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Volume 39, Number 1 |
Richardton, ND 58652 |
January 2011 |
The Benedictine Priors in Bogotá
1960-
by Philip Vanderlin, O.S.B.
VALERIAN ODERMANN PRIOR 1975 – 1981
On March 20, 1975, Fr. Valerian Odermann walked out of Abbot Robert’s office in a state of shock. He had just been informed that the Tibatí community of five monks had elected him on the fifth ballot to be the next Prior. He wrote in his diary, “After much deliberation and consultation, I told Abbot Robert that I would be willing to undertake the task of heading the Tibatí community because, as so many pointed out to me, to refuse was to doom it.” His reference “to doom it” is provocative.
A year earlier Auxiliary bishop Ruben Buitrago Trujillo of Bogotá met with the monks
of Tibatí and suggested “that you Benedictines re-
During that same discussion the bishop said, “let me repeat that it would be a cause of real regret, not only for the students and parents of your school, but for the Church of this Archdiocese, for Cardinal Munoz Duque and for myself personally, if the Chapter of Assumption Abbey would decide to withdraw from Bogotá.” Something was stirring in the air and the new prior was willing to identify it and resolve it. He attended to a difficult situation and held fast, and that would become his essential achievement. But what was the difficult situation? Monks and the administration of schools? Native vocations to the monastic life? Sending more monks from the abbey to the foundation?
If some monks were worried about a possible doomsday for the foundation in Bogotá, the new prior further stated that “the hardest part is postponing (at best!) doctoral work, slated for University of Chicago in 1976…” Little did he know then that he would supply a litany of educational petitions in the years ahead and would eventually receive his doctorate in Education from the University of Alabama.
After Spanish language studies in Mexico, Prior Valerian arrived in Bogotá in August
and a few weeks later Cardinal Concha died (Sept. 18). Concha had brought the Benedictines
and supported their efforts in the establishment of a boys’ school. An era had ended
with his passing. So the young prior set himself the task of facing the prophets
of doom and settled in his new task with the cry, “Manos a la obra” which was the
title of his short history of the Benedictines in Bogotá 1960-
When Valerian became Prior, only two years ordained a priest, there were four American monks, Fr. Joseph Splonskowski, Fr. Lawrence Wagner (who would be called to Rome within a year to work in the business office of Sant’ Anselmo), Fr. Francis Wehri (rector of the school since 1966) and Fr. Philip Vanderlin (who would succeed Fr. Lawrence in the business office of Colegio San Carlos). With youthful vitality Prior Valerian immediately began organizing the monastery in a way that the school and monastery became separate entities. The monastery began donating furniture, vehicles and books to the school. There were some Colombian monks in the community and within months, Humberto Ochoa made simple vows and German Carmona entered the novitiate. Both eventually left. During a chapter meeting the monks, as they considered candidates for the monastic vocation, voiced their concern and Prior Valerian articulated it thus, “The community feels that we should start anew, and especially not seek candidates that have been ‘smorgasbording’ religious houses. It is a bold step. It says: members at any cost is not our aim; persons of quality are important. We hope for that.”
Being liturgical minded Prior Valerian set out to renovate the school chapel. However, the chapter members decided that it was premature to renovate a building that had only been built a few years previous. He was soon to find out that “going it alone in spiritual matters is dangerous,” or any matters, for that matter, according to popular dictum. Neither did he abandon that lesson. And he would hold fast to legislation on religious life, stating some years later, “it is contrary to any spirit of Benedictine community life or current legislation on religious life that appointments are made without the consent of the one who presides and who assigns responsibilities.”
There were other needs, for example, an art room in the primary section of the school. Also the monks felt it was time to be associated with ABECCA (the organization of monastic communities in South America and the Carribbean). Prior Valerian pushed forward the idea of contracting two Sisters (curiously both asked for a year of exclaustration from their community) to investigate the possibility of having two “jornadas” in Colegio San Carlos, meaning a group of students in the morning, another group in the afternoon, a phenomenon common in many public schools in Colombia.
On August 27, 1976, Fr. Lawrence left the monastery for Rome, after being summoned by Abbot Primate Rembert Weakland to assume the responsibility of business manager of Sant’ Anselmo. Prior Valerian asked Fr. Philip to take over the job of business manager for the monastery and school.
In May of 1977, after reflecting on the needs of the surrounding area, and the apostolic and economic potential of the monastery, Prior Valerian presented a proposal that would allot $150,000 dollars to develop an educational facility nearby. Two months later the proposal was accepted and a new opportunity for the monks opened up. In August concrete plans were approved for the buying of two and a half acres for the price of $31,232 dollars, almost adjacent to the monastery property. In November, buying 9,215 square meters was approved.
Prior Valerian, always on the lookout for opportunities, found another one. The Bogotá League of Soccer was selling land to the west of the monastery and school. He saw it as an opportunity for an excellent investment. He was right, 18 acres for $4.250.000 pesos! A smiling Prior was elated after the sum was approved in March of 1978. At about this time a petition from Fr. Robert Tobin, m.m., a priest in the south of the city asked for a donation in building his church. The monks responded with typical generosity.
With the return of Fr. Sebastian Schmidt in mid-
As Fr. Valerian was finishing his first term as prior, Fr. Francis Wehri was in his 12th year as rector of the school, Fr. Philip Vanderlin was treasurer for both the monastery and the school, and Fr. Joseph Splonskowski was in charge of the small dairy herd. Who would be the first rector of Colegio San Benito de Tibatí? No monks were available or qualified. Bishop Buitrago’s prophetic words sounding in the background? During a meeting on January 19, 1979 it was proposed that Leopoldo Cabrera be the first rector. He had been a philosophy teacher in Colegio San Carlos, and would direct the school until 2006.
Prior Valerian and the monks diligently set about establishing a Book of Customs. A book that would reflect the daily life at Tibatí, necessarily reflecting both monastic observance and academic responsibilities. It is an important book in any monastery and should sit beside the Rule of Benedict in every monk’s cell. Tibatí’s book talks about the daily horarium, the use of cars, computers, vacations and even an monthly allowance for each monk, which is probably unique and not practiced in many monasteries around the world!
Prior Valerian continued receiving offers for buying land. More land adjacent to the new school could have been secured. The chapter did not accept. Some monks lament that lost opportunity today, for there is no room for expansion. A whole town has grown up around the school!
Surrounding the monastery and school grounds were 500 beautiful eucalyptus trees. They stood tall and shaded the property with their natural splendor. But, their roots were tearing away the basketball courts. What to do? Faced with an ecological disaster the monks decided to bring them down. And down they came toward the end of 1978. A few yards away the monks were constructing a school. Now they were destroying nature! Some monks were happy when they received a few dollars for each tree! Of course, the monks were criticized for massive deforestation.
In June of 1980, while Prior Valerian was on vacation at the abbey in North Dakota, he petitioned the chapter of Tibatí to pursue a three years course at the Institute of Psychology at the Gregorian University in Rome. He wanted to do so as a member of Tibatí, and asked that Tibatí finance the program and that he spend summers at Tibatí. The senior council of Assumption Abbey put this request on its agenda for June 27, 1980 and recommended the proposal. The July 12 Tibatí chapter, however, cited the Book of Customs (approved Feb. 9, 1979) and asked Fr. Valerian to submit a budget and intended benefits for himself and the community. No budget or elaboration of benefits was submitted. Prior Valerian never went to Rome.
The community grew with the arrival of Fr. Denis Fournier, OSB, in December of 1980. At this time Prior Valerian made another proposal for studies at the Catholic University in Washington, D.C. in theology, again financed by the Tibatí community. Not all were in favor so he took his petition to Abbot Lawrence. To conclude this odyssey of academic petitions, Fr. Valerian took doctoral courses at the Catholic University and eventually received a doctorate in Education from the University of Alabama.
In March of 1981, Fr. Denis Fournier, OSB, became Director of the San Carlos Primary School, upon the death of Sister Benedict Scholand, OSB, from the Crookston, Minnesota monastery, and who is buried in one of the 20 lots the monks own at the nearby “Jardines de Paz” cemetery, and who had been Director since 1967. In a memo the day after Fr. Denis was appointed, Fr. Valerian stated that “important matters of the school should be handled by a board made up of members of our Benedictine community working in the school.”
When Prior Valerian ended his six years as Prior on June 30, 1981, final funds were approved to finish the building of Colegio San Benito de Tibatí. He worked hard for securing land and construction for the school, vocations to the monastic life, restructuring the liturgy of the hours and song book, while at the same time teaching a course at the San Buenaventura, a Franciscan University nearby, and religion to the high school students of Colegio San Carlos. He also finished a work on Abbot Placid Hoenerbach which was published in the American Benedictine Review in June 1978, and an article on stability published in Cuadernos Monasticos in 1979, which was a talk he gave at the Third Latin American Monastic Encounter in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in October of 1978. He began publishing a quarterly Tibatí Newsletter. Nine Colombian men lived the monastic life during his term as Prior.
Fr. Valerian remained a dedicated Colombian observer. For two years (1981-
Fr. Valerian left in 1981 with the expressed interest to return at a later date to continue his contribution to the monastery and schools. This is clearly stated in a letter he wrote to Abbot Lawrence on March 17, 1983, from St. Anselm’s Abbey where he was living. From the correspondence between Abbot Lawrence and Fr. Valerian one wonders whether the abbot was trying to persuade him to stay in the states and write a history of the diocese of Bismarck for their 75 jubilee, or let him return to Bogotá. The abbot expressed his dilemma by writing to him “I wish we had two or three of you, for here and at Tibatí….” Fr. Valerian’s mind was set on returning to Colombia and he gave six more years of service.
He diligently began writing a history of the foundation for the 25th anniversary in 1985. He documented the first fifteen years of the school and monastery, ending with the words, “Survival is a necessary condition so that one can grow and flourish.” In his letter to the students in the same Year Book he stated that it is important to tell the story of the past in a dynamic way so that a new generation can do its part. George Santayana said that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Fr. Valerian was determined to portray the past in proper and true perspective.
In 1986 he began taking educational courses offered under the auspices of the University of Alabama in Bogotá at the Colegio Nueva Granada school, which would eventually lead him to a doctorate. Shortly after being blessed Abbot in 1989, Patrick Moore asked him to return to North Dakota to become chaplain at University of Mary in Bismarck. Valerian accepted this appointment “en el espíritu de obediencia.” Another surprise was to occur. Fr. Lawrence, one of the founders, was to return to Bogotá, but only for ten months.
Prior Valerian was 29 years old when he first went to Bogotá and 43 when he left. The insight of a child learning to walk is part of modern pragmatism. First the child learns to crawl, then by standing, and finally by taking the first steps. So do human beings learn the essential lessons in life, not by reading about them or thinking about them but by doing them. Valerian did them. On the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the monks, another monk, the rector of Colegio San Benito de Tibatí, Fr. Nicolas Cano, would use the same words, “Manos a la Obra!” as a call for spiritual and academic growth. These same words continue to be the call of the Tibatí monks as they forge on with their monastic presence conducting two thriving schools in the capital city of Colombia.
Prior Valerian Odermann, O.S.B.
Soon after acquiring a plot of 40 acres to the north of the city of Bogotá, the monks arranged for the building of the large plant that still serves San Carlos well. This photo also shows the mountains (Andes) that surround the high plateau of Bogotá.
One of Prior Lawrence’s chief successes was in bringing the Benedictine Sisters to Bogotá. The large group shown here are actually from other orders as well, but the faculty of San Carlos was bolstered by Sisters from the Congregation of St. Gertrude for years.
The busses of San Carlos. Throughout its history, Colegio San Carlos, the academy of Priorato de Tibatí, has operated a large fleet of busses. These vehicles make not one, but two trips a day, bringing the 1,200 plus students to schools in shifts.
ASSUMPTION ABBEY
418 THIRD AVENUE WEST
RICHARDTON, ND 58652
(701) 974-
FRANCIS WEHRI
PRIOR 1981 – 1987
Fr. Francis arrived in Bogotá in May of 1966 to become Rector of Colegio San Carlos. He was 31 years old and beside his achievements and reputation as rector of Colegio San Carlos sits a monk who faithfully and professionally played the organ at many monastic and school functions. If the monastery ever has a museum,most of the items, awards, medals, newspaper and magazine articles, will be of him, the most recent being his Colombian citizenship. He was given full page coverage in the September 27, 2009 issue of “El Tiempo” with the headlines, “A los chinos hay que inspirarlos” (“it’s necessary to inspire students”). The article explains that his teaching success is in the freedom he gives the students.
The Colombian press has given him such titles as, “Soul of Colegio San Carlos,”
“Rector of Andres Pastrana” (55th President of Colombia 1998-
In his own words Fr Francis describes how he volunteered to go to Bogotá: “In 1960 Assumption Abbey accepted the invitation of the archbishop of Bogotá to found a school for the boys who would be among the leaders of Colombia in the future. I volunteered to work in this project if I was needed. At the time I considered this to be a mission of the Abbey and not as a monastic foundation . . . . in May of 1966 Abbot Ignatius asked me whether I would carry through with my decision of volunteering to work in Colegio San Carlos with our community. I responded affirmatively. As time has passed I can now appreciate the decision of Abbot Ignatius and I will continue to obey my Abbot in whatever he requests me to do.” (February 1999).
When Fr. Francis became prior there were seven monks; Valerian was supervising the construction of Colegio San Benito de Tibatí, Fr. Joseph, director of animal husbandry, Fr. Sebastian, formation director and CSC chaplain and counselor, Fr. Denis, director of the primary section of CSC, Fr. Philip, business manager of the monastery and two schools, and one Colombian novice.
Prior Francis was confronted with two challenges. First, the ever increasing problem of vocations. As Abbot Lawrence wrote in his visitation report of March 15, 1981: “Vocations is the matter of chief concern. It is most significant that the community of Tibatí maintains a lively hope that candidates will come!” There was always hope that students from both schools might join the monastery. This is a “natural” hope for monks who run schools. It was true of the abbey school. Why not the Tibatí school? There are many factors playing against this hope and could be the subject of a study by the Colombian monks of Tibatí. The type of student who is admitted into the school is a potential lawyer, doctor, architect, political analyst, defense minister or president. The monks would talk about techniques, or kinds of approach, some kind of trick, that would solve the native vocation crisis. There are no shortcuts to living the monastic life. The only technique is the testimony of those already living it and time.
Second, there was concern for the quality of Christian education offered at Colegio San Carlos. As Abbot Lawrence wrote in his report: “In spite of high scholastic standards and achievements, religious interest among students leaves something to be desired.” In a rather comic letter written by Jose LLoreda from New York to Fr. Lawrence in January of 1969, he said, “In agreement with the general gossip, The Revolution is being hatched in the fields of the school and it covers, like the cultural one of Mr. Mao Tse Tung, a lot of aspects and angles. The last thing I heard was that visits to see films like ‘The Graduate’ had been organized by the counselor for the Students of the 5th and 6th grades, sometimes together with girls from Santa Francisca Romana” (a school started by the Franciscan Sisters of Rochester, Minnesota). Apparently the students of San Carlos were in solidarity with the rest of the youth of the world as they voiced their protests during that awful revolutionary year 1968!
Effective religious education has always been challenged by cultural and political changes in this global village we live in. Since the beginning the monks always offered religious education and the sacraments for the students and parents. There were always monks as chaplains in the school. And as Lawrence concluded his report, “the presence of Benedictines at MBT (Monasterio Benedictino de Tibatí), CSC (Colegio San Carlos), and CSBT (Colegio San Benito de Tibatí) is a vital and most valuable force in Colombia today . . . and their impact on the local people is the Work of God!”
Chapter members when Fr. Francis became prior were Joseph Splonskowski, Sebastian Schmidt, Denis Fournier and Philip Vanderlin. His term as prior of six years is overshadowed by his years of being rector of Colegio San Carlos. As prior of the monastery and rector of the school his focus was naturally on the school; however there were many aspirants to the monastic life and the first stable Colombian monk, Carlos Ignacio Suarez Garcia, began his monastic career, was ordained by Pope John Paul II in July of 1986 and studied at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, and is now living as a hermit in another part of Colombia.
Security became a problem. A new barrio grew up in the 70s adjacent to the monastery and school. A 1,558 meter fence around the property was constructed. Discussion on what to do with the west land purchased in 1978 became an issue. Some said, “rent it”, others, “sell it”! Do something. Renting seemed the more viable. So the monks fenced themselves in and rented the land out! The land has become a soccer mecca to the present day. Prior Francis and the community saw the need for a music and art room, library and teachers room for the primary section of the school.
Early 1983, three more Colombians entered the community. All three eventually left. Fr. Denis who had been a conscientious and effective director of Primary and appointed by Fr. Francis in March of 1981, decided to return to the states in December after his three years commitment. Two more Colombians entered the community in 1984. They also left. Fr. Valerian returned in August of 1983 for six more years. Fr. Francis obtained his Masters in Education Administration from the University of Alabama through extension courses in Bogotá during the summers of 1979, 1980 and 1981.
Efraim Villegas came to Tibatí in December of 1983. He studied at the Major Seminary in Manizales, the Javeriana in Bogotá and later at the Salesian University in Rome. Currently he is the business manager for the monastery. Another Colombian came to begin his monastic career and become a stable monk, Gonzalo Blanco. Colombian vocations to the monastic life were growing but stability was not! No monks from the abbey were volunteering or being sent to the foundation.
Abbot Robert, back in 1975, in his visitation report stated, “There is a pervasive agreement that the Abbey has forsaken its foundation . . . I, personally find difficulty with the official decisions of the Chapter which undertakes a foundation and limits the sending of personnel to volunteers only. As there seems to be agreement that there can be no other way, we have the anomaly of the chapter saying ‘yes’ and the individual monks at liberty to say ‘no’.” Three years later the abbot, with reference to “volunteers” voiced a decision he planned to enforce, “I intend to have the home community withdraw this condition (volunteer) to the assignment of men to this Priory. It is a counterforce in the execution of the injunction of the Abbey community to support the work it has solemnly voted to support. It is contrary to the practice of making assignments to any of the apostolates of the Abbey. The final stability of the monk is safeguarded sufficiently at the time the foundation is ready for independence” (Visitation Report, March 4, 1978).
Teachers and parents would often comment and seek reasons why more monks were not sent to the foundation from the home Abbey. This was especially prevalent at the time a monk or sister returned to the states and was not replaced by another. A type of “Benedictine mysticism” was created and grew through the years around the monks and nuns who served the schools. Most lay people were not aware of what was happening in our monasteries. Vocations everywhere were on the decline and there was simply no one available or willing to engage in a foreign culture, language and educational enterprise. There was only one solution: native vocations!
Hopes ran high during Prior Francis’ second term. In Abbot Lawrence’s report in January of 1984, he stated that cultural, social and economic differences among the monks of Tibatí were opportunities for mutual growth. The stability of the Colombian monks seemed to be gaining momentum. Carlos Suarez, Efraim Villegas and Gonzalo Blanco became stable monks of Tibatí.
Chapter 3 of the Rule of St. Benedict has always been a challenge to any abbot or prior. A few gringo monks were firmly established and received legal and administrative counsel from Colombian lawyers, architects and other professionals. A young Colombian community was in the making. Naturally there would be conflicts, lack of communication and difference of opinion. St. Benedict’s solution is wise. Listen. Listen to others. Listen especially to the young. Listen to the Colombian monks. Abbot Lawrence expressed the difficulties in 1987 when he noticed three problem areas: a lack of platforms for communication, lack of competency in communication skills, and the absence of agendas. It was a question of organizing community, chapter and school meetings regularly and with agendas, efficiently and productively.
A Declaration of Trust was issued on March 2, 1984, which declared that Assumption Abbey would administer a trust fund in favor of the monastery and school in Bogotá. The fund would consist of donations and contributions collected for the Bogotá foundation. It stated that “. . . the business manager of Assumption Abbey is authorized to purchase, invest in, sell, assign and (or) endorse for transfer, certificates representing stocks, bonds or other securities held in the name of the ‘Tibatí Trust’ in accordance with the agreement set forth in this declaration of trust.” Fifty years after the foundation the monastic community continues to be a dependent priory.
In February 1987, after 12 years in Bogotá, Fr. Joseph Splonskowski, 73 years old,
returned to the states. A letter written to him by Abbot Lawrence the previous November
states, “Your great contribution to Tibatí has many aspects to it: forming community,
being someone with whom the junior monks feel comfortable; lending voice in choir,
thereby bringing blessings upon the community and its external works; being available
as confessor to both English-
According to many people Fr. Francis has a phenomenal memory. Anecdotes thrive among
the exalumnos. One has an exalumnus visiting Fr. Francis and during the conversation,
Francis looks over his wide-
Prior Francis ended his two terms on June 30, 1987, with ten monks living the monastic life: five Americans and five Colombians. Being prior of a growing monastic community and rector of a well established school was a double responsibility–and the community felt that a prior should spend more time with the monastic community. Having fulfilled his obligations as prior Fr. Francis continued showing effective leadership in the school, and years later expressed in his own words what was always uppermost in his mind, “my desire to continue living as a monk and to make the adjustments which are necessary to fulfill the commitment according to the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience; with the grace of God and Faith I am confident that the monastic life of our community will continue to grow with the patience and care which we must have with one another.” (February, 1999)
On the front cover of the magazine “La Revista” of a Bogotá newspaper El Espectador,
the Nov. 12, 2000 edition is a picture of Fr. Francis with arms extended, with the
words in Spanish “Father Francis, the Rector of Andres Pastrana.” The article also
portrays three pictures of him: one sitting in a desk in a classroom which covers
the whole page; another of him playing the organ with the caption “his presence behind
the organ of the school chapel is one of the images that is recorded in the minds
of the students”; and the third is a curious photo with him throwing or receiving
a soccer ball and the caption “he is an educator of leaders. He teaches his students
to compete and win to be always in first place.” The four photos speak of his life,
activity and aspirations for the school he has directed for almost 45 years. Hands
extended, all are welcomed, even non-
Fr. Francis liked to quote from the Rule of St. Benedict on the chapter which deals with the calling of the community together for consultation. The abbot should listen to everyone especially the younger members because they also manifest wisdom. Jeronimo Cuellar Jaramillo, an exalumnus, wrote a poem entitled “Father Francis Wehri.” One verse reads,
Let’s go back to basics,
Let’s go back to principles,
Let’s go back to you,
Oh, Father Francis Wehri.
Let us hear your words,
Let us hear your hear;
Your words that rest in
our memory!
Sentiments that are expressed by thousands of Colombians.
