|
Volume 37 |
Richardton, ND 58652 |
2009 |
JANUARY CHRONICLE
The Colombian magazine Dinaro (Money) has rated Colegio San Carlos as the second best secondary school in the whole country. This school is run by our satellite community, Monasterio de Tibatí, in Bogotá. This classification system, which studies 300 schools, resembles the one in U.S. News and World Report for this country. The standing is largely based on the success of graduates in gaining entrance into good universities and doing well there. Fr. Francis Wehri and his assistant, Jorge Celis, are to be congratulated on this stellar achievement.
Bro. Anthony had a little trouble getting through security at the airport on the
way home from St. Meinrad Seminary. It seems that the X-
Our confrere Fr. Basil Atwell gave two Saturdays on spirituality at Sacred Heart Monastery on January 10 and 24. The title of the first session was “Weeds that Spring up Greed: Philosophies and Spiritualities that Choke out True Piety.” The second Saturday was devoted to the devotional life, with the title “Stand Up (Kneel down, Bow, Genuflect or Whatever) and Be Counted. What is the Good of a True Devotional Life.” He is currently pastor of St. Mary’s Church, New England, and of St. Elizabeth Church, Lefor.
This is the heaviest winter since 1996-
Bro. Alban spent the period of January 20-
FEBRUARY CHRONICLE
Fr. Abbot Brian traveled to Alabama in February, but it wasn’t for sunshine. He attended the annual abbots’ retreat at St. Bernard’s Abbey, Cullman, AL. The subject this year was not all that attractive, namely, the abuse of minors. But it is something that all abbots, and all monks, need to be concerned about. Of course, an important dimension of these abbots’ meetings is the mutual support that the superiors can give to one another. They need support!
On February 5th a couple of cars full of monks drove to St. Stephen’s Church, south of Richardton, to attend the funeral of Ismarie Kuntz. Mrs. Kuntz was well known to all the monks since she worked in our kitchen for 20 years. A special feature of this funeral was the honor guard formed by the current group of cooks.
During February, Fr. Terrence traveled to Morristown, NJ, to serve as a scholar-
This month a technician from the Verdin Company was with us to work on the big bell named “Tibati.” Apparently the mechanism used to swing that massive bell has not proven adequate to the task, especially during our frigid winters. The problem is that the new motor weighs 150 lbs. and it had to be taken up a series of ladders into the tower. Someone quipped that it is too bad Fr. Robert is over in the retirement center because he dearly loved to supervise this kind of project.
Bro. Herman Kim has been working as one of our sacristans in recent months, and part of his service is to create attractive settings for the statues, altar, podium and so on. One of his more ambitious creations is pictured on our front page this month. Here Herman has fashioned an intriguing sort of tower of clouds from crumpled paper as a backup for the famous replica of Our Lady of Einsiedeln. He has been involved in various kinds of artwork since his days in Korea, of which he is a native.
MARCH CHRONICLE
During the week of March 2-
Over the weekend of March 13-
After a long, harsh winter, we were all longing for springtime this year. But there
was a persistent rumor that before March was over we would receive 30 more inches
of snow. Some of us dismissed this as mere German pessimism, but sure enough it came
true! In the last week of March we had two storms that dumped a couple feet of snow
on us. Basically, the whole state was closed down for a week. Aesthetically speaking,
it was a gorgeous landscape, with huge piles and fantastic patterns of drifting across
the landscape. There were ten-
But this kind of snow always brings hardship for some people. For example, Bro. Louie
spent long hours running our snow blower, which is a machine on the back of the tractor.
Therefore, he must constantly crane his neck in order to steer this rotary plow.
He got the vital passages cleared: main road, kitchen, coal delivery. But the road
to Schnell Hall was a lost cause. And down on the farm, the calves kept coming, so
Brothers Placid and Jacob had to fight their way down there to tend them. And Bro.
Elias’ ambulance work was quite harrowing during this storm.
APRIL CHRONICLE
Despite the bad weather, there was a lot of indoor construction work here this winter. The electricians finally completed the complicated task of wiring the institution for a backup generator. And a pair of carpenters from Kolling and Kolling built a new stairway west of the church. This was a project that had been on hold for some years because we thought we might remove the tunnel superstructure. But we decided not to, so a new stairs had to be built.
On April 4, the Easter Open House was held. And since the weather cleared up just in time for this event, a good crowd showed up. For some reason, people are buying a lot more of our wine and bread than they used to. If they don’t, we monks will be eating Easter bread until the Fourth of July. The wine, however, stays corked up, crowds or no crowds. We are not a bibulous community.
Fr. Claude spent some time with us in mid-
After the tremendous snows of the past winter, eastern North Dakota is now basically a vast lake.
Abbot Brian spent the week of April 14-
During the last week of April, the Wagner family held a reunion here at the Abbey. After this terrible winter, Fr. Lawrence prayed that his relatives, many of whom live in the Sun Belt, would not have to face another blizzard. Not to worry! All the snow obediently retreated before the Wagners. We were happy to see Peter Wagner, who once was a monk here, and Eddie Wagner, who graduated from our school in 1949, and Doris Wagner, who worked at Colegio San Carlos in Bogotá, and on and on.
One day the Olde Chronicler went over to the local nursing home to visit Fr. Robert. He found him diligently cleaning his fingernails, but without a tool. “Got a nickel?” said the Abbot Emeritus. At this surprising question, the Chronicler launched into a pious homily to the effect that since monks have a vow of poverty, we do not carry money. Robert, however, was totally concentrated on the task at hand. Finally, he glanced up and said “Got a dime?”
MAY CHRONICLE
During the weekend of May 1-
Over this same weekend the Episcopalian deacons were here for their training work. This group has been meeting for years at Sacred Heart Monastery, but now that Sacred Heart is closing their overnight facilities for groups, they will meet here. Actually, the Episcopalians have been joining us for Friday Vespers for some time; now they will also live under our roof.
In recent weeks Abbot Brian has been giving the monks a series of talks on Hope for the Future. He is doing this in the light of the recent dearth of vocations and other possibly discouraging trends. In his talk of May 4, he discussed a series of historical events that seemed to bode very ill for the Church: the French Revolution, the elimination of the Papal States and the virtual destruction of monasticism by Napoleon. He said that in retrospect, all of these events seem to be a matter of God clearing the way for new growth in his Kingdom. Therefore, be not sad because God is still mightily at work in his world.
Fr. Terrence attended the Medieval Conference at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo,
MI, May 6-
This year’s Abbey retreat was held May 24-
Three monks are shown praying in the new Blessed Sacrament Chapel. Left to right: Fr. Gerald, Br. Louie (back row) and Fr. James. The stained glass window of Saint Ambrose was uncovered in the recent church renovation.
John Pat on one of their walks over to the Richardton Health Center. For many years they have been visiting the patients and also enjoying each other’s company.
Br. Nicholas takes Fr. Francis dosRemedios out for a spin in his wheelchair. Fr. Francis is limited in his movements, but he can still come to recreation and regale us with his witticisms.
Bro. Herman Kim is washing our clothes these days. He is becoming famous for getting the clothes very clean and getting them back to us very quickly. All in all, an ideal laundryman..
Br. Placid gazes out the dining room window toward the Abbey farm as it stretches out below him. For most of us, it is just a pleasant view, but for him it is his life’s work. Also a big worry when it doesn’t rain.
JUNE CHRONICLE
During June there were two really big events. The first happened almost at the end of the month, namely, the June 27 jubilee celebration of Bro. Placid. The great day featured a Mass of Thanksgiving at 10:30 followed by a dinner. Since Bro. Placid has thousands of relatives and friends on all five continents, we were afraid the place would be overrun by them. But he managed to limit the invitations to 200 lucky persons. Of course that left legions of others who were sad and hurt that they could not be here, but, hey! That’s the price of fame. To make the occasion especially memorable, the Jubilarian actually stood on his head! He had done so at his 25th and he wanted to show the world that he has not completely deteriorated since then.
Two days before that there was another extraordinary happening. It began with an
ominous sign on the bulletin board featuring a stern looking fellow in a tall striped
hat pointing at the reader and saying: “Uncle Saint Benedict Wants You!” What did
he want? Well, he wanted every able-
This was a rather beautiful June in the West River country, with adequate rains and generally good conditions for agriculture. But the summer started off very strangely with a little snowstorm on June 6. No, you don’t need new glasses, that’s June 6! This can be disconcerting even to natives, but imagine the feelings of Bro. Daniel Sokol. This monk from Prince of Peace Abbey in southern California arrived the previous day to begin a sabbatical with us for the summer. He had heard that North Dakota can be fairly chilly, but nothing like this! And yet two weeks later it was 85 degrees—just like San Diego.
Abbot Brian attended the celebration of the 125th anniversary of Sacred Heart Parish in Glen Ullin on Sunday, June 28th. He was scheduled to give a seven and a half minute talk, but there is no report as to whether he held strictly to his allotted time. Assumption Abbey served this parish for about a century before it reverted to the Diocese of Bismarck a couple of years back. It is still close to our heart.
JULY CHRONICLE
In this chronicle we generally deal with events, that is, things that have happened. But sometimes things that do not happen may be even more significant. For many years the alumni of Colegio San Carlos in Bogotá have been urging Fr. Francis Wehri to become a citizen of Colombia. Because he is not very political, and also because he is a very busy man, he always put it off. But finally this year he gave in. Since he is a prominent figure in Colombian educational circles, this was to be a great occasion. A former president of the country, Carlos Pastrana, was to be one of his sponsors and there was to be a great banquet on the evening of June 18.
But in fact none of this actually took place! Why? Because our confrere was rushed to surgery with a strangulated hernia on the previous morning. To quote an old Portuguese proverb, God writes straight—with crooked lines. Francis’ weakened condition also prevented him from coming to Richardton for his biennual vacation in July. So that is the most important thing in a long time that did not happen. As far as we know, Francis is still not a citizen of Colombia.
For the weekend of July 3-
Every six or seven years the local juneberry bushes bear much fruit and this was the year. Bro. Michael and Fr. Terrence spent hours roaming the prairie and harvesting the berries, which resemble blueberries except that blueberries grow on low bushes and juneberries can be ten feet off the ground. Bro. Michael remarked that picking juneberries is just about the most relaxing and peaceful activity he can imagine. Could these be the same as the beebleberries that Little Lulu used to eat in the comic strip?
AUGUST CHRONICLE
Bro. Michael made the long drive to Schuyler, NE, in the first week of August. He
went down there to attend a conference for Benedictine Foundation Directors, which
was held at the Benedictine monastery. This monastery is a house of monks from the
Congregation of St. Ottilien, a German group that specializes in making foundations
in “mission countries.” The Schuyler house functions as a center for their fund-
After a wet, cool summer, local crops look extremely promising. Although the harvest for everything is quite late, farmers are reporting yields of wheat and other crops that boggle the imagination. Some report 120 bushels of wheat to the acre in places. The Abbey does not raise wheat, but we realized a very fine hay crop this summer. Bro. Jacob reports 1,600 of the big bales, which comes to about ten times what we had last summer. Farming is a very up and down business. Of course a huge hay crop also means more work, but as Bro. Placid says, the machinery works better for a heavy hay crop than a light one.
Fr. Terrence spent the weekend of August 21-
Fr. Sebastian is getting back into the swing of things here after many years away from the Abbey. He has recently been appointed Subprior. As he is the first to point out, this is sort of a sinecure (honorary position). But he has also inherited the guestmaster job and that is no sinecure, at least in the summer. It involves making a lot of beds and cleaning a lot of bathrooms. But it also involves scheduling the limited number of guest rooms and keeping the guests reasonably happy.
Br. Placid can stand on his head. Presumably there are thousands of other people who can do the same, but he did it at his 50th anniversary of profession! He had also done it 25 years ago (when he turned 50) and wanted to show the world that he could still do it.
Because he is the senior faculty member, Fr. Victor Feser leads the graduation procession at the University of Mary. He carries the mace that bears the official symbols of the University.
Bro. Louie at work on his rug-
In his chronicle of events in the Assumption Abbey Family Newsletter, the in-
The funeral of Fr. Robert took place on Thursday, September 3. As befits a former
abbot, the Bishop of Bismarck, Paul Zipfel, presided, with Abbot Brian preaching.
Fr. Patrick, another abbot-
Richard Erickson, father of Brother Nicholas, died in Moorhead, Minnesota, on Friday, September 11. Bro. Elias drove Nicholas to Minnesota shortly before his father died. Then Frs. Lawrence and Warren attended the funeral on Monday, September 14.
On September 16, we had a “desert day.” The day was hot and dry, but that was not why it was called “desert.” It was in fact one of two days a year that we take off work and spend in quiet recollection. Abbot Brian gave us two conferences focused on the integration of our lives, spiritual and otherwise.
Our discussions at recreation are usually fairly boring, but one night this fall we got into a kerfuffle over this question: are all cobwebs made by spiders? Group A said that indeed they are. Group B, naturally, said no, they may just be dust particles that form chains. Finally somebody went and got a dictionary, which proved that Group A is right. But it also proved that facts put an end to discussion.
OCTOBER CHRONICLE
After a truly beautiful, balmy September, October began with rain and turned bitter
cold. This abrupt shift from summer to winter had its predictable effect with multiple
colds and general malaise. It could also be that we are getting old. In fact, October
continued cold and cloudy, so much so that local farmers were hard-
This fall saw an uncommon amount of construction activity hereabouts. Down at the farm, Fr. James and his assistant, Don Alpert, began the remodeling of the ranch barn into a calving barn. This will involve the demolition of the big, handsome milking barn that is almost a century old. Unfortunately, the latter has become an eyesore that we can no longer maintain.
In the courtyard, Kolling Construction and its subcontractors laid a new circle of
pavers in front of the refurbished statue of the Virgin Mary. This project involved
the spectacle of dropping machines into the courtyard with a giant crane. As someone
pointed out, the alternative would have been to hire twenty day-
Another very long project came to completion with the final arrangements for our new backup generator. Berger Electric of Dickinson did the installation of this project, which involved extensive rewiring all over the campus. This new system not only protects us against power outages; it kicks in when our electrical usage runs exceptionally high, which happens every time all the lights in the church are turned on.
Bro. Michael manages the groups that use our facilities, but he managed to get away
for the weekend of October 9-
Fr. John took the longest trip of all during October when he flew to Oceanside, California, and Prince of Peace Abbey. When he was there, he gave some talks to the monks and the oblates as well as vacationing in sunny California. His host was Bro. Daniel Sokol, who lived with us at Richardton last summer.
NOVEMBER CHRONICLE
Schnell Hall had heavy usage this fall, with multiple retreat groups. We also took
steps to make the place more “user-
Bro. Llewellyn served as judge of the 39th show of the Badlands Art Association held
in Dickinson Nov. 6-
Bro. Alban attended a meeting of the Council of the Abbot President at St. Procopius
Abbey, Lisle, Illinois, over the weekend of November 6-
Abbot Brian flew to Bogotá on Nov. 8 and returned home on Nov. 19. As the superior of our dependent priory in Colombia, Monasterio de Tibatí, the Abbot of Assumption Abbey has to go to Bogotá on a regular basis. Since Abbot Brian does not speak Spanish, and some of the monks do not speak English, communication is limited. But he still finds ways to encourage them and assure them of our love and concern. Here is a tidbit of fact about Bogotá: it is situated at 8,600 feet, which makes it one of the highest big cities in the world.
We were all delighted to see Bro. Aaron, who returned from the hospital on Nov. 19. He had been in Medcenter One in Bismarck with a lung infection since late September. He says that the hospital staff was sorry to see him go since he is so easy to take care of. But of course he has had a lot of practice.
Many thanks to Fr. Joshua Walz and six students from St. Mary’s Hich School in Bismarck.
On the morning of November 21 they drove out here and helped move all of the furniture
out of the second floor of Schnell Hall and into the gym. That is to say, they carried
all of the heavy stuff, and we old fogies did the light work. Oh to be seventeen
years old
again!
Fr. Gerald (left) and Fr. Philip spend a quiet moment in conversation during the retreat of 2006, They are shown in the courtyard that has been recently renovated.
Monks and contractors work to lift the stature of the Virgin Mary to a perch on the new plinth.
