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Volume 38, Number 2 |
Richardton, ND 58652 |
April 2010 |
John Odermann, O.S.B.
1928-
by Terrence G. Kardong
When we filed into church for the Noon Prayer on January 14, Fr. John was sitting in his choir stall as was his custom. He had his breviary open before him to Morning Prayer and was meditating on it with eyes closed. When we began the Office, however, he did not join in. In fact, he was dead, and probably had been for some time. It was truly the death of a monk.
James Odermann was born on June 2, 1928, and grew up on a farm near Elbowoods, ND. He was a middle child in a German family of five girls and three boys. Their farm was in the Missouri Valley, a few miles north of the agency town of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. Over the years he often talked fondly of his early days and the almost idyllic conditions he grew up in. In those days before the Garrison Dam flooded out the valley, the place was a kind of paradise. Their farmhouse did not even need storm windows, he said, nestled as it was against the north escarpment. When they drove to school in the winter mornings, they used to stop the car to shoot the quail roosting in the trees along the way.
Some of his most vivid memories centered around his athletic career. He was a big,
powerful fellow from an early age, so football was his cup of tea. He laughed that
his mother used to sit home weeping during the games because “she was afraid I would
hurt those other boys.” James was also a star basketball player, playing center on
the Elbowoods Warriors team that played in the State Class B tournament three years
in a row (1944-
After graduation from high school, James came to the Abbey for college seminary studies
in 1946. He made monastic vows as Fr. John in 1950 and was sent to St. Martin’s College
in Lacey, Washington, to complete his B.A. After four years of theological studies
at the Abbey, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1955. During his seminary years
he was assigned to several part-
In 1956, Fr. John was assigned to work in his home parish on the Fort Berthold Reservation. Only now it had been moved west to Mandaree, North Dakota, and the big lake made it very difficult to serve all the missions. Not to worry! John learned to fly a light plane to cross the lake over to Twin Buttes on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, one morning he misjudged the wind and crashed the plane. After that, Abbot Ignatius put an end to his aeronautic career. In 1960, Fr. John was moved to Devils Lake, as an assistant to Fr. Robert. He often reminisced about the 8th grade football team that he coached up there and the trick plays that he taught them.
Fr. John’s rather varied and even adventurous pastoral career underwent another change
in 1965 when he volunteered for our Latin American mission in Bogotá. He enjoyed
working with youth, so his teaching assignments there were pleasurable. But he did
not find Spanish easy and sometimes he made hilarious mistakes. Once a student cursed
him with “you blankety-
In 1978, Fr. John returned to the Abbey for the first time in twenty years. Those were the days of the Charismatic Renewal, and he took to it like a duck to water. It suited his enthusiastic piety and his affective approach to religion. He worked with Frs. Daniel and Hugo in the Abbey retreat program, as well as serving his old mission at Twin Buttes again. During the early 1980s, Fr. John developed a love affair with woodworking. His specialty was a crucifix fashioned from tree branches that he could turn out on his power saw wherever he was stationed. He was the founder of the Abbey Woodcrafts business that flourishes to this day.
After a good deal of job-
To his great satisfaction, Fr. John was able to continue his healing and prayer ministry during his final year and a half at the Abbey. A small group met at the Abbey once a month, and they relied on him for the sacraments. He spent a good deal of his time reading the Bible and praying over it. These meditations were eventually gathered into booklets, which were available at his funeral. In the end, his large, heavy body became somewhat of a burden that he could hardly drag around. But he did not let it immobilize him entirely. And even though he became quite deaf at the end, he still came to evening recreation and joined into the conversation as best he could.
In his funeral homily, Abbot Brian gave a very moving account of Fr. John’s long route to spiritual maturity. Although he had his share of personal flaws, divine grace gradually shaped him into a very effective instrument of God’s work in the world. He was a zealous monk and priest, whose example was a gift to all of us.
Fr. John is pictured at the celebration of his silver jubilee of priesthood in 1980. From left to right are Fr. Stephen, Fr. William Rushford, Fr. John, Bishop Hilary Hacker and Fr. Julian (holding the book).