Abbey Banner - Winter 2014 by Saint John's Abbey

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Let all the trees of the wood shout for joy at the presence of the LORD, for he comes, he comes to rule the earth.

Psalm 96:12-13

Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

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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: Roman Paur, O.S.B. Abbey archivist: David Klingeman, O.S.B. University archivists: Peggy Roske, Elizabeth Knuth Design: Alan Reed, O.S.B. Circulation: Ruth Athmann, Mary Gouge, Jan Jahnke, Danielle Schmiesing, Cathy Wieme Printed by Palmer Printing Copyright © 2014 by Order of Saint Benedict Saint John’s Abbey Collegeville, Minnesota 56321-2015 abbeybanner@csbsju.edu saintjohnsabbey.org/banner/ ISSN: 2330-6181 (print) ISSN: 2332-2489 (online)

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

This Issue

Revolution of Tenderness

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

Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B.

This issue of Abbey Banner focuses on monastic stewardship. Benedictines, by virtue of their vow of stability, become a people of place. Saint John’s commitment to good stewardship of this place dates to its foundation in the mid 1800s. This commitment has inspired and guided any number of projects, such as the establishment of Minnesota’s oldest pine plantation by pioneer monks, habitat restoration projects (wetlands, prairie, and oak savanna), and studies of more efficient and ecologicallysound means of energy production. The buildings and grounds at Saint John’s reflect the care and vision inspired by Benedictine stewardship. Brother Aaron Raverty presents an overview of recent initiatives undertaken by the monks as stewards of this place, our home. Stewardship is not limited to our home, however. Honoring the heritage of other cultures is also a part of the community’s practice of stewardship. Brother Paul-Vincent Niebauer tells of his personal contribution to preserving an art form. Father Columba Stewart outlines the heroic efforts, in the face of horrific conditions, to conserve the rich history of learning and faith in war-torn Iraq. No place is more central to monastic life than the church: a place of daily prayer and worship, a place expressing the faith of the community both to its members and to its neighbors. Dr. Victoria Young tells the story of soul mates—architect Marcel Breuer and the monks of Saint John’s Abbey—and their creative synergy to plan and build a sacred space. During the days of Advent the Christian world prepares for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Abbot John Klassen opens this issue with a reflection on the leadership and inspiration that Pope Francis offers the Church and the world, in word and example. Both point to Jesus, the Son of God who became flesh. The late Father Daniel Durken, founding editor of Abbey Banner, examines Christmas cards as he explores the approach of each gospel writer to Jesus’ presence in our midst. Dum vixi tacui mortua dulce cano. While I lived I kept silent; in death I sing sweetly. This Latin saying could apply to any musical instrument made of wood. Mr. Matthew Palmquist describes his creative labor of love to craft a guitar, gracing silent wood with a voice to sing. Mr. Christopher Morgan reflects on learning through listening.

Cover: Architect Marcel Breuer and his masterpiece Photo: Lee Hanley

In this issue we are introduced to Collegeville seminarians, to books on spirituality, to a monk and missionary, and more. The editorial staff of Abbey Banner joins with Abbot John and the monks of Saint John’s Abbey in offering prayers and best wishes to all our readers for a blessed Christmas and Epiphany. God bless us, everyone! Brother Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

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ccording to a Time magazine article (23 December 2013) by Howard Chua-Eoan and Elizabeth Dias: on the edge of Buenos Aires, Argentina, there is a nothing little street called Pasaje C. It is a bed of dried mud leading into a slum. There is a church, the Immaculate Virgin, toward the end of the pasaje. The streets go from A to K, and the squatter housing along them has been constructed from hastily compressed brick chips. The word asesino—murderer— is scrawled on the wall of a burned-out house that was torched in retaliation for another shooting.

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This Pasaje C is where Father Jorge Bergoglio first ministered, and it is the street to which he routinely returned as cardinal and archbishop of Buenos Aires. When he chose the name Francis, Cardinal Bergoglio was telegraphing his mission to all of us: “I prefer a Church which is bruised, dirty, and hurting because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church that is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security” (Evangelii Gaudium [Joy of the Gospel], 49). In speaking and acting in such a pastoral manner, Pope Francis has not changed one item of doctrine. Rather, he is taking us back to the core mission of the Church: “God so loved the world—the cosmos, the creation, the human family—that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him, might not perish but might have eternal life. God did not send the Son to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17). Pope Francis is taking us back to the mission of Jesus Christ, to the core purpose for his coming as a human being to this little planet. He warns us against wanting a purely spiritual Christ, without flesh and without the cross. Watch out for the voice that says: “Let’s avoid all these messy relationships, these face-to-face encounters. Why can’t salvation be virtual! Do it as a text message!” Pope Francis is surely right when he says: “True faith in the incarnate Son of God is inseparable from self-giving, from membership in the community, from service, from reconciliation with others. The Son of God, by becoming flesh, summons us to the revolution of tenderness” (Evangelii Gaudium, 88). The Son of God took on, not just a human nature, but human nature itself. And his name is Jesus, because he saves us from our sins.

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Monastic Jubilees Transfer Christmas Cards ofand the aGospels sign at the Bethlehem Inn and the manger in which Mary lays her swaddled firstborn son. Luke reminds us that a manger is a feeding trough, and the French word manger means “to eat.” The Christmas Christ was born to feed us with his body and blood.

Daniel Durken, O.S.B.

s we enter the final days of Advent, and Christmas cards from friends and family continue to arrive, I invite you to shop with me for original Christmas cards at the Mall of Jerusalem. We will visit four card shops operated by Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. Our first stop is at the original HallMARK Store. But when we ask Mark to show us his Christmas cards, he responds, “Christmas? What is Christmas?” We explain that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus, but Mark states that when writing his Gospel he was not interested in the infancy and adolescent years of Jesus. He says, “I decided to write a brief account of Jesus’ life. I started with the adult Jesus—baptized by John, tempted by Satan in the desert, and immediately beginning his ministry. Sorry, I have no Christmas cards.” A sign directs us to “Matthew’s Mountain-Top Shoppe.” We remember Matthew’s frequent mention of mountains, from the very high mountain of Jesus’ third temptation and his Sermon on the Mount to the commissioning of his disciples on a mountain in Galilee. Matthew shows us his Christmas card collection. The first one we see contains the family This article is a revised version of “Christmas Card Shopping at the Mall of Jerusalem,” first published in Abbey Banner (Volume 1, number 3, Winter 2001).

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Luke adds to his collection the shepherd visitors who came at the bidding of angels singing, “Glory to God, . . . peace on earth.” He also shows us another family tree of Jesus, considerably different from Matthew’s. Whereas Matthew’s tree starts at the roots with Abraham and goes to the top with Jesus, Luke’s starts at

the top with Jesus and goes to the very root with Adam, the first “son of God.” Our final shopping stop is John’s Unique Boutique. (John’s Gospel is very different from the other three.) John’s response to our request to see his Christmas cards is similar to Mark’s. He says, “As a Johnny-come-lately to this greeting card business, I do not compete with the collections of Matthew and Luke. All I have is this decorative banner that reads, ‘The WORD became FLESH and made his dwelling among us.’ These ten words sum up the essence of Christmas.”

Our shopping completed, we review our purchases. We are amazed at the differences of these four card shops. We appreciate the unique contribution of each Gospel and will henceforth look carefully at the Christmas cards we send and receive, and note from which shop, or combination of shops, they come. B Father Daniel Durken, O.S.B. (1929– 2014), the founding editor of Abbey Banner, was a teacher, preacher, and publisher during his sixty-four years of monastic life. All images: Frank Kacmarcik, Obl.S.B. Arca Artium Collection Hill Museum & Manuscript Library

Luke’s Gospel: an angel gives directions to shepherds.

tree of Jesus with such names as Abraham, David, Amminadab, and Zerubbabel. Several women, including Tamar, Ruth, and, of course, Mary, add a feminine touch to the paternal pattern. Matthew is particularly proud of his line of Joseph cards that focus on Mary’s husband, who no less than four times is given directives in a dream—much like the Old Testament Joseph of The Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat fame who was called “the master dreamer” for interpreting the dreams of the Egyptian Pharaoh. He had protected and saved his family just as Matthew’s Joseph had done.

Matthew’s cards also feature the beautifully lettered name Emmanuel, taken from Isaiah’s prophecy and meaning “God is with us.” Matthew, moreover, has the popular Three Kings (a.k.a. Magi) cards with the accompanying star of Bethlehem and is considering adding a “scratch and sniff” element so that the aroma of frankincense can be detected! Next we enter Luke’s Two-Story Emporium, named after his two New Testament works, the Third Gospel and Acts of the Apostles. At last we find the Christmas scenes that most delight us. They depict the familiar “No Vacancy”

Matthew’s Gospel: the Magi follow the Bethlehem star.

Mary and the child Jesus

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Benedictine Volunteer Corps Making Music Matthew Palmquist

returned to Collegeville in January 2014 to serve the monastic community as a Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps member. In February I began what became a demanding yet wonderful adventure by deciding to build my first acoustic guitar. I had worked at the abbey woodworking shop as a student, but I had never attempted something this challenging. For the next six months I spent most nights and weekends working on the guitar, following a textbook, and filling in the understanding gaps with just enough luck. In building a musical instrument, what I found most difficult was not the process of assembling— though that had some challenges,

Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) for the top. For centuries the oils of these trees were used in medicinal balms and poultices by the Ojibwe and Lakota tribes of the Midwest. The wood is also rot resistant and fragrant, and is used in cedar chests and in fence posts. Silver maple (Acer saccharinum) for the back of the guitar. This particular slab of wood came from Saint John’s—from two very old trees commonly referred to by the community as the Mary and Joseph trees—that were taken down in 2010 because the trees were rotting and could potentially come crashing down on the west cloister walk of the church and the brick wall between the Great Hall and the church. I counted the rings and determined that these trees were 106 years old in 2010, which means they were likely planted shortly after the destructive 1894 Collegeville tornado. Norway spruce (Picea abies) for the braces. This wood came from a tree that was felled near Saint John’s Preparatory School in 2011. According to Mr. Tom Kroll, abbey land manager, this stand of spruce was the first reforestation project in Minnesota. The seeds for the trees were brought from the Black Forest of Germany by the pioneer monks and are the oldest and largest trees at Saint John’s. Black ash (Fraxinus nigra) for the sides and neck. A native tree to Minnesota, black ash is, sadly, being threatened by the emerald ash borer, an invasive insect that eats the leaves of mature trees and is causing severe changes in the population of these trees in the Midwest. Black walnut (Juglans nigra) for the fingerboard and inlays. Native to southeastern Minnesota, this tree is prized by woodworkers for its beautifully rich and dark color.

Matthew Palmquist

fellow Benedictine Volunteer Jacob Helmer and I were invited to attend. We arrived at the parish church in Hanga at the designated time, which of course was an hour too early! But that was alright because we then were asked to sing in the choir. This was a bit of a mess due to the words being in Swahili and my inability to stay in synchronized motion with the rest of the choir. Yet, I loved it. The church choir members always have the best time at Masses because they get to make a whole lot of joyful noises that get the spirit moving while being active participants in the sacrament. Many things happened during the ceremony: people everywhere taking pictures, children being baptized, women yelling whenever the priest made a comment about the bride, and a rooster running all over the place cock-a-doodledoo-ing.

This guitar is built from these species of local trees:

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such as steam bending wood, and precise measurements—but rather the design and visualization of the end product. I interpret the word “instrument” to mean a tool, or a means used to produce a certain end. I was looking for a tool and a sound that would be fully representative of myself. This

guitar is, therefore, an extension of myself as an artist and as a musician. I chose to build my guitar out of locally available Minnesota hardwoods from the Saint John’s woods, hoping to create a sound that would be truly unique to this place and to my identity.

Aidan Putnam

Detail of building a guitar

I have always been interested in the process of creation: how music is made, how buildings are erected, how forests are planted, and how all these things grow and evolve into beautiful and even more amazing things than a creator could have imagined. In this project, I wanted to be part of the entire creative process: from milling the trees into lumber, to drying and dimensioning the wood, to building the guitar, and now creating music and using the instrument for its true purpose.

African Adventures Mark Steingraeber

ince arriving in Tanzania, East Africa, I have attended a wedding, gone on safari, hitchhiked, swam in an African river, played soccer with Africans, and traveled to Zambia. A worker in the local dispensary was married earlier this fall, and

The community here is wonderful. The monastery is small but filled with words of wisdom—and proverbs painted on stones placed along the walkways of the cloistered area. We have been bouncing from one adventure to the next, trying to be of service and allowing God to shape the rough wooden log of our lives.

I thank the monastic community for letting me be a part of their lives for the last year, allowing me to learn and grow with them during my stay, and for encouraging me not to give up! Mr. Matthew Palmquist is a 2012 alumnus of Saint John’s University. Thanks to readers of Abbey Banner who support the Benedictine Volunteers through prayer and donations. Visit our website at saintjohnsabbey.org/bvc.

Mr. Mark Steingraeber, a 2014 graduate of Saint John’s University, is serving at Hanga Abbey in Tanzania along with Mr. Jacob Helmer. BVC

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Jake Helmer assisting in the clinic in Hanga, Tanzania

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Stewardship and Sustainability Aaron Raverty, O.S.B.

hile climate change and globalization are currently “hot” topics, Benedictines have, from their earliest days, been stalwart supporters of stewardship and sustainability efforts. In a paper presented at an interreligious dialogue conference at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky in 2008, Sister Renée Branigan, O.S.B., observed, “Every Catholic monastic community that started out in America had the same initial plan: make do. Most communities had early days of poverty ranging from dire to not-so-bad, and those were the days that were probably the most environmentally friendly in our history.” Stewardship is a Benedictine value, and as such, an extension and intensification of Christian values. In fact, stewardship is at the heart of our vowed life; as Sister Renée goes on to say, “good stewardship of the earth is inseparable from our promise of stability.” It is never enough to say, “We cannot go fully green because we haven’t enough gold.” We need to shift the focus from economics to the deeper values of the environment and start there. We must be innovative, creative—and sacrificial. “Good Practices of Catholic Monastic Communities in North America” Sister Renée Branigan, O.S.B. May 2008

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The monks of Saint John’s Abbey are committed to be good stewards of the environmental resources with which we have been blessed, and seek, in the twenty-first century, to continue and broaden the stewardship practices and determination dating to our founders. One noteworthy example is the abbey solar farm installed in November 2009 with a $2 million grant from the Xcel Energy renewable development fund. The solar farm was carefully designed to have minimal environmental impact, in addition to providing an opportunity for educational outreach to students attending our schools as well as to groups of visitors. The 3.9 acre plot originally set aside for the solar array consists of 1,820 modules capable of producing 575,000 kW of electricity annually. That translates into four percent of Saint John’s total annual energy needs.

the use of energy-efficient LED replacement bulbs.

In November 2014 the abbey solar farm was expanded with 616 new solar panels. Partially funded by Xcel Energy through a grant from the renewable development fund, these panels will be capable of producing nearly 230,000 kW of solar power annually—enough to power approximately twenty-nine homes. The fixed-rack mounting of the panels (compared to the single-axis tracking system in place since 2009) will enable Saint John’s to compare the performance and effectiveness of the two types of solar panels. Savings likewise come from the abbey’s continuing recycling efforts and

Saint John’s University is a partner of the abbey in its stewardship efforts. In 2007 Brother Dietrich Reinhart, O.S.B., signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, promising thereby to minimize carbon emissions and to come up with alternatives to those emissions that cannot be eliminated, with the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2035. Mr. Jacob Saffert, current university sustainability fellow, reports that the university has already surpassed its pledge to reduce carbon emissions by fifty percent by 2030. As of summer 2014, emissions were reduced by

fifty-six percent from 2007–2008 levels, due largely to the shift away from burning coal.

Those who visit Saint John’s frequently may have noticed that the large stockpile of coal behind the campus powerhouse is gone. Coal boilers were installed in the powerhouse in the 1940s, and throughout the succeeding decades coal has been an important energy source. However, in response to rising coal costs and to Saint John’s commitment to reducing our carbon footprint, the powerhouse began using natural gas as a primary fuel source in April 2011. The campus has since made a commitment to discontinue use of coal, and the coal boilers have been decommissioned. Looking to the future, Saint John’s would prefer to rely on the likes of solar power as a clean and reliable energy source. Although only a dream at present, such a scenario may someday become a reality.

The monastic community has been caring for the land and wildlife surrounding Saint John’s since the mid 1800s. The state of Minnesota designated Saint John’s lands as a wildlife refuge in 1933; Saint John’s designated its lands as a natural arboretum in 1997. Today the abbey arboretum supports numerous stewardship projects, including prescribed burns in the fall and spring, maple syrup collection in the spring, controlled deer hunts in the fall, and educational efforts year round. Invasive species can disrupt prairie habitat; prescribed burns help quash their growth and at the same time encourage the proliferation of native plant species, as well as birds, mammals, and butterflies. Controlled burns actually stimulate native prairie species to thrive and blossom with renewed vigor. Those who have had the pleasure of sampling Saint John’s maple syrup know how sweet it is! In the 1940s monks began collecting maple sap in the spring and overseeing its transformation into maple syrup. Today an army of volunteers—neighbors, students, and the Saint John’s Outdoor University staff—assists in the annual operation, turning it into an educational and familyfriendly enterprise.

The original Saint John’s Abbey solar farm, 2010

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The large population of deer that lives in the abbey woods

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Preserving Amahl and the Night Visitors degrades young trees and many other native shrubs. A controlled deer hunt almost every fall helps assure a better population balance with less habitat destruction. The result promotes a win-win situation for both deer and native plant and tree species. The newest abbey initiative involves our food. We monks are no longer putting table scraps in the landfill. According to Brother Isidore Glyer, O.S.B., a trash audit in 2012 revealed that we were throwing out about 65 pounds of food waste per week— approximately two tons a year. Since beginning this initiative we have been reducing by at least a half ton per year the food scraps put in the landfill and providing

welcome fodder for local farm animals. The pioneer monks of Saint John’s Abbey, working with our neighbors, 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 the enjoyment of future generations. In the twentyfirst century, the monastic community continues that commitment to stewardship and sustainability. Father William Skudlarek, O.S.B., wisely adjures us to be heedful but also hopeful: “A rich tradition of preserving

and beautifying their natural surroundings leads monks to believe their way of life can offer guidance and encouragement to a society that is finally coming to grips with the realization that it will have to treat the world differently if there is to be a world to pass on to future generations” (Green Monasticism: A Buddhist–Catholic Response to an Environmental Calamity, 1–2). B

Brother Aaron Raverty, O.S.B., a member of the Abbey Banner editorial staff, is the author of Refuge in Crestone: A Sanctuary for Interreligious Dialogue (Lexington Books, 2014).

Stewardship—defined in this case as the ability to exercise moral responsibility to care for the environment—requires freedom to act. . . . True stewardship requires changes in human actions—both in moral behavior and technical advancement. Our religious tradition has always urged restraint and moderation in the use of material goods, so we must not allow our desire to possess more material things to overtake our concern for the basic needs of people and the environment. Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence, and the Common Good United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, June 2001

A controlled burn of the abbey prairie lands, 2011

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Joe Saladino

Paul-Vincent Niebauer, O.S.B.

s a child my summers were spent putting on backyard carnivals, circuses, magic shows, and puppet shows. My first puppet show was given in kindergarten with a classmate, Liz Bussey. Many years after our kindergarten production, Liz and I would pick up where we left off: joining the Franzen Bros. Circus, where we ran a sideshow that featured magic, fire-eating, and a puppet show. After thirteen years of trouping with various circuses, I found myself pulled by my other boyhood love, the Catholic Church, and eventually discerned a call to monastic life at Saint John’s Abbey. Following my initial formation in the monastery, I was assigned the job of creating a theater program at Saint John’s Preparatory School. Eventually, I also began a summer circus camp for area youngsters. So much for leaving showbiz behind! In 2006 I learned that, while an undergrad studying abroad in London, Liz Bussey had gotten to know John and Lyndie Wright, master puppeteers who operated the Little Angel Puppet Theatre in London. Lyndie had twenty-three puppets that she and her husband had been commissioned to build by Queen Elizabeth II, in staging Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera Amahl and the Night Visitors for the opening of the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1967. The puppets were in need of a home, but because they were so large, some almost life-size, they had

Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

Brother Paul-Vincent Niebauer (center) admires Amahl and Amahl’s mother.

become too expensive to store. Lyndie was too attached to the puppets to simply sell them. She was hoping to find a home for them—a home where they would be appreciated as well as have a chance to perform again. Fascinated by this story, I decided that this was an opportunity too wonderful to pass up! Saint John’s Preparatory School paid for shipping the entire cast of twenty-three puppets from London. I restored the puppets during a sabbatical in 2012. The horse was in tough shape, but it was the kings that required the most work, replacing parts of the head pieces. I did very little painting, however, because I

didn’t want to touch the remarkable, expressive faces. I also did a complete makeover of the props, replaced a few feathers, and spent a lot of time making custom niches for storage. The ensemble is now patiently awaiting its first public performance in fifty years, tentatively scheduled for January 2017, to be staged by students and faculty of the College of Saint Benedict, Saint John’s University, and Saint John’s Preparatory School. B Brother Paul-Vincent Niebauer, O.S.B., is the vocation director and communications director of Saint John’s Abbey.

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Hill Museum & Manuscript Library in Iraq Columba Stewart, O.S.B.

orld news became very personal to the staff and friends of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML) last summer as conflict embroiled northern Iraq. For the past five years HMML has been working with Father Nageeb Michael, O.P., and his Dominican confreres in Mosul, Iraq, to digitize the manuscript heritage of ancient Mesopotamian Christianity. Mosul, built on the site of the ancient biblical city of Nineveh, was at the crossroads of important trade routes to India, Persia, and the Mediterranean. It became a center where several religious traditions flourished and where their ancient manuscripts—some dating to the seventh century or earlier—were stored in Mosul’s churches and museums. The survival of these manuscripts testifies to the profound meaning they have in the cultural memory of traditional communities. Concerned about the thousands of Christian manuscripts held by communities in Mosul and across Iraq, Father Nageeb founded the Centre Numérique des Manuscrits Orientaux (Digital Center for Eastern Manuscripts, or CNMO) in 2003. He began by going door-to-door, collecting these manuscripts, digitizing them, and then returning them to their owners. In 2008 the Dominicans were forced to leave Mosul because of kidnapping threats. They relocated to the Christian village

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A page from a 16–17th century liturgical book from Al Tahira Syriac Catholic Church in Qaraqosh. This collection may have been destroyed.

of Qaraqosh, fifteen miles east of Mosul, which was under the protection of Kurdish militia. There Father Nageeb trained young Iraqis in manuscript conservation and digitization techniques. After some years of trying to establish contact with them—not an easy matter after the 2003 U.S. invasion—I was finally able to go to Iraq with Lebanese colleagues on Ash Wednesday of 2009. We traveled throughout northern Iraq, and I was able to visit Qaraqosh. During that first encounter I was introduced to the locals as a French Benedictine, since being an American was problematic in a region that had

been protected from militants during Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship. Though CNMO was still building its new facility, I saw some of the magnificent manuscripts that had been brought to the north for safety. A partnership emerged as the Hill Library began actively supporting CNMO’s work by providing more sophisticated equipment for digitizing, supporting intensive training in manuscript conservation in Lebanon, and cataloging. The situation seemed stable, and the work proceeded at an amazing pace. I made two further visits— now as an American Benedictine!—to a much calmer Qaraqosh.

Then came the summer of 2014. I was in Egypt when I heard of the sudden attack on Mosul by Sunni extremists in mid-June. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) occupied ancient churches, replacing the crosses on their towers with the black flag of their Islamic Caliphate. The Christians of Mosul were forced to choose between conversion or exile. Manuscripts digitized by CNMO in the churches of Mosul and in the nearby Monastery of Mar Behnam were now under ISIS control. In an email Father Nageeb assured me that Kurdish forces were protecting Qaraqosh from the ISIS onslaught and that ISIS had chosen to bypass the

town and its Christian residents. However, on 26 June ISIS launched an attack on Qaraqosh. Father Nageeb reported that most of the residents had fled. The Dominicans stayed in Qaraqosh, and soon the other residents returned, confident that their Kurdish protectors would ensure their safety. We soon received five computer hard drives full of manuscript images taken at CNMO in recent months. It seems that ISIS, by now the “Islamic State,” still had designs on the region, however. On 6 August the Kurdish militia abandoned Qaraqosh and other Christian villages in northern Iraq. The entire population of Qaraqosh, some forty thousand people, grabbed whatever they could carry and walked the forty miles to Erbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. The Dominicans managed to evacuate their manuscripts and archives but had to leave behind all of the studio equipment in Qaraqosh. While the media focused on the plight of the Yazidi people trapped on Mount Sinjar, more than one hundred thousand Christians were uprooted from towns and villages that had been Christian for more than 1700 years. The deChristianization begun in Mosul spread across the Nineveh Plain. Father Nageeb and I have kept in close touch by phone and email, even as he has focused most of his attention on the refugee crisis in Erbil. Even so, we’re helping CNMO to get going again in its third location. There are more manuscripts to digitize, the

urgency made the more acute by the destruction of many previously-digitized manuscripts now behind ISIS lines. The story of Father Nageeb and his team is just one among many. The Hill Library also worked in Syria for several years until 2012, with a focus on the now-divided city of Aleppo. We partnered with several churches, Orthodox and Catholic. The Syriac Orthodox archbishop, one of the strongest supporters of HMML’s efforts, was kidnapped in April 2013 along with his Greek Orthodox counterpart; neither has been heard from since. Other projects in Homs and Damascus preserved manuscripts whose fate remains unknown.

The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library is spreading its efforts to embrace Islamic manuscripts threatened by the same intolerant fanaticism on display in Syria and Iraq, with projects underway for the manuscripts rescued from Timbuktu in Mali and several libraries in Jerusalem. Preserving culture is embedded in the Benedictine genome. The location or language may change, but the instinct is the same: copy, safeguard, and share. B

Father Columba Stewart, O.S.B., is the executive director of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library.

Mary and Jesus are in the center of this image in a 19th-century book of psalms and hymns from the Mar Benham Monastery collection near Mosul.

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Breuer and the Benedictines Victoria M. Young

ow did Mr. Marcel Breuer, a Hungarianborn New York Citybased architect end up building his largest collection of structures in Stearns County, Minnesota? And, why did the Benedictines of Saint John’s Abbey hire him when the most important building in the complex was a sacred space, something the architect had not yet designed? After Alan Reed, years of research and The work of Marcel Breuer was the cornerstone of a liturgically reformed Catholic architecture. discussions, I am I was pleased to learn, however, the Benedictines’ midcentury work convinced that Mr. Breuer and the that Father Virgil was also very at Saint John’s. Benedictines were soul mates of a interested in the architectural sort. Both were humble, open to competence of the movement. On its own, the form of the new ideas, bold in their visions, In a 1924 letter to Abbot abbey and university church and respectful. This enabled a Alcuin Deutsch, O.S.B., Father is tremendously powerful. It collaboration of the highest order. Virgil stated that the current is sculpture in the truest sense, Certainly a noteworthy church abbey church—the nineteenthcarved and shaped out of recould have been designed by century brick, Romanesque inforced concrete in the bell bansome of the other prominent Revival building—was a “great ner that vigorously proclaims architects considered for the handicap” to the development the building’s presence, and project, including Barry Byrne, of Saint John’s leadership in the pleated concrete folds that Walter Gropius, Richard Neutra, the movement. In his 1936 define the space of the ritual held Eero Saarinen, and Rudolf “Architecture and the Liturgy” within. Function drove form here Schwarz. But Marcel Breuer lecture delivered to architects in the masterful interpretation and his associates, Hamilton in Saint Paul (later published in of the modernist architectural Smith and Robert Gatje, created Liturgical Arts magazine), he philosophy, championed by Mr. a commanding visual form encouraged an understanding Breuer and his contemporaries. that shaped space around an of liturgical architecture as But without a determined buildimportant renewed liturgical “artistic construction” that “must ing team led by McGough Consensibility. Father Virgil Michel, embody an ideal.” Father Virgil struction and foreman Mr. Ted O.S.B. (1890–1938), had led the laid the groundwork for art Hoffmeyer, as well as Mr. Breuer’s charge to make Saint John’s and architecture to support and onsite architect Mr. Val Michelson, Abbey the center of the liturgical beautify the liturgy and monasthis structure would only exist in reform movement in the first half ticism, an ideal that became the the minds of the designers. of the twentieth century. cornerstone of Marcel Breuer and O.S.B.

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The Benedictines took a bold step, seeking out modern architects that favored functionalism and an honest use of materials. Although this appeared to many as architectural risk-taking, it was really a tribute to tradition. The most prevalent theme in the study and design of twentiethcentury sacred space has been that of tradition versus modernism, and I found the inversion of this duality—tradition and modernism—to be a fascinating subtext as I researched this story. Although the forms were unlike anything seen before in church design, the Benedictines were deeply rooted in the past. They believed they were upholding the prestige and forward-thinking nature of the Order of Saint Benedict in building a structure that took its formal cues from engineering, just as their medieval counterparts had done when they were at the forefront of the creation of the Gothic.

religious architecture after the Second Vatican Council, when modern building methods and materials were added to the traditional lexicon of church design. The work of Marcel Breuer and his associates was also the cornerstone of a liturgically reformed American and international Catholic architecture. Working together through all the architectural details, from how high the altar predella should be, to what was the most efficient formwork for the concrete

hexagons, enabled Mr. Breuer, the Benedictines, and the builders from McGough to create architectural significance at the mid-century. It is my hope that the book I have written conveys the power of this collaboration and the determination of client, architect, and builder. B Dr. Victoria M. Young, a member of the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Review Board, is professor of modern architectural history and chair of the art history department at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul.

For information about Saint John’s Abbey Church: Marcel Breuer and the Creation of a Modern Sacred Space by Victoria M. Young (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014), see www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/ books/saint-johns-abbey-church; call 612.627.1970; or order from http:// bookstore.csbsju.edu/sjub/shop_product_detail.asp?type=3&pf_id=37363.

The power of this place, its church, and the people who built it will endure for generations. The liturgical concerns evaluated and presented in the church’s design facilitated an emphasis on unity that became the cornerstone of The evolution of the design of the Saint John’s Abbey Church, from first sketches to the finally erected building, is a fascinating record of that rare symbiosis between architect and client that produces extraordinary results. The building is unlike anything Breuer had designed before and probably better than anything he designed thereafter. Bernard Jacob, F.A.I.A., March 1981

Olga Ivanova

The form of the church is sculpture in the truest sense.

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I believe one of the most important choices we made as a community was our choice of Marcel Breuer as architect of the place where we come every day to renew our faith and our vision; where we celebrate what is most personally ours and what is most nobly human; where our actions witness the great deeds God has done and where we confirm our covenant with the one who is our God. With such vision can this place where we gather daily be anything less than a vehicle to meet the Lord and to encounter one another? Abbot Baldwin Dworschak, O.S.B. Fall 1981

University archives

Plans and details of the Saint John’s Abbey Church were based upon a meticulously reexamined liturgical tradition. To crystalize this tradition was a vital contribution of the devoted monastic community at Saint John’s to the building. Although the church may be a new sensation to the eye, its architectural concepts resemble those of religious buildings in the Middle Ages. Church architecture at its best is always identical with the logic of enclosure. I merely put a shell around the sacred space designed by the monastic community. How much we will be affected by the building, how much it will signify its reverent purpose will depend on the courage it manifests in facing the ancient task: to render the enclosed space a part of infinite space. Marcel Breuer, speaking at the Walker Art Center, Fall 1961 Photos: Alan Reed, O.S.B.

Collegeville Seminarians Michael Patella, O.S.B.

aint John’s Seminary reflects the broad spectrum of the Church, both in the variety of religious communities sending men to Collegeville as well as in their countries of origin. Together with the students in the School of Theology, who hail from China, Japan, Korea, and across the U.S., the seminarians provide a unique set of experiences that add to the exciting theological atmosphere at Saint John’s. Coming from Vietnam are three Cistercian monks, Brothers Andrew Ho, Emmanuel Nguyen, and Thomas Thai. Each built on his previous English studies by enrolling in the abbey’s eight-week English as a Second Language Institute during summer 2014. They are currently earning a certificate and may be approved for the master of divinity degree prior to graduation. Brother Thomas reflects: “At Saint John’s Seminary I have the opportunity to put my studies into practice through celebrating the Liturgy of the Hours and Eucharist. That is very attractive to me.” Commonly referred to as the Crosiers, the Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross have their roots in twelfthcentury Belgium and established themselves in nearby Onamia, Minnesota, in 1922. The basic structure of their community life has much in common with Benedictine monasticism, so Brothers Alex Juguilon (third year) and José Velázquez Florencio (second year) find seminary

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studies at Saint John’s to be a natural fit. “The greatest impact on my formation as a priest,” observes Brother Alex, “has come from my interaction with astute, challenging lay men and women at Saint John’s. Their accomplishments both inside and outside the institutional Church have inspired me to consider possibilities for evangelization far beyond the conventional or the convenient.”

Trinity Benedictine Monastery to serve the Church as ordained ministers, using their diverse gifts for the transformation of our world. B Father Michael Patella, O.S.B., rector of Saint John’s Seminary, is a professor of New Testament at Saint John’s University School of Theology.

Among the American Benedictines pursuing priesthood studies are first-year seminarians Brothers Reginald Udouj (Subiaco Abbey, Arkansas) and Albrecht Nyce (Glastonbury Abbey, Massachusetts). Brother Dominic Leo, also a first-year seminarian, is from Saint Peter’s Abbey in Muenster, Saskatchewan, a daughter house of Saint John’s, founded by Abbot Peter Engel, O.S.B., in 1903.

uests of Trinity Benedictine Monastery who are familiar with the handsome furniture crafted by the Saint John’s Abbey Woodworking staff probably feel very much at home when visiting the Japanese community. In 1998, during a working sabbatical, Father James Tingerthal, O.S.B. (1934–2009), assembled, container shipped, and reassembled furniture designed by Brother David Manahan, O.S.B., and Father Roman Paur, O.S.B., and made by abbey woodworking for use throughout the Fujimi monastery and guesthouse. In 2010 Father Roman offered to supplement the homemade Minnesota furniture by designing and constructing new sanctuary furnishings for the monastery chapel. With the permission of Father John Meoska, O.S.B., then abbey woodworking manager, and with guidance from master craftsmen Mr. Mike Roske and Mr. Bob Lillard, Father Roman completed the entire project of seventeen pieces, all in Saint John’s red oak, including an altar, lectern, presider’s chair, benches, stands, and tables, as well as a podium made of maple. Mr. Rob Stoeckel, paint shop coordinator, assisted with the staining and sealing of the wood, after which all the furniture was disassembled, packed into six boxes weighing seventy pounds each, and taken to Japan on two trips as checked baggage.

The seminary population also includes several monks who call Saint John’s Abbey their home: Brothers Lewis Grobe and Nickolas Kleespie (fourth year), Isaiah Frederick (third year), David Allen (second year), and Efrain Rosado (first year). Brother Isaiah appreciates the breadth and inclusivity of the Saint John’s program: “The seminary provides a unique opportunity to learn and to grow alongside future Catholic theologians and ecclesial ministers as well as those from other denominations.” Honoring the mission of Saint John’s Seminary, these men seek

Fujimi Furniture

Brother Alex Juguilon, O.S.C.

Paul Middlestaedt

Roman reassembled the ensemble in time for the profession of

Abbey archives

Father Roman crafting furniture for Japan

first vows of the community’s three novices on 21 November 2010. He also made a tabernacle chest and ambry of Philippine teakwood from pieces left over from the construction of the

Fujimi monastery floors years earlier. Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B., blessed the new furnishings in place during Morning Prayer on the feast of Christ the King. B

Fujimi chapel furnishings, made in Minnesota

Roman Paur, O.S.B.

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New Titles from Liturgical Press Lauren L. Murphy

or 1,500 years the Rule of Saint Benedict has been a source of guidance and inspiration for people seeking to “run the way of God’s commandments” (RB Prol.49). The precepts of the Rule seep into the bones of those who follow it, be they Benedictines, Cistercians, oblates, or other laypeople interested in deepening their relationships with God and others. This year Liturgical Press has several new titles that draw readers into the wisdom of this tradition. The first is Seventy-Four Tools for Good Living by Father Michael Casey, O.C.S.O. As in his previous book, The Road to Eternal Life, in which he explored the Prologue of Benedict’s Rule one verse at a time, here Father Michael examines chapter 4 of the Rule verse-by-verse. His reflections invite readers to meditate on each of the tools of good works, to read slowly and savor the wisdom that Benedict offers in this often overlooked chapter. Father Michael writes that “it would be nice if monastic life were simply a matter of sitting under a shady tree by a babbling brook, contemplating eternal verities. We know that it is not. It is a place of work and effort and struggle.” Chapter 4 of the Rule provides a list of tools necessary for operating in the workshop of the monastery. As with any workshop, there are a variety of tools, each with a specific purpose. Again the author writes, “Not all the tools

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are used simultaneously, but only when the particular task demands it. In the same way, we will not be confronted with the need to engage in all the various good works at every hour of every day.” Perhaps one day we’ll struggle with being kind to a fellow monk; the next day, maybe it’s pride. The tools presented in chapter 4 run the gamut, and Father Michael’s thoughtful reflection on them invites readers to engage these tools, using them when and where necessary.

Liturgical Press is pleased to publish a fifth collection of poetry by Father Kilian McDonnell, O.S.B. Aggressive Mercy demonstrates the mystery of an extravagantly merciful God. In his typical style Father Kilian reveals a lifetime of contemplating biblical characters and their experience of the tenacious mercy of God. He gives voice to those who often do not speak for themselves in Scripture: Mary, Uriah, the father of the Prodigal Son, among others. He puts flesh on these figures and

Of the making of many books, there is no end (Ecclesiastes 12:12). Donald Jackson completes the final word of the Book of Revelation for The Saint John’s Bible. Image courtesy of Donald Jackson’s scriptorium, Wales, 2011.

brings them to life for modern readers. As Professor Nick Hayes says, Father Kilian “retells the old stories from Genesis to Acts in clear, colloquial language that gives back to his characters from Adam to Mary and the Apostles a credible humanity and along the way offers the reader autobiographical vignettes from his own life. These are poems of faith that belong in the library of the heart.” January 2015 marks the one hundredth anniversary of Thomas Merton’s birth. Liturgical Press has several new titles to honor the life and work of this spiritual guide, including At Play in Creation: Merton’s Awakening to the Feminine Divine by Christopher Pramuk. In this series of deeply meditative retreat conferences, Dr. Pramuk leads the reader through a sustained meditation on Wisdom–Sophia, the feminine face of God’s presence alive in the world, who speaks and sings in the writings of Thomas Merton. The author invites readers to taste and see for themselves the hidden presence of Christ and the dynamism of love at play in creation; the biblical and mystical tradition from East to West calls this presence Sophia. Looking beyond Merton to seek out her presence in the silent and broken landscapes of our world today, Dr. Pramuk shows Sophia above all to be the bearer of hope in an age of unspeakable violence and planetary destruction. Finally, in Living in the House of God, Sister Margaret Malone, S.G.S., draws on her study of

Refuge in Crestone: A Sanctuary for Interreligious Dialogue. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2014.

s a “cradle Catholic” deeply nurtured in a ChristianCatholic upbringing, I feel rooted and take pride in my faith tradition. Yet, I have always been fascinated by the world’s religious diversity. The quest to understand why such variety exists, and what Christian redemption means in the midst of such diversity, led me not only to study the academic disciplines of both anthropology and Christian theology but also to engage in interreligious dialogue. This volume represents an effort to enlist the scholarly resources of both these academic disciplines. Using cultural anthropological data, I investigated how the practice of interreligious dialogue might be enhanced by engaging the qualitative ethnographic methods of sociocultural anthropology. The book seeks to further the development of a Christian theology of religions— the attempt to account for the status of these non-Christian religions and their relation to a Christian understanding of salvation—and thus uncover the creative interdisciplinary nexus between anthropology and theology. Brother Aaron Raverty, O.S.B. and research on the Rule of Saint Benedict to show the ways in which this ancient rule can illuminate modern life. The broad range of topics this book examines—from Benedictine life as sacrament to Augustine’s influence on Benedict to obedience and the art of listening—is itself a witness to the generous flexibility of the Rule, as Benedict proposes a way of life that truly corresponds to the deepest needs of the whole of human nature. Sister Margaret acknowledges that, “in our current climate there is a call for wider adaptation [of the Rule] in a situation where ministries that once were carried out mainly by religious are now shared widely by many people who are not vowed religious. The grace and value of Benedictine

life is now embraced by many who share these ministries. . . . There are many committed and faithful people in all walks of life who are helped by the Rule of Saint Benedict as they truly seek God. They may not live in a ‘house of God’ in the way that professed religious do, but the world of all of us together can be a house of God.” Indeed, all four titles play a part in building that house of God. Find these and other titles from Liturgical Press online at www.litpress.org or by calling 1.800.858.5450. B Ms. Lauren L. Murphy is the managing editor of the academic and trade department at Liturgical Press.

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Listening and Learning Christopher Morgan

May God bless you with discontent with easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you will live from deep within your heart.

As time went on I noticed that I was becoming less attached to the words I wanted to say and more attracted to listening and asking others questions. My interest in listening further increased as a result of a growing sense of dissatisfaction with conversations in my own life. I recognized that a lot of people are grateful when someone asks them to talk. I wanted to talk less and found peace in asking others questions and then allowing them to speak.

May God bless you with the foolishness to think you can make a difference in this world, so that you will do the things which others tell you cannot be done.

My personality, my spirituality have a lot more to do with listening now. During a stressful time some years ago, my understanding of empathy deepened greatly. What brought me through that trial was truly listening to others in their situations and staying with their feelings and needs in our conversations. Now I am asking more questions in prayer and trying to listen with the ear of my heart. Listening is my daily practice. B

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Ruth Fox, O.S.B.

s a young boy I rarely tired of asking any question that came to mind. My parents love to tell the story of how I used to go through all the drawers in our kitchen, pull out each item, and ask, “What does this do?” Of course, I always timed this activity to coincide with my stepmom preparing dinner! I never lost that youthful inquisitiveness, and at the same time, I spent a lot of time talking throughout my years in middle school and high school. By the time I arrived in Collegeville to begin undergraduate studies, I was pretty tired of talking just to hear my own voice. I was blessed to meet so many people at Saint John’s who pointed to the importance of listening.

Here at Saint John’s I kept hearing about the value of listening and about the Prologue to the Rule of Benedict, so I explored each. I came to recognize how deeply the Benedictine tradition has influenced and shaped individuals in this community. I noticed as well how others practice listening in their own way, and I started to hold onto the ways that rang true in my reflections. I shared time with hospitable monks, honorable professors, and inspiring friends. What I hold onto is their peace without speaking, their genuine interest in my story, and their humility in response to it.

Alan Reed, O.S.B.

A Nontraditional Blessing

Mr. Christopher Morgan, an alumnus of Saint John’s University, serves as a university faculty resident and is pursuing graduate studies in the School of Theology·Seminary.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, abuse, and exploitation of people, so that you will work for justice, equality, and peace. May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you will reach out your hand to comfort them and to change their pain to joy.

If you have the courage to accept these blessings, then God will also bless you with happiness—because you will know that you have made life better for others. inner peace—because you will have worked to secure an outer peace for others.

laughter—because your heart will be light. faithful friends—because they will recognize your worth as a person. These blessings are yours—not for the asking, but for the giving—from One who wants to be your companion, our God, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen. Sister Ruth Fox, O.S.B., an alumna of Saint John’s University School of Theology, is archivist, organist, formation director, and former prioress of Sacred Heart Monastery in Richardton, North Dakota. This blessing was composed for a graduate breakfast at Dickinson State College (now University) in 1984. It was first published in 1989 in Living Faith as “A Mixed Blessing” and is reprinted with permission.

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Meet a Monk: Bernardine Ness tomorrow?’ He said, ‘Fine.’ I hitchhiked 450 miles with nine rides, averaging three minutes between each ride. When he answered the door I said, ‘I am John Ness, the ham radio guy you contacted yesterday.’ He was speechless, but he showed me around his mission and made good his promise to take me to Blue Cloud.”

Abbey archives

Hilary Thimmesh, O.S.B.

he direction that the life of John Ness took happened almost accidentally in the summer of 1957. He had graduated from Saint John’s Preparatory School and completed one year at Saint John’s University as a pre-divinity student. “During the summer,” he says, “I made contact by ham radio with a missionary working on the reservation of the Dakota Indians at Fort Totten, North Dakota. His name was Father Tim Sexton. He said he was a Benedictine priest, a member of Blue Cloud Abbey in Marvin, South Dakota, a brandnew monastery founded by Saint Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana and being built by the monks themselves to serve the four Indian missions in South Dakota and North Dakota.” “Father Tim said, ‘Come on up and I will show you around the mission here at Fort Totten, and I will take you down to Blue Cloud Abbey.’ I said, ‘How about

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John radioed his parents in Wayzata, Minnesota, to tell them where he was and stayed there, helping with construction of the monastery. He was able to continue his studies there. In 1959 he joined the community and took the name Bernardine. He was ordained in 1964. That was the year Blue Cloud Abbey established a mission in Guatemala (Resurrection Priory in Cobán, Alta Verapaz). During that time Father Bernardine was working at Saint Michael Indian Mission in North Dakota. He left there in 1971, “having learned,” he says, “to listen and let others help do what needs to be done.” Now began what can be seen in retrospect as Bernardine’s life work, though he didn’t see it that way to begin with. He was sent to Guatemala in 1971. “I had in mind from the very beginning to help establish a Guatemalan Benedictine community and return to the United

States.” He didn’t know Spanish, much less the native Q’eqchi’ language. Nonetheless he proceeded to build a shortwave radio station that broadcast news and music in the native language. Radio became the way to prepare people for the Sunday celebration of the Word in their own language in the dozens of little villages that had no Sunday Eucharist. Radio was not Bernardine’s only work. He helped establish a human development program at Resurrection Priory, from which a diocesan evangelization project was launched. A threeday initiation enabled people to celebrate the liturgy of the Word in their communities. The bishop, Juan Gerardi Conedera, unified the parishes in the diocese, which at the time were mainly staffed by priests from outside Guatemala. After being named bishop of

These same gifts were to make him warmly welcome at Saint John’s Abbey when he arrived to join the monastic community at Collegeville two years ago. The monks of Blue Cloud Abbey had made the tough decision to close the abbey after more than half a century of mission in the Dakotas and Guatemala. Their numbers were simply too small to continue as a self-supporting community. Celebrating fifty years of ordained ministry

Quiché he was forced into exile along with all but two priests. He was brutally murdered when a book on the civil war atrocities, Guatemala: Nunca Más![Never Again], was published. Father Bernardine says, “The courses we offered were taught in this environment of violence.” In all, Father Bernardine was to spend forty years in Guatemala. He returned home after twenty years, and for two years worked in the American Indian Culture Research Center at Blue Cloud Abbey. After two years his replacement in Guatemala, Father Thomas Hillenbrand, O.S.B., was elected abbot of Blue Cloud Abbey and promptly sent Bernardine back to Guatemala for another twenty years.

Ness archives

Father Bernardine and a young clown

appreciation of other people’s talents and needs—the fruit of a lifetime of care and concern for others.

This was in 1992. He returned to a changing Guatemala. Gerardo Flores Reyes was now bishop. He had helped in the return of

Ness archives

thousands of people displaced during the violence. Under Bishop Reyes and his successor, native Guatemalan priests began to serve the evangelization of the diocese with full participation by the people. In this changed environment Father Bernardine resumed his efforts at evangelization with an even stronger focus on community building, reaching people where they were, adapting a video on the life of Christ for people who had never seen television, and supporting construction of a center with the capacity to house as many as one hundred people overnight. His essential service was to share his own charism— wisdom, good humor, and What kept me happy in Guatemala is the support and love I have given and received with my friends. Bernardine Ness, O.S.B.

The monks of Blue Cloud were free to seek membership in other communities. Father Bernardine came to Saint John’s and immediately drew on his Guatemalan background to be of service to Latino congregations locally and in Minneapolis. After a trial period he was formally accepted as a monk of Saint John’s Abbey on the feast of the Assumption, 15 August 2014. Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B., blessed Father Bernardine at the altar, and the community formed a circle as each monk warmly welcomed him. Father Bernardine doesn’t need to communicate by ham radio anymore. He conveys without words the joy of his calling and happiness about years devoted to the care of others. B Father Hilary Thimmesh, O.S.B., president emeritus of Saint John’s University, serves as a faculty resident for ninety lively college freshmen.

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Eschaton: Sanctuary for the End of Time

Abbey Chronicle

ollowing the abundant rainfall of spring and summer, Collegeville was blessed with a lovely and temperate autumn. Much of October felt like Indian summer, even though a killing frost did not arrive until the day and night of Halloween when the temperature dropped to 22 degrees. The flower and vegetable gardens had a particularly long growing season; scattered frost was first recorded on 9 and 10 October. In delightful contrast to the bright blue October sky, the abbey woods were brilliant with yellow and gold maple, aspen, and cottonwood trees. The maroon and red oak leaves completed the color show before being replaced by the dull gray/ brown landscape of November. But gray days were short lived. Thirteen inches of snow on 10 November whitened and brightened the landscape, and with unseasonably cold temperatures announced the arrival of winter. Lake Sagatagan closed for the season on 14 November.

iking helmets? Remnants of wooden boats? Was Collegeville on the trade route of ancient Norse adventurers?

Since mid-October visitors exploring the northwest side of Stumpf Lake have discovered what may appear, at first glance, to be the relics of earlier explorers or settlers in central Minnesota. In fact, the relics are contemporary works of art: wood and stoneware creations of Minnesota artist Nancy Randall. The sculptural ensemble, Eschaton: Sanctuary for the End of Time, includes several dozen pieces and was installed permanently in the abbey woods between the Saint John the Baptist Parish Center and the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research. A longtime painter, drawer, and printmaker, Ms. Randall first began to create stoneware sculpture while working in residence at the Saint John’s Pottery in 2005. Several years ago when Ms. Randall proposed the installation, she commented: “I envision that Eschaton will read like a mysterious archaeological site, an ancient garden . . . . The project will exist as a sanctuary for the twenty-first century—a place where artists, scholars, and students can consider the intersection of life and death, art and nature, and the possibilities that exist outside the constraints of time.”

Paul Jasmer, O.S.B.

Those who wish to examine and enjoy all of the faux relics should hurry to the site; the wooden pieces will likely decay in a decade. The stoneware artifacts, however, will be available for viewing and meditation for millennia to come. B Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

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doctorate in church history at Princeton Theological Seminary and is especially interested in early Christian spiritual practices, Greek and Syriac Christianity, and monasticism. Mr. Joseph Prostrollo, a retired producer for CBS News and creator of the web podcast The Benedictine Hour (www.thebenedictinehour.org), is a faculty resident at Saint John’s University. His oblate journey began at Blue Cloud Abbey (Marvin, South Dakota) and moved to Collegeville when Blue Cloud Abbey closed in 2012.

university church a half century ago, shared his memories of the project with the community in a presentation entitled “Sursum Corda [Lift up your hearts]: Reflections on the North Window.” October 2014

• Abbot John Klassen announced the appointment of Father Michael Peterson as director of oblates. Father Don Tauscher will serve as assistant director and editor of The Oblate newsletter. • On 30 September Brother Andrew Goltz, who assisted in constructing the stainedglass window of the abbey and

Young archives

• Dr. Victoria Young, professor of art and modern architectural history at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, joined in

Unlike the cold, dark December days, the hope-filled readings from the prophet Isaiah illume the Advent season and herald the warmth and brightness of Son Day. Come, Lord Jesus! September 2014

Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

• Two Benedictine oblates of Saint John’s Abbey made their final oblation in September. Ms. Carmen Maier (Calgary, Alberta) is a graduate of Saint John’s School of Theology and a former resident scholar at the Collegeville Institute. She completed a

Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

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the celebration of the fifty-third anniversary of the dedication of the abbey and university church on 24 October. In a delightfully engaging presentation, she drew on years of research to outline the planning and construction of the church, addressing both its liturgical and architectural significance.

On 26 October Minnesota twins Sebastian and Alexander Hemesath became the newest members of the Collegeville Catholic community as they were baptized by Father Rene McGraw. Assisting the proud parents, university president Michael Hemesath and first lady Elizabeth Galbraith, was the twins’ big brother Cameron, who checked the water of the baptismal font to assure it was the right temperature. Grow Johnnies!

• The winner of the pumpkincarving contest at the monastery Halloween party was Father John Meoska, abbey formation director, for his creation: pumpkin pi.

Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

John Meoska,

O.S.B.

November 2014 • The monastic community honored the memory of deceased confreres, family, and friends throughout the month of November. On the feast of All Souls, following the Sunday Eucharist, the community and members of the congregation processed to the abbey cemetery for a prayer service. For the first two weeks of November an altar of remembrance/altar de muertos was maintained near the north entry to the monastery. Photos

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and memorabilia of deceased loved ones filled the space. The monks also commemorated thousands of family and friends during prayer services and Eucharist, part of the annual November Month of Remembrance. • To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of his arrival at Saint John’s University as a freshman, President Emeritus Father Robert Koopmann delighted the campus community with a piano recital on 13 November. The program included works by Johannes Brahms, W. A. Mozart, Ludovico Einaudi, and even some “hard” etudes by Robert Schumann as well as several of Father Bob’s

improvisations on sacred spiritual and folk songs. • Mr. John Thavis, an alumnus of the university, presented “The Francis Revolution: Are the Bishops on Board?” on 16 November, part of the Sunday at the Abbey lecture series. From 1978 until 2012 Mr. Thavis worked as a journalist in Rome, including service as a reporter and eventually bureau chief of Catholic News Service covering the Vatican. The author of The Vatican Diaries (2013), he shared his observations and insights on the leadership of Pope Francis, suggesting that Francis is setting a new direction for the Church

with an emphasis on mercy, evangelization, and reaching out to those who have left the Church. The pope wants reform to be a collegial enterprise and thus needs the support of the bishops. December 2014 • To arrest the overgrazing of the forest vegetation and encourage the natural regeneration of the forest ecosystem, while at the same time addressing the overpopulation of the deer herd, Saint John’s once again is permitting a controlled deer hunt on its land. The thirteenth such hunt since 1933, when the Collegeville State Game Refuge was established, opened in mid-October and will run through 31 December. From 289 applicants, 105 hunters were selected by lottery to take part in the archery hunt. As of the first of December, a paltry 13 deer were harvested. • The abbey gardens were especially productive this year.

Some four tons of produce were harvested by monks and volunteers throughout the summer and fall months. Half the tonnage consisted of a variety of squash, followed by potatoes (970 lbs), tomatoes (640 lbs), and zucchini (312 lbs). Other fresh vegetables and fruits that blessed our table included: Asparagus 54 lbs Basil 6 lbs Beets 56 lbs Beans (dried) 20 lbs Beans (green) 26 lbs Beans (yellow wax) 38 lbs Broccoli 36 lbs Cabbage (red) 69 lbs Cabbage (white) 290 lbs Carrots 58 lbs Cucumbers 214 lbs Fennel 27 lbs Grapes: Saint John’s Alpha 72 lbs Wild 10 lbs Kale 61 lbs Kohlrabi 10 lbs

Peas (sugar snap) 24 lbs Peppers (hot) 43 lbs Peppers (mild) 17 lbs Radishes 76 lbs Rhubarb 68 lbs Rutabagas 44 lbs Squash: Acorn 802 lbs Buttercup 70 lbs Butternut 2911 lbs Hubbard 234 lbs Little Dumpling 94 lbs Spaghetti 210 lbs Summer Squash 240 lbs Tomatillos 20 lbs The three hives of abbey bees also produced 120 lbs of honey. B

Abbot John Klassen and the monastic community were joined by the family and friends of Brother Nickolas Kleespie to celebrate his ordination to the diaconate by Bishop Donald Kettler on 6 December. A former Benedictine Volunteer who served at Saint Maurus Hanga Abbey (Tanzania, East Africa), Brother Nick has balanced his theological studies during the past four years with a variety of community tasks, including service as a member of the Collegeville volunteer fire department, abbey apiarist, and director of the abbey schola. In reflecting on his future service and pastoral training in the Saint John’s School of Theology·Seminary, he notes: “Saint John’s is one of the few seminaries in the world where the lay ministry students and those on the ordination track receive the same education. It helps to make sense of the fact that we are on the same team serving the people of God.” Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

Abbey Banner Winter 2014-15

Monks in the Kitchen

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

first time since the library at Monte Cassino was founded in the sixth century, this invaluable manuscript depository will be opened to the scholarly and educational world.”

18 September 1964

• Blueprints for the new science hall are now being drawn in anticipation of a spring 1965 groundbreaking. The three-story science hall, seventh building to be constructed in Saint John’s 100-year building program, will be situated southeast of the new library and measure 242 x 108 feet. The approximately 46,000 square feet of academic space is divided among the physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics departments. Mr. Hamilton Smith, architectural associate of Mr. Marcel Breuer, presented the basic floor plans to the Saint John’s faculty on 2 September. • The reorganization of the editorial staff of Worship magazine was announced 14 September. Father Godfrey Diekmann, editor since 1938, has been given the new position of editor-inchief. In this post he will help in contacting writers, securing articles, and establishing policies. At the same time he will be freed from much of the editing detail and have more time for his tasks as peritus of Vatican II and consultant of the Post-Conciliar Commission on the Liturgy. The new editor is Father Aelred Tegels who will have the decisive voice in planning the aims and content of Worship. The actual month-to-month production of the magazine will be the responsibility of Father Michael Marx.

Abbey Banner Winter 2014-15

10 December 1964

• The First Sunday of Advent marked a new era in the Catholic Church. For the first time the priest recited parts of the Mass in English rather than the traditional Latin.

University archives

New [Peter Engel] Science Center, 1966

Since the promulgation of the Decree on the Sacred Liturgy, subscriptions to Worship have risen from 11,000 to 21,000. A large number of recent subscribers have been non-Catholic clergy. 12 November 1964

• Saint John’s Abbey and University launched the year-long first phase of the Monastic Manuscript Microfilming Project 29 October, beginning with some 2,500 unique manuscript holdings which have been preserved for centuries in the Italian Benedictine libraries of Monte Cassino, Subiaco, and Cava. Father Oliver Kapsner will supervise the project. Father Colman J. Barry, president of the university, said, “For the

• The Saint John’s community will celebrate the feast of the Epiphany in the Byzantine Rite, common to Christians in Syria, Greece, Egypt, and Russia. The Byzantine Mass will be celebrated by Father Austin Mohrbacher, a 1950 graduate of Saint John’s. Excerpted from Confrere, newsletter of Saint John’s Abbey:

• (Volume II, No. 8 [November 1964]). Abbot Baldwin Dworschak’s Remarks: The spirit of the [Constitution on the Liturgy] promised to enrich the worship of the Church and heighten the meaning of the sacraments. A good example is the new attitude toward the “Sacrament of Healing.” In the Eastern Church this sacrament was administered according to its original purpose; the Latin Rite was alone in administering it only to the dying. People are again encouraged to ask for the anointing when sick, and this will become the custom when priest and people take their cue from the action of the Council. B

Is it time to cut the cake? Ælred Senna, O.S.B.

e have had fun, dear readers, exploring cultural culinary traditions together. This time, how about another kind of Western tradition? Wedding cakes! In recent years I have had the privilege of creating several wedding cakes for friends and acquaintances. It is exciting to meet with the bride and groom, prepare and taste different cakes, and finally choose just the right one for the celebration of their marriage. But where does this “cake thing” come from?

As far back as ancient Rome there was a tradition of the groom eating a portion of a small barley loaf (a far cry from our modern-day cakes!) and then breaking the rest of the loaf over the head of the bride to ensure good fortune for them as a couple! Another tradition, dating to the seventeenth century, included a “bride’s pie,” which might have been a mince pie or something more savory than sweet. A glass ring would be placed into the pie, and whoever discovered the ring would be the next to marry. By the nineteenth century, sweet cakes replaced pies; flat, single-layer plum cakes were common. A bridesmaid placed a piece of this cake under her

pillow so she would dream of her future husband! Though perhaps less curious, current traditions at least seem a bit safer—no one gets anything broken on her head, nor chokes on a small piece of glass left in the cake! Nowadays the bridal couple has the opportunity to select a cake that not only represents their personal tastes but will also delight their guests. The wedding cake is, after all, part of a celebration of love. And sharing delicious food is always a good way to bring out the love! B

Brother Ælred Senna, O.S.B., is the associate editor of Give Us This Day.

Wedding Cake Possibilities While each of these options would add a festive and delicious touch to any wedding, it could also enliven a birthday, anniversary, or holiday gathering. Just torte a two-layer cake (cut each layer horizontally into two thin layers) and fill with deliciousness! After-dinner Mint: A white cake. The top and bottom layers are

filled with chocolate mint ganache; the center filling is green mint buttercream. Chocolate Dipped Strawberry: A fresh strawberry cake (no Jell-O

cakes!). The top and bottom are filled with strawberry buttercream; the center filling is chocolate ganache. Pear-cranberry Spice: A pear-cranberry spice cake. The cake is filled

throughout with cranberry cream cheese frosting.

Lemon Dream: A dense lemon cake. The cake is filled and frosted

with lemon buttercream.

Ælred Senna, O.S.B.

Abbey Banner Winter 2014-15

In Memoriam

To Seek Holiness

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

Timothy Backous, O.S.B.

Bernard August

Robert E. “Bob” Joyce

Charles Arthur “Chuck” Rambeck

Patricia Bitzan

William Sidney “Bill” Joyce

Rose Schweitzer, O.S.B.

Rosemary Muggli Blaser, Obl.S.B.

Kathleen M. Kaluza

Janet Sivanich-Thull

Mary Richard Boo, O.S.B.

James L. Klaphake

Mark J. Spinner

Helen K. Braun

Frank Stanley Kocik

Verena H. Steffes

Marie Burggraff, Obl.S.B

Marold Kornovich, O.S.B.

Gabriel L. “Terry” Stoner

Edward “Eddie” Bzdok

Agnes Kraft, O.S.B.

Margaret Thueringer, O.S.B.

Mark C. Christianson

Raoul Thomas “Doc” Kunert

Helen Lorain Todd-Ward

Donald W. Conway

Charles “Charlie” Kunkel, O.S.C.

Richard Roman Walz

James A. Dady

Frank Ladner

Barbara Weiland, O.S.B.

Doris M. Dukowitz

Monica Laughlin, O.S.B.

Otto Michael Witzmann

Doran Evenson, Obl.S.B

Corrine Ann Lonergan

Nicholas Warren “Nick” Wuolu

Inta Feders

Frank Magdziarz

Robert Wyffels

Mary Frances Gebhard, O.S.B.

Mary Ann “Dolly” Maiers

Lucille Geisinger, O.S.B.

Rosemary Gauer Menard, Obl.S.B

Abbot Joaquim de Arruda Zamith, O.S.B.

Clarence Anton Groetsch

Kingsley H. Murphy Jr.

Kathryn Zimmer, O.S.B.

Edgar A. Harthman

Thomas B. “Duke” O’Connell

Jimmie Lee Hughey

Kenneth “Ken” Perrington

Limancia Toussant Jean-Noel

Alvin John Quade

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

A Monk’s Chronicle Father Eric Hollas, O.S.B., offers spiritual insights and glimpses into the life of the Benedictine community at Saint John’s Abbey in a weekly blog, A Monk’s Chronicle. Visit his blog at: monkschronicle.wordpress.com. Father Don’s Daily Reflection Father Don Talafous, O.S.B., prepares daily reflections on Scripture and living the life of a Christian that are available on the abbey’s website at: saintjohnsabbey.org/reflection/.

nduring the excessive length of the beautiful film Into Great Silence will reward the viewer with an intimate look into the lives of secluded, contemplative monks in the mountains of France. Filmed in dim light with only rare sounds of any kind (other than prayer), the director sought to give the audience a look into the world that very few people are called or drawn to. One scene stands out: a group of monks wanders up the mountainside in pairs, laughing and talking as they go. Their destination is a sledding hill where they seem to revert to boyish playfulness and delight themselves in sliding and/or skiing down the hill on their boots. It is a striking contrast to the rest of their lives: regimented holiness at its most demanding. One of the most repeated scenes is of a monk kneeling in prayer within his own cell, at times standing, bowing, and then returning to his knees. The length of these shots is meant to accentuate just how intensely this way of life unfolds for each man. The text on the screen accompanies all these moments: “You duped me, LORD, and I let myself be duped” (Jeremiah 20:7).

Contemplation can and will make a difference in our hectic world.

In another sequence an elderly monk speaks about being blind and how he understands it as a gift. He tells us what a tragedy it is that the world has lost its faith in God. It is never clear how a reclusive blind monk who lives in a remote monastery in the Chartreuse Mountains is able to have this insight. But the monk’s observation reminds us that all around us, sometimes in the house next to us, sometimes in more distant locales, there are pockets of contemplative “action” being lived out in prayer, work, and asceticism. They are being lived out by a host of humanity, not all monastic. To many, these monks would seem unnoticeable and, to some, irrelevant. (Generally it is only the noisy, outrageous existence that finds its way into the public consciousness.) But the real mystery here is that women and men do not abandon hope that contemplation can and will make a difference in our hectic world. Somehow they understand their vocation as important to the social fabric, even if what they do is not managed or marketed. They sense that a contribution is made by simple dedication to searching for God in ascetical, silent ways. If there is a rebirth in our world and a shift from secularism to faith, it will likely come from these spiritual champions who show us what it means to seek holiness. B

All of us are called to offer others an explicit witness to the saving love of the Lord. Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 121

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Abbey Banner 4 This Issue Robin Pierzina, O.S.B. 5 Revolution of Tenderness Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B. 6 Christmas Cards of the Gospels Daniel Durken, O.S.B. 8 Benedictine Volunteer Corps Matthew Palmquist Mark Steingraeber 10 Stewardship and Sustainability Aaron Raverty, O.S.B. 13 Preserving Amahl and the Night Visitors Paul-Vincent Niebauer, O.S.B.

Winter 2014–15 Volume 14, Number 3

14 Hill Museum & Manuscript Library in Iraq Columba Stewart, O.S.B.

26 Meet a Monk: Bernardine Ness Hilary Thimmesh, O.S.B.

16 Breuer and the Benedictines Victoria M. Young

28 Eschaton: Sanctuary for the End of Time

20 Collegeville Seminarians Michael Patella, O.S.B.

29 Abbey Chronicle Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

21 Trinity Benedictine Monastery

32 Fifty Years Ago

22 New Titles from Liturgical Press Lauren L. Murphy

33 Monks in the Kitchen: Is it time to cut the cake? Ælred Senna, O.S.B.

24 Listening and Learning Christopher Morgan

34 In Memoriam

25 A Nontraditional Blessing Ruth Fox, O.S.B.

35 To Seek Holiness Timothy Backous, O.S.B.

Benedictine Days of Prayer 23 January 2015: What is asceticism for? Do I need it? 20 February 2015: What do I confess when I am sinless? 15 May 2015: The new evangelization: What am I supposed to do? The day begins at 7:00 A.M. with Morning Prayer and concludes about 3:30 P.M. Rooms are available in the abbey guesthouse for the preceding overnight.

Lenten Retreat 13–15 March 2015:

Lenten Retreat

A quest for God: A personal Lenten journey with biblical saints Presenter: Father Michael Patella, O.S.B. Register online at abbeyguesthouse.org; or call 320.363.3929.