The Saint John’s Bible: Sharing the joy at a Shoreview parish

By Maura Keller

For The Catholic Spirit

In November 2022, Father Erich Rutten, pastor of St. Odilia in Shoreview, received an email from the John Roberts Company, a Minneapolis-based commercial printing company.

Wanting to honor former owner and CEO Robert “Bob” Keene, the company hoped to donate its seven-volume Heritage Edition of The Saint John’s Bible to the parish, of which Keene was a longtime member. Company officials — including Michael Keene, the late Keene’s son and current owner of the company — had a deep desire to find a home for the Bible, where it could more fully accomplish its purpose of being seen, experienced and used. On Jan. 22, Father Rutten formally presented St. Odilia’s set of the Bible to the parish. Representatives from the John Roberts Company were there to make the formal gift.

“Many parishioners stayed after Mass to get a closer look, to ask questions, and to personally turn pages,” Father Rutten said. “They were ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing.’ Since then, we’ve had a number of parish events and a public event discussing the history of The Saint John’s Bible Project and the wonder of it all. The response from parishioners and the Shoreview community has been very positive.”

The Saint John’s Bible, the first handwritten and illuminated Bible to be commissioned by a Benedictine monastery in over 500 years, is the result of a collaborative effort that began in 1998 among the monks of St. John’s Abbey and St. John’s University in Collegeville and renowned calligrapher Donald Jackson, as well as theological advisers and artists. The Heritage Edition of the Bible is a limited-edition, full-size fine art edition enhanced by hand with gold and silver foil applications and leather-covered binding.

“As Catholics we are incarnational,” Father Rutten said. “We experience God through our senses, including hearing, sight … and touch.”

“But we also greatly honor the power of God’s word,” Father Rutten said. “The Saint John’s Bible is an amazing expression of God’s word in both the handwritten script and the incredibly beautiful art. Having the Heritage Edition here allows us to more fully engage God’s word in study, prayer and conversation. It is one more way of learning more about God and actually experiencing God.”

The addition of the set has prompted parishioners to use the Bible in the parish school, faith formation programs, faith sharing and Bible study groups, and in ecumenical and interreligious dialogues in the broader community.

“I am imagining that our teachers can occasionally open a volume of the Bible for our grade schoolers to see and touch and discuss,” Father Rutten said.

“We might have an Advent or Lent series with reflections on particular images and texts. A couple of times a year, we might host an open house for the public so that people can come and see. I am also hoping that we can use the Bible on special feast days in our Masses.”

St. Odilia is also recruiting a team of parishioners to build a permanent display for the Bible.

Rick Storms, parish administrator at St. Odilia, said the number of attendees for events highlighting the Bible have been great, but even better is the excitement and energy as people experience the word of God in a new way. “The reactions have universally been over the top excitement with it,” Storms said.

St. Odilia parishioner William Walsh said he appreciates “how the Bible was intentionally made much larger than a personal Bible so that it can be read and viewed communally.” He is particularly drawn to the illuminations because

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Though fellow parishioner Teresa Marchek said she heard the story of The Saint John’s Bible years ago, she had never seen an edition before the Heritage Edition arrived at St. Odilia. “Having it here makes it more accessible to everyone in the broader community,” Marchek said. “Its presence is also creating unique opportunities to come together and share our faith through discussions.”

The Saint John’s Bible will also play a role in the parish’s post-COVID “Ignited by the Spirit Campaign,” which encourages members of the community to be “re-ignited in their faith and in their involvement with the parish,” Father Rutten said.

Marchek and her family have attended several events in the past year at St. Odilia through the initiative. Some were community-building activities like the fall festival or food truck nights, and some have been faith formation offerings. “All of them have been critical to helping us rebuild the sense of connection we had to the parish before the pandemic loosened the ties,” Marchek said. “I think events like these are a critical component of making everyone feel welcome and wanted again.”

“We are hoping to use The Saint John’s Bible to encourage small groups and faith sharing among our parishioners,” Father Rutten said. “For the folks willing to participate, I have no doubt they will deepen their understanding and their faith. They will form greater bonds with each other and with the parish.”

Our expansion includes contemplative gardens and courtyard areas with traditional graves, cremation graves and a beautifully designed columbarium with more than 300 niches for cremation.

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