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Volume 37, Number 3 |
Richardton, ND 58652 |
July 2009 |
Every now and then Fr. Stephen comes home from St. Anthony’s Mission to visit his confreres. All those medals and decorations on his chest provide a fascinating subject for conversation.
Assignment Changes
This summer brought more than the usual number of changes in the assignments of the monks. Here they are in summary fashion:
Fr. Patrick Moore will become pastor of New England and Lefor on August 5. He has
spent the past five years as administrator of Mary Mother of the Church Monastery,
Richmond, VA. In Richmond, he also worked as a part-
Fr. Sebastian Schmidt has returned to the monastery from his work as chaplain at Madonna Towers in Rochester, MN. He spent most of his monastic life in Bogotá, Colombia, as a member of Monasterio de Tibatí. He returned to North Dakota in 2000 when he became pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Glen Ullin. He resigned from Glen Ullin in 2007 to take the post in Minnesota.
Fr. Basil Atwell will become pastor of St. Bernard’s Church, Fort Yates, on August 5. He will succeed Fr. William Cosgrove, whom he also succeeded as pastor of New England. Fort Yates is a Native American parish covering a vast territory with many missions. So it needs someone with Fr. Basil’s drive and energy. Conception Abbey served this parish for over a century and now it again has a Benedictine pastor. As pastor of New England and Lefor, Fr. Basil made many new initiatives.
Fr. Thomas Wordekemper moved to Yankton, SD, June 1, where he began work as chaplain of Sacred Heart Monastery and Mount Marty College. Fr. Thomas has worked at the monastery for many years. After spearheading the renewal of our church, he opened our development program which has prospered under his care. Landscaping was among the many gifts that Fr. Thomas brought to the monastery. And his departure will reduce our corps of organists to a worrisome level. He is one of those people who can only be replaced by a small army.
In a sense, Assumption Abbey is repaying a debt it has owed to Sacred Heart Monastery for many years. In the period 1935 until 1955, nuns from that community served the monks as cooks, laundry and seamstresses. In recent years that community has been in dire need of a chaplain, so Fr. Thomas is answering a real need.
Bro. Elias Thienpont stepped down from the Richardton ambulance crew as of May 1.
He has done yeoman duty in that very important service for many years, but this past
winter was very heavy for him. Besides, he still has plenty to do as Abbey Infirmarian
(nurse), the wine enterprises and web-
