The Lumen Vitae

What does it mean to run with the light of life? How can we live in such a way that we can authentically share the love of Christ with others? The monks of St. Benedict’s Abbey seek to recognize those who exemplify these ideals; those who, above all else, have spread the light of Christ to the world – whether through their ministry, their generosity, or simply by their lives. At first, it may seem that the honorees for the eighth Abbot’s Table were chosen for their scholarship. Even still, one may presume that they were selected for their exemplary work as educators and teachers. But indeed, it is their lives, the very manner in which they live, that sets them apart – in which they truly exude this lumen vitae, this light that comes from Christ. Sister Irene Nowell has shared the light of Christ as a sister, educator, and formator – her love of scripture comes through as she shares the Word of God with an infectious joy that has inspired countless many through her classes and books. Dr. Scott & Kimberly Hahn’s conversion story and subsequent books, talks, and videos have enlivened the faith of many Catholics and inspired many more to join the Catholic faith. The example of these honorees cannot be understated, and we feel blessed to present them with the Lumen Vitae Medal. Each of their stories is unique but they share a common thread – a constant dedication to running with the Light of Life...

2021 lumen vitae medal recipients Dr. Scott & Kimberly Hahn

“I’m not writing a paper,” Scott Hahn told a student years ago, “I’m writing you!” While there are many reasons Scott and Kimberly Hahn are worthy recipients of the Lumen Vitae Medal their son Gabriel says that comment strikes at the heart of what they do best: share the light of Christ with everyone they encounter. “The greatest legacy my parents will leave is not the talks, the CDs and the books, but the people,” said Gabriel, who had a front row seat to his parents’ hospitality and evangelization, where dinner table discussions about an article or a doctrine would become lessons in discipleship. Countless people have been moved to change their lives after hearing Scott Hahn speak, whether in-person or via cassette tape in the 1990s, or Lighthouse Catholic Media CDs in the 21st century, or the other countless ways he and Kimberly have availed themselves to share Christ with others. Scott is estimated to have given 800 talks around the world on Catholic and Biblical topics, and appears regularly on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). Kimberly Hahn is also a speaker and author who co-wrote the first of Scott’s many books, Rome Sweet Home. Scott has had a lot of students, too, having taught at Franciscan University of Steubenville since 1990, as well as teaching at St. Vincent Archabbey and elsewhere. He is also president of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. Gabriel listed some of Hahn’s most influential students, including 2019 Lumen Vitae Medal recipient Ted Sri along with popular authors Jeff Cavins and Tim Gray. Cavins, whose Adventure Bible courses and materials have introduced many Catholics to Scripture, adds six more names to that list: the Hahns’ own children. “If you want to know what Scott and Kimberly teach, show up at their home and you’ll see it put into practice,” he said. Scott & Kimberly Hahn with their son, Michael, in 1983.

Conversion

What the Hahns teach changed radically early in their relationship. Christ Stefanick (right) is among Scott Hahn’s long list of students who have gone on to work as apologists, authors, and evangelists. The two converted to Catholicism after being deeply committed to the Presbyterian faith. Kimberly grew up the eldest daughter of noted Protestant minister Jerry Kirk. They met at the evangelical Christian Grove City College in Pennsylvania where they graduated in 1979. “He really brought the light of Christ in a very powerful way by challenging me to pray hard and to be generous with my time,” said Kimberly. The two began doing 20 hours of volunteer work a week and “as we spent time together we began to fall in love,” she said. Scott was smitten early on by Kimberly. “I knew that she was articulate, she was intelligent, witty, beautiful, radiant, but I also had this sense that she had an integrity that wasn’t just with me and others but first was with our Lord,” he said. The two got married the summer after graduation then went to seminary where he pursued his M.Div. degree graduating summa cum laude from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 1982, while she earned a Masters in theology. Prominent convert Marcus Grodi, whose show, Journey Home, on EWTN shares Catholic conversion stories, was with Scott and Kimberly in the classes that laid the groundwork for their conversion. He describes how Kimberly started to share her discoveries about the Catholic Church’s teachings, particularly those on openness to life and contraception, and how he saw Scott begin to explore two key themes in his thought: God’s kingdom and covenant. “The last thing that I would ever have imagined is that he would become Catholic,” he said “For a while I jokingly thought that maybe Scott had snuck into the Catholic Church to try and convert Catholics out of the Catholic church. That made more sense to me.”

They have blessed our lives and our family. When we saw the depth of Scott’s love for Christ, we celebrated their coming together in marriage. In Kimberly’s life she has had an incredible capacity to serve. Both Scott and Kimberly share the faith in such a way that gives life...when they came together, God had an incredible pair of people to lift up the light of Christ. - Jerry Kirk, father of Kimberly Hahn

Scott and Kimberly Hahn are a wonderful couple; they have been an inspiration to the Universal Church and certainly to the Benedictine community. They have been a light to the world by offering profound insights into the Gospel message; their work gives us courage and strength on our own journey of faith. - Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, OSB

Scott said that while his wife was simply non-Catholic he was anti-Catholic. Then Kimberly read Humanae Vitae. “She wasn’t even slightly predisposed to the Catholic faith or the authority of the Catholic pontiff, but she knew the truth when she read it,” he said. She “gently challenged me to open my eyes up to more light.” He began discovering more and more truths of the Catholic faith – ultimately entering the Church in 1986. Kimberly entered in 1990. Scott calls Kimberly’s conversion “four years later and four times greater.” Five years after that, Hahn received a doctorate in theology from Marquette University. Jeff Cavins met the Hahns as they were converting and became best friends with Scott. He said Scott’s scholarship was brilliant, but he was even more impressed by the light of the Hahns’ life. “I don’t know of anybody who has influenced more people with lifestyle evangelization, and their generosity with their time,” he said. One such person is Steubenville Mayor Jerry Barilla, who works with Kimberly on the city council. “Their influence and my respect for them is one major factor of why I chose to run for mayor,” he said. Scott brags about his wife’s public service. “She is the city councilman at large, the only one on the council that is elected by the entire city,” he said. “It was a three-way race the second round, and she got 60% of the vote. I think it’s because she’s a beacon of hope not only for me and the family, but also for this whole city.” Barilla praised Kimberly’s “moral courage” and her efforts “to make Steubenville a family-friendly place to grow up and raise children.”

Lives of Light

The name of the Lumen Vitae Medal comes from the Rule of St. Benedict, which calls readers “To run with the light of life.” A few lines earlier, the Rule says “Let us get up then... for the Scriptures rouse us.” That fits the Hahns well, said Archabbot Douglas Nowicki of St. Vincent’s Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where Scott has taught scripture to monks in formation. But in addition to knowing Scripture so well, “Scott and Kimberly gave one of the most impressive if not the most impressive talks on marriage that I have ever heard,” he said. Kimberly’s parents, Jerry and Patricia Kirk, are thrilled with the way their grandchildren are being raised. “I’ve never known a person more focused, more passionate, more alive to the scripture than Scott Hahn,” he said. “Passionate” sums up her husband well, Kimberly agreed. He is “passionate and whole-hearted for Christ, first and foremost, for the truth of Sacred Scripture, and now definitely related to that, the Catholic Church.” But he also has “a passionate love for every one of our kids, and our inlaws and our grandchildren,” she said. For his part, Scott says Kimberly transformed his life. “There is not another woman on this planet that I could have married and enjoyed life with,” he said. “We’ve had ups and downs, to be sure, but I didn’t know that marriage and ministry could end up being this much fun, this much friendship, and this much fulfillment.” The many Catholics who have been touched by their lives agree.

Archabbot Emeritus of St. Vincent Archabbey

Atchison, Kansas is widely known as the home of a barrierbreaking, highly skilled woman (and we don’t mean Amelia Earhart!) This year the monks of St. Benedict’s Abbey presented Sr. Mary Irene Nowell, OSB with the Lumen Vitae Medal in recognition of her many contributions, “I’m kind of making a valiant attempt to retire,” said Sister Irene Nowell, “though with limited success.” Sister Irene is just too valuable to retire. The Lumen Vitae Medal is presented to figures who have left their mark on the Church. Sister Irene has not only made her mark on the Benedictines of Atchison, Kansas, but also on countless others. A Benedictine Sister of Mount St. Scholastica Monastery in Atchison, since 1957, Sister Irene taught the current prioress of the Mount, Sister Esther Fangman, in high school. She taught Abbot James Albers of St. Benedict’s Abbey as an undergraduate at Benedictine College. She has taught generations of monks, sisters, and students. Signs of her influence echo far away from Atchison, also. Dennis L. Okholm in his book Monk Habits for Everyday People uses Sister Irene’s description of coversatio to tell his reader to have a “daily willingness to turn and be turned together.” Judith Valente in her book How to Live tells the story of how Sister Irene herself was “turned.” She came to the Mount wanting to be a cellist, but got “turned” when she got “hooked on Scripture” instead. Today she is “one of the world’s foremost Scripture scholars.” Looking back at the beginning of her monastic life, Sister Irene was sure she had her future figured out, “I thought I would be a musician forever,” she said. “But then we needed a German teacher, so I went off and got a degree in German and I thought, ‘that was it.’” She was wrong. Before long she discovered a specific interest in the Word, “I had fallen in love with Scripture,” she said. “So I went to St. John’s for a master’s degree, then came home and worked, [and] then went to Catholic University in Washington, D.C., to get a Ph.D. in Old Testament.” Sister Irene rose to the heights of her calling. She is a past president of the Catholic Biblical Association, served for more than 20 years on the editorial board of The Bible Today, and is the former editor and current editorial consultant for the Give Us This Day prayer resource for Catholics. But her hundreds of hundreds of students remember her as a teacher. She taught Scripture at Mount St. Scholastica College and Benedictine College for 20 years — and German and English as well at times. She was also a longtime adjunct professor of Saint John’s University School of Theology, where she taught on campus and online. “I used to have that big classroom up at Benedictine, and it was always full,” she fondly recalls.

Among the many credits to her name, Sr. Irene served as the Dean of Students for Mount St. Scholastica College, pictured here with past Benedictine College Dean of Students and 2016 Lumen Vitae Medal recipient Elmer Fangman. One of Sr. Irene’s earliest assignments was serving as a prefect in the Mount St. Scholastica dormatory.

Sacred Scripture

Her students remember too. “She has been very influential in the Church,” Abbot James Albers said, “but she also gets down to the nitty gritty. She makes the Word come alive through her instruction. It’s not just a book knowledge. You can tell this is a personal knowledge with the Word of God, Jesus Christ, coming from her heart.” Sister Esther Fangman, prioress of Mount St. Scholastica says Sister Irene’s love for scripture is palpable. “She reads the reading sometimes at our Liturgy of the Hours,” she said. “When she reads it, it’s different, because

Sister Mary Irene saw something in me and believed in me at a time when I didn’t believe in myself – she literally saved me and set me on a whole different path. Through her example I began to see a whole different future. People say glibly that they owe everything they are to another person, but I believe in my case it’s really true. I don’t think I’ll ever come close to her in goodness and holiness, so I appreciate her every day of my life.

- Sr. Judith Sutera, OSB sister of mount st. scholastica at left, right with sr. irene and her parents

she is so enthralled in what Scripture has to say, it comes out of her mouth in a different way. It’s not knowledge— somehow it got into her heart.” Books Sister Irene has authored include Sing a New Song: The Responsorial Psalm in the Sunday Liturgy, Women in the Old Testament, and Numbers (The Liturgical Press), and 101 Questions and Answers on Angels and Devils (Paulist Press). Her most recent books include Pleading, Cursing, Praising: Conversing with God through the Psalms. Sister Irene’s fascination with Scripture continues to this day. “The Psalms are amazingly adaptable. They fit here, where we are, in the 21st century. I don’t know how many mornings we come to pray and there’s that responsorial Psalm that fits the day,” she said. “There’s almost always a little zinger in there somewhere.” She said her love of Scripture grew out of her love for the monastic practice of the meditative reading of Scripture. “It’s my practice of lectio divina that fed into my Ph.D,” she said. “I have always approached Scripture as lectio divina. I have taught it that way too: What does this text say, what does it mean and why do we care?” Sister Irene explained how serendipity got her involved in one of the major projects of her life, the St. John’s Bible. In 1998, Saint John’s Abbey and University commissioned a team led by renowned calligrapher Donald Jackson to produce a hand-written, hand-illuminated Bible. “I happened to be at St. John’s the year the whole idea of St. John’s Bible kind of came to fruition,” said Sister Irene. But, more than that, she was uniquely suited to join a team of about 10 people who created the seven-volume work.

Grateful

The name for the Lumen Vitae Medal comes from the Prologue of St. Benedict’s Rule. That makes Sister Irene the perfect recipient. “Anyone who is working with the Word of God, hopefully their main goal is to transmit the light of life, to transmit the word of Jesus Christ to the world, to be an evangelizer. And Sister Mary Irene is that, par excellence,” said Abbot James. Sister Susan Barber was grateful for Sister Irene on behalf of “those whose lives she has touched as a sister, friend, scholar, teacher, author, editor, retreat director, musician. and leader. Her love for God and Benedictine life is reflected in her love for her sisters and all who know her.” One of those sisters is Judith Sutera, who was assigned Sister Irene as a dorm prefect when she came to college. “[Sister] Irene’s patient love indeed turned my life around as she became my champion, mentor and friend,” said Sister Judith. “All that I have become as a Benedictine, teacher, preacher, writer, and scholar are merely extensions of her gifts.” Father Meinrad Miller said “Sister Irene has been a contemplative Benedictine sister, a scholar, an administrator, a professor — but most of all she’s been a friend, and that’s a treasure that’s hard to replace.” Sister Irene said one message she wants to convey in accepting the Lumen Vitae Medal is “how grateful I am for my community and also for the Abbey. The Abbey has been very good to us and they have been especially good for me for a lot of years,” she said, “and the Mount has been a true home for me.”

Sister Irene’s impact on our men in formation – I cannot offer my gratitude enough for her guidance of them – the love for the Word of God that she has instilled and sharing how we integrate that into our own lives is amazing to behold. She truly demonstrates what it means to run with the light of life.

- Abbot James Albers, OSB