Monks and Students Meet the Monks - St. John's Abbey

New college oblates: l. to r., Kathryn
Thompson, Thomas Reichert, Scott Crumb,
Erik Aschenbeck, Michael Kwatera, OSB,
director of oblates
photo by Robin Pierzina, OSB
■ On April 30 Abbot John received the
Final Oblation of three Saint John’s
University students and one from
the College of Saint Benedict. The
ceremony, held during Evening Prayer,
was followed by a reception hosted by
the abbot.
May 2003
■ On May 3-4,
the Institute for
Ecumenical and
Cultural Research
(IECR) and Saint
John’s Abbey
hosted Professor
Jaroslav Pelikan
as part of a national
lecture series
celebrating his
80th birthday. A
renowned theologian
and author of
more than thirty
books, Dr. Pelikan
was a charter member of the Board of
Directors of IECR and an early recipient
of Saint John’s highest honor, the
Pax Christi Award. His book, Jesus
Through the Centuries: His Place in
the History of Culture, is dedicated to
the monks of the abbey.
Jaroslav and Sylvia Pelikan
photo by Patrick Henry
■ Saint John’s University held its 146th
commencement ceremony on May
11. Mr. Ray Suarez, senior correspondent
for PBS’s The NewsHour with
Jim Lehrer and the commencement
speaker, led the
four hundred undergraduate
men and 36 School
of TheologySeminary
graduates in a public promise—“I
will never be bored.
I will never be boring.”
Dr. John Page, former
executive secretary of the
International Commission
on English in the Liturgy, received the
Pax Christi Award.
■ On May 18, Abbot John conferred
the sacrament of confi rmation on 52
young people from four faith communities—St.
John the Baptist Parish of
Collegeville, Saint John’s Preparatory
School, Saint James Parish of Jacob’s
Prairie and Sts. Peter
and Paul Parish of
Richmond.
■ Saint John’s Preparatory
School
graduated 63
students on May
24, including
ten from China,
Japan, Taiwan
and Poland.
June 2003
■ The monastic
community’s annual
retreat, June
2-6, began with
the abbot’s delivering the fi rst of
an annual “State of the Abbey Address.”
Included in his talk were
reports on the state of abbey fi nances,
vocations, plans for the upcoming
sesquicentennial celebration (2006-
07) and the status of Saint Augustine’s
Monastery and College in the Bahamas.
Conferences on various aspects
of celibacy and sexuality were given
by four visiting theologians.
The retreat concluded with the
ordination to the priesthood of Deacon
THE ABBEY CHRONICLE
Julius Beckermann, OSB. This
was the fi rst priestly ordination of
a Saint John’s monk in four years.
■ Five young men entered the
abbey’s annual Monastic Experience
Program on June 16. For a
month they lived the full monastic
routine of prayer and work.
■ The abbey’s 18th Annual Monastic
Institute was held June
28-July 2. Columba Stewart,
OSB, led 118 participants from
thirty Benedictine communities
in a study of the distinctive character
of monastic prayer. Topics
presented included “Liturgical
and Individual Prayer” and
“Psalmody and Lectio.”
The Feast of St. Benedict, July 11, 2003
front and center: Gunther Rolfson
second row: l. to r., Gordon Tavis, Alberic Culhane,
Abbot John Klassen, Don LeMay, James Reichert,
Christopher Fair, Xavier Schermerhorn
July 2003
photo by Robin Pierzina, OSB
■ This month’s highlight was the
celebration of the Feast of Saint
Benedict, July 11th. The diamond
and golden anniversaries
of monastic profession of fi ve
monks and the solemn profession
of two monks are described in
separate articles in this issue.
Allen Tarlton, OSB, is a monk of Saint
John’s Abbey.
The Abbey Banner Fall 2003 page 19