Fr. Kenneth's Update

Advent is going by very fast.  Just one week from this coming Tuesday is Christmas.  For Christmas this year I will again be going to Brookfield, MO, to celebrate three Christmas Masses.  After the last Christmas Mass I hope to go on down to Brunswick to visit some of the relatives.

My wasn't that terrible -- the killing of all those children and others out in the state of Connecticut?  When I first saw the news about that I first wanted to get angry, then I wanted to cry and finally I said I can only pray for them.  It just seems to me that this country is coming more and more to not respect human life.  I don't like to say this but I cannot help but wonder whether killing babies before they are even born has made us more and more insenstive to the value of every human life.  Having been through one tragedy like this myself it really seems to have an effect on me.  I think so much, not only of those who lost their lives at such a young age, but of their families.  As for the children who survived you have to wonder if they will ever want to go back to school.  Let us all continue to pray for them -- the living as well as those who were killed.


A couple weeks ago I was so happy to see one of the students who graduated from our seminary college.   Greg Dolan who attended school here from 2000-2004 and then later dropped out of the seminary, stopped by for a visit.  He is now in his last year of medical school out in the state of Washington.  He will graduate in the spring 2013 and he was travelling around to visit pediatric hospitals.  He wants to specialize in pediatrics and he is looking for a place to go for his residency.  Picture on the right of Greg and Fr. Kenneth.

One of my pride and joys after 53-54 years of being a priest is that I got to preside at the marriage of all thirteen of my nephews and nieces.  Now their children are getting married but I tell them it is not possible for me to travel and preside at all the grandnephews and nieces weddings.

I am also happy to have been able to preside at the wedding of a couple good friends.  Both of them were at one time seminarians but discerned they were not called to the priesthood.  In August of 1999 I presided at the wedding of Steve and Christy Arnold at Leavenworth, Kansas.  They now live in Minnesota where Steve is now a permanent deacon and are the parents of five children.

Steve and Christy and their children:  Sam, Isabelle,

Nathan, Lucy and Benjamin.

In May of 2008 I presided at the wedding of Benjamin and Alicia Darnell in Springfield, Mo.  They now have two children.  Benjamin is a youth director at Our Lady of the Rosary parish in Wea, KS.  

                                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

On the left above is Ben and Alicia's son, Isaac, who was three years old last August, helping his mother shop and on the right is Fr. Kenneth holding their daughter, Anya Marie, who was born last May, 2012.
       
Students all left for Christmas vacation this past Thursday.  They are off for about three weeks returning in January.

As we all prepare for Christmas these last days of Advent hopefully we will all keep in mind what we are celebrating on this feast--the birth of Jesus Christ, Son of God, who took on our human nature in order to bring us salvation and eternal life.

God bless you all.
          

                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                   

 

Thanksgiving -- Advent soon

Thanksgiving week is now ended.  Here at Conception, as usual, we had community meetings on Tuesday afternoon and then most of the day on Wednesday.  Then on Wednesday evening we began celebrating our jubilarians for this year.  This year they are as follows:   Fr. Norbert Schappler, 60 years ordained, Fr. Denis Dougherty, 60 years professed, Fr. Roger Schmit, 50 years ordained, Fr. Daniel Petsche, and Fr. Aidan McSorley, 50 years professed, Archbishop Jerome Hanus, 25 years episcopal ordination, Fr. Peter Ullrich, 25 years priesthood ordination.  Wednesday evening we had a social event and then on Thanksgiving day, Mass at 10:00 AM and then a traditional Thanksgiving meal at noon.  I am sure many of you have already read about each of these in the new Tower Topics which you have probably received by now.

The students left on Tuesday by noon.  Classes were held in the morning but no classes in the afternoon so they could leave by noon  on that day.  They will be returning today on Sunday.  Today is also the solemnity of Christ the King and the concluding Sunday of the Church year.  

That means that next Sunday, December 2, will be the first Sunday of Advent in preparation for the Christmas feast.  Of course if you have been in any of the stores it looks like Christmas is already here, but nothing we can do about that.  We don't put up any decorations around here until a couple days before Christmas. 

The day after Thanksgiving we had a young monk who is studying at Atchision KS,  St. Benedict Monastery.  He is a monk of St. Bernard Monastery at Cullman, Alabama, but is in college at Atchison.  His name is Brother Bernard Denson.  He left today after the noon meal to go back to Atchison.  

Brother Bernard Denson, O.S.B.

Last week on Sunday afternoon some good friends came to see me and stayed until Monday afternoon.  Benjamin and Alicia Darnell and their three year old son, Isaac, and their six month old daughter, Anya Marie, were here to visit.  So good to see them.  At one time Ben was here in the seminary but later he dropped out of the seminary.  When he and Alicia got married in 2008 they asked me to preside at the wedding ceremony which I did.  Ben serves as a youth minister in a parish and Alicia is a stay at home mother.

They continue to work on the roof of the monastery.  Yesterday they had a hugh crane here so that they could lift copper up over the monastery roof to the scaffold set up in the courtyard.   Here are a couple pictures I took of that.

.On a personal note, I find my eye sight getting worse as I get older.  There seems to be nothing really that they can do for it.  I still read and still am able to drive -- just renewed my license last July and passed the eye test.  But, reading from a book is more difficult.  So I now have a Kindle reader and find it much easier to read with that.  So if you ever want to give me something, a gift card from Amazon would be great as they are the ones who make the books for Kindle.  Kindle books are cheaper than printed books but still do cost.

Wishing everyone a blessed Advent season.

ELECTION IS OVER -- NOW WHAT?

   Yes, the election is over now.  At least there will not be so many ads on TVand other places concerning politics. Many were no doubt happy about the outcome, and many (like myself) were disappointed.  I think that what comes now is what really counts.   It is easy to make many  promises when seeking election but what happens after the election is what is important.  We must pray for our country, the U.S.A.  We are all proud of our country but we just seem to becoming more and more secularistic.  Almost anything goes, whether it be abortion, taking away religious freedom or anything else. So let's all pray for a change of heart in our beloved country.

Here at Conception we continue to be busy.  Every weekend our guest facilities seem to be practically full and often there are groups here during the week.  This weekend we have about 70 young men here looking at the seminary.  We have two of these weekends a year -- one in the fall and another in the spring.  Many of our seminarians had first been here for one of these weekends.  The weekend tries to give those attending some idea of what life is like in the seminary.  Most of the talks are given by our present seminarians.

A few days ago it was necessary to cut down a large tree that had been on the east side of the monastery for many years.  I know it was there already, and a full grown tree, when I came to Conception in 1948.  It was rotting and we knew it was pretty well hollow inside.  In recent years large limbs had been blown off during storms.  It was located just outside the window of my room so I was somewhat worried about it blowing over into my room during one of those storms.  At the same time it provided great shade for my room and others.  Here are a couple pictures of the tree after it was cut down.  You can see how hollow it was.

 Recently the monks were able to update their laundry facilities with four new combination washers and dryers.  Each monk, except for those in the Health Care Center (Infirmary), has to do his own laundry so we need to have on hand washers and dryers for this purpose.  Each student dorm also has similar laundry facilities for the students to do their laundry.

Washer on the bottom of each unit and the dryer on top.

Have a good month of November.  The last few days have been very warm here, but today we had some rain and it has been turning colder througout the day.

This weekend the students put on the musical HOW I BECAME A PIRATE.  I went to see it Friday night and really enjoyed it.  It was directed by Brother Cyprian.

Many blessings to each of you.
If you would also like to read my blog which I write for the oblates go to this web site,
www.conceptionabbey.org and then click on "oblates" on the left side of your screen and then on "oblate blog."

What the heck has happened to Fr. Kenneth !!

It has been a long time since you have heard from Fr. Kenneth hasn't it?  And I certainly have not been very regular in writing for the last months or maybe the last year. I just keep putting it off -- so there is no other excuse.

First of all I wanted to show a picture which indicates we are still working on the roofs around here.  They are now on the last building but it is a large building -- the Basilica (church) and the monastery itself.  They have indicated that they hope to be finished by Easter, depending of course on the weather.  The above picture is in the countyard where they are putting copper on part of the church roof.

I continue to go out and help in parishes as I am needed.  Two weeks ago I went to Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in St. Joseph for the 8:30 AM Mass, and then came home only to leave for Des Moines a couple hours later for an oblate meeting.  

Last weekend I went to Kansas City to attend the wedding of one of my grandnephews, Sean Aubrey and his finance Caitlin Koenig.  Although she is originally from the Chicago area, they were married at St. James Church at Liberty, MO. Father Mike Roach was the celebrant and I concelebranted. Sean is the grandson of my brother, Harold, my only brother still living.  Sean is a pharmacist and works at a Price Chopper pharmacy department.  His grandfather (my brother) was also a pharmacist and he has an uncle, Steve, who is a pharmacist.  So it seems to run in the family.

Today and tomorrow I go to Clyde for their 11:00 AM Mass for the retired Sisters.  I feel like a younster over there as many of them are well up into the 90's and the oldest will soon be 105.  

This weekend we have Serra Clubs from this region here for their annual meeting.  These are Serra Clubs from Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska.  The Serra Clubs help to foster and encourage vocations to the priesthood and religious life as well as help as they can financially.  They do a lot of good work for us in our seminary work.

I have been to see a couple eye doctors in the last weeks.  My eyes are certainly not as good as they used to be.  Especially my left eye has pretty poor vision.  I do enjoy reading so I asked for and received permission from the abbot to purchase a KINDLE reader.  They are made and sold by Amazon.com.  It's amazing how many books you can store on them and to make it easier to read the books you can change the size of the font as needed.  I am gradually adding books and enjoy reading again.

I'm sure we will all be happy when the election is over.  Certainly a lot of money is spent on advertising.  As I posted on Facebook just today:  "I have never voted for a pro choice candidate in the matter of abortion and I don't plan to ever change that."  Taking a baby's life is simply murder.   

Fall is always a beautiful time but I cheated a little -- this picture is not from this year.  

Cardinal Dolan's prayer to the DNC in Charlotte, Sept. 6, 2012

IT''S BEEN A WHILE

Here we are past the middle of August and it has been a long time since I have written a new blog.  So here goes as I try to catch up with some of the things going on at the Abbey and in my own life.

First of all, while we had planned to celebrate the 60th wedding anniversary of my brother Harold and his wife, Dee, in June, we had to delay it since my brother was admitted to the hospital just the day before the celebration was planned.  They were married on June 21, 1952.  So the celebration was re-scheduled for August 11, last Saturday.   I celebrated the 5:00 PM Mass on Saturday at St. Charles Parish in Kansas City.  They have been members of that parish for about 56 or 57 years of their married life.  My brother was a pharmacist and owned a drug store not far from the parish so many of the parishioners have known them for some years.  After Mass the family and a few friends (about 32 people in all) went to Cascone's Italian restaurant for dinner and party time.  It was a grand evening.  Even though the picture below was taken some years ago, I am posting it here on the blog.

Harold and Dolores (Dee) Reichert

I have also had a couple relatives pass away into eternal life recently.  A first cousin, Rose Marie Enyeart, died out in Oregon, but was brought back to Brookfield, MO, to be buried next to her husband, Bill.  They lived all their married life in the Brookfield area.  Rose Marie's mother and my Dad were brother/sister.  My mother, who was a Gladbach, was a cousin of her Dad, Tony Gladbach.  I was able to go to Brookfield to celebrate this funeral.  

Then just a week ago or so another cousin, the 42 year old son of my first cousin, Lillian and Bob Widmer, died in Wyoming.  Evidently he had a massive heart attack and collapsed and died suddenly.  I was not able to go to this funeral which was held at Salisbury, MO.

A priest from the country of Lebanon spent most of the month of July with us here at Conception.  He was learning English or at least trying to improve his English.  He is a priest of Maronite Rite which is of course in union with Rome.  Here is his picture along with your truly.

Father Toni Eid and Fr. Kenneth

On August 1 I had an opportunity to go to Kansas City with some local friends and attend a Royals ball game.  Baseball has always been my favorite sport and this game was very enjoyable with the Royals winning 5-3.  There was some excellent base running and defense.  They were playing the Cleveland Indians.

Here at Conception the students are returning this week.  It is my understanding that the enrollment will be about 110 students.  Thank God the weather has turned somewhat cooler in recent days so we hope it stays that way.  A lot of projects were done around campus this summer and a few are still being worked on at this time.  It is also still very dry in this area.  There is a ban in most counties around here forbidding any outside burning because of the danger of grass fires.

On Tuesday, August 14, two young men entered the novitiate.  It is always encouraging to see young men come into the novitiate.  

On the left, Novice Stephen, and on the right Novice Jonathan

This coming Sunday, August 19, Brother Placid and Brother Maximilian will make their solemn profession of vows for life.  That also will be an important day for them and all of us.

Brother Maximilian and Brother Placid

on the day of their solemn profession.

The oblates already have this link to a web site.by three from some of our oblates.  It is a very helpful site and I think many of you will enjoy taking a look at it.  It is by Jennifer Phelps, Tami Paladino and Matthew Phelps.  It has many helps with understanding scripture, the rosary and much more.  Here is the site.
http://www.turningtogodsword.com/

Some of you probably noticed the little article on Mary Walter in the last issue of Tower Topics.  She was up here at Conception for the Derks reunion in July and the picture below was taken.  Thought some might enjoy seeing it.

St Gabriel guest house is being well used

and much appreciated.  

So until the next time God bless you all.

JULY AND HOT WEATHER IS HERE

Greetings to every one who reads this blog.  It has been a while since I last wrote on this.  The summer flies by it seems just like the rest of the year.  A lot of projects have been going around here since the students left in May.  The student refectory serving area has been moved and they are still working to change that area down there.  You can now enter the east door to the refectories and go immediately into a hallway leading to either serving line or to the Basilica.  New windows have been installed in the entire building in St. Michael Hall.  New windows have also been installed on the residence floors of St. Joseph Hall.  And of course the roofers are still working to repair the roofs on some of the buildings that dates back to the hail storm we had last August.  They are presently working on the roof in St. Maur Hall and will then proceed to the Basilica and the monastery roofs.  Scaffolding is a big item on these jobs and it takes some time to put scaffolding all the way up to the top of the towers.  For safety reasons scaffolding is necessary.

 St. Maur Hall, July 1, 2012

Basilica Towers, July 1, 2012

A lot of work has also been done in the JFK Recreation Center this summer as the swimming pool was filled in with sand and covered with cement and a new heating and air conditioning system is being installed.

A big item and matter of concern the last two or three weeks has been the unusual high temperatures and lack of rain.  Farmers are all very concerned about the drought and rightfully so.  The temperatures have been in the upper 90's or higher and with heat indexes up over 100 almost everyday.  It seems that much of the country has been suffering from either heat or fires this summer.  Our hearts go out to all those who have lost homes and also those who are suffering now from electrical outages.  

In June I went to Brunswick to celebrate a Reichert reunion.  It was held on June 9-10 and we had a great turn out of about 170.  That was far from all the relatives but a good turn out for sure.  This was for the most part organized by my cousin Larry McCurry and his wife Kathy who live in Brookfield, MO  It was a wonderful weekend and enjoyed by all.  We are grateful to Larry and Kathy for all the work they did.

Sign at both ends of the town of Brunswick, MO

many of us were born and raised.

Then on June 21 I again went home for a few days of vacation and we were planning to celebrate my only living brother's and his wife's 60th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately my brother had to go into the hospital the day before and was there about five days.  He had a staff infection with high temperatures.  He is again feeling pretty well now and we will probably celebrate the occasion a little later this summer.  The actual date of their marriage was June 21, 1952.  

On June 20 Brother George, a resident in our Health Care Center, celebrated his 90th birthday.  We now have four residents living there who are 90 or over.  

Brother George on his 900th birthday.

That's about it for now.  Keep cool in this hot weather.  God bless and protect all of you. 
The photos included on this blog can be enlarged by clicking on the photo itself.  

Update on a few things at Conception Abbey

I'm sorry that it has been a rather long time since I have written on this blog.  It seems that time goes so fast and I guess the recent weeks have been very busy.  On Sunday, May 6, we blessed and dedicated the new guest house -- St. Gabriel Guesthouse.  We have not started putting guests in the building yet but plan to do so soon. As you know I have taken pictures of the building as construction began and all the through to it's completion.  It turned out very beautiful and should be comfortable place for guests to stay.  Here is one last photo I will put on this blog:

Taken May 12, 2012.  

And one taken on the day of the dedication of the building:

Some of those present for the dedication.

You can see all the pictures taken during construction by clicking on this link--

https://plus.google.com/photos/111035822686820527328/albums/5656741789992506177

The students graduated and left for home on Sunday, May 13.  Then on Monday evening we began our retreat, after a chapter meeting in the afternoon.  At the chapter meeting we accepted Brother Placid Dale and Brother Maximilian Burkhart for solemn perpetual vows.  They will profess these vows in August.  

During our retreat on Wednesday evening we had the ordination to the diaconate of Brother Victor Schinstock and Brother Paul Sheller.  Both are continuing their education and look forward to being ordained to the priesthood in a year.  Ordaining the two deacons was Bishop Edward Rice, auxiliary bishop of St. Louis.  Bishop Finn, bishop of our own diocese, was busy at a confirmation and Bishop Boland, the retired bishop of our diocese was scheduled to do it, but lost his voice.

 Ordination of  Brother Paul to diaconate

 Brother Victor and Brother Paul preparing the altar for the celebratioon of the 

Eucharist after their ordination.

Brother Victor, Abbot Gregory, Bishop Rice and Brother Paul

 Ordination to priesthood of Brother Guerric

 Father Guerric kneels before the bishop 

as Bishop Finn prays over him

After the ordination Mass Bishop Finn

and Father Guerric

Now things should settle down a bit for the summer, although we do have a lot of projects in line to be done this summer.  Roofers are still replacing roofs that were damaged by the bad hail storm last August.  New windows need to be put in both St. Michael Hall and St. Joseph Hall.  And other projects are in line to be done this summer.

I did want to point out to all readers of this blog that you can find many photos of recent events on our web site.  Simply click   here and then at the top of the page, click on "picture gallery."


God bless you all.

POST-EASTER NEWS

After Easter Sunday the students were gone all that week.  It was quiet and enjoyed by all of us I think.  Every day during the Easter Octave and the Christmas Octave we have a little community get together each afternoon at 3:00 PM with snacks and drinks.  Another reason I guess while I find it hard to lose weight.

St. Gabriel Guest House, is completed except for some minor details that appear here and there.  A lot of work has been done on the landscaping and the roads and parking lots.  The dedication of the building will be on Sunday, May 6.  However, they do not think we will be able to start using it until about June 1, since much of the furniture has not yet arrived.  Difficult to use the rooms when there are no beds in place yet.  Here are a couple pictures of the building:

 St. Gabriel Guest House.  

 New roads and parking area and new lights.

Northeast side of the building and  patio

This past Wednesday, April 25, I participated in the observance of National Crime Victims' Rights Week, observed April 22-28 this year.    This was held at Mozingo Park and Lake near Maryville, MO and was sponsored by the Maryville Treatment Center, a part of the Missouri Prison system.  President Reagan designated this special week when he was president.  This was the fourteen such observance held at Maryville and the ninth one in which I have taken part.  To see more about this go to this Maryville Daily Forum website:
 http://www.maryvilledailyforum.com/photos/x787573363/Abbey-victims-remembered-at-tree-planting?page=0

Here is a picture taken at the event.  Planting a 

tree in the park.  

A former classmate of mine from back in the early 1950's has been here helping Father Albert with a class for about the last month.  Jim Koch was here at Conception for college, but then left the seminary, got married and raised a family.  He now lives in Austin, Texas.  Originally he was from Hannibal, MO.

Classmates from the early 1950's.  Fr. Kenneth,

Jim Koch and Charles Mattson.  We had just

been out to enjoy a meal together.

Weather has been rather different all this year.  Just two days ago on Wednesday it got up to 91 degrees.  Today it is windy and much, much cooler.  It's difficult to know what to wear when you go outside. 

Finally, I invite you to look at other photos of the St. Gabriel Guest House.  I will take more at the dedication and try to eventually get some more of the inside of the building.

https://picasaweb.google.com/111035822686820527328/GuestHouse

HOLY WEEK AND OTHER NEWS

Today on Sunday, April 1, we began that great week known as Holy Week.  On Holy Thursday evening we begin the Sacred Triduum which concludes on Easter Sunday evening with vespers.  Today I was at Parnell, MO for two Masses, one yesterday evening on Saturday and one this morning.  On Thursday I will leave for Brookfield, MO where I will celebrate the Holy Triduum, beginning withthe Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Thursday.  It is always a joy to celebrate this week when God shows His love for us in such a special way.  

A week or so ago Bishop-elect Edward Weisenburger was here for a retreat in preparation for his ordination as a bishop on May 1.  He went to all four years of college here at Conception.  He will be the new bishop of Salina, Kansas.  

The weather has been just out of this world.  We had a day or two of rain this last week, but the temperatures have been almost like summer.  It is not unusual for the temperature to reach the mid-80's in the afternoon.  It certainly has been an unusual year weather wise here in the midwest.  

Three of our monks who are away studying theology at St. Meinrad Archabbey and Seminary in Indiana, are home for this week.  Brother Guerric who is a deacon and will be ordained a priest in May, Brother Victor who will be ordained a deacon in May and also Brother Macario who is completing his 2nd year of theology.  Brother Paul who is studying at St. Vincent Seminary in Pennsylvania is not able to be home for this week.  He also will be ordained a deacon in May.  

We have been having a lot of retreatants here, especially on weekends.  This weekend was RCIA weekend so many candidates who are entering the Church this year at Easter were here with their sponsors and those who have been preparing them.  

I wanted to include a picture or two as the St. Gabriel Guest House is just about completed.  They are now in the process of pouring sidewalks, doing some landscaping and then some extended parking lots.  While we are dedicating the building in May, I don't think we are planning to start using it until June.  It will take some time to get all the furniture in the rooms etc.  

Taken March 31, 2012.  Brothers Victor and Macario

standing in front

For more photos of the building the St. Gabriel Guest House

click on this link.

https://plus.google.com/photos/111035822686820527328/albums/5656741789992506177

And to all readers of this blog have a Blessed Holy Week and Easter -- ALLELUIA

Spring is on the way -- but did we have winter?

Now that we are approaching the half-way point of March, and we have switched over to daylight savings time just last night, we can look forward to spring.  Already we have had some very nice spring like weather even though today it is rainy and cloudy and foggy.  Of course it seems like winter just slipped by this year.  We had very little snow, just two or three small ones that hardly even covered the ground.  And in general temperatures were not that cold this winter.  But, I think most of us are grateful for that.

Work on the roofs around here has continued most of the winter and will continue well into the summer.  The roofs on the Health Care Center, part of St. Raphael Hall, the garage and maintenance building have all been replaced.  Now they are starting on St. Michael Hall which was also damaged during the hail storm last August.

The students have been gone since last Thursday.  We do not give a spring break but always give the students off all of Easter Week.  Since that is still a few weeks off we gave them a long off campus weekend this weekend.  They should be arriving back tonight.  

 March 10, 2012, 3rd floor

 March 10, 2012, 3rd floor hall

 St. Gabriel Guest House. 261 days of construction.

 Bridge between Health Care Center and Monastery is being renovated

Another photo of bridge renovation.

And so for this time may God continue to bless you and especially during this Lenten season.
To see more pictures of the St. Gabriel Guest House click on this link.

https://plus.google.com/photos/111035822686820527328/albums/5656741789992506177

Remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return

Lent is here once again.  This coming Wednesday on February 22, we begin the Lenten season with the blessing and imposition of ashes.  During this season it is always good to keep in mind that we are "looking forward to the joy of Easter."  That is the major feast we are preparing for during the Lenten season.  We monks at Conception write down the good works we plan to do during Lent and give them to the Abbot.  We go in to see him and receive a blessing that we can and will be faithful to what we set out to do at the beginning of the Lenten season.


This past week I had the misfortune to break off another tooth (the second one in the last six months) and so had to make another trip to the dentist who is in Maryville. It was part of a partial plate that I have and since it was the only good tooth on my upper jaw on the right side, he had to pull it and then it will be placed in the partial plate I have.  Dentists can do a lot now days but it does cost.  


I have been keeping busy especially in the Oblate Office.  About this time every year I send a letter out to the oblates along with a renewal of oblation card.  I ask them to return the card so we know that they still want to be an oblate of Conception Abbey.  This year I also sent out a questionnaire with the letter so I am try to record all those things when they are returned.  


A couple weeks ago I got to spend a couple days with my brother Harold and his wife Dee.  They live in Kansas City and are both 85 years old.  It's always good to be able to spend a little time with them.  There were five boys in our family (no girls) but now there are only two of us still living.


I also got to spend some time with my good friends Benjamin and Alicia Darnell and their little son, Isaac.  Benjamin works as youth minister in a parish at Wea, Kansas, just south of Kansas City on the Kansas side.  

Alicia and Ben with Isaac

Work is progressing well on the new St. Gabriel Guest House.  I am posting a couple pictures so you can see how things are going.

Most of the copper roof is now on.

For more photos of the St. Gabriel guest house as construction continues -- click

https://plus.google.com/photos/111035822686820527328/albums/5656741789992506177

Update of Conception Abbey News

First of all we are happy to welcome a new postulant into the monastery.

Postulant Stephen Watson now joins Postulants

Jonathan and Benigno in taking a closer look

at monastic life at Conception Abbey. 

Stephen is from Lincoln, NE

Last weekend the Conception Seminary College basketball team played in the basketball tournament for seminaries held at Mundelein Seminary in the Archdiocese of Chicago.  They won first place and came home proud of their trophy

Trophies won at basketball tournament

at Mundelein on display in St.

Maur Hall after their return.

Congratulations to all of the players.

I have talked a number of times about the damage done during the hail storm last August.  The Hausman roofing company from St. Joseph has been working here on roofs for three or four months already and still have a lot of roofs to repair or replace.

The north and west side roof of St. Raphael Hospitality

Center has to be replaced.  They are working on that right now.

Most of the copper roofs on the west and north side of 

the various buildings have to be replaced.

Abbot Gregory announced the name of the new guest house, presently being built.  After consulting with the community, he has announced that it will be called St. Gabriel Guest House.  So we will now have a building named after each of the Archangels.  St. Michael Hall, St. Raphael Welcome Center and St. Gabriel Guest House.  Since we were founded by Engelberg Abbey (Mount Angel Abbey) in Switzerland, it is fitting we keep the angels as major patrons.

 Front view of St. Gabriel Guest House.  Note

the new copper roof being put on.

The north or back side of St. Gabriel Guest House.

Work is ahead of time on completion of the building.

We still have not had much winter weather this year.  We did get a good rain this morning but the last three or four days it has been up around 60 degrees each day.  Fortunately it was well above freezing during the rain today.

Let us continue to pray for respect for life in our world and especially in our country -- from conception until natural death.  And pray that we will always have the right to live according to our consciences.  

Last weekend, after helping at the parishes at Easton and Plattsburg, MO, I spent Sunday evening until Monday evening visiting my good friends Benjamin and Alicia Darnell and their little son, two and a half years old, Isaac.  Had a great time.  Then I spent Monday evening and overnight with my brother and his wife, Harold and Dee, and a sister-in-law, Vera.  Had a great time there too.