and excel in everything led to athletic injury, academic burnout, and social ruin.

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After coming to the painful realization that I was limited to twenty-four hours in a day, I also came to recognize that monks have a different way of experiencing time. For students, time is a straight line, beginning when we arrive at Saint John’s and ending when we leave. Time flows at a constant rate, marked by regular events like daily runs, weekly Mass, changing seasons, and eventually graduation. At graduation our time here ends. Monks, on the other hand, seem to experience time circularly. Time is still marked by passing events, but those events don’t lead to the end of a line; they lead right back to the beginning—and not just the beginning of their time in the monastery or even the beginning of their life. The monks have the advantage of centuries of reflection on how to live in community. The task of preparing young men for life becomes as familiar as running the same path every

day: what used to be strenuous and daunting is now calming and comforting. Throughout the chaos and challenges of living and working on a college campus, the monks of Saint John’s are able to keep their eyes up and focused on the lessons of 150 years of Benedictine education. My time at Saint John’s has taught me that happiness is more than checking off experiences and accomplishments on my to-do list. The monks of Saint John’s have taught me the value of circular time—to find joy and meaning in the daily tasks that make me a part of the community I love.

Mr. Joseph Gair is a senior chemistry major, runner, and resident assistant at Saint John’s University.

This I Believe Daniel Morgan, O.S.B. I believe in just the facts. I believe in mystery. I believe individuals are not equal. I believe individuals deserve equality. I believe in using the moving walkways at airports. I believe in the value of getting lost when exploring a new city. I believe institutions are valuable. I believe revolutions are necessary. I believe some answers exist outside human reason. I believe there is a lot I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand. I believe people are inherently good. I believe we need to help one another be at our best. I believe in the value of hard work. I believe in the significance of play. I believe in the wonder of nature. I believe in the beauty of human creation. I believe projections can be misplaced. I believe self-reflection can be grounding. I believe in the nourishment of sunny days. I believe sun screen can thwart skin cancer. I believe in fidelity to commitments. I believe in obedience to the community. I believe in running if Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m in a hurry. I believe shin splints are painful. I believe in black-and-white photography. I believe in the color of the moment. I believe perfection is a myth. I believe mistakes are our best opportunities. I believe conflict can lead to clarity. I believe hugs can lead to solidarity. I believe some things are impossible. I believe nothing is hopeless.

Brother Daniel Morgan, O.S.B., is a faculty resident for Saint Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s University.

I believe in God. I pray that God believes in me.

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Meet a Monk: Julian Schmiesing

Abbey archives

Alberic Culhane, O.S.B.

monastic superior three times, German and Spanish languages teacher, high school principal, founder-director of the Saint John’s Preparatory School study abroad program at Melk Abbey, Austria—our confrere, Father Julian Schmiesing, O.S.B., had just about done it all even before serving for nearly two decades as a pastor in five Stearns County, Minnesota, parishes. Shortly before retiring to the abbey in July 2008, he celebrated the 150th anniversary of Saint Martin Church (Saint Martin, Minnesota) and his own fiftieth anniversary of ordination to the priesthood in the company of a number of Saint Martin parish vocations to the priesthood and religious life. “It was a grand, meaningful celebration,” he mused. The youngest of four children, Father Julian felt early on drawn to the life of a priest: “Because training in Latin was a prerequisite for priestly studies, and Sauk Centre High School

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had no Latin courses, I rather naturally transferred to Saint John’s Prep in 1945 to study Latin in the pre-divinity program. I’d come from a close and supportive family life in Meire Grove [Minnesota], and so my initial attraction to monastic family life and ‘the support of many brothers’ came quite easily, convincingly, to me. I realized that the life of a diocesan priest just didn’t have that same kind of support.” He entered the novitiate of Saint John’s Abbey in 1951, professed his first vows as a Benedictine monk in 1952, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1958. Father Julian’s early ministry was devoted mainly to teaching German, Spanish, and theology while serving as a prefect at the prep school. From 1966—1968 he directed the study abroad program at the Benedictine Abbey of Melk, Austria. The program was popular: the first

year seventeen junior students participated; in the second year, twenty-six. It continues to be a popular program. Appointed principal of the Colegio San Antonio Abad, Humacao, Puerto Rico, in 1969, Father Julian later served as prior (major superior) of the school’s sponsoring Benedictine community from 1973—1976. When he returned to Saint John’s, he taught German again at the prep school and took on several other abbey positions: director of vocations, director of candidates, and subprior (monastic superior) before Abbot Jerome Theisen, O.S.B., appointed him prior of Saint John’s Abbey in March 1982, a position he held for seven years. “I never asked for any job,” Father Julian recalls. “When I was asked to take on something, I did it as well as I could. As prior I especially enjoyed, and

Father Julian Schmiesing (r) with Melk students.

University archives

Among his humble tasks during retirement, Father Julian attends to the Sunday collection in the abbey church and, with the able assistance of Father Magnus Wenninger, O.S.B., counts the weekly offering. He daily honors Saint Benedict’s exhortation:

“Let him give a good word in answer” (RB 31.13).

Another day at the office in Puerto Rico.

felt responsible for, visiting sick confreres at least twice a week. Perhaps that came from my own family experience: we had a ‘live-in uncle’ who needed almost constant attention from family members over the years; that sense of obligation probably carried on in me to the monastery. “I’ve truly had good jobs as a monastic, and I found that I could learn from every job or task. Perhaps it’s a little like growing in faith over time. As a youth, you accept a great deal on faith. As you grow older and you grow closer to Christ through prayer and praxis, your faith grows stronger. You put on Christ. You ‘clothe yourself with Christ,’ as Paul writes, a life-long process that I’m still working to fulfill.” After this year’s crops were harvested, four of Julian’s former parishioners again visited the abbey retirement center for card games and a beer. Julian has always liked bridge games

Abbey archives

but also enjoys a form of Aggravation, Stearns Country Solo, or other card games. His friends marvel at his loss, by his design, of over one hundred pounds since retiring. When confreres think of Julian and his influence in their lives, they invariably cite his sincere solicitude, good humor, and patience. A coworker observed: “He was always respected, and fair; I could count on him always having my back.” A hospital chaplain recalled that Julian counseled him not to try to save money by living in a parish rectory but to get lodging that would befit his work and times off—and thus, not get involved in ever-present parish demands. “That was spot-on advice.”

Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

Father Julian bottles maple syrup, 1985.

Father Alberic Culhane, O.S.B., is a stewardship officer for the abbey.

Those who have been away from Saint John’s for advanced studies were especially appreciative of Julian’s helpful counsel and regular communication: his “newsy, long, detailed letters were immediate treats.”

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New Benedictine Books Barry Hudock

wo members of the Saint John’s Abbey community, both veteran authors, have recently penned new books that will be of interest to many Abbey Banner readers.

Father Hilary Abbey archives

As the Saint John’s community celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the dedication of the abbey and university church, Father Hilary Thimmesh, O.S.B., offers an engaging memoir of the church’s origins. Twenty-eightyear-old Father Hilary was the youngest member of the committee formed by Abbot Baldwin Dworschak, O.S.B., in 1956 to guide the process. For the next four years the committee met regularly with architect Marcel Breuer, throughout the process of planning and then constructing the church. As committee secretary, Father Hilary took extensive notes at each meeting. Browsing through his old notebooks half a century later, he knew he wanted to turn them into a book. The result is Marcel Breuer and a Committee of Twelve Plan a Church: A Monastic Memoir. Father Hilary recalls the desire for a new church that represented a significant achievement in modern architecture and the selection of Mr. Breuer to make it a reality. Marcel Breuer was

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not an obvious choice. A nonCatholic Hungarian, he was better known at the time for designing private residences and furniture than houses of worship. Father Hilary notes that Mr. Breuer’s humility and sense of integrity impressed the monks. In warm and frequently humorous detail Father Hilary recounts how the monks related to and worked with Mr. Breuer. He explains how a strain of disagreement at a critical moment nearly threatened completion of the church. Readers get a down-to-earth and personal view of the process that resulted in a landmark of twentieth-century American architecture.

Father Kilian Abbey archives

to try his hand at poetry. To date, he has published five books of poetry and is working on the sixth. The poems in Wrestling with God are full of well-known scriptural figures: Jacob, Abraham, Sarah, Mary, Joseph, Matthew, Peter, and others. There are also pain and doubt, sin and sensuality in Father Kilian’s poetry. The point of the poems, he says, is not to convert people, but to explore human experience, including its most frustrating aspects. Father Kilian has succeeded marvelously. One reviewer, the poet Alan Barecka, has written, “Part of McDonnell’s gift is his uncanny ability to find the intriguing moment to focus on his subject. These poems at times can be violent, comical, sensual, and even ecstatic, but they are all thought-provoking explorations of doubt and faith that deserve a wide audience.”

Pen and ink drawing by Renée Cheng from Father Hilary’s memoir.

Wrestling with God is a new book of poems by Father Kilian McDonnell, O.S.B., published within weeks of the author’s ninetieth birthday! After a long and distinguished career as a theologian and ecumenist, Father Kilian decided fifteen years ago

Both books are available from Liturgical Press: online at www.litpress.org; or by calling 1.800.858.5450.

Mr. Barry Hudock is associate publisher for academic and trade markets at Liturgical Press.

Abbey Chronicle

he wet summer gave way to a dry autumn, but not before strong winds in August downed dozens of trees on the inner campus and hundreds more in the woods; those maples and oaks that survived put on their usual colorful show in September and October. On 19 November six inches of snow transformed Collegeville into a winter wonderland, only to melt away the following week. Lake Sagatagan closed for the season on 6 December. Choir rehearsals, communal penance services, and a frenzy of baking herald a special day. Come, Lord Jesus!

Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

now a certified nursing assistant. “Now I can make beds!” says Brother Peter, who serves his confreres in Saint Raphael Hall, the monastery’s health and retirement center. • On 6 September, after seven years of study, discussion, and prayer, the monastic community gathered to consider whether to authorize the creation of a new civil corporation for Saint John’s University, to become effective 1 July 2012. With a solemnity typical of an abbatial election, each written ballot was announced and counted; by a

substantial majority the community approved a reconfigured governance and management structure for the university. A lay and monastic board of trustees will be responsible for governing the school. The monastic community continues and expands its responsibilities for attending to the Catholic and Benedictine character of the university, notably through the campus ministry and faculty resident programs. The mutual commitments and legally binding agreements between the abbey and university ensure that their close relationship will endure and flourish, and that students—undergraduate, graduate, and seminarians—will continue to be educated and formed in the Benedictine tradition.

October 2011 • The Nature Conservancy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to land conservation, has opened an office at Saint John’s. The staff will provide technical assistance and advice for managing the 2,700 acres of abbey land and also provide jobs, internships, and volunteer

August 2011 • Carol Fries, long-time cook, specializing in fresh homemade soups for the monastery dining room, was honored at supper on 23 August by Abbot John Klassen and the monastic community, three days before her retirement from thirty-seven years of service.

September 2011 Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

• Brother Peter Sullivan successfully completed course work at Saint Cloud Technical and Community College and is

On 11 September David Allen, Lucian (Isaac) López, and Richard Crawford were invested as novices during Evening Prayer. Through prayer, work, and spiritual direction they continue to discern whether God is calling them to the monastic manner of life.

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opportunities for students of Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict. • Along with Fathers Bob Koopmann and Eric Hollas, Abbot John traveled to the Anglican Saint Mary Cathedral in Salisbury, England, for the enthronement of the seventyeighth Bishop of Salisbury, the Right Reverend Nicholas Holtam, who had spent a short sabbatical at the Collegeville Institute three years earlier. Abbot John preached at the high Mass on Sunday, 16 October, an ecumenical gesture that made the long journey worthwhile. • Big John, Saint John’s resident loon, left Lake Sagatagan on 16 October, one day earlier than in 2010. His transmitter indicated that he moved to Forest Lake on 24 October. This is the same lake he used as a stop-over last year on his way to Lake Michigan. On 29 October Big John was near Wind Point (north of Racine, Wisconsin) on Lake Michigan. This, too, is the same area that he visited last fall. Carol Jansky, who has been tracking Big John’s migration for the past year, reports that we have not heard from him since late October because the battery pack on his transmitter died. • Sporting his new business suit, Brother Paul Jasmer had the honour of representing the abbey at the royal luncheon for King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway during their visit to Duluth on 17 October. “King Harald, having spent five years of his childhood in the U.S. during World War II, spoke with simple and deep gratitude for the ‘safe harbour’ he, his mother,

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Alan Reed, O.S.B.

Honoring a custom particularly beloved in Mexico, Novice Lucian López and Brothers Efraín Rosado and Ælred Senna created an altar of remembrance for Día de los muertos/All Souls. At the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours and Eucharist during the month of November, the monastic community observed the annual remembrance of All Souls. Over 2,800 friends of Saint John’s sent the names of deceased loved ones to be remembered in prayer.

and sisters were given when they were invited by President Roosevelt to live in the White House,” explained Brother Paul. A good time was had by all. • A festive Mass on Sunday, 23 October, to commemorate the original blessing and dedication of the abbey church on 24 August 1961, was followed by an equally festive luncheon for hundreds of guests and monks. Christopher Hudson, editor of Architecture Minnesota, gave a short reflection on the personal meaning of the church. In the afternoon the celebration continued as the renowned Westminster Cathedral Choir of London performed for a thousand guests in the abbey church when they presented

the inaugural concert for the Institute for Sacred Music at Saint John’s. • The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML) of Saint John’s University a 2011 National Medal for Museum and Library Service (one of only ten libraries and museums in the country to be so honored). Medal winners are selected from nationwide nominations for institutions that demonstrate innovative approaches to public service, outstanding community outreach, and advancement of global cultural understanding. “The National Medal is an honor that places HMML among

America’s preeminent libraries and highlights its commitment to preserve the world’s most endangered manuscripts,” said Congresswoman Betty McCollum of Saint Paul, who nominated HMML for the award. Over the past forty years HMML has formed partnerships with over 480 libraries and archives, and has photographed more than 120,000 manuscripts in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and India. November 2011 • To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the blessing and dedication of the abbey and university church and the recent completion of The Saint John’s Bible, a concert of sacred music with readings and images from The Saint John’s Bible was presented by The St. John’s Boys’ Choir, Collegeville Consort, and Saint John’s Abbey Schola on 13 November. The concert included the world premiere of the Mass of St. John the Baptist by Karen Lynn Erickson. • On 17 November twenty-nine monks joined with dozens of faculty and staff to serve the annual student Thanksgiving dinner to Saint John’s Prep, University, and School of Theology students. Dining Service director Dave Schoenberg reports that 1,538 students and guests feasted on 200 turkeys, 250 lbs. of dressing, 985 lbs. of mashed potatoes with 48 gallons of gravy, 550 lbs. of corn, 82 lbs. of cranberry relish, and for dessert, 183 pumpkin pies with 60 lbs. of whipped cream.

Tom Kroll

The big, blue sky of the Collegeville prairie took on a smoky hue during a November prescribed burn adjacent to the Gemini Lakes along Saint John’s entry road. The three-to-five-year cycle of burns (both fall and spring) is part of the management of the Saint John’s Abbey Arboretum and Forest, clearing room for younger plants as well as controlling shrub, tree, and other nonprairie growth. Land manager Tom Kroll was assisted by twenty volunteers and arboretum staff members who burned fourteen acres.

Abbey Garden Produce 2011 As of mid November, more than 3262 pound of produce were harvested from the abbey gardens and orchards, including the following: 35 bushels Apples 33 lbs. Asparagus 2 lbs. Basil 38 lbs. Beets 14 lbs. Bok Choi 23 lbs. Broccoli 79 lbs. Carrots 2 lbs. Chervil 3 lbs. Chilies 78 lbs. Cucumbers 25 lbs. Eggplant 100 lbs. Fennel 4 lbs. Garlic 40 lbs. Green Beans 2 lbs. Ground Cherries Kohlrabi 36 lbs. 33 lbs. Lettuce Onions 35 lbs. 2 lbs. Parsley

5 lbs. Peanuts 3 lbs. Peppers 351 lbs. Potatoes 133 lbs. Pumpkins 32 lbs. Radishes 40 lbs. Rhubarb 1 lb. Spring onions 3 lbs. Strawberries 3 lbs. Sugar Pea Pods Squash 525 lbs. 160 lbs. Acorn 23 lbs. Butternut 100 lbs. Sweet Potatoes 4 lbs. Swiss Chard Tiger Eye Dried Beans 4 lbs. 198 lbs. Tomatoes 45 lbs. Watermelon Zucchini 391 lbs.

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

27 October 1961:

10 November 1961: • Abbot Baldwin Dworschak, O.S.B., will bless the Saint John’s new Holtkamp organ on 21 November at 8:30 P.M. After the blessing Flor Peeters, cathedral organist of Malines, Belgium, will play the dedicatory recital. The new organ was designed by Walter Holtkamp and contains 45 separate registers, comprising 65 ranks, amounting to 3295 pipes. The smallest pipe is threeeighths of an inch in length and five millimeters in diameter; the largest pipe is 16 feet long and 12 inches in diameter.

29 September 1961: • Abbot Baldwin Dworschak, ground 14 September for the new Saint John’s Preparatory School. Construction will begin immediately on a dormitory and classroom-study hall, designed to accommodate 480. Administrative offices, a library, and a cafeteria will be temporarily situated in these buildings, which will be completed for the 1962–63 school year. O.S.B., broke

After the groundbreaking ceremonies Abbot Baldwin stated, “By the fall of 1962 it would be impossible to accommodate the number of students enrolled in the prep school because of the large increase in priesthood students. Faced with this problem, the monastic community acted as it had done so often in the past; it decided to meet . . . the need of more effective leadership, clerical and lay. Inopportune as it may seem, financially, to begin a new building program, this is nevertheless what Saint John’s feels it must do to serve the Church in our critical day.” • “Music of Gregorian Chant” is a new series presented on KTCATV on Fridays from 29 September through 26 January taught by Father Dominic Keller, O.S.B. Father Dominic will discuss the basic principles of Gregorian chant, the fundamentals of rhythm according to the Solesmes system, Gregorian notation and modes, psalmody, and liturgical repertoire.

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University archives

“The first day class met, we took down the observatory,” said Father Melchior Freund, O.S.B. “What a way to inaugurate a new astronomy class!” Father Melchior expressed regret that the observatory had to be dismantled to make way for the new prep school. In lieu of an observatory, a student’s telescope will be used this year. • Radio telegrams are a unique partial solution for frustrated phone booth sitters. From a transmitter atop the science hall [Simons Hall] the amateur hams send the radio telegrams (25-word messages) to a central station in the Minnesota phone net, which in turn relays them to their destinations. The recipients are contacted by the nearest ham operator and get their messages over the phone. The six licensed operators of the Radio Club serve under the moderator, Father Casper Keogh, O.S.B.

24 November 1961: • Brother Andrew Goltz, O.S.B., became the first brother to profess his final vows in the new church, Monday, 13 November. Brother Andrew is working in the bursar’s office. Before that he worked in the stained-glass shop and cut much of the glass for the stained glass windows of the new church. 8 December 1961: • Saint John’s Symphony Orchestra, in its seventy-sixth year the fifth oldest symphony orchestra in the United States, will make its second appearance of the season this week. Mr. Gerhard Track will conduct the fifty-member orchestra in works including Haydn’s Symphony no. 26 in D-minor and Gerhard Track’s Symphonic Movement, op. 75. This will be the world’s first presentation of Mr. Track’s Symphonic Movement, a composition in which are interwoven themes of the Johnny Fight Song and the Saint John’s Alma Mater.

Monks in the Kitchen Summer Bounty in Winter Ælred Senna, O.S.B.

he monks of Saint John’s Abbey keep a fairly large garden during the summer months, and quite a few of them are involved in the effort—some with their own section, others helping out as needed. Father Dunstan Moorse organizes and oversees the operation as a whole. A host of others plant, water, weed, feed, and eventually, harvest. Father Tom Gillespie and Brother Isaiah Frederick harvested a wide variety of produce, including squash, chilies, onions, radishes, and lettuce— and even some zinnias. Brothers Nickolas Kleespie and Lew Grobe also tended a variety of plants and fought off armies of potato bugs in their patch. Other monk gardeners include Novice Lucian López, Fathers John Meoska and Don Tauscher, and Brothers Isaac Connolly, David Paul Lange, Simon-Hòa Phan, Paul Richards, Gregory Eibensteiner, and myself. Saint John’s also has a small apple orchard tended by Brother John Hanson along with several other monks who help out with the harvest. Most of the apples are eaten, but some are used for a special apple beverage (see recipe). When tomatoes are ripe, we do our best to consume as much of this delicious fruit as possible at our daily table. As for other produce, we eat a good portion of it as it comes in from the garden but also preserve some for later. Last year, for example, Father John Meoska’s cucumber patch produced an enormous crop, and he personally put up forty gallons

Father John Meoska and his pickles. Ælred Senna, O.S.B.

of pickles, mostly dills and halfsours. This year, Father Dunstan and I each made about twelve gallons of cucumber pickles, and Dunstan made another seven gallons of zucchini pickles. We have stored over 600 pounds of various kinds of squash in one of our root cellars, along with 350 pounds of potatoes and 100 pounds of sweet potatoes.

These are used in our monastic dining room—served with a side of pickles!—for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and throughout the winter months. Mmm, mmm.

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

Hard Apple Cider by Brothers Nick Kleespie and Lew Grobe, Order of Sacred Brewers Start with good (unpasteurized) juice. We press our own apples and get about a gallon of juice per bushel. The flavor depends on the tree and adds to the mystery of the cider. Usually a sweeter cider is preferred. Simmer (don’t boil) the apple juice for about 45 minutes with about 1 lb. of sugar per gallon of juice. (Try different sugars—brown, white, or even honey can be substituted.) Cool to about 100 degrees, then pour the juice into a brewing carboy. Add yeast: one packet of active dry wine or champagne yeast for 5 gallons. Affix an airlock on the carboy, and let it sit in a cool (60 – 75°F) dark place to ferment. After three weeks siphon the cider into another carboy, leaving the settled yeast behind. Allow the siphoned cider to age for two more weeks. The hard cider is then ready to enjoy, to bottle, or to store in a keg.

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In Memoriam Please join the monastic community in prayerful remembrance of our recently deceased family and friends: Robert Atkins

Lavonne Eibensteiner, O.S.B.

James Murray, O.S.B.

Davidica Ballmann, O.S.B.

Catherine Engleson

Joseph Niichel, O.S.B.

John Beckermann

Tarcisio Medina García, O.S.B.

Norma Rangel

Giovanni Bieniek, O.S.B.

Theresa O’Brien Hanley

Abbot Conrad Rausch, O.S.B.

Michael D. Bigger

Roland Hauber, O.S.B.

Miles Rychman

Kathleen G. Botz

Gemma Herrmann, O.S.B.

Eulalia Siebels, O.S.B.

James F. Brum

Rosemary Hoschette, O.S.B.

Emma Thielmann

Mary Odile Cahoon, O.S.B.

Edward Howell

Ernestine Walsh

Rosemary Christensen

Inez T. Jagielski

Neola Winter, O.S.B.

Adeline Dinndorf

Aaron Jensen, O.S.B.

Wilfred Dumm, O.S.B.

M. Elizabeth Klein, O.S.F.

Rita Dwyer

Bede Maniyankary, O.S.B.

Precious in the eyes of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones. --Psalm 116:15

Thankful Pauses from Tanzania The limbless beggar, the AIDS infected mama. I pause, I give thanks, I have health. The street boy washes the car’s windshield, demands money, “I’m hungry.” I pause, I give thanks never to have been without. The orphan baby restfully cradled in my arms. I pause, I give thanks, I have family. Thanksgiving celebrated too far from home, I think of each of you. I pause, I give thanks, I have love. --Richard Koniar

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Mr. Richard Koniar, an alumnus of Saint John’s University and former Peace Corps volunteer, is the director of an orphanage in Tanzania, East Africa, part of Siouxland Tanzania Educational Medical Ministries (STEMM).

Growing a Garden Timothy Backous, O.S.B.

or most of us, “growing a garden” means a few plants behind the house or on the patio. And while even the smallest garden is still an investment of time and energy, things don’t always “grow” the way we had hoped. This year I have heard many stories about what worked and what didn’t. Apparently it was a bad year for tomatoes but a good one for root vegetables. But I’m always struck by the lack of alarm or anxiety when I hear these accounts. Perhaps that’s because, for the occasional gardener, when the elements turn sour and nothing much develops, it’s a minor disappointment but certainly not life threatening. Consider, however, the farmers and their response. A lack of rain or too much of it, an abundance of heat or too little of it can mean the difference between balancing a budget and falling into debt. The stakes are higher when one’s livelihood depends on growth. By way of analogy, there is something for us to consider in terms of the spiritual life. While there are always moments of productivity, they seem to be balanced all too often with times of aridity. And just like other forces of nature, there is no way of anticipating which will happen when. In fact, it is when things are looking brightest that the unexpected can overwhelm us, and the rich soil of our spiritual lives can unexpectedly turn dry. Perhaps that is why Saint Benedict reminds his monks to use their “tools of good works” to help them maintain balance and hope during life’s more troubling events. He ends a rather exhaustive list with this gem: “And finally, never lose hope in God’s mercy” (RB. 4.74).

As we progress in life, it seems necessary to plan for the dry spells, the storms, and the extremes that threaten our normal patterns of growing. To do otherwise is to imperil our understanding of what life is all about. By now we should realize that sometimes the garden reaps a bountiful harvest, but at other times it comes up with little or nothing. Sometimes that is the result of our neglect or laziness, but at other times it is from forces beyond our control. Whatever the case, to hold on to our hope in God’s mercy is the only thing we can do. Unfortunately, nurturing our spiritual lives is not like being a recreational gardener, because our lives—this one and the one to come—depend on its success.

Father Timothy Backous, O.S.B., is headmaster of Saint John’s Prep School.

To hold on to our hope in God’s mercy is the only thing we can do.

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Abbey Banner 4 This Issue Robin Pierzina, O.S.B. 5 Reflections on the Church at 50 Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B. 6 Monastic Profession 7 New Prior for Fujimi 8 Benedictine Volunteer Corps Paul Rolfes Thomas Joyce 10 Sustainability and Stewardship Nicholas Moe

Winter 2011 12 Celebrating the Abbey Church Thomas Fisher R. William Franklin Glenda Isaacs Burgeson 18 Faith in Action: Campus Ministry Benjamin DeMarais Amanda Castonguay 20 Running the Path of Life Joseph Gair 21 This I Believe Daniel Morgan, O.S.B. 22 Meet a Monk: Julian Schmiesing Alberic Culhane, O.S.B.

24 New Benedictine Books Barry Hudock 25 Abbey Chronicle and Fifty Years Ago Robin Pierzina, O.S.B. 29 Monks in the Kitchen: Summer Bounty in Winter Ælred Senna, O.S.B. 30 In Memoriam 30 Poetry Richard Koniar 31 Spiritual Life: Growing a Garden Timothy Backous, O.S.B.

Small Group Retreat

February 2012 Lenten Retreat: The Lenten Journey Director: Father Eric Hollas, O.S.B. The retreat begins with supper at 6:00 P.M. on Friday and concludes following lunch on Sunday. Cost: Single room, $180; double room, $300 ($150 per person); meals included. Register online at www.abbeyguesthouse.org; or call: 320.363.3929. 24—26

Benedictine Days of Prayer 6

January 2012: I’m smart, but how enlightened am I? New Year, new life.

February 2012: The winter solstice is behind us. Are we feeling any light-er?

March 2012: The last days of Jesus’ life. How did he prepare himself?

April 2012: Has Easter over the years made any difference in my life? Easter morality.

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.

Volume 11, Number 3