Abbey Banner - Spring 2001 by Saint John's Abbey

Contents Page 6

Cover Story

The Abbey Banner

John Klassen, OSB, Chosen Tenth Abbot of Saint John’s Abbey

Magazine of Saint John’s Abbey Volume 1, Issue 1 Spring 2001

by Daniel Durken, OSB Center photo by Greg Becker, border photos from Klassen family album

Editor Daniel Durken, OSB

Designer Pam Rolfes The Odyssey Group

Features

Contributing Writers Dennis Beach, OSB, Alberic Culhane, OSB, Geoffrey Fecht, OSB, Joseph Feders, OSB, William Skudlarek, OSB, Donald Tauscher, OSB, and Hilary Thimmesh, OSB

Printing Palmer Printing

Editorial and Production Assistant

4 The History of The Liturgical Press

12 Senior Monks Publish Poetry by Hilary Thimmesh, OSB

8 Experiencing the Earthquake in El Salvador by Dennis Beach, OSB

14 The First Methodist Monk by Daniel Durken, OSB

10 Angelo Zankl, OSB, Celebrates a Century

15 An Exhibit of Forty Bronze Sculptures

Margaret Arnold

Proofreader Dolores Schuh, CHM

Cover Design Monica Bokinskie

Circulation Francis Peters, OSB Paul Fitt, OSB

The Abbey Banner is published three times annually by the Benedictine monks of Saint John’s Abbey for our relatives, friends and Oblates. The Abbey Banner brings the extended family of Saint John’s Abbey together with feature stories and news of the monastery. Saint John’s Abbey, Box 2015, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321. 320-363-3875. www.sja.osb.org.

Departments 3 From the Editor From the Abbot 5 Strengthening Foundations 16 Vocation News 17 Abbey Missions

19 Banner Bits 27 Spiritual Life Back Cover Calendar of Events Abbey Prayer Time

From the Editor and the Abbot

What's in a Name? by Daniel Durken, OSB

Shortly before completing his term of office last November, Abbot Timothy Kelly asked me to edit a new abbey magazine. What you have in your hands is the result of my acceptance of this assignment. At the top of the editorial agenda was the selection of a name for this new publication that replaces the Saint John's Abbey Quarterly. A good segment of the monks responding to a poll opted for The Abbey Banner. For the past forty years the bell banner of our church has been the most readily recognized landmark on the Collegeville campus. It is the bold symbol of the abbey's worship celebrated daily behind the banner as well as of the creative work that goes on all around the banner. The banner is quite literally the monastic community's concrete way of welcoming everyone who comes to Saint John's. Just as it takes a village to rear a child it takes many people to prepare a new publication. The names of our contributors and production people are listed on the inside front cover. I thank them as well as the magazine and communication committees and the photographers. This has very much been a team effort. I invite you, the reader, to tell me what you like and do not like about this first issue and to give me your ideas on the kind of news and views you want The Abbey Banner to present. Please send me your reactions and evaluation. If you have relatives and friends who would like to receive this magazine, send me their names and addresses and I will add them to our mailing list. v The Abbey Banner Spring 2001

Entering into the Paschal Mystery by Abbot John Klassen, OSB

It has been helpful for me to think of the two seasons of Lent and Easter as one, as ninety days with Easter at the center. Because the Paschal Mystery is the central parable of our Christian lives, I wish to articulate some of the ways in which we participate in this mystery of Jesus’ death, resurrection, ascension and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Borrowing from Ronald Rolheiser’s Holy Longing, we need to name our deaths; claim our births; grieve over what has been lost while adjusting to what is new; let go of the old, letting it ascend while it is blessing us; and accept the gifts of the Holy Spirit. John Shea in Stories of Faith tells of a young man caring for his father who is dying of cancer. Each night after work the son holds his father’s hand and watches helplessly as he suffers. Finally, one night the son says, "Dad, let go. Trust God, die. Anything is better than this." Soon his father grows peaceful and dies. The son realizes that he has just given voice to the important truth of letting go and trusting God. Death, our own and others, is certainly the most profound example of our participation in the dying of Jesus. Sometimes this dying means standing in a different relationship to the changes made in the 1960s and 1970s that were milestones of the Church. But now there are new needs. The men and women coming to the Church need a different kind of ecclesial expression. It is hard to trust that God is working in the future, to trust the younger generation’s need for

greater clarity in who we are. This is not about being right or wrong but about listening carefully to our times. There is also new life. An example is the birth of a new friendship with a person whose life has brushed up against ours, but circumstances have blocked further development. Then something changes and the relationship clicks. Sometimes our eyes are opened and we discover that for one reason or another we haven’t been very good friends to the people who have tried to love us. As one person writes, "I fear abandonment and therefore its flip side, intimacy. I want the coin to stand on its edge. Don’t go away. Don’t get too close. I’ve had a hard time letting someone love me, although many good people have tried." An example of ascension might be the following, which a woman shared: "My husband and I never fully understood what ascension and Pentecost meant until I had to have a double mastectomy. There was, at first, a lot of anger, a lot of grieving over what we’d lost. Eventually though we had to let go of a wholeness we once had. Now our relationship is great again . . . But my husband had to learn to see me differently and I had to learn to see me differently too. We know now what it means to have a body float up to heaven so as to receive a new spirit" (Holy Longing). For us Christians, the Paschal Mystery is not a theological abstraction, but a lived experience. The examples are given in order to stimulate your reflection on your own experience of the Paschal Mystery. v

FEATURE

The History of the Liturgical Press the Mass arranged for congregational participation. Two other booklets on the liturgy followed that premiere publication, and in November the first issue of the liturgical periodical, Orate Fratres (now known as Worship), was published for eight hundred initial subscribers. The booklet’s Introduction summarizes the accomplishments of The Liturgical Press as follows:

o commemorate the 75th anniversary of its founding, The Liturgical Press is publishing a concise history of its service to the Church. Mark Twomey, editorial director of The Press, is the author of a 65-page booklet entitled The Liturgical Press 1926-2001: Seventy-Five Years of Grace. The history chronicles the amazing growth of The Liturgical Press from its founding by Virgil Michel, OSB, in 1926. Fresh from his studies and travels in Europe that made him aware of the liturgical movement spearheaded by Benedictine communities in France and Germany, Father Virgil in April of 1926 published five thousand copies of a booklet entitled Offeramus which contained the Ordinary of

"The sixty or so monks and lay people who staff The Press in its seventy-fifth year currently publish five journals, two seasonal Mass guides, a Sunday Bulletin Series, and a steady flow of books, compact discs, and CD-ROMs on the liturgy, theology, monastic studies, and Scripture. Its three imprints — The Liturgical Press Books, Michael Glazier Books, and Pueblo Books — provide its pastoral readership with liturgical books and parish ministry materials, and its academic readership with textbooks and commentaries on Scripture, theology, and monastic studies, as well as reference works for the seminary and college classroom and the library market. "Today The Press's Celebrating the Eucharist Mass Guide is used in some six hundred parishes from Boston to San Francisco . . . The Collegeville Bible Commentary is the mainstay of Catholic biblical study across and beyond the nation . . . The Encyclopedia of American Catholic History and similar

titles are significant, well-received reference works. Oblates and others interested in the Benedictine way of life are familiar with RB 1980: The Rule of St. Benedict in English and Latin, a new translation of and commentary on the Rule . . . The Press's edition of the Sacramentary, the Lectionary for Mass, and other official liturgical books are recognized for their carefully wrought design and serviceability . . . In publishing approximately seventy new titles each year and in maintaining a quality backlist of nearly a thousand titles and journal publications, The Liturgical Press serves the diverse Church community of the People of God." The booklet goes on to describe the beginnings of The Liturgical Press in 1926 by Father Virgil and the subsequent growth of The Press under the directorships of William Heidt, OSB (1949-78), Daniel Durken, OSB (1978-88), and Michael Naughton, OSB (1988-2001). The final chapter considers the challenges facing The Liturgical Press in light of technological changes as The Press "will remain rooted in its tradition while being innovative in its product development." For a FREE copy of The Liturgical Press 1926-2001: Seventy-Five Years of Grace, please write to The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321 or call 1-800-858-5450. v The Abbey Banner Spring 2001

STRENGTHENING FOUNDATIONS

Planning the Abbey Guest House by Geoffrey Fecht, OSB

he time-honored Rule of Saint Benedict presupposes a Guest House to be used by pilgrims and prospective novices. Benedictine monasteries have traditionally given prominence to the monastic Guest House in the architectural planning of the monastery complex and in the daily life of the community. With this in mind, the Benedictine monks have been welcoming individuals and groups to Saint John’s since its foundation. In the conviction that this work is central to our monastic mission, we realize that we must develop facilities, a Guest House, which will allow people simply to live and to pray among us, to walk in our woods, and to break the rhythm of their ordinary lives to share in ours. Our community has been carefully developing the program for this Guest House since the late Jerome Theisen, OSB, was abbot (1979-92). The vision of a Guest House was close to his heart and the project has advanced to its current stage as a result of his inspiration. We are confident that the time has come to move ahead with fund-raising to make the Guest House, along with a Blessed Sacrament Chapel for the church, a reality. The Guest House, located near the shores of Lake Sagatagan between the Abbey Church and Saint John’s Preparatory School, will provide facilities for housing and meals for guests, a space for prayer, a library, an area for group conferences and areas for individual conversations. At full capacity, its thirty guest rooms and suites will accommodate sixty-four guests. In reflecting its monastic character of simplicity, hospitality and prayer, the

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setting and design of the Guest House will be inviting and peaceful. It will be a serene, hospitable, sacred place for people of present and future generations to contemplate their faith and their lives. It will be a restful place where monastic vocations, service to the local church, and Christ-centered models of living are fostered. The Guest House will welcome all who come to share the prayer life of the monks of Saint John’s Abbey, regardless of their faith or denomination. The Guest House will allow people a place to retire to for a spiritual, monastic-like respite or retreat. The time has now come for the abbey to undertake the construction of the Abbey Guest House and Blessed Sacrament Chapel, both of which are intended to serve the abbey, its schools and parish, as well as the greater Saint John’s community, through the extension of Benedictine hospitality, offering others the opportunity to witness and experi-

ence a little of the Benedictine spirit of peace and prayer in a surrounding of awesome beauty and stillness. It was in the late 1950s that the abbey last undertook a capital campaign. At that time the abbey sought to raise funds for the construction of the Abbey Church. This church, an architectural marvel, has served both the local and broader communities well since its completion forty years ago, helping to spread the faith of our Benedictine, Christian heritage to our students and our many guests. Nearly fifty years later, we embark on another capital campaign rooted in the same tradition and conviction. It is our hope that all our guests have in turn carried these convictions with them to the four corners of the earth. v

Tadao Ando was chosen by Saint John’s Abbey as the project architect. His model of the Guest House shows two main wings that intersect. photo by Alan Reed, OSB

COVER STORY

John Klassen, OSB, Chosen Tenth Abbot of Saint John’s Abbey Abbot John received the shepherd’s staff (crosier) at his abbatial blessing.

photo by Hugh Witzmann, OSB

by Daniel Durken, OSB

“O

ur tenth abbot doesn't have to be a perfect Number Ten," remarked a wise monk during one of the community discussions that preceded the late November, 2000, abbatial election. It is much too early to assign a number to Saint John's new abbot, John Klassen, OSB, who was chosen to succeed Abbot Timothy Kelly, OSB, on November 24. But Abbot John has already indicated that he is more interested in ones than in tens. In a Saint Cloud Visitor interview he stated, "I plan to continue the ongoing task of spiritual renewal and attention to each monk's own spiritual growth and development, meeting with individuals, doing the kind of theological formation that we need to grow as individual monastics and as a community. Each individual member is the lifeblood of the monastery — we really need to pay attention to this." Paying attention to Abbot John's own development reveals that he is the second oldest of the six sons and two daughters of the deceased Paul and Catherine (Wiechmann) Klassen. He is the first abbot of Saint John's who can claim to be no stranger to the fabled area of Lake Wobegon. For he grew up on

his family's 440-acre dairy farm near the Stearns County village of Elrosa, only 40 miles from Collegeville and even closer to Father Emil's parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility and to the Chatterbox Cafe. When John's father had to curtail his activity due to the effects of rheumatic fever, young John soon took the lead in the daily work of the farm. Stretching his legs to reach the pedals of a Ford tractor when he was only six years old undoubtedly contributed to the new abbot's height of six-three. Seasonal farm work meant missing a lot of grade school days, but he acquired practical, mechanical skills that dispelled any fear of "looking under the hood," as he puts it, to fix what is broken. Life on the farm gave John a strong sense of self-worth and confidence. He knew he was making a contribution and that his work was appreciated. He has an abiding respect for his rural roots as well as for the strong faith and the good humor of local folks. At the age of 15 John came to Collegeville to continue his education through high school, college and seminary. After his graduation from college with a degree in chemistry he The Abbey Banner Spring 2001

COVER STORY

entered the monastic community, made his initial commitment to the Benedictine way of life in 1972 and was ordained a priest in 1977. By 1985 he had completed doctoral requirements in organic chemistry at The Catholic University of America with a thesis that explored "The Steric Course of the Allylic Rearrangement Catalyzed by Beta-hydroxy decanoyl thioester dehydrase." (Try saying that three times in a row!) He has taught chemistry at Saint John's Preparatory School and at Saint John's University and the College of Saint Benedict. He also directed the university's senior seminar program and the Peace Studies Program and served as a faculty resident in student campus housing. From 1993-99 John worked in the area of abbey administration as the director of monastic formation, responsible for the instruction and spiritual direction of the abbey's novices and junior monks during the first three years of their vowed commitment to the monastic way of life. For several years he co-directed with Mary Helen Juettner, OSB, the Benedictine Values program for the university's lay faculty and staff. Last summer he co-authored with Emmanuel Renner, OSB, and Mary Reuter, OSB, an 18-page essay on "Catholic Benedictine Values in an Educational Environment." A series of community discussions on the desired qualities of an abbot prepared the monks of Saint John's Abbey to make their selection of the one who would lead them into the new millennium with its challenges and opportunities. They did so decisively on the morning of November 24 when John received a substantial majority on the second ballot of the election process. He immediately assumed the leadership of more than 190 The Abbey Banner Spring 2001

monks, taking comfort in the key word â&#x20AC;&#x153;delegate,â&#x20AC;? and urging the community to "Stay close so that together we can continue our wonderful journey to the God who is within us." The abbatial blessing was bestowed on Abbot John by Bishop John Kinney of the St. Cloud Diocese, on December 17, 2000, the Third Sunday of Advent. That Sunday's gospel featured the Advent activity of John the Baptist, patron saint of both the abbey and the new abbot. Of him it was said, "Exhorting the people in many ways, John preached good news to the people." v

"Stay close so that together we can continue our wonderful journey to the God who is within us." photo by Greg Becker

FEATURE

Experiencing the Earthquake in El Salvador by Dennis Beach, OSB

n January 13, I was sitting with a group of 12 students from Saint Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s University and the College of Saint Benedict in the chapel of the Hospitalito Divina Providencia in El Salvador. Madre Rosa had just begun to tell us of the life and death of Archbishop Oscar Romero, who had been gunned down while celebrating Mass in this very chapel twenty years earlier, when we heard the sound of what most of us took to be a strong gust of wind.

Saint John's and Saint Benedict's students talk to residents amid the rubble of houses in Tecoluca, El Salvador.

Soon it became apparent that this was no mere movement of air, but a violent and prolonged shaking of the earth itself. For fifty terrifying seconds the earth shook and buckled, precipitating rock-

and landslides and leveling houses, and sending virtually every ambulatory Salvadoran running in panic into the streets or into the combination patio-chicken run behind their crumbling adobe homes. Except for Madre Rosa. And, as a consequence, except for us. As the triangular chapel shuddered and pitched, with pews jumping up and down and chandeliers swaying wildly in a din that arose from the earth itself, Madre Rosa closed her eyes and prayed, prayed for those whose houses were falling about them at that instant, prayed for those departing this life for what can only be a better one to come. We watched her praying and, despite the chaos and the fear, despite our hearts pounding in our chests and our hands clenching the heavy pews, despite the apprehensive glances at the ceiling beams and swinging glass lamps above our heads, we stayed put, stayed together, and took some timid courage from this quiet woman. For myself, I thought at first that this might be "just a tremor" since Madre Rosa had just stayed calm and seemed to wait it out. As the shaking continued, I knew it was larger, but how large I had no idea. Miraculously, nothing around us fell, and as we began to gather our scattered wits, Madre Rosa praised our faith which she said had kept us calm and tranquilo through the

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FEATURE Madre Rosa spoke with the group of students just moments before the earthquake struck.

tumult. Most of us suspected that she was inputing her own devout trust to us, but I think we felt strangely soothed by this unassuming woman telling us how Monsignor Romero had preserved us from harm. What is more, because we hadn’t run panicking out of the building (while that may have been the prudent thing to do!) but instead stayed huddled together, clutching hands and trembling ourselves in unison, we indeed did have the comfort of one another’s presence, the comfort of a certain togetherness in the danger, a comfort anchored in Madre Rosa’s faith and prayer. Only gradually did the extent of the quake’s damage become known to us, with electricity and telephone service knocked out for at least the next few hours — longer in many places. Because damages in San Salvador, the capital, were not as severe as elsewhere, and the radio first reported that the magnitude was "only" 5.9 on the Richter Scale, the sheer destruction of the earthquake mercifully dawned on us little by little. By late afternoon we were back in our little hotel, where one of the televisions that survived brought to us the images and reports of devastation that the rest of the world began to see as well. Later on, we toured towns that had been virtually demolished, with forty The Abbey Banner Spring 2001

percent of the houses in rubble and ninety percent rendered uninhabitable. We talked with people about how they were coping, how they were organizing together to ascertain emergency needs and channel the trickle of aid that only very slowly began to arrive. Our own itinerary of learning about the country’s slow recovery from civil war was shaken up as well, but this problem paled next to the plight of the more than one million victims or damnificados as they’re called in Spanish. What we did learn as we made our way through the remaining two weeks of our stay, jumping out of our skins at the seemingly incessant aftershocks (which continue still as I write this on February 2), is the resilience of this beleaguered people, their faith and confidence in God, their warmth and friendliness even amid this disaster that shook the whole nation. True, accusations that the government — either federal or local — was manipulating aid along political lines flew even as the tears were falling, but our fundamental experience was different: We were for a time intimate witnesses of a national heartache, privileged, in a strange way, to share the pain and anxiety of those all around us. And that moved me, moved us all, even more than the earthquake had. v

Students view more earthquake damage. photos by Dennis Beach, OSB

FEATURE

Angelo Zankl, OSB, Celebrates a Century

photo by Hugh Witzmann, OSB

As unique as centenarians are at Saint John's Abbey, they are not that unique among our sister monks of nearby Saint Benedict's Monastery. The oldest member of that community is Constantine Ringwelski, OSB, who was one hundred years old last February 24. Sophia Zimmer, OSB, (1861-1969) was the first monastic of Saint Benedict's Monastery to reach the century mark. At least five other members of that community reached one hundred before they died. Three other members will have one-hundred-year birthdays, God willing, in 2001. So when a Benedictine is wished the traditional Ad multos annos! ("To many more years"), you had better believe it! (This information was provided by Dolores Super, OSB.)

ather Angelo Zankl, the senior member of Saint John's Abbey, will come to the century mark of his long and fruitful life on April 19 when, God willing, he celebrates his 100th birthday. He is the first monk in the abbey's 145-year history to reach this age. Born in 1901 in the small town of Almena in northwestern Wisconsin, our celebrated centenarian came to Collegeville in 1913 at the tender age of twelve. The total yearly cost of tuition, board and room, books and laundry at that time was $250. Since his parents could only afford half of that sum, the young Zankl made up the rest by waiting on tables in the student dining room and working in the darkroom of the school's own photo studio where he learned the skills of photography that became his life-long hobby. He recalls that he always knew the film North Dakota students submitted for developing because the only things they photographed were trees, not an abundant sight in their windswept state. Entering the abbey's novitiate in 1920 and receiving the monastic name of Angelo, the young monk was once admonished by the novice master, "You have a penchant for a prompt and profuse use of the perpendicular pronoun 'I.'" After looking up those words in the dictionary the neophyte understood he had been introduced to the monastic virtue of humility.

One of Angelo's daily duties was to wheel one of the senior monks, Father Cornelius Wittmann, back and forth from his room to the chapel for Mass. Cornelius was the last of the original pioneer monks who had come to Minnesota from Saint Vincent's Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, in 1856 to offer pastoral care to the German immigrants of the area and to establish monastic and academic life in central Minnesota. Angelo is therefore the last living link that connects the entire 145 years of the abbey's existence. Ordained to the priesthood in 1926 after his theological studies at Saint Vincent's Pontifical Father Angeloâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 1926 ordination Seminary, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, he studied art at Saint Anselm's College, Manchester, New Hampshire, and at Notre Dame University. He taught dogmatic theology in Saint John's Seminary and served as the university's Dean of Men and the The Abbey Banner Spring 2001

FEATURE

Saint John’s Abbey and University in 1912, the year before Father Angelo’s arrival. photos from abbey archives

abbey's first game warden to oversee the flora and fauna of our 2500 acres of forest and lakes. He designed the original seal of the university and was the architect of the monastery's bathhouse on the shore of Lake Sagatagan. In 1951 Angelo was appointed pastor of Saint Clement's Church in Duluth where he spent the next sixteen years. He considers this his most satisfying assignment and recalls how he introduced the singing of Gregorian Chant, first by the parish grade school children and eventually by the whole parish — much to the chagrin of the Senior Choir which had until then enjoyed a musical monopoly. He then served as teacher and chaplain at the former Corbett Junior College in Crookston and as chaplain at Assumption Home in Cold Spring. His final active ministry was as chaplain to the Benedictine women monastics of Saint Scholastica Monastery in Duluth for thirteen years. He settled into the abbey's retirement center in 1987.

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On his tidy desk in his monastic cell is a well-worn copy of his favorite book, Christ the Life of the Soul by Abbot Columba Marmion, OSB, who was declared "blessed" this past September. He has read this book at least seven times and gets more out of it each time. "I believe that it is Christ who redeems us," he says, "and that is why I am not just hopeful but confident that I will go to heaven when I die! I'm anxious to find out what the next world is like."

The day after the blessing of Abbot John Klassen the following conversation was overheard between Father Angelo and a confrere:

When asked for one of the secrets of his long life, Angelo quickly replied, "I never eat sausage, not since I had a tour of a meat packing plant and saw what goes into that product!" Does he have any regrets about the life he was chosen to live? "Not at all!" he insists. "I would do it all over again. I wouldn't change a thing. These years have been supremely satisfying." Angelo's calm and cheerful disposition is proof of the truth of his words. v

Confrere: No, Father, I believe they said yesterday at the blessing that Abbot John is the tenth abbot of Saint John's.

Father Angelo: I was just looking back and counting, and Abbot Timothy Kelly was the sixth abbot and Abbot John is now the seventh abbot.

Father Angelo: No, I wasn't here for the first three abbots. I'm talking about my abbots whom I have been under since I came to Saint John's Prep School in 1913.

FEATURE

Neal Lawrence, OSB photo by William Skudlarek , OSB

Senior Monks Publish Poetry by Hilary Thimmesh, OSB

eats wrote all of his best poems in one astonishing year when he was 24. Wordsworth turned out volumes of mediocre verse over a long lifetime after achieving fame with his best work by the age of 35. Neither of these English Romantics was a Benedictine monk, however, as are Neal Lawrence, 93, and Kilian McDonnell, 79, both of whom have published books of poetry — Kilian his first, Neal his fourth — this year. As if to explain their creativity in their golden years Father Neal notes the poetic atmosphere of monastic life and Father Kilian in one of his finest poems cites the example of Socrates, who began composing poems while in prison awaiting death. As Kilian puts it in "Kilian Does Not Have Enough To Do":

Not to while away the hours, but to purify his soul eternal. Conscience bade him write. No explanation is needed for either monk's poetry, and certainly no apology. Both have the poet's craft well in hand and write with the assur-

ance and vigor of artists at the top of their form. If age lends a distinction to their poems, it is the distinction of wide experience and time-tested judgment. Theirs are the voices of seers who have tasted life and know how to savor both its certainties and its ambiguities. For Neal Henry Lawrence Blossoms in Time is his fourth book of tanka, the demanding 31-syllable Japanese form that seeks to capture a single impression and suggest a reflection on it in five lines counting 5-7-5-7-7 syllables respectively. This is a form that requires verbal economy, rewards understatement, and disappoints if it fails to achieve a sense of closure or completeness. If successful it lingers in the mind and in the heart. Some examples will show how deftly Neal manages this structure. The first selection is newly published.

At ninety I sat Watching the children at play Making a snowman. How many did I fashion? One each year lasting like dreams.

The following poem first appeared in Rushing Amid Tears and is included in Blossoms.

From an olive tree Minute blossoms in the sun Falling like snow leaves — At night beneath such a tree Christ must have prayed, deep in pain. An old man and children, a snowman and dreams, blossoms in the sun and pain in the night. An eye for such contrasts, skill in drawing a picture or a mood with no waste of words, an awareness of human and spiritual depth cultivated over a long lifetime are this poet's hallmarks and make his tanka elegant and eloquent in his new work as in his old. By comparison many of Kilian McDonnell's best poems in Adam on the Lam have a downright sassy air. Take Abram reacting to Yahweh's order to pull up stakes and move to a strange land in "The Call of Abraham":

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FEATURE

photo by Hugh Witzmann, OSB

The Venus de Milo has no arms, the Liberty Bell is cracked.

At seventy-five am I supposed to scuttle my life . . . Or the author objecting to God's ambiguous guidance in "Must You Mumble?"

Now, how about a straight word? . . . No more Ezekiel prophecies, wheels within wheels. Or in perhaps his most finished poem, "Perfection, Perfection."

I have had it with perfection. I have packed my bags, I am out of here. Gone. This is the first stanza. There are seven more. The last two are a model of dispatch that could not be done better, the monosyllabic fourth line paying off in spades at the end:

Hints I could have taken: even the perfect chiseled form of Michelangelo's radiant David squints.

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Kilian has other moods, of course, though this tone of comic exasperation, plain speaking triumphant over ideology and protocol, is his best and most convincing. Many of his poems key off Sacred Scripture: prophets, psalms, Jesus as apprentice carpenter, Mary Magdalen as disregarded apostle. A few reflect on tragic events in the modern world in a deeply serious tone. In all of these poems the voice is constant and sophisticated, the form easily and delightfully varied. Most of them are stanzaic. The wedding of speech rhythms and sounds comes off with no false notes. There are some intricate patterns nicely designed to bring content into highresolution focus without getting in the way. With easy management of form goes an unabashed vocabulary that is pure American: Augustine's pears ("They were lousy pears"), the monks of Saint John's ("shepherding the saints is like herding cats"). In an edition of five hundred copies the book was published by Jim and Dorothy Blommer, Park Press Quality Printing, Waite Park, Minnesota, as their fifth Christmas book. Front and back cover photos by Francis Hoefgen, OSB,

complement the poems, many of which first appeared singly in various periodicals. Aside from lacking a table of contents listing the 29 poems by page number, the edition can be faulted only for being far too limited. The next, enlarged edition, should be made available to readers everywhere. Father Neal’s book may be obtained from the Saint John’s Bookstore. The price is $11.95. Father Kilian’s text is not currently available to the general public. v

Kilian McDonnell, OSB

FEATURE

Mary Stamps, first Methodist monk

The First Methodist Monk photo by Hugh Witzmann, OSB

by Daniel Durken, OSB

cumenical history was made at Collegeville on February 1, 2001, when Mary Ewing Stamps, a member of the United Methodist Church, made her final monastic profession in the abbey church during a ceremony which included representatives of her church, the Benedictine monks of Saint John’s Abbey and of Saint Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, Minnesota, and friends. Mary Stamps, 41, grew up in Florida where her father worked as an engineer at the Kennedy Space Center. She graduated from Brenau Women’s College, Gainesville, Georgia, with the B.A. degree in Studio Art and from Candler School of Theology, Atlanta, with the Master of Divinity degree. It was during her studies at Candler that she first encountered Saint Benedict in an introductory church history course taught by Roberta Bondi, an Oblate of Saint Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph. Her interest in monasticism came to life when, at the urging of Don Saliers (an Oblate of Saint John’s Abbey), she read Esther deWaal’s book, Seeking

God: The Way of Saint Benedict, published by The Liturgical Press. Unbeknown to Mary, the United Methodist Church at this same time had begun its own monastic journey. At this church’s General Conference of 1984 a resolution to explore monasticism out of an ecumenical context was passed by the assembly. The Upper Room Ministry, an agency of the United Methodist Church, was given the task of implementing the resolution, and a Monastic Design Team was formed. As the Spirit would have it, Timothy Kelly, O.S.B., then director of formation at Saint John’s Abbey as well as an adjunct faculty member of the United Methodist Church’s Academy for Spiritual Formation, was invited to be a member of that Monastic Design Committee. The two parallel tracks of Mary’s personal spiritual pursuit and that of the United Methodist Church’s interest in the monastic tradition began to coalesce when Mary came to Saint John’s University to do the first year of her doctoral work in monastic studies. It was then that she met Father Timothy and first learned of her own church’s interest in monasticism. Upon completion of her doctorate in 1991, Mary, another United Methodist,

two Episcopalians and three Benedictine women monastics of Saint Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, Minnesota, began a one-year ecumenical monastic experiment in nearby Albany. She then lived for two years as a "sojourner" with the Benedictine Sisters in Clyde, Missouri. After three more years of working at her undergraduate alma mater, she returned to the Collegeville area in 1997 to seek the fulfillment of her desire to live the monastic life. Saint John’s Abbey supported Mary’s intention by offering her the use of a newly acquired house just a mile from the abbey. In October 1999, Mary took up residence in what henceforth has come to be known as Saint Brigid of Kildare Monastery. The United Methodist Bishop of Minnesota, Bishop Hopkins, was present for the dedication of the new monastery. Mary’s profession of and commitment to the monastic way of life was made, not to Saint John’s Abbey, but to the United Methodist Church. She is the pioneer for her church in this program for monasticism within that denomination. She continues her ecumenical and monastic adventure with her work at the Episcopal House of Prayer on the property of Saint John’s Abbey. v

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THE MONKS OF SAINT JOHN’S ABBEY November 24, 2000

1. Abbot John Klassen 2. Abbot Timothy Kelly 3. Abbot John Eidenschink 4. Abbot Melvin Valvano 5. Peter Habenczius 6. John Hanson 7. Xavier Schermerhorn 8. Jared Rand 9. Nicholas Thelen 10. David Cotter 11. Kevin Adams 12. Isidore Glyer 13. Bradley Jenniges 14. Cletus Connors 15. Dominic Ruiz 16. Paul-Vincent Niebauer 17. Michael Kwatera 18. Paul Jasmer 19. Simon-Hoa Phan 20. Francisco Schulte 21. Michael Bik 22. Linus Ascheman 23. Julius Beckermann 24. Jonathan Licari 25. Leonard Chmelik 26. Jason Kudrna 27. Paul Fitt 28. Roman Paur 29. Allan Bouley 30. Herard Jean-Noel 31. Francis Hoefgen 32. Michael Naughton 33. Henry Bryan Hays 34. Peter Kawamura 35. Raymond Pedrizetti 36. Roger Klassen 37. Thomas Gillespie 38. James Reichert 39. Kevin Ludowese 40. Geoffrey Fecht 41. Gregory Miller 42. Gregory Eibensteiner 43. Alberic Culhane 44. Roger Kasprick 45. Andrew Goltz 46. Aaron Raverty 47. Robert Wieber 48. Gregory Sebastian

49. Simon Bischof 50. Dunstan Moorse 51. Roger Botz 52. Barnabas Laubach 53. James Tingerthal 54. William Skudlarek 55. Thomas Andert 56. Richard Oliver 57. Corwin Collins 58. Virgil O’Neill 59. Patrick Sullivan 60. Hugh Witzmann 61. Daniel Durken 62. Alan Reed 63. Otto Thole 64. Julian Schmiesing 65. Arnold Weber 66. Raphael Olson 67. Burton Bloms 68. Kilian McDonnell 69. Mark Kelly 70. Mathias Spier 71. Frank Kacmarcik 72. Luke Steiner 73. Florian Muggli 74. Hilary Thimmesh 75. Stanley Roche 76. Vincent Tegeder 77. Luke Mancuso 78. John Kulas 79. Melchior Freund 80. Martin Rath 81. Eugene McGlothlin 82. John-Bede Pauley 83. Bartholomew Sayles 84. Kenneth Kroeker 85. David Rothstein 86. Donald Tauscher 87. Columba Stewart 88. Thomas Thole 89. Cyprian Seitz 90. John Kelly 91. Douglas Mullin 92. Michael Laux 93. Blane Wasnie 94. Urban Pieper 95. Finian McDonald 96. Meinrad Dindorf

97. Mark Thamert 98. Magnus Wenninger 99. John Patrick McDarby 100. Rene McGraw 101. Chrysostom Kim 102. Don Talafous 103. Damian Rogers 104. Isaac Connolly 105. Jerome Coller 106. Paul Richards 107. George Primus 108. Aelred Tegels 109. Stephen Beauclair 110. Ian Dommer 111. Jonathan Fischer 112. Wilfred Theisen 113. Kelly Ryan 114. Knute Anderson 115. John Patrick Earls 116. Donald LeMay 117. Dennis Beach 118. Allen Tarlton 119. Philip Kaufman 120. Luke Dowal 121. Richard Eckroth 122. Jeffrey Hutson 123. Cyril Gorman 124. Joel Kelly 125. David Manahan 126. Gordon Tavis

127. Landelin Robling 128. Gerard Jacobitz 129. Brennan Maiers 130. Simeon Thole 131. Francis Peters 132. Daniel Ward 133. Matthew Luft 134. Robert Koopmann 135. William Schipper 136. Walter Kieffer 137. Christopher Fair 138. Athanase Fuchs 139. Eric Hollas 140. Anthony Ruff 141. Nicholas Doub 142. David Klingeman 143. Joseph Feders 144. James Phillips 145. Neal Laloo 146. Robin Pierzina 147. Kevin Seasoltz 148. David Paul Lange 149. Dietrich Reinhart 150. Nathanael Hauser 151. John Brudney 152. Zachary Wilberding 153. Robert Pierson 154. Michael Patella 155. Benedict Leuthner 156. Dale Launderville

MONKS NOT PICTURED: Angelo Zankl, Berthold Ricker, Godfrey Diekmann, Cosmas Dahlheimer, Burkard Arnheiter, Aloysius Michels, Gregory Soukup, Mark Schneider, Alto Butkowski, William Borgerding, Benedict Nordick, George Wolf, Henry Anderl, Omer Maus, Fintan Bromenshenkel, Gervase Soukup, John Anderl, Edwin Stueber, Paul Marx, Virgil O’Neill, Silvan Bromenshenkel, Gunther Rolfson, Vernon Miller, Stephen Wagman, Gall Fell, Placid Stuckenschneider, Samuel Lickteig, Thomas Wahl, Andre Bennett, Kieran Nolan, Neal Lawrence, Mel Taylor, Alexander Andrews, Cyprian Weaver, Nathan Libaire, Luigi Bertocchi, Edward Vebelun, Paul Makoto Tada photo by Dianne Towalski, St. Cloud Visitor

FEATURE

An Exhibit of Forty Bronze Sculptures

Gutman, Ann Arbor, Michigan. He has received grants that allowed him to study art, architecture and art history in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. His exhibitions range from the 1965 World’s Fair in New York City, where he presented an award-winning "Madonna of the Gospels," to Colorado, Minnesota and Washington, D.C.

ugh Witzmann, OSB, sculptor-in-residence at Saint John’s University, exhibited forty of his cast bronze sculptures based on biblical and religious themes at the Saint John’s Art Center and Target Gallery from November, 2000, to January, 2001. Father Hugh, a monk and priest of Saint John’s Abbey, received his Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1963. He taught studio art and art history courses to Collegeville undergraduates until his retirement from the art department in 1997. He has traveled extensively and studied with master sculptor Elmar Hillebrand, Cologne, Germany, and with art historian Joseph

Reflecting on his chosen medium of artistic creativity, Hugh states, "For me, bronze is a metaphor of qualities I find in monastic living — simplicity, honesty and a humane beauty purified by fire." Shown here are his bronze sculptures of Moses (left), Job (right) and Saint Benedict (above). v

photos by Hugh Witzmann, OSB The Abbey Banner Spring 2001

VOCATION NEWS

If You Feel That God Is Calling You, Consider Yourself Invited! by Joseph Feders, OSB

hen I give vocation talks at schools and in parishes, one of the most frequently asked questions is, "How do you know that God is calling you to the religious life or the priesthood?" It’s an important question, and my usual response dispels any notions of burning bushes or angelic voices. When I think back on my own experience, I know that God spoke to me in two down-to-earth ways.

The second way in which God spoke to me was through my heart. During my frequent visits to the abbey before entering as a candidate eight years ago, my heart was telling me that this is the place where God was calling me to live my Christian life. The feeling that this way of life "seems right for me" and the sense of peace I felt during my visits to the monastery were confirmed during my times of prayer. Once I felt God tugging at my heart, there was no way that I could respond otherwise.

So what about you? If you have a desire to seek God in community, are a single Catholic male between the ages of First, God spoke to me through 23 and 40, a high school graduate, and have some further training, education or others. A longtime friend, Bill work history, you may be a potential canClarey, a Christian Brother, who didate for Saint John’s Abbey. In addiwas then the Director of Counseling and Career Services at tion to these minimum requirements, you can ask yourself if you possess the Saint John’s University, first suggested that I ought to consider skills for . . . a vocation to Saint John’s Abbey. • Living and developing your Catholic Once I expressed my interest to faith my family and friends, they fur• Living celibately in community ther encouraged me by saying that • Living in mutual obedience they could see me in religious life. • Living a life of simplicity, humility and Other important voices included stability my spiritual director, and the • Being intellectually curious abbey’s vocation director, the late • Contributing to the work of the Paul Schwietz, OSB. community

• Maintaining physical and emotional well-being If you possess these skills and want to learn more, please contact me at Saint John’s, and I will happily speak with you about our life and/or send you some information. If you’re not ready to contact me, visit our web page at www.saintjohnsabbey.org. Once you’re ready to take the next step, there are many opportunities to explore our life. Almost every month, the vocation team schedules a Monastic Explorer Week when first-time visitors pray, work, eat and socialize with the monks. In addition to these weeks, each summer (June 16 to July 13 this year) the abbey offers an extended Monastic Experience program for men between the ages of 18 and 32. If my words have tugged at something in your heart, maybe God is calling you to consider a monastic vocation. If that’s the case, consider yourself invited! Or, you may know of someone who fits the above profile. If that’s the case, let that young man know that God is speaking through you! v

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ABBEY MISSIONS The monks of Holy Trinity Benedictine Monastery, Fujimi, Japan l. to r. Paul Tada, Nicholas Thelen, William Skudlarek, Kieran Nolan, Prior Peter Kawamura, Aloysius Michels, Thomas Wahl, Neal Lawrence, Edward Vebelun

Japan Community Marks Second Anniversary of Move photo by Columba Stewart, OSB by William Skudlarek, OSB

n May 25th the nine members of Japan's Holy Trinity Benedictine Monastery will mark the second anniversary of their move from Tokyo's Meguro Ward, where they served Saint Anselm's Parish, to a newly constructed monastery in Fujimi, a small town in the foothills of a central Japan mountain range.

After fifty years of parish ministry in the metropolis of Tokyo, moving to a "Wobegonic" town has meant a radical change in living out our monastic vocation. We believe that a monastic life focused on the reverent and beautiful celebration of common worship, on lectio divina and meditation, and on a common life and hospitality would be an effective witness of the Gospel to both the Christians and non-Christians of Japan. Christianity is highly respected in Japan for its charitable and educational works, but it is less appreciated for its rich spiritual tradition. The subordination of the "contemplative" to the "active" expression of Christianity in Japan may be one of the reasons only a little more than one percent of the population have been baptized. The Abbey Banner Spring 2001

Our decision to change from a more outwardly involved to a more inwardly directed form of monastic life was born out of our desire to offer the Japanese people a clear manifestation of the spiritual face of Christianity. We hope that some may feel drawn to become a part of a believing community that worships the God revealed in Jesus Christ and out of that deeply religious motivation reaches out in loving service to those in need. We therefore decided that our daily schedule would revolve around our times of communal prayer. We begin our day at 6:30 with the Office of Readings. We return to the oratory at 8:00 for Morning Prayer (Lauds), followed by a brief meeting during which the appointed passage from the Rule of Benedict is read and matters of common concern are announced and discussed. The remainder of the morning is devoted to work and study. Our celebration of the Eucharist is at noon, and sisters from a nearby convent and local Catholic laity often join us. We pray the Day Hour at 2:30 and then have the remainder of the afternoon for individual activities. Sung Vespers are at 6:00 and the day comes to a close with Compline at 8:30.

We also decided that, to the degree possible, we would do all our own cooking and take care of the normal maintenance of our buildings and grounds. We want to reduce costs, but we also want to put into practice the wisdom of Benedict who teaches that service in the kitchen "increases reward and fosters love" (RB 35,2). Our guests appreciate the fact that the monks whom they join in prayer are the same people who prepare and serve their meals. Two years is just a beginning, but there are hopeful signs for the future. About ten men have expressed an interest in the monastic life and have visited us, some having learned about us through our website. In January we welcomed our first candidate. We hope and pray more will follow. Given the small number of Catholics â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and the relatively large number of dioceses and religious orders â&#x20AC;&#x201D; in Japan, Holy Trinity will probably continue to be a small monastery. But we hope that with God's blessing and our generous and faithful response to his grace it will become a creditable witness to the light of the Gospel in this Land of the Rising Sun. v

ABBEY MISSIONS

l. to r., Fintan Bromenshenkel, George Wolf, and Prior Mel Taylor

It’s Better in the Bahamas! by Daniel Durken, OSB

hat’s what they tell the tourists who come to the Isles of June seeking warm sun and white sand. But it could have been a little better in the Bahamas in January when the early morning and late evening temperatures shivered in the mid-40's for several days. The three core members of Saint Augustine’s Monastery in the Fox Hill suburb of Nassau have long since become acclimatized to the lows and highs of their Bahamian home. Prior Mel does the grocery and supply shopping, serves as guestmaster for the occasional visitor, celebrates Mass four times a week with various groups of students of Saint Augustine’s College, does weekend pastoral ministry on one of the Family Islands of the Bahamas such as San Salvador, Cat Island, or Harbour Island, and tends to other assorted daily duties and demands. Father George, who has spent all 56 years of his priesthood in the Bahamas, is the assistant plant manager of the school, makes the daily trip to the downtown post office and bank, and spends each weekend as the pastor of Saint Therese’s Church on the island of Exuma.

Father Fintan oversees the school’s computer operations, is the celebrant and homilist for each Sunday’s well attended Mass in the monastery chapel, and gets his daily exercise by weeding the school’s athletic track. The monastery supports and sponsors the 7th-12th-grades school with an enrollment of 940 boys and girls. The prestige and popularity of Saint Augustine’s College are evidenced by the 530 students who took the January entrance exam for the fall of 2001 in the hope of winning one of the 180 available openings. The boys’ senior varsity basketball team once again won the Bahamian national championship, a tradition that has created very crowded trophy cases in the foyer of the school’s administration building. Abbot John and Brother Benedict Leuthner, OSB, Saint John’s corporate treasurer, visited Saint Augustine’s in mid-March to continue the dialog with school and archdiocesan leaders over the future of the monastery and school. v

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BANNER BITS The abbey’s newest members: l. to r. Brothers Jared, Christopher and Xavier.

Three Novices Make First Profession of Vows by Alberic Culhane, OSB

hree Benedictine novices with widely diverse and successful experiences in former secular pursuits made their initial public commitment to the monastic way of life at Saint John’s Abbey last September 14, the Feast of the Holy Cross. They are: Brothers Jared Rand, Christopher Fair and Xavier Schermerhorn. Along with families, confreres and friends, the three men participated in the traditional ritual of monastic profession followed by a festive dinner in the abbey’s refectory.

Jared (Richard) Rand, OSB Life in community, with varying challenges, rewards and locations, has been a consistent experience for Brother Jared who was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1971, the eldest of four children. He has lived on both of the country’s coasts and in a number of central states. "When I was in high school," he observes, "I attended a junior boarding school run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. There 200 teenage boys shared daily meals and morning and evening prayer. By my senior year only 28 students remained in my class. Living in such a small group setting taught me that community life has its demands as well as its rewards." After high school graduation he twice enrolled in college courses, dropping each for a stint in a hardware store The Abbey Banner Spring 2001

before joining the United States Army in 1992. About this experience he commented, "Basic training was another communal experience for me, although it lacked the fun of my high school years. I learned to work with other persons to achieve a common goal. Through such teamwork we realized the importance of supporting each other, especially through stressful times." After basic training he was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia, to complete airborne training. "If anyone wants to know what it is like to jump out of a plane, I can only say they will have to experience it for themselves. I was too busy being scared to remember much of what happened." Later he became a medical specialist, moved on to Fort Ord, California, and worked in the flight surgeon’s clinic where he began to consider a religious vocation. "I visited a few religious orders, including the Trappists at Saint Benedict’s Abbey in Snowmass, Colorado. I became aware of Saint John’s Abbey through a Vision magazine article, and I decided to arrange a visit. I was very impressed after that visit and stopped looking at other religious groups." Between 1994-99, he continued the vocation process while

photo by Robin Pierzina, OSB

working in a Catholic elementary school in San Antonio, Texas, where he was a substitute teacher, an after-school care manager, and an assistant physical education coach. He judges that "this job was the most rewarding one I have yet had." Richard became a monastic candidate in the summer of 1999 and was given the name Jared as a novice in September of that same year. Since his first profession of vows this past September he is completing his undergraduate studies in humanities, enjoys recreational running, discursive reading and drawing.

Christopher (Jon) Fair, OSB Born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1969, Brother Christopher is the youngest of the six children in his family. Until his grade school years, he was raised on an

BANNER BITS acreage outside Ashland, Nebraska. When the Fair family moved to Omaha, he attended Christ the King Grade School, graduated from Archbishop Daniel J. Gross High School, and studied architecture and engineering at the Lincoln and Omaha campuses of the University of Nebraska. During those years he was an active member of the Knights of Columbus Squires Council and served as a state officer for two years. Later he became a third-degree member of the Knights with the Belleville, Kansas, council. Before moving to western Nebraska and Kansas he worked as an inventory supervisor for a heating and air conditioning company in Omaha. He then spent nearly eight years working in the custom cattle operations, about which he wryly remarks, "I’ve spent sufficient time at both the business and the duty ends of a cow." Although he has written scores of poems and enjoys photography, writing short stories, model railroading and other hobbies, Christopher’s most developed skills and talents find expression in manual labor. Relying on his varied work experiences, he can fabricate and weld metal, do job related construction, operate large trucks and heavy equipment, repair grain elevators and treat sick animals. In the summer of 1998, he participated in the abbey’s Monastic Experience Program and entered the novitiate in 1999. During his novitiate year of prayer and study he used his free time for creative projects in the woodworking shop and on a

special bookbinding project for the formation program library. Currently Christopher is continuing his monastic formation studies and works both at the woodworking shop and in the book bindery of the university’s Alcuin Library.

Xavier (David) Schermerhorn, OSB Brother Xavier, at 41 the oldest of this trio, recalls some happy days growing up on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River at Hammond, New York. His older sister and he often swam in and boated on that storied river when his parents ran a boat marina. After graduating from high school and unsure of what he wanted to do, he worked at a Watertown, New York, bank as a teller for four years before getting an associate degree in liberal arts at the local community college. Transferring to Platsburgh State University of New York, he then earned the B.S. and M.S. degrees in elementary education. A teaching job at Northwest Catholic School in Pascoag, Rhode Island, occupied his interest for some years before he moved "out West." He traveled to Colorado because of an interest in learning estate planning. In Denver he supervised the housekeeping staff of a four-star hotel and also served in a variety of liturgical ministries at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. At the cathedral he came to know a Benedictine monk from Saint Vincent’s Archabbey, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, who was on home leave and was the church’s organist. He interested David in Benedictine life and encouraged him to contact Saint John’s Abbey. Following a number of extended visits to the abbey, David was accepted into the novitiate in 1999. He underlines that he has "been engaged in many activities, lived in many places, but nothing has been as fully satisfying until my life here."

Since making his first profession of vows Xavier continues the monastic formation program and spends his work time as a nursing assistant in Saint Raphael’s Retirement Center and as the assistant sacristan. In his free time he enjoys walks in the woods, reading mystery stories, swimming, music and theater productions. v

A Novice Begins Monastic Life

n September 10, 2000, the monastic community welcomed Brother Matthew (Dennis) Luft, 28, as a novice. He is the son of Deacon Dennis and Sarah Luft of Adel, Iowa, and has two older sisters and three younger brothers. He credits his parents, who work together as Family Life Ministers of the Des Moines Diocese, with helping to form his fundamental values and beliefs. After graduating from Saint John’s University in 1996, Dennis enrolled in Saint John’s School of Theology/ Seminary as a priesthood candidate for the Des Moines Diocese. A year later he transferred to The Catholic University of America where he studied theology for two years. After a requested twoyear leave of absence from these studies during which time he taught in an elementary school in Arizona he decided to return to Saint John’s to seek entrance into the monastic community. As a novice Matthew lives the full monastic schedule of worship and work while studying the Rule of Saint Benedict and other topics related to his future commitment as a monk. v

Individual photos by David Manahan, OSB

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BANNER BITS

Obituaries BENJAMIN STEIN, OSB 1910 - 2000

he ninety fruitful years of Father Benjamin, which came to a peaceful close on November 27, 2000, might be summed up with two words: books and bait. Two days after his first profession of monastic vows he began to work in the library of Saint John's University. There he maintained the focus of his service to the community for the next halfcentury. One of the highlights of his years as director of the library was his chairmanship of the building committee which guided the renowned architect Marcel Breuer in the award-winning design and construction of the Alcuin Library. Years later a library meeting space was named the Father Benjamin Stein Conference Room. In accepting the commemorative plaque he remarked, with a typical twinkle in his eye, "When you get tired of calling it the Father Benjamin Stein Staff Conference Room, you can just call it 'The B.S. Room.'" Moving from the quiet of the Alcuin Library to the stillness of Lake Sagatagan, Benjamin took his place in Saint John's fraternity of famed fishermen. He knew exactly where to look for fish and what bait to use to catch

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them. He always shared his captured crappies, sunfish, bass and northerns with the library staff and the monastic community. Upon his retirement from the library at the age of 71 he volunteered for service at Saint Augustine's Monastery in Nassau, Bahamas. There he worked as guest master, librarian, archivist, and weekend pastoral assistant. He took special joy in his ministry to almost all of the mission churches of the so-called Family Islands of the Bahamian chain. He added these parishes to his list of the more than 120 out of the 145 churches of the Diocese of Saint Cloud which he served on weekends during the 64 years of his priesthood. In his funeral homily Abbot John gratefully acknowledged that Father Benjamin was "blessed with great energy, a mixture of gentleness and kindness with directness and sometimes feistiness. His sense of humor was quick and there was a conspicuous twinkle in his eye." May he rest in peace!

ELMER CICHY, OSB 1915 - 2001

t has become a tradition after the funeral of a Saint John’s monk to display an assortment of unique items associated with the deceased confrere. The memorabilia of Brother Elmer, who

photos from abbey archives

died January 4, 2001, included the following: a pair of faded red suspenders; a black back-support belt; a bottle of odor-controlled garlic pills; a 32-ounce bottle of Gatorade; a supply of Relax-O-Zyme pills (a dietary ingredient to nutritionally support nervous system functions); a container of Maxilife capsules (Anti-oxidant Rich Multi-Vitamins and Mineral Formula); a letter scale and two rolls of 22- and 23-cent stamps; and the 1999 National Five-Digit ZIP Code and Post Office Directory. The plethora of pills testify to Elmer’s lifelong effort to find the formula that would restore his fragile health. Hospitalized almost 60 times for respiratory ailments before finally settling into the abbey’s health center in 1988, he nevertheless did not use his ailments as an excuse for idleness. For seventy years he served the community in a variety of assignments: gardener, tailor, carpenter, nursing aide, sacristan, secretary, office manager of The Liturgical Press, night watchman, farm hand, and pastoral assistant. Elmer’s hospitality as an ad hoc guest master is captured in the story of the time Al Quie, friend and former governor of Minnesota, called Elmer late one night to ask for a room at the abbey so he

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In 1954, Brother Elmer carried a newborn calf at St. Mary’s Mission, Redlake, Minnesota. drawing by Placid Stuckenschneider, OSB

would not have to drive home in a snowstorm. Elmer gave his friend his own bed while he slept on the floor. After his death, letters of condolence from Francis Cardinal Arinze of Vatican City and Jaime Cardinal Sin of Manila, Philippines, testify to his extensive correspondence. The letter scale, stamps and post office directory in the above list were his instruments of the good work of forwarding the mail to absent brethren, a task he conscientiously fulfilled during the final twelve years of his life. His serious search for zip codes was accompanied by his zipping along cloister corridors in an electric-powered cart with the privilege of eminent right-of-way during his appointed rounds. In his funeral homily Abbot John concluded his reflections on the life of Brother Elmer: "He had a deep devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to the Holy Family. The story is told that when he was helping Father Ignatius Candrian at the Native American mission outside Cloquet,

Minnesota, he dyed all of Father’s underwear blue in honor of Mary. Father Ignatius, needless to say, was not amused! It is one of those stories that, if not true, should be true. With grateful hearts for Brother Elmer’s life in our midst, 70 years of service, 70 years of seeking and trusting in God’s mercies that are new every morning, we are confident that he now dwells in a building from God, a house not made with hands but eternal in the heavens." May he rest in peace! v NOTE: For the memorial brochures of Benjamin Stein and Elmer Cichy and their complete funeral homilies by Abbot John Klassen, please send a self-addressed, stamped, business-sized envelope to: Abbey Archives, Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321.

Remember our brothers and sisters who have gone to their rest: Leon Nolette, Oblate, January 6 Marcellus Schneider, Oblate, January 9 Loretta and Gordon Millette, former employees of Saint John’s, December 31 and January 27 Mary Hagerman, Oblate, January 27 Augusta Skochinski, OSB, Monastery of Saint Benedict, February 24 Hironimus Gu, father of visiting student monk, Pranci Gale-Ea, OCSO, February 24 Cordella Goertel, OSB, Monastery of Saint Benedict, February 28 Catherine Klassen, mother of Abbot John, March 26

Abbot Timothy Enjoys Sabbatical

nlike old soldiers who, according to General Douglas MacArthur, "just fade away," former Abbot Timothy Kelly has only gone away for a while to enjoy a well-earned sabbatical. Shortly after the election of his successor, Timothy took up temporary residence at Saint Procopius Abbey in Lisle, Illinois, twenty miles from Chicago. Settling into a monastic cell that includes a new recliner, he takes part in the public prayer and meals of this 54-member Benedictine community. He reports, "I haven't had this much time to read and write in years." He is working on a presentation to establish the relationship of art, sacraments and lectio (sacred reading) which he will give in June at Mount Saviour Benedictine community in Elmira, New York. Taking advantage of the historical and cultural treasures of Chicago he has visited exhibits that included a dinosaur, Russian gold and Chinese art. During the first three weeks of March he was in Rome for an executive committee meeting of the Benedictine Commission on China. He traveled with confrere Luigi Bertocchi, OSB, to Venice, stopped in Berlin, and paid his ancestral respects during a brief stay in Ireland. v

Bring them and all the departed into the light of your presence, O Lord. The Abbey Banner Spring 2001

BANNER BITS

Dietrich Reinhart, OSB, Receives the Saint Gregory Award

rother Dietrich, president of Saint John’s University, received the Saint Gregory Award at a presentation by the Saint John’s Boys’ Choir at the annual Saint Cecilia Concert on November 19, 2000. The accompanying citation applauded Dietrich for his "energetic leadership and expansive heart" and recognized him as a "champion of the fine arts, encouraging and supporting programs that provide cultural education and entertainment while nurturing the God-given creative gifts of young people and advocating the pursuit of the intellectual life."

In his response Dietrich reminisced: "I remember watching Brother Paul (Richards, OSB), founder and director of the Boys’ Choir, take up this great dream twenty years ago. He was way out on a limb and no one knew if everything would really come together. But then the Boys’ Choir sang here for the first Christmas Midnight Mass. I heard that pure, fragile and utterly transcendent sound that only boys’ voices can make — for a few fleeting years, before vanishing entirely — and I knew that all of Saint John’s was being brought more deeply into the beauty and power of music.

Every year since then the Saint John’s Boys’ Choir has enlarged my spirit. And I think we all have a similar story of gratitude to tell." The photo shows Dietrich receiving the award from John Shorba, president of the board of directors of the Saint John’s Boys’ Choir. The statuette, designed and executed by Marcia McEachron, depicts the young Saint Gregory singing. v

The Saint John’s Bible Featured in Smithsonian Washington, D.C., with a circulation of more than two million.

he Saint John’s Bible was featured as the cover story in the December 2000 issue of Smithsonian magazine. Smithsonian is the official publication of the Smithsonian Institution in The Abbey Banner Spring 2001

The article, “The Saint John’s Bible: the Word into Art,” is the most extensive feature story written about the project since it was announced in March 1999. Writers for Smithsonian, Per Ola and Emily D’Aulaire, visited Saint John’s University last August and met with various people involved in the project. A week later the writers traveled with photographer Michael Freeman, hired by Smithsonian magazine, to Wales to interview and photograph Donald Jackson and his team working in the

studio. The result: a stunning 11-page story with nine beautiful photographs. Exposure in this cultural publication has created a new round of interest in The Saint John’s Bible. To preview a part of the article, visit the Bible website at saintjohnsbible.org and click on "news." Or, if you prefer a free copy of the entire article, please call The Saint John’s Bible office at 320-363-2771 or email your request to: saintjohnsbible.org@csbsju.edu. v

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Abbey Makes Significant Annual Gift to Saint John’s University

ccording to a brief article in the November, 2000, issue of Community, a newsletter for the faculty and staff of our two colleges, Saint John’s Abbey yearly contributes to Saint John’s University the equivalent of fiftyfive percent of the compensation it receives for the monks who are employed by the university. This gift is commonly referred to as the Abbey Grant.

This past fiscal year the Abbey Grant totaled $1,116,279, and over the past decade it has amounted to more than $11 million. Without the Abbey Grant, tuition costs would increase by approximately $600 per student, and it would take an endowment of $180 million to replace this income. "We are deeply grateful to the monastic community for their annual support of the University," noted Rob Culligan, vice president for institutional advancement.

"The Abbey has been the largest contributor to the University over the past ten years. Indeed, it is the largest benefactor in our history. I encourage students, faculty and staff to join me in thanking the monks of Saint John’s Abbey for their generous ongoing support." v

A mixed choir of children, women and men perform at the fifth annual HymnFest during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity last January.

HymnFest for Christian Unity

highlight of this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18-25) was the fifth annual HymnFest in Saint John’s Abbey Church on the afternoon of January 21. An audience of over 1000 people from various religious demoninations came together to listen to and sing along with a choir of 130 women, men and children. The featured choirs included the Saint John’s Boys’ Choir, directed by Paul Richards, OSB; the adult and children choirs of Mary Mother of the Church Parish in Burnsville, Minnesota, directed by Betsy Sullivan; and The Cantabile Girls Choir of Saint Cloud State University, directed by Jane Oxton.

Organists were David Jeske and Nicholas Doub, OSB. With ecumenical gusto the congregation sang such favorite hymns as "Jesus Christ is Ris’n Today," "All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name," "Were You There?" and the rousing finale, "Praise to the Lord." The most captivating of the choirs’ selections was the delightful rendition of "Bless the Lord" by Andrew Carter, published by Oxford University Press. This song is inspired by the familiar Canticle of the Three Boys in the Fiery Furnace from chapter three of the Book

of Daniel that calls upon sun and moon, stars of heaven, fire and heat, ice and snow, light and darkness to bless the Lord. This children’s version, however, invokes the following: "O ye parakeets and pelicans and porcupines and penguins, guillemots and guinea pigs and gallinules and godwits and badgers and hedgehogs, bless the Lord." v

The Abbey Banner Spring 2001

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A Touch of Benedictine Hospitality

he December 2000 issue of Minnesota Monthly featured an article by Phil Bolsta in which he asked ten prominent Minnesotans, "What's the nicest thing anyone you aren't related to has ever done for you?" This is the answer given by Glen Mason, head football coach of the University of Minnesota Gophers: "Two years ago, we had expectations of finishing the season on a high note as we left to play the University of Indiana. But we missed two extra points and two field goals and lost the game by a point. I was about as low as could be. "The next morning my lovely wife Kate decided we were going to go to a different church. We ended up going to Holy Name of Jesus Church of Medina. During the service my mind was still on the game. In the middle of the Mass,

the priest, Father Arnold Weber, ventured out into the crowd. He looked at me, pointed his finger and said, 'Hey, aren't you the coach of the Gophers?' I said yes. He asked me a variety of questions while a couple thousand people were staring at me. He said, 'Tough game yesterday,’ and then without hesitation added, 'But have no concern, you'll always find support and welcome here at Holy Name.' After Mass was over, as I walked out, countless people stopped to talk to me, and I'll remember their words of encouragement forever."

Arnold Weber, OSB, pastor of Holy Name of Jesus Church, Medina, Minnesota

Father Arnold, a Benedictine monk and priest of Saint John's Abbey, has been the pastor of this thriving suburban parish since 1981. v

photo by David Manahan, OSB

Football Monks Support Johnnies

ontinuing a well established tradition of supporting Saint John’s football team, two of the abbey's “football monks” — l. to r. Brothers Damian Rogers and Patrick Sullivan — were in the stands to cheer for the Johnnies at the NCAA Division III national championship game at the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, Salem, Virginia, on December 16, 2000. The game pitted Saint John’s against Mount Union of Alliance, Ohio. After holding the highly touted Ohio team to a 7-7 tie, the Johnnies lost the game by a last second field goal to end the contest by the score of 10-7.

photo by Roger Young The Abbey Banner Spring 2001

Other monks attending the game were Brothers Dietrich Reinhart and Mark Kelly and Father Wilfred Theisen. v

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The Benedictine Oblate Program by Allen Tarlton, OSB

A Major Liturgical Conference

o celebrate its seventy-fifth anniversary, The Liturgical Press is sponsoring a major liturgical conference at Saint John's, June 7-10. Entitled "Differing Visions, One Communion: Catholics and Liturgy in the United States," the conference will bring together speakers from across the theological spectrum to offer a fresh perspective on the state of the Catholic liturgy today. In addition to hearing keynote addresses by liturgical leaders, participants will be able to converse with those from whom they might otherwise feel estranged. With God's grace, this will move us closer to the unity all Catholics hope for. For complete registration material please call: 1-800-858-5450, ext. 3096; or fax: 1-800-445-5899; or email: sales@litpress.org; or website: www.litpress.org/differingvisions. v

n July 11, 2000, the Benedictine Oblate Program of Saint John’s Abbey celebrated its 75th anniversary of being initiated under the aegis of Abbot Alcuin Deutsch, OSB, fifth abbot (1921-1950). In its early years the program enjoyed a truly impressive membership. For a variety of reasons, interest in the Oblate Program waned, and it experienced a decline in the number of Oblates. Thanks to the mandate of Abbot Timothy Kelly, OSB, to revive the Oblate Program, a new energy has infused the membership. At the present the number of Oblates and Oblate candidates is close to seven hundred members. Who are the Oblates? Oblates are primarily lay people striving to live their lives according to the Rule of Saint Benedict insofar as their lives permit. Oblates are affiliated with a particular Benedictine community of

men or women monastics. They may be married or single, Roman Catholic or members of any other Christian denomination. Although the program is comprised primarily of lay men and women, clergy are also invited to become members. Early in March of this year ten students of Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict formed an Oblate group through the Campus Ministry Office. Oblates are invited to two days of recollection a year — one in Advent and one in Lent. They also take part in an Oblate retreat each July. This year’s retreat will be held at the abbey July 1315 under the direction of Father Cyril Gorman, OSB. For further information about the Oblates of Saint Benedict, please contact the Oblate Office at Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321. Phone: 320-363-2081. E-mail: oblates@ csbsju.edu v

Monthly Benedictine Day of Prayer

he Spiritual Life Program of Saint John’s Abbey hosts a monthly Benedictine Day of Prayer. This occurs on the last Friday of every month, from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The abbey welcomes men and women of all faith traditions to join us for group and individual prayer experiences, including Morning and Mid day Prayer with the monks. The program includes a conference and discus-

sion on prayer. The $40 program fee includes breakfast and lunch. For information or to register, please contact Father Don Tauscher, OSB, Director of the Spiritual Life Program. Phone: 320-363-3929. E-mail: Spirlife@ csbsju.edu Web site: www.sja.osb.org/ slp/ v

The Abbey Banner Spring 2001

SPIRITUAL LIFE

Sir, We Would Like to See Jesus by Donald Tauscher, OSB

nce I humbly and deferentially approached a Secret Service agent in the White House and said, "Sir, I would like to see the President." He looked at me as if he were sure I had just fallen off a turnip truck, but being a well-trained professional he merely said that it was not possible. He could have said, "You what? ‘Fraid not!" Another time I asked a Swiss Guard at the Vatican, "Sir, I would like to see the Pope." Guess what he said! Right! "I’m sorry, Sir, but that is not possible." You could compile your own list of times and places when you sought to see a celebrity (of sorts) and were told that you needed an appointment, or the celebrity was not in, but in any case it was not possible. Access denied. In John’s Gospel (12:21-26) some Greek Gentiles asked Philip, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus." Would Jesus be accessible? Philip says to the foreign visitors, "Hold on a second; I’ll check it out for you." One wonders what those folks from Greece must have thought. Did they feel like the person who had an interview with God and asked, "Lord, how long is a million years to you?" God said, "A million years for you is just a second to me." The interviewer then asked, "Lord, if I have a million dollars, how much is that to you?" God said, "A million dollars to you is like a penny to me." The person was feeling pretty confident by now and asked God, "Could I have one of your pennies?" And God said, "Sure thing. Just wait a second."

The Abbey Banner Spring 2001

It was not like that with Philip. He went to see his brother Andrew, and together they told Jesus. What does Jesus say? "OK. But the time has come that if you want to see me, you have to be willing to come where the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies." Whoa. What kind of answer is this? The question is: On whose terms did these visitors from Greece want to see Jesus? The question is: On whose terms do you and I want to see Jesus? Can’t we just get his autograph and bask in his reflected glory? Can’t we just let Jesus do the sweating and the serving and the dying? The answer is: Yes, of course we can. That would be one kind of relationship with Jesus. We could content ourselves with being a distant fan of his. We could admire him and sing "Praise Jesus" and let it go at that.

But Jesus Asks For and Offers Much More Having just observed Lent and Holy Week, we continue to reflect on this gospel. Those Greeks had come to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. So had thousands of other people. So had Jesus and his disciples. They had all come to celebrate the memory of God’s deliverance of Israel from the slavery, oppression, abuse, and hopelessness of Egyptian domination some thirteen centuries earlier. They had come to eat the Passover lamb and rejoice in God’s favor toward them. They had not come to suffer and die. Except Jesus. Jesus knew that his Hour had come, that Passover was much more than a church picnic, much more than a religious

ceremony, much more than a memory. Jesus knew that this Passover was a new Passover, when he would unite himself so perfectly to his Father’s purpose for the world that he would suffer and die as the new Passover Lamb, the Lamb of God. Passover is life born out of death, not a church picnic. Not for Jesus, and not for a true disciple. So when some Gentile pilgrims ask to see Jesus, he says, "Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me." Jesus is making three important statements here about every significant, authentic relationship with him. 1. It entails service: learning from Jesus, becoming like Jesus, doing as Jesus is seen doing. "Whoever serves me must follow me." 2. It means that the disciple is never alone. Jesus and the disciple (servant) are in this thing together. "Where I am, there also will my servant be." 3. It leads to honor from the Father. "My Father will honor whoever serves me." A significant, authentic relationship with Christ is at the heart of Christian spirituality, that is, a lifelong process of obeying the Holy Spirit, who forms Christ in us. Yes, we would like to see Jesus, all right. And we can. We have his word on it. v

Calendar of Events April 19

100th Birthday of Angelo Zankl, OSB, Saint John’s First Centenarian

June 29July 1

Saint John’s Preparatory School’s Alumni/ae and Friends Reunion

April 20

Celebration of First Volume of The Saint John’s Bible (Gospels & Acts)

July 1-5

May 26

Baccalaureate Mass and Graduation for Saint John’s Preparatory School

Monastic Institute: "Symbols, Rituals, and Practices: Making and Sustaining Community Across Time." Featured presenter: Mary Collins, OSB

May 27

Baccalaureate Mass and Graduation for Saint John’s University

July 11

Feast of Saint Benedict: Profession of Solemn Vows and Renewal of Vows by Jubilarians

June 4-7

Saint John’s Abbey Community Retreat directed by Paul Philibert, OP

July 13-15

Retreat for Oblates of Saint Benedict

June 7-10

Conference on "Differing Visions, One Communion: Catholics and Liturgy in the United States" to celebrate the 75th anniversary of The Liturgical Press

August 7

Reception and Picnic with the Clergy of the Saint Cloud Diocese

August 11

Reception and Picnic with the Monastics of Saint Benedict’s Monastery

June 8-24

Second Annual National Catholic Youth Choir

June 16July 13

Saint John’s Abbey Monastic Experience for single Catholic men, ages 18-32

June 17-22

General Chapter of the American-Cassinese Congregation of Benedictine Men

June 17-22

Fifth Annual Circus - Theatre Arts Group

June 18July 27

Summer Session of Saint John’s School of Theology/Seminary

June 24-26

National Conference of Interfaith Sexual Trauma Institute (ISTI): “Living Faith in a Sexually Traumatized Culture"

Abbey Prayer Time Visitors are welcome to join the monks for daily prayers and Eucharist. Seating: choir stalls west of altar. Seating for Sunday Eucharist is in the main body of the church. 7 a.m. 12 p.m. 5 p.m. 7 p.m.

Morning Prayer Noon Prayer Daily Eucharist* Evening Prayer

* Saturday Eucharist, 11:30 a.m. Sunday Eucharist, 10:30 a.m.

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