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Abbey BannerFall 2013

Alan Reed, O.S.B.

To whom can you liken me as an equal? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these. Isaiah 40:25-26

4 Abbey Banner Fall 2013

New Prep School HeadmasterThis Issue

“Test the spirits to see whether they are from God” [1 John 4:1]. Rule of Benedict 58.2

This issue of Abbey Banner celebrates vocations, the divine call to a particular way of living the Christian life. On 11 July, the feast of Saint Benedict, our community rejoiced as three confreres, Brothers Nickolas Kleespie, Michael Leonard Hahn, and Lewis Grobe, made lifetime commitments to Saint John’s and monastic life. We also honored six jubilarians on the occasion of their fiftieth or sixtieth anniversary of monastic profession. Abbot John Klassen opens this issue with a reflection on John the Baptist’s sense of vocation and how today his witness guides participants in the Youth in Theology and Ministry program in their discernment. Father Timothy Backous brings this issue to a close with a reminder that a calling from God is for life.

The members of The Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps (BVC) do not make lifetime commitments to the program, but the alumni’s endeavors confirm that service of those in need has become a part of their lifestyle. Brother Paul Richards, who founded the BVC in 2003, introduces us to the newest members; Mr. J. D. O’Connell surveys the ongoing work of the BVC in Nairobi.

Within a year after arriving in Minnesota, the pioneer monks of Saint John’s were educating local youth. From those humble beginnings in 1857 on the shores of the Mississippi, a middle school, high school, college, graduate school, and seminary would evolve in Collegeville. Throughout those fifteen decades, a Saint John’s education has included much more than classroom instruction. Brother Dennis Beach introduces the Saint John’s University faculty resident program, the Benedictine heart of a Johnnie education.

Respect for all God’s creation and good stewardship are integral to the Benedictine calling. After decades of loving care for the lands and lakes that surround them, the monks of Saint John’s designated the forest as a natural arboretum in 1997. Mr. Benjamin Schwamberger describes how some endearing creatures are endangering the forest, and Saint John’s efforts to correct the situation.

After common prayer, perhaps the greatest bond of a monastic community is the common table. Brother Aaron Raverty outlines the ministry of Franciscan sisters in helping to hold Saint John’s together—on the occasion of the centenary of the Hankinson sisters’ arrival in Collegeville. Mr. Ryan Wold relates his observations of community building around the table of Father Bill Schipper, while Brother Ælred Senna offers a Texas touch to the daily fare.

In this issue we also meet a new prep school headmaster, the monks of Trinity Benedictine Monastery in Japan, a rare plant, and a servant and scientist: Father Cyprian Weaver.

To all journeying on the rugged roads to the everlasting kingdom, Abbot John and the monks of Saint John’s Abbey offer prayers and best wishes for a safe arrival.

Brother Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

Abbey Banner Magazine of Saint John’s Abbey

Published three times annually (spring, fall, winter) by the monks of Saint John’s Abbey.

Editor: Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.Editorial assistants: Aaron Raverty, O.S.B.; Dolores Schuh, C.H.M.Fujimi bureau chief: Roman Paur, O.S.B.Abbey archivist: David Klingeman, O.S.B.University archivist: Peggy Roske Design: Alan Reed, O.S.B.Circulation: Ruth Athmann, Mary Gouge, Jan Jahnke, Cathy Wieme, Danielle ZiehlPrinted by Palmer Printing

Copyright © 2013 by Order of Saint Benedict

Saint John’s AbbeyCollegeville, Minnesota 56321-2015 [email protected] saintjohnsabbey.org/banner/

Change of address: Ruth Athmann P. O. Box 7222 Collegeville, Minnesota [email protected]: 800.635.7303

Cover: Sustain me, O LORD . . . Monastic profession ceremonyPhoto: Brother Simon-Hòa Phan, O.S.B.

Pages 2, 3: Saint John’s Abbey Arboretum

Abbey Banner Fall 2013 5

Vocation, vocation, vocation!

Abbey archives

In the real-estate world one often hears the phrase, “Location, location, location!” As I reflect on the person of Saint John the Baptist and his significance for the Church and for us who

are connected to Saint John’s, I think the appropriate phrase for us might well be, “Vocation, vocation, vocation!”

In his little book Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC (Harper-Collins Publishers), Frederick Buechner defines vocation broadly. “The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work that you need most to do and that the world most needs to have done…. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” The author intends this to be a broad description to include all kinds of human activity for the good of the world, including religious and priestly life.

It is precisely John the Baptist’s clear sense of vocation as a man of God that guides his ministry, that roots his spiritual and ethical convictions, that gives his words power and character, that gives his asceticism purpose and meaning. Without this sense of vocation he becomes a mere caricature, a guy on the street corner with a sign that says, “The end is near!” Or another person with an idiosyncratic view of the world, hired for an afternoon of bombastic talk radio. With this sense of vocation, when he recognized Jesus as “the one who is to come” (Matthew 11:3–6), John says simply, “Behold, the Lamb of God” (John 1:29, 36), and “He must increase, and I must decrease” (John 3:30). As we grow in our love for Christ, preferring nothing to Christ, we live into these words of John an expres-sion of profound humility.

We have had the good fortune to have leaders on our campus who have developed outstanding new programs for teens, that encourage them to reflect in a systematic and powerful way on their vocation, integrated with other learning. In 2000 Dr. Jeff Kaster and colleagues at Saint John’s School of Theology•Seminary developed the core idea for a two-week summer program called Youth in Theology and Ministry. These teens and their parish mentors join us to study, to pray, to speak about and to practice their faith. An evening is devoted to first-person accounts of men and women in ministry, both lay and religious. Speakers are candid and personal about the path to which God has called them, both its challenges and its glories. Following the witness of John the Baptist, this is one way we live out our mission to point others to Christ.

Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B.


New Prep School HeadmasterMonastic Profession

Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B., and the monks of Saint John’s Abbey celebrated

the feast of Saint Benedict with joy as three of their brothers professed solemn (lifetime) vows as Benedictine monks, and six others celebrated their golden or diamond jubilees of profession. Brothers Nickolas Kleespie, O.S.B., Michael Leonard Hahn, O.S.B., and Lewis Grobe, O.S.B., each of whom graduated from Saint John’s University and sub-sequently served in The Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps, made Saint John’s their permanent home during the profession liturgy on 11 July.

Brother Nickolas Kleespie (29), a native of Morris, Minnesota, graduated in 2002 from Morris Area High School. After com-pleting a bachelor’s degree at Saint John’s in 2006, he spent the following year in the Benedictine Volunteer Corps, serving at Saint Maurus Hanga Abbey, Tanzania, East Africa. Since joining the abbey in 2009, Nick has worked with the Saint John’s Fire Department, The St. John’s Boys’ Choir, and Saint John’s Pottery Studio. A physically active person, he enjoys running, biking, skiing, and swimming. He assists with beekeeping, gardening, and candle making,

and also shares his musical gifts with the abbey schola and at community liturgies.

Brother Nick feels that the abbey is a natural fit for him in that it sits at the intersection of meaningful apostolates, prayerful liturgies, lively community, and God’s creation. “I think that being a monk is nothing too extraordinary. Rather, I see it as a lifelong project that leads me closer to God. It helps that I have found a place like Saint John’s because I am surrounded by great people at a great place.” In preparation for ordination, Brother Nick is attending classes

Monastic Profession

Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

Newly professed confreres (left to right) Brothers Lewis Grobe, Nickolas Kleespie, and Michael Leonard Hahn join with Abbot John Klassen and jubilarians Fathers Donald LeMay, Alberic Culhane, Mel Taylor, Gordon Tavis, and James Reichert, and Brother Kelly Ryan on the feast of Saint Benedict.


at Saint John’s School of Theology•Seminary.

Brother Michael Leonard Hahn (30) grew up in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. He graduated from Saint John’s in 2005 with a degree in political science and then served for one year with the Benedictine Volunteer Corps at Saint Benedict’s Prep in Newark, New Jersey. He continued teaching at Saint Benedict’s for two additional years while he earned a master’s degree in systematic theology from Seton Hall University. Returning to Minnesota, he was on the faculty at Cathedral High School in Saint Cloud for one year before entering the monastery in 2009. For the past three years Michael has taught theology at the university. He completed his academic studies for ordination this spring and earned a master of theology degree at Saint John’s School of Theology•Seminary. His interests include reading, exercise, and cooking.

It is the prayer and the people of Saint John’s Abbey that con-tinue to call Michael to this life. “When people ask me why I became a monk, I find myself at a loss for words, which is unusual for me. But this is how love works, isn’t it? Who can describe why they fall in love? Simply put, I became a monk because I fell in love with the life here.” Brother Michael Leonard continues to teach undergraduate theology and serves as a uni-versity faculty resident.

Brother Lewis Grobe (30) grew up in Orono, Minnesota. After graduating from Saint John’s in 2006 with a bachelor of arts in German and the humanities, he was a awarded a Fulbright Fellowship and spent a year teaching in Germany. Then, as a member of the Benedictine Volunteer Corps, he moved to Tanzania to teach and fundraise at Saint Maurus Hanga Abbey. Before entering the abbey in 2009, Lew worked as an admission representative for the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University. During his time in the monastery he has served as the university

sustainability associate and more recently in the abbey woodworking shop. Lew enjoys the outdoors, working with his hands, and singing in the abbey schola.

When asked what a “Benedic-tine” is, Brother Lew explains: “I like to say that is a person who persistently responds yes to the psalmist’s question, ‘Is there anyone here who yearns for life and desires to see good days?’ [Psalm 34:13; Rule Prol. 15]. As you can guess, this only leads to more questions about the Benedictine life, which I see as a good thing.” Brother Lew

Brother Lew Grobe professes solemn vows.Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.


New Prep School Headmaster

is pursuing academic studies for ordination at Saint John’s School of Theology•Seminary and con-tinues to serve in the abbey woodworking shop.

Golden Jubilarians

In 1963 Brother Kelly Ryan, O.S.B., and Father Mel Taylor, O.S.B., professed their first vows as Benedictines and were reminded of “all the hard and rugged ways by which the journey to God is made” (Rule 58.8). Fifty years later Abbot John presented each with a cane to assist in the continued journey.

Brother Kelly Ryan’s journey to Saint John’s began in Hutch-inson, Kansas. He found the climate here conducive to the growth of African violets

and has nurtured hundreds of them over the years. He also nurtured the growth of hundreds of Saint John’s Preparatory School students as a teacher of Spanish and English as a second language. He served the community as subprior and vocation director, and developed the highly successful Monastic Experience Program at Saint John’s—a month-long, live-in experience for those discerning a vocation. For the past twenty-one years Kelly has assisted three abbots as their secretary.

Father Mel Taylor traveled to Saint John’s from County Sligo, Ireland, by way of the Bronx, New York. He served in pastoral ministry throughout his Benedictine life, ministering at Saint Anselm and Saint

One of the distinguishing

features of being a Christian

is to live with a sense of

vocation, of being called by

God to live in relationship to

God. . . . We are called in an

ongoing way to holiness of

life, to live the Gospel with

full heart wherever we are.


Simon-Hòa Phan, O.S.B.

Father Don LeMay accepts congratulations from his brothers in Christ.


Benedict’s parishes in New York and at Saint Bernard (Saint Paul) and Saint Boniface (Cold Spring) in Minnesota. For thirteen years, until 2005, he was the prior of Saint Augustine’s Monastery in The Bahamas (founded by Saint John’s Abbey), where he also assisted in a number of parishes on the out islands and in Nassau, always with particular concern for the poor and needy of the locale.

Diamond Jubilarians

Abbot John and the community offered their blessings to Fathers James Reichert, O.S.B., Donald LeMay, O.S.B., Alberic Culhane, O.S.B., and Gordon Tavis, O.S.B., who have sought the mercy of God and fellowship in this community for the past sixty years.

Father Jim Reichert, teacher of Latin at Saint John’s Prep School and well acquainted with the nuances of language,

greeted his confreres in Latin following the jubilee celebration. He also served as an English and math teacher at Abadía de San Antonio Abad, Puerto Rico (founded by Saint John’s). After working in the business office of the monastery, he spent twenty-three years in pastoral service in parishes in Saint Paul, Albany, New Munich, and Avon, Minnesota, and nine more years as chaplain at Saint Therese in New Hope, Minnesota.

Ever cheerful, upbeat, and affirming, Father Don LeMay has been the warm and wel-coming face of Saint John’s to thousands of visitors, alumni, and benefactors throughout his monastic life. Building on his musical skills, he taught Gregorian chant in his early years as a monk, and led sing-alongs at the piano (accompanied by classmate Father Gordon on the violin) at Homecoming gatherings years later. Don served as university

admission director for thirteen years before becoming the university’s “father” of planned giving for the next twenty-eight years.

To the oft-asked question, “Can anything good come from Mitchell, South Dakota?” Father Alberic Culhane is the answer. Early in his monastic life he fell in love with Scripture and especially with the archaeological research at biblical sites. He directed the Saint John’s Scrip-ture Institute for ten years, taught undergraduates biblical theology, and participated in or led many archaeological digs in Jordan and Israel. By architectural designs and the arboreal and other plantings, he helped develop the welcoming, pedestrian-traffic-only inner campus of Saint John’s.

Father Gordon Tavis served in Naval Aviation before joining the monastery. After directing the Mental Health Institute, teaching and prefecting, he began a long career in the Saint John’s business office, including service as director of physical plant, director of planning, university vice president of finance, abbey treasurer, and financial/demographic consultant to the American Cassinese Congregation. At an age when most would settle into retirement, he brought his trademark enthusiasm and positive energy to the task of headmaster of Saint John’s Prep School for eight years, guiding the school to a new level of excellence.


Diamond jubilarians exchange the sign of peace with their confreres.



Benedictine Volunteer Corps

Year Eleven

Paul Richards, O.S.B.

Seventeen recent college graduates (sixteen from Saint John’s University)

comprise the 2013–2014 class of The Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps (BVC). Spon-sored by Saint John’s Abbey, the BVC serves Benedictine mon-asteries around the world. This year the program has expanded its work to include three new sites: Monasterio Benedictino de Tibatí in Bogotá, Colombia (a foundation of Assumption Abbey in Richardton, North Dakota), San José Priory in Quetzal-tenango, Guatemala (a founda-tion of Marmion Abbey in Aurora, Illinois), and the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat in Catalonia, Spain. Over the past ten years the Benedictine

Volunteer Corps has sent more than 120 graduates of Saint John’s for service to twenty-two monastic communities around the world.


Brother Paul Richards, O.S.B., the founder and director of The Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps, is a faculty resident of Saint John’s University.

Pictured above are this year’s participants (front row, left to right):Benjamin Carey, theology major from Ankeny, Iowa, serving in Chicago; Anthony Origer, communication major from Willow, Alaska, serving in Nairobi, Kenya; Patrick Moe, art major from Alexandria, Minnesota, serving in Rome; Stephen Gross, sociology major from New Prague, Minnesota, serving in Guatemala and Spain; Matthew Dummer, biology major from Vancouver, Washington, serving in Nairobi; Ethan Evenson, biology major from Mounds View, Minnesota, serving in Hanga, Tanzania; and Jeremy Robak, psychology major from Saint Cloud, Minnesota, serving in Bogatá, Colombia.

Back row, left to right:Colin Merrigan, accounting and management major from Minneapolis, serving in Guatemala and Spain; Jacob Harris, English major from Saint Cloud, serving in Rome; Derek Rausch, theology major from White Bear Lake, Minnesota, serving in Tabgha, Israel; Ethan Howard, philosophy major from Superior, Wisconsin, serving in Kappadu, India; Addison Tackmann, social science major from Rochester, Minnesota, serving in Hanga, Tanzania; Nicholas Olsen, management major from Maple Grove, Minnesota, serving in Bogotá, Colombia; Ryan Wold, philosophy and political science major from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, serving in Newark, New Jersey.

Not Pictured:Nicholas Crowley, English and theater major from Becker, Minnesota, serving in Newark; Martin Hermann, history major from New Prague, Minnesota, serving in Kappadu, India; and Roberto Borgert, a Saint John’s Preparatory School graduate with a bachelor’s degree in international affairs and political science from George Washington University, from Saint Cloud, serving in Tabgha, Israel.


BVC archives

Our Work in Nairobi

J. D. O’Connell

The Benedictine Volunteer Corps began sending men to Kenya in 2010

to serve at an outpost of the Tigoni Monastery located on the outskirts of Nairobi. The monks are of the Saint Ottilien Congregation from Germany that has a strong presence throughout Africa.

The primary work of the BVC members has been in the Mathare slum at Saint Benedict’s Children Centre—a thirty-minute walk from our residence. We have been a part of an initiative that works to help orphaned and abandoned boys prepare to succeed in school by providing scholastic preparation, health care, and emotional and social support. Once the boys are prepared, the centre strives to pay the necessary fees to send them and keep them in school. Many of us have been involved in generating funds to pay for the continually rising school fees.

The work is extremely reward-ing but comes with significant challenges. Despite the accom-plishment of preparing the boys for academic success, we regularly reach a ceiling in our ability to pay for their school fees. As a result, we are often forced to choose between helping new boys or continuing to support our current students throughout high school. The Benedictine volunteers who

have served in Nairobi—Simon Sperl, Alex Kurt, Greg Sullivan, Grant Stevens, Mike McCarty, Tim Hendrickson, and I—are seeking a way to solve this problem through financially sustainable projects. We have all been touched by the situation in Nairobi and continue to be committed to supporting real and lasting change there for the future.

Those who are interested in learning more about Saint Benedict’s Children Centre or contributing to it programs can visit us online at mathareproject.webs.com, follow us on Facebook at Saint Benedict’s Children Centre, or contact us at [email protected].

Mr. J. D. O’Connell is a 2011 grad-uate of Saint John’s University.

We believe that wherever there are Benedictine monasteries and whatever their work is—because this work is done in the context of prayer and community living—the work of God is being done. On this foundation, and because of our desire to be of service to our brother monasteries around the world and to provide a rich service opportunity for the graduates of our university, we have established The Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps. Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B., and the monks of Saint John’s Abbey

“Let all guests be received like Christ” (Rule of Benedict, 53.1). Benedictine Volunteers, like Michael McCarty, BVC ’12, are warmly rewarded for their service in Nairobi, Kenya.



Timothy Backous, O.S.B.

There aren’t many Italians in our historically German monastic community, so

a name like Licari stands out. The new headmaster of Saint John’s Preparatory School, Father Jonathan Licari, O.S.B., comes from “da Range” in northern Minnesota, where a vibrant mix of Italians, Fins, and other rich ethnic groups was drawn to the U.S. by burgeoning business opportunities. Born into a family of three, all boys, one of his favorite memories is Sunday family dinners. For many years they were held at his grandfather’s house and then moved to his own home. The food was “spectacularly Italian, and good” says Jonathan, as he fondly recalls family members still dressed in their Sunday best church attire.

Father Jonathan entered the for-mation program of Saint John’s Abbey in 1981 and professed vows as a Benedictine monk the following year. He was part of a novitiate class whose members quickly found their way into key monastic positions. Jonathan himself has served as the community’s prior, subprior, formation director, and chair of the mentor council—each a demanding job. But the most challenging role fell onto his shoulders in September 1992 when Abbot Jerome Theisen, O.S.B. (1930–1995), was elected abbot primate and moved to Rome. Jonathan, as prior, became the administrator of the abbey, leading the community

for nearly three months until Abbot Timothy Kelly, O.S.B. (1934–2010), was elected as the new abbot.

Father Jonathan has served as pastor of Saint John the Baptist parish in Collegeville, but his service has not been limited exclusively to Collegeville. He served as pastor in both Medina and Albany, Minnesota, and these parishes grieved when their leader moved to a new assignment.

The Saint John’s Preparatory School Board of Regents elected Father Jonathan headmaster of the school, effective 1 July 2013. As this “ranger” looks out over the prep horizon, he sees only promise and forward motion. The International Baccalaureate program signals, in his estimation, a turning point in the development of the prep school’s excellence in education. He’s invigorated at the prospect

of working with young people, and he’s excited about building a team spirit that will bring out the best in his administrative team, the faculty and staff and, of course, the students. “I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of a long tradition of excellence in education, in the Catholic Benedictine tradition,” he states.

As the prep school adds another portrait to its growing line of headmasters, the 157-year tradition moves forward with a ranger at the helm. But the Prep family will assure that Father Jonathan is not a “lone” ranger. Rather, he will be one key part of a great team of educators who are committed to keeping Saint John’s Prep vibrant, dynamic, and unique.

Father Timothy Backous, O.S.B., was headmaster of Saint John’s Preparatory School, 2006–2013.


Prep students patiently offer a tutorial to Father Jonathan on how to use an iPad. Academic rigor, spiritual growth.

Brenda Brown


Winifred Bird

Our monastery received a sur-prise boost from a day visitor writing in a national newspaper, The Japanese Times. Edited excerpts of the article that appeared in the 2 June 2013 edition are reprinted here. Roman Paur, O.S.B., Prior

I live in Nagano . . . and decided to drive . . . to Fujimi to check out its view

of Mount Fuji. . . .

My first stop was Trinity Bene-dictine Monastery, Japan’s only community of Benedictine monks, who follow the teachings of shared prayer, work, and life laid out in the sixth century by Saint Benedict of Nursia (now in the central Italian province of Umbria). Founded by Germans in 1931, the Roman Catholic community was disbanded during World War II. Later, Americans re-established the community in Tokyo, and the monks moved to Fujimi in 1999 (there’s also a group of Benedictine sisters in Hokkaido).

As Fujimi’s monks welcome all visitors to their daily prayers, and also host retreats and tours, curiosity rather than any religious conviction drew me to the monastery’s cluster of brick buildings set in a quiet glade not far from Fujimi Station.

I was just in time for the 8 o’clock prayer held in a small hexagonal chapel designed by Tokyo architect Ken Takagaki. Lined entirely in honey-brown wood, with a skylight revealing

a patch of sky where the ceiling’s six sloping segments meet, the room felt like its own world. Black-robed monks sat in two banks of wooden desks facing each other, their hoods hanging in long points down their backs. The last few filed in and, without a word, the service of chanted prayers began.

The songs unfolded gently, filling the room with a deeply soothing hum. Now and then one of the monks walked to my side and silently pointed out the place in the prayer book. The perfect harmony of the men’s voices seemed to grow from and symbolize their long years of shared life. At the end of the service a bell rang, and the monks filed out in a black line.

I sat for a while in the empty room, letting the peace filter through me, and then walked back out into the gray morning.

From the chapel, I drove through steep wooded valleys and brilliant-yellow rice fields to Idojiri Archaeological Museum, which traces Fujimi’s own an-cient history. “Archaeologists call this area the Ginza of exca-vation sites,” museum director Seishi Higuchi told me as we walked through the cool, dark exhibit hall. The ornate pots, jewelry, and tools on display are relics of the so-called Idojiri Culture which, some 3,000 to 5,000 years ago in the mid-Jomon Pottery Culture period, extended as far away as present-day Tokyo.

The monastery bell, the last of the original remaining from the Saint John’s Abbey twin towers, rings out from time to time as the voice of the Gospel from a small Catholic Benedictine presence that recognizes, preserves, and promotes ancient Japanese religious traditions. Brother Makoto Paul Tada, O.S.B.

Roman Paur, O.S.B.

Searching for Mount Fuji


New Prep School HeadmasterFaculty Residents

Dennis Beach, O.S.B.

Every year at the height of the summer, a group of monks waits expectantly

for news. The news they await has nothing to do with summer festivals or fireworks. The monks awaiting this news are the faculty residents (FRs) on freshman floors in the Saint John’s University residences, and the news they await is their preliminary floor rosters.

You’d think that a group of middle-aged (and not so middle-aged) men vowed to lives of prayer and reflection would so dread the arrival of boisterous 18-year-olds that they would postpone contemplation of their arrival for as long as possible. But the opposite is true: there’s a genuine excitement in getting the paired list of names, with hometowns and high school grade-point averages, sporting and extracurricular interests. This excitement comes from beginning to imagine not only who these young men are but who they might become in their years with us on campus.

The Benedictine tradition deals with those newly come to monastic life under the rubric of “formation.” This term signals that in the monastery one does not simply join an organization, but enters a dynamic community that forms and shapes the indi-vidual and is in turn formed by its members. That same spirit seems to inform the eagerness with which the faculty residents anticipate the arrival of the new

students: it’s a mutual process of formation, and not just a new college year that’s beginning.

Saint John’s University has always been a residential college. Historically, this is true of most colleges, but it is even more essentially true of a Benedictine school, a place set apart in many ways from the surrounding woodlands, lakes, and farms as much as it is set amid them. In the past, of course, many religious communities sponsored boarding schools. But Saint John’s is rather unique in main-taining this dynamic into the contemporary educational era. Many colleges have one dorm

director per building and rely on students as residential staff for individual floors. Saint John’s maintains the presence of an FR on each freshman floor as well as the larger sophomore floors. There are also FRs in the major upper-class residences and others scattered among smaller housing clusters. The ubiquity of these adult members of the larger Saint John’s community—most of them monks—makes the character and commitment of Saint John’s University’s residential life pro-gram immediately clear. It is centered in community.

This commitment to community works by being an embodiment

Father Hilary Thimmesh, the senior middle-aged faculty resident, serves hot bread to hungry residents.


of the community. All of the FRs are part of the larger Saint John’s community, and so their role is to help bring students into this larger community. This role is not primarily administrative but one of ministry. The entire residential life program at Saint John’s “provides students a home founded on Catholic, Benedictine values.” The word home is key: in many ways the dorms and apartment buildings on campus are homes because the FR lives there too and makes it his home. Students share in that home. Just as the homes from which they come are shaped and stamped by the concrete personalities of parents and

siblings, so each Saint John’s home is shaped and stamped by the personality of the faculty resident. For many students, it is the FR who embodies what the place of Saint John’s means—the FR who knows them by name and is sitting, each evening, in his chair with the door open, willing to talk about “how it’s going.”

Most homes worthy of the name center around the kitchen. In the university dorms, you’ll find late-night pancake breakfasts on some floors, abundantly buttered popcorn on others, monthly birthday cake and ice cream parties on some, nacho or burrito nights on others. Some FRs invite small groups in for meals, whether it be for the social training of an “etiquette dinner” or the informality of an all-you-can-eat pasta feed. In virtually every living area there’s a monthly “hot bread” night—Johnnie Bread fresh from the oven, with butter, peanut butter, jam and honey toppings. This focus on food is not accidental: Saint Benedict knew that not only the eucharistic table but also the common table forms the community.

Years ago almost all the faculty residents at Saint John’s were monks. That’s not possible any more. Today a student’s faculty resident might be a Father, a Brother, or a Mister! Still, it’s more possible at Saint John’s than at any other Catholic college we know: the ratio of monks to laymen in the faculty resident ranks at Saint John’s—hovering around 70%—is slightly higher than in the hall rector program at Notre Dame.

Those who join the monks as faculty residents include recent graduates who have spent a year or more as Benedictine Volunteers, such as Mr. Andrew Dirksen (SJU and School of Theology graduate, and Benedictine Volunteer at Saint Benedict’s Prep in Newark, New Jersey), now the longest-serving lay FR, in his sixth year. Other lay FRs fulfill roles on campus that connect them strongly with the monastic community, such as Mr. André Heywood, the artistic director of The St. John’s Boys’ Choir, who served as a faculty resident for five years and is now taking a two-year sabbatical for graduate studies at the University of Toronto. This practice helps ensure that a lived sense of the Benedictine value of community continues as the real, and not just ideal, hallmark of the faculty resident program.

Brother Dennis Beach, O.S.B., associate professor of philosophy, is a faculty resident at Saint John’s University.

The dorms and apart-ment buildings on campus are homes . . . shaped and stamped by the personality of the faculty resident.

Father Hilary Thimmesh, the senior middle-aged faculty resident, serves hot bread to hungry residents.Steve Woit


New Prep School HeadmasterDeer Arboretum: Endearing and Endangering

Benjamin Schwamberger

Those who have hiked through the abbey woods, or simply walked around

the Saint John’s campus, have probably seen Odocoileus vir-ginianus. More commonly known as white-tailed deer, their beauty and grace have endeared many. A mother doe and her newly born fawns are a welcome sign of spring, even as they perk their ears at our approach and swiftly take shelter in the woods.

To forest and land managers, however, these majestic animals

represent something different, something that endangers forest regeneration and overall forest health. Not only are there too many deer in the abbey arboretum, but they have also begun to move onto the Saint John’s campus and grounds as they’ve become more comfortable around people. The diversity of the forest, including wildflowers, herbs, and shrubs on the forest floor, has been diminished by a hungry deer population, and it has become all but impossible to grow oak or pine—two of our iconic trees—at Saint John’s.

Much of the abbey’s land man-agement activity over the past fifteen years has been focused on mitigation of the damage caused by an unsustainable deer population in order to maintain a healthy forest ecosystem. Since 1997 the abbey arboretum has employed a variety of tools to promote oak and pine regeneration, including installing deer fencing, applying bud caps on young conifers, using tree tubes around young saplings, and hosting regular controlled deer hunts.

Bud caps benefit young conifers by preventing deer from eating the terminal leader, the top bud that is responsible for determin-ing next year’s growth. Before winter begins, a 4" x 4" piece of paper is stapled around the leader, which still allows growth next spring but makes it harder for the deer to eat the top buds. During the spring the caps either fall off or are taken off by the arboretum staff. Tree tubes, on the other hand, are six-foot-tall, nearly transparent tubes that enclose the entire tree while allowing enough light for growth. Tree tubes act like a shield between the tree and deer, and remain in place until the trees grow taller than the tubes and are safe from most deer browsing.

Bud caps are better on conifers, and tubes work much better on hardwoods such as oak. Both are short-term methods of pre-venting the deer from browsing young trees. Because these measures are expensive on a


Deer Arboretum: Endearing and Endangering

per tree basis, they are typically used on a smaller scale, such as projects of fewer than two acres.

Deer fencing is the most long-lasting and most effective tool for protecting vegetation and controlling the deer population. Fences are also the least expen-sive per tree on sites over five acres in size. Lasting for fifteen to thirty years, a typical deer fence consists of woven wire rolled across 4" to 6" treated posts anchored in the ground. Standing nine feet high, the fencing has proven its effectiveness by preventing almost all deer from entering the current enclosures located in the abbey arboretum. We know that fencing works because of the results from a small, fenced enclosure built fifteen years ago.

Over the past fifteen years natural oak regeneration, one

of the primary goals of the arboretum, has been prolific inside the enclosures. More than one thousand oak seedlings per square acre were recorded in the enclosures in 2010 compared to essentially zero oaks per square acre outside. Because of its effectiveness, the abbey arboretum staff built a new and larger enclosure to offset the increasing deer browsing problem. The new fence is located just west of I-94 near the fork in the freeway, and it encloses nineteen acres, pro-viding ample space for young oak and ash saplings and the rest of the local ecosystem to flourish.

To assist in building this large-scale project, the arboretum staff applied for and received help from the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) this summer. A

full-time, residential, national service program, AmeriCorps NCCC is part of a network of national and community service programs. Crews of NCCC members help support everything from disaster relief and urban and rural development to environmental stewardship and conservation, and more. Their mission is to “strengthen communities and develop leaders through team-based national and community service.” Four men and five women from the NCCC, along with foreman Brother Walter Kieffer, O.S.B., Brother Nick Kleespie, O.S.B., and recent Saint John’s University graduate Adam Liske helped build the nineteen-acre enclosure in the abbey forest in just three weeks.

While doing everything we can to protect young trees from deer browsing, we must also reduce the size of the deer herd to a healthy and sustainable level. Saint John’s hosts controlled deer

Odocoileus virginianusMorguefile.com

Members of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps and abbey arbo-retum volunteers constructed deer-exclusion fencing (opposite page and above) at Saint John’s this summer.



Photos: Courtesy of abbey arboretum

hunts for antlerless deer to help achieve this goal. This year will be the first time that Saint John’s will have an archery hunt. This change was made for numerous reasons but primarily to reduce the conflicts between other land users and to allow more hunting days than in previous years. The abbey has had many successful hunts that have helped decrease the number of deer in the woods from a high of thirty-five deer per square mile in 1991 to thirteen deer per square mile in 2009. The Minnesota Department of Natural Re-sources recommends a herd of ten deer or fewer per square mile in order to sustain both a healthy herd and a healthy forest habitat.

So the next time you see one of our beautiful, graceful, peaceful white-tailed friends dashing through the abbey lands, remember that there are plenty of flowers, shrubs, and trees (and the insects, birds, and other wildlife that depend on

them) that will thank the abbey arboretum and the AmeriCorps NCCC for keeping Odocoileus virginianus in check.

Abbey Gasoline

Kilian McDonnell, O.S.B.

Wine is not a drink for monks, but because monks cannot be convinced of this, at least let them drink moderately. Rule of Saint Benedict, chapter 40

The wine was vile; not really wine, but high test

acid, a medieval recipe handed down from century

to century,from ignorant monk to ignorant monk.

By decree of Abbot Alcuin, one mug of bitter

tonsured hooch per monk. Old Polycarp, holier

than Holy Water, poured two for arthritic pain.

The Abbot fumed, said nothing. No one went blind

that we know of. Now home-made wine is out,

beer is in, brewed by Novice Peregrine. Not sure we’ll give him vows.

Mr. Benjamin Schwamberger, a senior philosophy major at Saint John’s University, serves as a student office assistant for the Saint John’s Abbey Arboretum.


A Benedictine Table

Ryan Wold

I appreciate all the beautiful sights at Saint John’s featured on the admission postcards:

the view of the Stella Maris Chapel across Lake Sagatagan, or the abbey and university church, or Clemens Stadium on game day. But none of these is my favorite. I prefer to be sitting at Father Bill’s kitchen table.

Father Bill Schipper, O.S.B., lives on the second floor of Mary Hall where he serves as a university faculty resident. He is a great cook and hosts many groups for meals in his apartment in the freshman dorm, including current and former residents of his floor, men’s spirituality groups, campus ministry employees, fellow monks, and various combinations of all these people. Father Bill is probably most famous for his pancake nights during which he serves pancakes from 10 P.M. until 1 A.M. on a Friday or Saturday. It is not uncommon for him to serve over two hundred pancakes in one night! Whether his table is crowded with students at a pancake night, surrounded by a men’s spirituality group, or has just two resident assistants eating ice cream, Father Bill is present with them at the table.

He is not a gourmet chef. He cooks to feed people. His specialty is making the kind of food that college guys like to eat: a lot! I once asked him for some tips about cooking, and he said, “First you figure out how many people are going to be at the meal. The next thing you do

is determine how much food the recipe calls for to serve that many people. Then you triple whatever the recipe says, and you will have exactly enough to feed that number of college men.” This is his proven formula for success.

Father Bill is willing to talk about whatever interests the group at his table. I’ve been a part of many of these gatherings at his table, and I’ve heard people talk about homework, jobs, family, relationships, video games, death, sports, sex, food, and God. All of this is just part of college students’ lives. The table is not only a place to share food but also a place to share each other’s lives.

Father Bill talks proudly about his simple table: “It’s a good table. It can seat ten comfortably.” As a recent college graduate, I don’t have my own house yet, but when I do get one, it will have to meet one requirement. There must be room for a good table.

Mr. Ryan Wold, a 2013 graduate of Saint John’s University, is now serving in The Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps at Saint Benedict Prep, Newark, New Jersey.


Father Bill Schipper welcomes students of Mary Hall to his good table: a place to share food, a place to share each other’s lives.

Queen Victoria Agave

Photos: Cody J. Groen

Native to deserts and highlands of Mexico, the Queen Victoria Agave (Agave victoriae-reginae) is a special plant. While lacking any commercial use, this agave is unique in that it is small bodied with a sphere-like appearance. Saint John’s Melancon Greenhouse holds two specimens of the plant. Unfortunately that number will soon be one.

Earlier this summer one of the Saint John’s Queen Victoria agaves flowered. Fueled by stored nutrients accumulated during its entire lifetime (our plant is between forty and fifty years old), it sent up a flower stock beginning in mid-April. Six weeks later the flower stock was eleven feet tall (3.3 meters). Hundreds of tiny flowers developed over the next three weeks, blooming in late June.

Reproduction is the Queen Victoria Agave’s only goal in life. By adapting a monocarpic lifestyle (flowering and bearing fruit only once, then dying), the plant takes a gamble. Flowering only once but with hundreds of flowers creates the possibility of making many seeds. But it also means that failure is absolute if conditions do not allow pollination to make seeds, or if an accident kills the flower stalk. Putting out a flower stalk means certain death for the plant: sacrificing its own life to continue the species.

Alas, our Queen Victoria Agave produced no seeds. It has entered its final stage in life and is beginning to die. But what beauty it displayed in its final days! Cody J. Groen

Mr. Cody J. Groen, a senior biology major at Saint John’s University, is a volunteer worker in the Melancon Greenhouse.


New Prep School HeadmasterRunning the Path of Life Kitchen Sisters

Aaron Raverty, O.S.B.

In his Rule for monasteries, Saint Benedict declares that kitchen service “increases

reward and fosters love” (RB 35.2). If so, the many religious women who have graced Saint John’s by their service have much to look forward to.

The Sisters of the Presentation from France arrived in 1904 to manage the kitchen for the monks and students. They were the first residents of Saint Francis House, fondly remembered by many as “Frank House.” They worked until 1913 when they returned to teaching.

In 1912, while traveling in Europe, Saint John’s Abbot Peter Engel, O.S.B. (1856–1921), visited the motherhouse of a group of German Franciscan sisters and asked the superior if she would

be willing to send some of the members to Saint John’s to provide dining services for about one hundred monks and four hundred students. The request was honored, and in August 1913, under the direction of Mother General M. Innocentia Mussak, twenty-four sisters from Germany traveled to Collegeville to take over the kitchen opera-tion, replacing the original group of French sisters.

The formal title of the newly arrived group was the Sisters of Saint Francis of Dillingen on the Danube. After a transatlantic voyage on the Bremen and a trip overland by rail, the sisters arrived at the Collegeville station utterly exhausted. One sister, however, still had the energy to wax eloquent about the final mile of their excursion: “Sister Paschalina [the superior] and Sister Imelda made it in a coach,

and the rest of us crowded together on a hayrack drawn by two beautiful horses. We were singing and praying, but all of a sudden there was silence: we got a glimpse of the two towers of the abbey church and our future home. It was August 23, 1913, at noon, our first day in our foreign mission in America.”

Although many at Saint John’s still spoke German when the sisters arrived, the language barrier was a real challenge. Most of the sisters knew little English, and their daily kitchen assignments didn’t give them much time for language studies. Another challenge was the sheer amount of work. With the growth of Saint John’s monastic and student populations, the original number of sisters was insufficient for the ever-increasing workload. In 1921 a few additional sisters arrived from Germany to aid the found-ing group. Five years later a few of the kitchen workers also became teachers in the Saint John the Baptist parish grade school (located between the abbey cemetery and the apple orchard). Former U.S. Senator David Durenberger was one of their students.

The German Franciscan sisters were helped in many ways by their counterparts from Saint Benedict’s Monastery in Saint Joseph. In their reminiscences, the Franciscans frequently gave thanks to these Benedictine women for the many forms of gracious support—in cooking, lodging, and teaching.

Abbey archives

Sister Jordana scrambled eggs from the happy hens of Collegeville.


Abbey archives

As the Dillingen sisters grew comfortable with their new home in Minnesota, more of them wanted to set down U.S. roots. When Mother Innocentia visited in 1926, they managed to find a settlement in Hankinson, North Dakota, and built a provincial house and academy there. Today this site remains the U.S. province of the Franciscan Sisters of Dillingen, Bavaria, Germany.

Following the German Francis-cans’ departure from Collegeville in April 1958—after forty-five years—a group of Benedictine sisters from Mexico assumed the work of food service at Saint John’s. The Mexican Benedic-tines worked in the kitchen until 1964, at which time a lay staff took over Saint John’s culinary responsibilities.

It was not unusual for the Ger-man sisters to bake as many as 500 cracked-wheat loaves

of bread every day for students and monks. One of the monks’ favorite foods prepared by the

sisters was fried potatoes, a menu item that became a staple and was served at nearly every meal. The liver dumpling soup (Leberklossuppe) was also a hit with many. And the monks relished the pastries, especially several kinds of cookies that appeared at Christmastime (Lebkuchen). Father Godfrey Diekmann, O.S.B. (1908–2002),

wrote a letter to the German sisters many years after their departure, imploring them to send along both the cookie and dumpling soup recipes, so much did he miss these savory delights.

One sister’s claim to fame was ice cream. University students aptly dubbed Sister Rita Marie Treutlein, O.S.F., the

Abbey archives

Sister Paschalina (festooned with flowers), the superior of the original band of Fran-ciscans to work at Saint John’s, is joined by Sisters Designata (left) and Costello.

The Sisters of Saint Francis of Dillingen, Bavaria (and Hankinson, North Dakota), served at Saint John’s from 1913 until 1958.


New Prep School HeadmasterLuke Steiner

“ice cream sister.” One year she cranked out two thousand gallons of the frozen treat. Nor were the sisters above playing pranks. Once on the feast of Saint Patrick, the monks were befuddled by more than just early drowsiness, for when they went for their morning coffee, they discovered not their regular brew, but instead steaming dyed green water flowing from the spigot!

At a celebration for the German Franciscan sisters at Saint John’s Abbey on 23 August 1983 (exactly seventy years after their arrival here), Father Roger Botz, O.S.B., summarized the feelings of the whole community in his homily: “They had an importance to this institution far beyond the excellent meals they served. They were part of what made Saint John’s what it is. They modeled for our students more than they, and perhaps we, know. In my work with alumni I found that the good German sisters were as much asked about by former students as were favorite profs and prefects.”

May all those hardworking sis-ters who fostered love through their Saint John’s dining service apostolate now inherit their just rewards!

Brother Aaron Raverty, O.S.B., is a member of the Abbey Banner editorial staff.

Saint John’s students of the 1950s (lower photo) delighted in family-style meals prepared daily by the Sisters of Saint Francis.

University archives

University archives


Prayers of the Faithful

Prayer of Saint Richard Bishop of Chichester (1197–1253)

Thanks be to you, our Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits which you have given us, for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us.

Most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother, may we know you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly, day by day. Amen.

Sioux Prayer (Translated by Lakota Sioux Chief Yellow Lark, 1887)

O Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds whose breath gives life to the world hear me.I come to you as one of your many children.I am small and weak.I need your strength and wisdom.May I walk in beauty.

Make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to your voice.Make me wise so that I may know the things you have taught your children, the lessons you have written in every leaf and rock.Make me strong not to be superior to my brothers but to fight my greatest enemy . . . myself.Make me ever ready to come to you with straight eyes, so that when life fades as the fading sunset, may my spirit come to you without shame.


New Prep School HeadmasterMeet a Monk: Cyprian Weaver

Richard Oliver, O.S.B.

Father Cyprian Weaver, O.S.B., was born in Wichita, Kansas, 28 January 1945,

where “a sense of service to others was always held as a family ideal.” Cyprian’s first contact with Benedictines came when he met monks from Saint Benedict’s Abbey (Atchison, Kansas) and Saint Gregory’s Abbey (Shawnee, Oklahoma) who served as summer replacements in his parish. “I think I was much like many of my generation who in their early years in the 1960s were introduced to public efforts to serve others, such as the Peace Corps in the U.S. and Médecins Sans Frontières in Europe. I also had some very personal icons that secretly inspired me to focus on what it means to serve both God and humankind, including Albert Schweitzer, medical missionary to Africa, and Thomas Dooley III, physician, political activist, and humanitarian in South East Asia,” Father Cyprian recalls.

As a junior monk in temporary vows since 15 August 1966, Cyprian completed his under-graduate education at Saint John’s University, earning in 1968 a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and natural science. Cyprian transferred his vows to Saint John’s Abbey from his former novitiate training at Saint Gregory’s Abbey. “I was attracted to the image of servant, but I wanted service to be grounded in a deep spirituality, a monastic peace

of mind and heart that could keep one vitalized in more active pursuits. The Benedictine ideal is that balance between prayer and work—a most alluring complementarity that spoke to me early on and stays with me daily and is the reason why I persist in the monastic calling and community,” reflects Cyprian.

At Saint John’s he served as socius to the novices during my novitiate year, 1969 –1970. Cyprian took as much care of our novice master, Father Aloysius Michels, O.S.B., just returned to Collegeville after many years as a missionary in Tokyo, as he did the six novices. He completed a master’s degree in systematic theology in 1970 and was ordained a priest, 27 May 1972.

Recognizing his scientific interests and the good rapport he had established with students while serving as instructor in anthropology at Saint John’s

University, the monastic com-munity supported Cyprian’s studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder. There he earned a master’s degree in forensic/physical anthropology and a doctorate in human biology. He also pursued studies at the University of Minnesota where he earned a master’s degree in neurobiology in 1979. He returned to Saint John’s as director of the university research laboratory where he directed studies in diabetes, 1979–1990, and served as associate professor of biology, 1981–1991. In 1991 he earned a second doctorate, in neuroendocrinology/pancreatic pathology, from the University of Minnesota, School of Medicine.

Cyprian raised money from grants and donations for a lab he designed at Saint John’s. I remember being most impressed by the neat black-and-white Helvetica labels attached to every drawer, cabinet, shelf, and container! Cyprian had followed

Left to right: University of Minnesota Doctors Daniel Garry, Cyprian Weaver, Robert P. Elde, and Robert Sorenson


a lead in a scientific article to prove that a trypsin inhibitor (extracted from raw soy beans) regenerates beta cells to increase the production of insulin in adult rats. Previously, beta cells had been thought to be non-regenerative. “Research is my life’s ambition,” says Cyprian. “I like doing the work, and it is important. I enjoy working with ideas and helping to develop new ideas from old ones.”

Introduced to China through the undergraduate study abroad program (of which he was co-director or director in 1988, 1990, and 1992), Cyprian was a visiting professor at several universities in the People’s Republic of China and an associate professor or director of the Medical College, Fu Jen University, Republic of China. Cyprian sums up his experience by recalling that the time “I spent in both mainland China and Taiwan were unforgettable years that brought me to understand how monasticism has had a

profound effect in missiology.” Still awaiting publication is an English and Chinese edition of his “Musings in a Foreign Land, A Collection of Poems from My Chinese Years: 1993– 2007.”

Father Cyprian survived the 7.6 earthquake that shook the island of Taiwan, 30 September 1999, and claimed more than 2,100 lives. He reported: “I have never been aroused by such a rumble as I did at 1:47 this morning. Fortunately my bed was not near a large bookcase with glass doors which tipped over and made quite a mess.” He survived another close call in China in 2003: gastric cancer. He endured the loss of his stomach, chemotherapy, and radiation, and he has been in remission since.

Cyprian always makes time for pastoral work wherever he is. When he was studying at the University of Minnesota, he was associate pastor at Saint Bernard

Parish, Saint Paul, and served as weekend chaplain to the sisters of Saint Paul’s Monastery.

In 2007 President Chen Shui-Bian awarded Cyprian the Presidential Citation and Ministry of Education Award for Educational Excellence and Service to the Republic of China. Since 2007 he has served as associate professor of medicine and principal investigator in the University of Minnesota’s department of medicine. He is the former director of the molecular histopathology and microscopy core facility, Lillihei Heart Institute at the University of Minnesota, School of Medicine, and continues to serve as the curator of the Lillehei Heart Institute rare book collection.

Cyprian reflects on his practice of the monastic vow of stability when he writes, “Being away from the community makes me so much more appreciative of our life at Saint John’s . . . . Though absent for many years from the abbey, I have never lost my love of monastic life. The experiences I have had living away from the abbey in my assignments have only made me realize what a place the abbey has been for me.”

Brother Richard Oliver, O.S.B., president emeritus of the American Benedictine Academy, is the coordinator of information and records for the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, Silver Spring, Maryland.

Father Cyprian, bobblehead, and students of Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan


New Prep School HeadmasterGregory Eibensteiner

Brother Gregory Eiben-steiner, O.S.B., born Luverne John on 10 January 1934

in Meire Grove, Minnesota, was the youngest of twelve children of Joseph and Anna (Kampsen) Eibensteiner. After completing public grade and high school he entered the novitiate of Saint John’s Abbey, professing vows as a Benedictine monk on 15 August 1952. He was immediately sent to work in the abbey carpenter shop, mentored by fellow Meire Grovian Brother Hubert Schneider, O.S.B. (1902 –1995), under whom Gregory refined his woodworking skills first practiced on the family farm and its fifty acres of woodlands. “I think I was placed there because the abbot wanted me to feel welcome in the community, and I already knew Brother Hubert from back home,” he recalled. Throughout his monastic life Gregory shared

that lesson learned during his first days at Saint John’s: he was warm and welcoming to all he met, always ready to lend a helping hand.

From 1957 to 1963 Brother Gregory served Saint Mary’s Indian Mission in Red Lake, Minnesota, as a repair and maintenance worker. In 1963 he moved to Saint Benedict’s Indian Mission in White Earth, Minnesota, continuing the same work for seven years before returning to Red Lake. He also spent a year at Saint Anselm Parish in the Bronx, New York, caring for the physical plant. After nearly two decades on the reservations and in the Big Apple, Gregory returned to the abbey woodworking shop, directing the operation from 1977 until 2005. His handsome, durable, well-crafted furniture survives him and can be found throughout the monastery as well as in campus offices, dining rooms, lounges, and student residences. He assisted in the fabrication of the first edition of The Saint John’s Cross, selecting the white oak and maple used for the project. The earthly remains of dozens of confreres rest in coffins that he made.

When Gregory wasn’t repairing or building something, he enjoyed hunting, fishing, col-lecting stamps, and working with the Purple Martin Project to attract the endangered birds to the Saint John’s campus. He built bird feeders and gourd nests for purple martins, and in May 2011 was featured on the

Minneapolis/Saint Paul KARE 11 television program Minnesota Bound.

Gregory’s love of the outdoors was also expressed in gardening. Recently he cared for a small plot of peanuts. This year, when asked what was going to be planted, he responded with his characteristic gentle humor, “Me!” His wit and warmth were strong throughout his sixty years of monastic life, but his mobility and motor skills were worn down in the past few years by Parkinson’s disease. Brother Gregory died on 11 April 2013; the Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on 16 April followed by interment in the abbey cemetery.

The symbol of Christian

faith is the cross. The wood

of the cross is not dead

wood—it blossoms into a

new life. Jesus, through

his death and resurrection,

makes a new path through

death to life. Brother

Gregory, in his monastic

life, shared in the daily

expression of that promise

of resurrected life.


Abbey archives


Gregory Eibensteiner

Father Kevin Seasoltz, O.S.B., was born Robert Joseph in Johnstown, Pennsylvania,

on 29 December 1930 to Walter and Alice (Hackett) Seasoltz. Following a Catholic grade and high school education in Altoona, Pennsylvania, he embarked on a journey of studies and ministry that would lead him to Saint John’s Abbey in the 1970s.

Father Kevin earned a bachelor’s degree from Saint Mary’s Col-lege, Baltimore, in 1952 and a licentiate in sacred theology from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., in 1956, the same year he was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Altoona–Johnstown. His interest in liturgical studies led him to Rome and the Lateran University where he was awarded a licentiate in canon law with specialization in liturgical law in 1958. Father Kevin served for a year as an associate pastor and religion teacher in his home diocese and then entered the novitiate of Saint Anselm’s Abbey in Washington, D.C. He took the name of Kevin and professed his vows as a Benedictine monk on 13 November 1960. His formal education as a canon lawyer concluded two years later when he earned a doctorate in canon law at The Catholic University of America.

From 1962 until 1987 Father Kevin was a member of the faculty of the School of Religious Studies at Catholic University. Beginning in 1976 he was an adjunct faculty member in the Saint John’s University School

of Theology summer programs. During many summers Kevin became well acquainted with the Collegeville community, and in 1987 he transferred his monastic stability to Saint John’s. He continued teaching at Saint John’s until 2008 when he was named professor emeritus of theology; he also served as rector of Saint John’s Seminary from 1988 until 1992.

Father Kevin was a prolific writer and editor. Liturgy, aesthetics, church architecture, ministry, the sacraments, spirituality, religious life, and canon law were all areas of his research and writing. From 1987 until the time of his death he was the editor of Worship magazine, the premier liturgical publication of the abbey. His scholarship and insight were recognized and honored with the Michael Mathis Award in

2001 from the Notre Dame Center for Pastoral Liturgy, the Baraka Award in 2005 from the North American Academy of Liturgy, and the Frederick R. McManus Award in 2009 from the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions. For decades Father Kevin was eagerly sought out as a retreat director and was particularly popular among women religious in the United States and in the United Kingdom.

Above all else Kevin loved being a monk: the ordered pace of each day and the liturgical seasons, and the time it allowed for a reflective life, prayer, and productive labor. He also loved sharing stories about the many people and situations he encountered during his extensive work and travels.

After a brief battle with cancer Father Kevin died on 27 April 2013; the Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on 2 May.

We need people around us who show us how to live the Gospel. We also need people around us who show us how to die as faith-filled, hope-filled Christians. Father Kevin surely did this for us.


Kevin Seasoltz

Abbey archives


George Wolf

At ninety-seven years young and seventy-four years professed, Father George

Wolf, O.S.B., was the senior monk of Saint John’s Abbey at the time of his death on 20 May 2013. Born Vincent John in Rockville, Minnesota, to Joseph and Katherine (Knipple) Wolf on 15 March 1916, he attended elementary school at Holy Cross School in Pearl Lake, Minnesota, and graduated from Saint John’s Preparatory School in 1935. After two years of studies at Saint John’s University he entered the novitiate of the abbey, professing vows as a Benedictine monk on 11 July 1938. Two years later he completed a bachelor of arts degree at Saint John’s and then began theological studies for the priesthood.

One month after his ordination as a priest on 4 June 1944, Father George left Collegeville to

begin a lifelong ministry—sixty-two years—to the people of The Bahamas. Until his return to Saint John’s in 2006, he was fully involved in pastoral ministry, always a staunch promoter of Saint Augustine’s Monastery and Saint Augustine’s College, and deeply loved and respected by the Bahamian people. The longest serving Benedictine in The Bahamas, Father George was variously a missionary, pastor, spiritual director, sub-prior, physical plant manager, bursar, and builder of schools and churches. Tall, thin, soft-spoken, self-effacing, very frugal, he was a faithful, faith-filled, holy man. He walked as fast as he drove, which was pretty fast.

Father George’s ministry spanned all the major transitions of the Bahamian Church and nation. In 1999 he was honored by the Bahamian government and the Archdiocese of Nassau at the Bahamas National Heroes Committee National Awards ceremony. At the same time, he received the pontifical medal Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice in recognition of his more than fifty years of service to the Catholic Church in The Bahamas.

When asked why he stayed in The Bahamas so long, he answered simply: “Because of the the people. They have been most kind, helpful, and patient. I needed them, and I figured that they needed me.” Though Father George expected to end his service and life among his beloved Bahamians, the tuberculosis he

had suffered early in his ministry predisposed him to periodic bouts with pneumonia, forcing him to return to Saint John’s for daily care in 2006. For the past seven years, through his gentle, cheerful demeanor, Father George endeared himself to his confreres in Collegeville as he had done for decades among the people of The Bahamas.

The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated for Father George on 24 May followed by interment in the abbey cemetery.

Father George served us in The Bahamas with an infectious love for our people. He literally became one of us, and we him. He will always be a significant part of our history.

Msgr. Preston Moss

We celebrate the call of Jesus to Father George to be a “fisher of people” and his full-hearted response. We celebrate the love that the Bahamian people shared so freely with Father George.


Abbey archives


George Primus

Brother George Michael Primus, O.S.B., was born on 12 September 1923, to

Anthony and Clothilda (Wander) Primus in Melrose, Minnesota, the fifth of nine children. He attended Saint Boniface Catholic School in Melrose and graduated from Melrose Public High School in 1942. During World War II he worked in the shipyards in Richmond, California, from 1942–1945, building cargo ships.

In 1947 Brother George entered the novitiate of Saint John’s Abbey, professed his first vows as a Benedictine monk on 15 August 1948, and then began a series of jobs that included working in the community’s bookbindery, in the shipping department of Liturgical Press, and at the university bookstore. For five years, beginning in 1950, Brother George served at Saint Maur Priory in South Union,

Kentucky, the first interracial monastery in the United States. He worked on the farm, overseeing the dairy herd that supported the community and seminary school. Saint Maur’s was understaffed, and the work with the herd was challenging. It was also a challenging time in the life of the community: Saint Maur’s was a bold experiment where the monks attempted to overcome the racial differences and all the racial baggage that the larger culture carried. Brother George described these years of his life simply: “It was very hard.”

One of George’s hobbies was sewing, a hobby that became a lifelong career. In April 1956 he began a six-month apprenticeship at Saint Bernard Abbey in Cullman, Alabama, to receive training as a tailor. He returned to Collegeville and spent the next fifty years working in the abbey tailor shop. Here, with a warm smile and gentle humor, he served his confreres, mending all manner of clothing, resizing trousers (many more needed to be let out than taken in), always trying to get the last bit of wear out of a garment. His patches were nothing if not creative. He also shared his time and talent with the Saint John’s University R.O.T.C. students, altering and repairing their uniforms. Reflecting on his decades of service, George mused: “I have been ‘cutting up’ for over fifty years . . . I try to ‘keep the monks in stitches.’”

Brother George loved the out-doors and welcomed time to care for the garden, especially the apple orchard: “I enjoy the peaceful surroundings; it’s relaxing. But most of all I love watching things grow. It’s miraculous.” He also loved to walk in the woods and listening to the Twins’ or the Johnnies’ games on his radio.

A happy, soft-spoken, gentle and prayerful man, Brother George died on 24 June 2013. His sixty-five years of monastic life were honored at the Mass of Christian Burial on 28 June, followed by interment in the abbey cemetery.

George had the faith that Jesus speaks of in the Gospel, that faith, not of the learned and the clever, but the faith of an ordinary, holy man. It is a faith in the wonder and mystery of growth, in the cycle of seasons, in the trustworthiness of God, in the gift of his own life.


Abbey archives


Alexander Andrews

The youngest of eight children of Leslie Joseph and Emily (Trayling)

Andrews, Father Alexander Andrews, O.S.B., was born in Chicago on 19 November 1933, christened Edward Charles. He grew up in an Irish Catholic family in Saint Aloysius Parish where he was baptized and confirmed. Following high school studies at Lane Technical School, he attended the University of Illinois for three years until being drafted into the armed services in 1954. After four years with the U.S. Air Force, he was discharged with the rank of staff sergeant; he returned to the University of Illinois, graduating in 1960. In 1962 he completed a master’s degree in history at Columbia University and then spent a year at the University of California, Berkeley, taking classes in Rus-sian history and culture.

Following a year’s novitiate at Saint John’s Abbey, Alexander

professed his first vows as a Benedictine monk on 11 July 1965. After priesthood studies at Saint John’s Seminary he was ordained on 31 May 1969. For much of the next thirty years Father Alexander’s career was with the history department of Saint John’s University. To avoid faculty meetings and committee appointments, he chose not to seek a doctoral degree, preferring the rank of lecturer, the title he held until his retirement from the classroom in June 2000 when he was given the honorary rank of professor alumnus.

An excellent and demanding teacher, knowledgeable in all things Russian, Alexander brought to the classroom the order and discipline as well as the shaved head, polished boots, and colorful language of a drill sergeant. Each year he would throw away all his handwritten lecture notes from the previous year and begin anew. His lec-tures (group discussions had not yet been invented) left his students alternately mesmerized, terrorized, and entertained. Students completed exams by writing in “blue books” that Alex provided. Regardless of the topic of the class, the first statement on the exam sheet was the same: “Glittering generalities, unsubstantiated by facts, will greatly detract from your grade.” His personal definition of history was “the interminable succession of one damn thing after another.”

Always restless, Father Alexander took occasional

Abbey archives

breaks from the classroom for pastoral assignments, serving local parishes—Saint John the Baptist, Collegeville; the Church of Saint Augustine, Saint Cloud—as well as the sisters of Mount Saint Benedict Monastery, Crookston, Minnesota. From 1993 to 2004 he was a member of the chaplain team that served the sisters of Saint Benedict’s Monastery, Saint Joseph, Minnesota. He was an excellent preacher with a prophetic edge to his message.

Alexander was an avid reader, a hearty eater, and a constant commentator. Beyond the bluster and boisterous laugh, however, there was a compassionate, pastoral heart. He grieved the loss of confreres who departed from the monastic life even as he struggled with monastic life himself. Father Alexander died on 31 July 2013. The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on 3 August followed by inter-ment in the abbey cemetery.

Father Alexander was ready to die. We pray that God embraces him with a great big bear hug.



The maple syrup season began at a Lenten pace—only 800 gallons of sap were collected by Holy Saturday, 30 March—but accelerated rapidly with Easter alleluias. Over 100 gallons of syrup were bottled by 10 April; the 300-gallon mark was surpassed on 19 April. The sweet season ended on 29 April (latest recorded cooking date) with 557 gallons of syrup produced from 19,030 gallons of sap, and twenty cords of wood consumed.

Winter would not let go! April showers were abundant but

white, including nine inches of heavy, wet snow on 11 April, another three inches of snow, sleet, and ice over the next three days, and a foot on 18 April. Big John, Saint John’s resident loon, arrived from his wintering waters in the Gulf of Mexico on 30 April but had to settle on the East Gemini Lake because Lake Sagatagan did not go ice free until 7 May, the latest recorded date for the lake opening. Over five inches of rain in May and another six inches in June transformed the bleak, brown landscape into bright green. Fragrant lilacs and glorious flowering crabs confirmed that spring finally arrived. Curious weather continued throughout the summer. Oppressive 90- degree temperatures and dew points in the 70s on 17 July gave way to overnight temperatures in the 40s ten days later. August was lovely until the final week of scorching heat and humidity.

The local loon population grew by three chicks this summer; the purple martin houses were filled; and the Canada geese once again asserted their ownership of the Gemini lakes and environs—but did make way for one new neighbor: a river otter.

April 2013

• On a snowy Sunday, 14 April, the sisters of Saint Benedict’s Monastery hosted sixty Saint John’s monks for the annual Saint Scholastica

celebration—postponed, due to snow, from February. The snow and sleet almost caused a repeat postponement, but a good time was had by all. Abbot John Klassen presented the sisters with a jug of maple syrup, still warm from the sugar shack. They reciprocated with even warmer hospitality.

• Competing with over ninety participants, the almost all-abbey team brought home first place medals at the Fruit at the Finish Triathlon on 27 April. Mr. Dan McAvey (director of university residential life) swam .75K in 11.25 minutes; Brother Lew Grobe biked 14K in 25.06 minutes; and Brother Nick Kleespie ran 5K in 17.37 minutes.

May 2013

• Former university president Father Robert Koopmann received an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Hampden-Sydney College, Virginia, and delivered the baccalaureate address to the men’s college on the weekend of 11 May.

Abbey Chronicle

Abbey arboretum


Sap/syrup cookers: Steve Saupe, Dan Weber, Bill Mock (with the 300th gallon bottled in 2013), Al Meier, Jean Lavigne, Walter Kieffer



• During university com-mencement exercises on 12 May Brothers Daniel Morgan and Michael Leonard Hahn (left)were awarded master’s degrees (pastoral ministry and theology, respectively) from Saint John’s School of Theology•Seminary.

On 19 April Abbot John and university president Dr. Michael Hemesath presented the sixtieth Pax Christi Award to Father Richard Frechette (center), a Passionist priest and medical doctor. A missionary who has devoted twenty-five years to the service of the poorest of the poor and AIDS patients in Haiti, Father Frechette was recognized as the “animator and visionary leader of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos.” He established and currently oversees Saint Damien’s Hospital in Haiti, which provides long-term care to critically ill children and outpatient services to more than 17,000 children and adults each year. He is the author of Haiti: The God of Tough Places, the Lord of Burnt Men. The highest honor awarded by Saint John’s, the Pax Christi Award recognizes those who have devoted themselves to God by working in the tradition of Benedictine monasticism to serve others and to build a heritage of faith in the world.

• Thirty-eight Catholics and Mennonites gathered at Saint John’s for a conference devoted to the historical significance of Michael Sattler and the early history of the Anabaptist movement during the time of the Reformation. Saint John’s good neighbors Ivan and Lois Kauffman, innkeepers of The Michael Sattler House of hospitality, organized the conference held on 26–27 May.

• Memorial Day services at the Saint John’s Abbey Cemetery included a roll call, honoring the forty-six parishioners, thirty-nine monks, and ten Saint John’s alumni who served in the military and are buried in the cemetery. The Saint John’s Legion Honor Guard provided the traditional military salute.

June 2013

• Effective 1 June Ms. Berna-dette Gasslein is the interim editor of Worship magazine, replacing longtime editor Father Kevin Seasoltz who died in April. Ms. Gasslein served for twenty-one years as editor of Celebrate!, Canada’s award-winning pas-toral liturgy magazine. She conceived and developed the fifteen-volume Preparing for Liturgy series copublished by Novalis and Liturgical Press in the late 1990s. Her latest books are The Mass Step by Step (student booklet, Novalis, 2011; adult version, Novalis, 2013) and Living with the Prayers of the Mass (Novalis, 2013).

Jeff Kaster

Paul Middlestaedt


• Brother Benedict Leuthner, Fathers Gordon Tavis and Dan Ward, and Abbot John attended the fifty-first General Chapter of the American Cassinese Congregation, 16–21 June, at Saint Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe, Pennsylvania. The chapter focused on the viability of monastic communities and included conferences by Father Michael Casey, O.C.S.O. (reasons for the current situation and some possible remedies), a presentation of “Options for Monasteries: Past, Present and Future” by Father Dan, and demographic data compiled by Father Gordon.

• On the community’s patronal feast of Saint John the Baptist, 24 June, university president Michael Hemesath, together with dozens of campus employees, hosted an ice cream social in the monastic gardens “to honor and celebrate the monks of Saint

John’s Abbey.” The monks were as contented with the ice cream as the cows that produced it.

July 2013

• Mr. Michael Roske, master craftsman, university alumnus, and abbey neighbor since birth, became the manager of the abbey woodworking shop, effective 1 July 2013.

• Brother Benet Tvedten, O.S.B., longtime oblate director at Blue Cloud Abbey in South Dakota, was the retreat director for seventy-five Oblates of Saint Benedict during their annual gathering at Saint John’s in mid-July. Dennis Christopher Cavanaugh, Elizabeth Mary Everitt, Lucy Frances Fallon, Michael Frances Keable, Pamela Hildegard Keul, Candace Gregory Kropp, Michael Anthony Meirick, William Paul Muldoon, Henry John-Peter Schwalbenberg, and Pauline Augustine Zorza made their final oblation during evening prayer on 13 July. Also making

• On 15 June Abbot John blessed and installed Brother David Paul Lange as subprior (major superior) and Father John Meoska (below, right) as formation director, after thanking and blessing Father Jonathan Licari who served in both positions.

their final oblation, but unable to attend the retreat, were Tim-othy Beddow, Steve Dusek, and Donald Kercher. Three new candidates were invested: Robert Emery, Sheila Hughes, and Dean Rademacher.

August 2013

• Accompanied by sisters from Germany, Brazil, and India, forty Franciscan sisters from the motherhouse of the Hankinson, North Dakota, community that served in the Saint John’s food service, 1913–1958, visited Saint John’s on 13 August, joining the monastic community for Midday Prayer followed by lunch in the refectory (below) that had been their predecessors’ workplace for decades. They also toured the campus and visited an exhibit of The Saint John’s Bible at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library. Prior to their departure from the monastic refectory, which the Franciscans had graced by their service for forty-five years, the sisters offered a sung blessing to the monks. Grace upon grace.

Alan Reed, O.S.B.

Abbey archives


Fifty Years Ago

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

17 May 1963

• Saint John’s University will honor two men at the 1963 com-mencement exercises on 30 May as the first annual Pax Christi awards are presented. The award (right) will be given each year to two individuals—one lay, one clergy member—who exemplify in their lives the ideals of Benedictine monasticism. The first awards will be presented to Bishop Peter W. Bartholome of Saint Cloud, and Mr. Ignatius A. O’Shaughnessy, Saint Paul, President of the Globe Oil Refining Company.

• Saint John’s Abbey will host the fourth annual Scripture Institute on 5–9 August. The institute was founded to aid priests who have been away from seminary studies for some years to make a more fruitful investigation of modern scriptural research. Four Scripture scholars will staff this year’s institute: Fathers Bruce Vawter, R. A. F. Mackenzie, Myles Bourke, and Emeric Lawrence.

21 June 1963

• Father Godfrey Diekmann has been named by the Holy See as one of five Catholic observers to the forthcoming Fourth World Conference on Faith and Order. The conference will be held in Montreal from July 12–26 and is sponsored by the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches.

Father Godfrey has also recently been named an “expert” of the Second Vatican Council. He will serve in an advisory capacity to the 2,500 bishops at the Council. The task assigned the council experts is to assist in the drafting of the decrees and amending and adding to the decrees for the discussion and final approval of the council Fathers. Father Ulric Beste has also been appointed an expert.

23 August 1963

• Crotty Brothers of Boston, a nationwide food service organization, will take over the management of the kitchen and cafeteria on 29 August. The local manager representing the company will be Mr. Lawrence Gilhooly. The company will

supervise the purchase and preparation of the food and the hiring of personnel. All employees except the manager, the assistant manager, and the chef will be local people.

• Last May when the new office wing was occupied, the growth of the liturgical movement in the United States was evidenced in the plant expansion of the Liturgical Press at Saint John’s. The office wing was the last of the complex of three buildings to be constructed. This two-level building houses offices and display room on the top floor and storage space in the basement.

• The Gregorian Institute of America will soon release a record of music by the Saint John’s University’s Men’s Chorus under the direction of Mr. Gerhard Track. The original tape for this recording was made in Luedenscheid, Germany, during the chorus’ 1962 European tour. The 12-inch LP record will include 16th-century motets and madrigals, contemporary religious and secular numbers, and American folksongs.

• Father Colman Barry, editor of the American Benedictine Review, has been chosen one of 1,780 authors for the White House library.

• Liturgical Press will soon have two new recordings by the Saint John’s monastic choir; one includes seven chant Masses from Our Parish Prays and Sings; the other contains polyphony and Gregorian chant.

Alan Reed, O.S.B.


Monks in the Kitchen

Reunion Cooking

Ælred Senna, O.S.B.

Last fall I wrote about the adven-tures of cooking for The Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps (BVC) at Saint Augustine’s Monastery in The Bahamas. Earlier this year Brother Simon-Hòa Phan and I had the opportunity for a reunion with a few of those volunteers, who specifically requested that we cook and share a meal together. Joseph Gair and Kyle Auringer (BVC, Hanga, Tanzania) and Evans Yamoah (BVC, Cobán, Guatemala; and Chicago) spent a few days reconnecting with the monastic community, praying and eating with us. We had a great time preparing supper together—chicken saltimbocca, pasta dressed with garlic and olive oil, and sautéed greens. As a special treat, Joe made tiramisu for dessert.

Ted Kain (BVC, Chicago) also joined us the next day for morn-ing prayer followed by breakfast. For this we had bacon (a big favorite), cheesy biscuits, and cream gravy—perhaps not the healthiest of breakfasts, but it was good! Joe and Kyle wanted to learn to make gravy. Last year, while they were in Africa, they had contacted me for some recipes so they could make a traditional American Thanksgiving meal for the community at Hanga Abbey. The meal was a great success, with the possible exception of the gravy. This Texas-born monk was happy to respond to

a request for a gravy tutorial! What could be more typically Southern than a breakfast of biscuits and gravy!

Brother Ælred Senna, O.S.B., is the vocation director of Saint John’s Abbey.

Cheesy Biscuits with Sausage and Gravy (serves 6)

Preheat oven to 425ºF. Measure 2 c. flour, 2 t. baking powder, and ½ t. salt into mixing bowl; stir together. Cut 5 T. butter into the flour, using a pastry blender, until it resembles coarse crumbs. (Allow a few lumps of butter, but no larger pieces.) Stir in 3 oz. grated cheddar cheese. Add 7 oz. milk and mix until well incorporated. Knead in the bowl a couple of times to finish mixing.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough comes together well. (Don’t over-knead as this will make the biscuits tough.) Press the dough out into a circle (or any shape) that is about ¾” to 1” thick. Cut out 12 biscuits with a biscuit cutter or knife, and place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes at 425ºF.

While biscuits are baking, fry 1 lb. of your favorite breakfast sausage patties. To the grease remaining in the skillet, add 2 – 3 T. flour and fry until brown. Slowly whisk in 2 - 2 ½ c. milk and stir constantly until gravy thickens and most lumps of flour are dissolved. Stir in salt and pepper to taste. Serve with biscuits and sausage.

Monks in the Kitchen

Joseph Gair (left), Brothers Simon-Hòa Phan and Ælred Senna, along with Evans Yamoah and Kyle Auringer share a meal together.


In Memoriam

Steven J. Anderson Lorayne Andre, O.S.B. Alexander Andrews, O.S.B.

Donabelle Backous Jerome F. “Jerry” Bechtold Edward J. Bik Eleanor S. Bren Lucy Corbett Philip H. Des Marais, Obl.S.B. Gregory Eibensteiner, O.S.B.

Victorine Fenton, O.S.B.

Jeannine Ferber Robert D. “Bob” Freer Mark A. Frickey, Obl.S.B. Gyo Furuta Theodore Girard, O.S.B. Kelly J. Hartneck Joseph Heyd, O.S.B. James Honl Paul Anthony Hughey Stanley Idzerda Frank “Arnie” Jirik

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

Eunice S. Johnson Agnes Jean Kickul Clara Klimmek Paschal Kneip, O.S.B. Marlys Kuehn, O.S.B. Helen Kyllingstad, O.S.B. Evelyn F. LeNeau Willard F. “Willy” Malisheske Abbot Charles Massoth, O.S.B. Celestine Maus Mary E. McNamara Frank Mehr Allen J. Meyer George Meyerratken Caroline NiebauerRaphael Olson, O.S.B.

Ruth Peltier Fredric E. “Fred” Petters Roman J. PierskallaGerald L. Potter George Primus, O.S.B. Idamarie Primus, O.S.B.

William A.“Bill” RichardsDonald W. Rieder Carl Stanley Rose, Obl.S.B. Jan Joseph Santich Jerome “Jerry” Schaefer Ronald Leo Schmit Alex J. Schreifels Andrew Schreifels Wilfred Schulz, O.S.B. Joachim Schweitzer, O.S.B. Delores SchwinghammerKevin Seasoltz, O.S.B.

Pedro Sosa-Esquivel, O.S.B.

Lois Spors, O.S.B.

Isla E. Rolfson Streeter Joseph Tada Lois L. Tollefson Francis “Buzz” TuttleJoseph Vesely, O.S.B. Alois J. “Al” Wiechmann Marcus W. Woell, Obl.S.B.

George Wolf, O.S.B.

Camillus Wurtz, O.S.B.

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

A Monk’s Chronicle

Father Eric Hollas, O.S.B., offers spiritual insights and glimpses into the life of the Benedictine community at Saint John’s Abbey in a weekly blog, A Monk’s Chronicle. Visit his blog at: monkschronicle.wordpress.com.

Father Don’s Daily Reflection Father Don Talafous, O.S.B., prepares daily reflections on Scripture and living the life of a Christian that are available on the abbey’s Web site at: saintjohnsabbey.org/reflection/.

38

Timothy Backous, O.S.B.

We monks are often told that our life is easy: no taxes, no house payments, no children, free health care, all we can eat meals, and paradise as our backyard. It does sound pretty good. But if it’s

so good, why aren’t there long lines at the door waiting to get in?

Community life has its benefits, but it is also something that we are called to, just like marriage, or priesthood, or any committed way of life. None of these is merely a menu item to identify, choose, and live. They are life’s patterns, habits, routines, and sacred vows that appeal to us, not just by their external attractiveness but also from a much deeper level of engagement. When we choose monastic life, for example, we recognize that this way of life is possible; what I’m observing in this possibility is not a longshot nor is it foreign in concept.

I imagine this is also true in the romance leading to marriage. Relation-ships that move from casual to serious must, at some point, involve the concept of a lifelong union, but most couples move in that direction only gradually. The two may recognize that marriage is possible, but it still takes time for the commitment to be made. Likewise, the idea of being together forever is not foreign, but that doesn’t mean it will happen immediately. The calling is what resonates with our human experience of capabilities, potential, and sense of fulfillment, moving us to look at the spiritual, godly dimensions of this attraction.

Human beings are most susceptible to misreading a situation when the considerations are too immediate, too superficial, or too unfamiliar to our deeper selves. When I taught college students, I frequently warned them to avoid living someone else’s blueprint. Weddings are glamorous; young marriages bubble over with excitement. But it all gives way to the ordinariness of everyday life. Just because most people get married doesn’t mean that you should.

The same is true of monastic life. The solemn-vow ceremony, always meaningful and moving, soon gives way to the ups and downs of community life. If, however, we are called to our chosen way of life, we are more likely to weather those highs and lows because a calling helps us to see beyond the moment of excitement, romance, or glamour. It keeps us focused on that deep satisfaction that the choice we made is for life. With more attention to this deeper reflection in the face of life’s major decisions, we may have less anxiety about life’s bumps and bruises.

Father Timothy Backous, O.S.B., is vice president for mission integration and Benedictine sponsorship at Essentia Health in Duluth.

A calling

helps us

to see

beyond

the moment

of excitement,

romance,

or glamour.

Called for Life

39

Banner MagazineBox 2015Collegeville MN 56321-2015

www.saintjohnsabbey.org

Change Service Requ

Abbey Banner MagazineSaint John’s AbbeyP.O. Box 2015Collegeville, MN 56321-2015 U.S.A.

www.saintjohnsabbey.org

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PAIDSaint John’s Abbey

Abbey Banner Fall 2013 Volume 13, Number 2

4 This IssueRobin Pierzina, O.S.B.

5 Vocation, vocation, vocation!Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B.

6 Monastic Profession

10 Benedictine Volunteer CorpsPaul Richards, O.S.B.J. D. O’Connell

12 New Prep School HeadmasterTimothy Backous, O.S.B.

13 Searching for Mount FujiWinifred Bird

14 Faculty ResidentsDennis Beach, O.S.B.

16 Deer Arboretum: Endearing and Endangering

Benjamin Schwamberger

18 PoetryKilian McDonnell, O.S.B.

19 A Benedictine Table

Ryan Wold

20 Queen Victoria AgaveCody J. Groen

22 Kitchen SistersAaron Raverty, O.S.B.

25 Prayers of the Faithful

26 Meet a Monk: Cyprian Weaver

Richard Oliver, O.S.B.

28 Obituary: Gregory Eibensteiner

29 Obituary: Kevin Seasoltz

30 Obituary: George Wolf

31 Obituary: George Primus

32 Obituary: Alexander Andrews

33 Abbey Chronicle and36 Fifty Years Ago


37 Monks in the Kitchen: Reunion Cooking


38 In Memoriam

39 Called for LifeTimothy Backous, O.S.B.

Benedictine Days of Prayer

20 September 2013: Saint Andrew Kim and companions 1 November 2013: All Saints 24 January 2014: To be announced

The day begins at 7:00 A.M. with Morning Prayer and concludes about 3:30 P.M.Cost: $50. This includes retreat materials, breakfast, and lunch.Rooms are available in the abbey guesthouse for the preceding overnight.Register online at abbeyguesthouse.org; or call 320.363.3929.

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