FOUNDATION DAY FOR MISSIONARY BENEDICTINE SISTERS OF TUTZING.

Today (September 24) is FOUNDATION DAY for the Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing.  So this morning we had a special Mass at 7:00 AM to celebrate the day and the Sisters are celebrating throughout the day.  At noon we had food prepared by various Sisters from various countries throughout the world.  The group of Sisters here at Norfolk is pretty much an international group with Sisters from Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand, South Korea, the Philippines etc.  The meal was very good and enjoyed by all. 

In order to understand more about this day I looked up the web site for the Sisters at http://www.osb-tutzing.it/
Here is a little introduction as to the beginning of this community of Benedictines.

Joseph Georg Amrhein was born on February 4, 1844, in Beromünster, Canton Luzern, Switzerland. He entered the Beuron Abbey in 1870 and received the religious name, Fr. Andreas.

Fr. Amrhein dreamed of founding a community that would live according to the Rule of St. Benedict and establish monasteries in the “foreign mission” to do apostolic work. His exemplars were the Anglo-Saxon Benedictine missionary Boniface and his companions who, with the support of Sts. Lioba, Thecla and Walburga, evangelized German-speaking northern Europe in the 8-10^th centuries.

In 1884 he founded a mission house in Reichenbach, Oberfalz, Diocese of Regensburg, and received the first brother candidates. From this beginning developed the Congregation of the Missionary Benedictines of St. Ottilien. 
(see also: http://www.ottilien.de )

On September 24, 1885, the first four women candidates, who came from Westphalia, entered in Reichenbach. This is the Foundation Day of the present Missionary Benedictine Sisters.

In 1887 the entire community moved from Reichenbach to Emming in Upper Bavaria, Diocese of Augsburg, later called “St. Ottilien”.

In 1904 the new motherhouse of the Sisters was finished in Tutzing. On July 29 the community of Missionary Benedictine Sisters, under the leadership of the first prioress general, M. Birgitta Korff, moved from St. Ottilien to Tutzing.

Today the Sisters are very happy as a young lady, college graduate from South Dakota is entering the community as a postulant.  She seems to be a very good candidate so all you readers pray for her and for the grace of perseverance.  

Last week Keith Jiron visited me again.  It is always good to see him.  He again had to speak to the teachers in the Catholic school here and then stopped by after the meeting. We had a little lunch here at the house.  I believe Keith is now in Colorado as his mother was having surgery on her back I believe.  He just sent me a picture of him and Father James Spahn out fishing.  I was Father Spahn's chaplain during his junior year in college at Conception.  Now he is pastor of a large parish in the Archdiocese of Denver

 Father James Spahn on the left with Keith Jiron

And look at that fish.

About three weeks ago I got a phone call from my very good friend Benjamin Darnell.  Ben was a seminarian at one time but left the seminary after discerning he was not called to the priesthood.  In 2008 he married Alicia and I presided at their wedding  About two or three weeks ago Alicia had a seizure and was rushed to the hospital.  They found a tumor in her brain.  The doctors are now watching it very closely and many of us are praying everyday for her and Ben and their family.  They have two small children -- about 3 and 5 years of age.  

Ben and Alicia with their two children.

Ever since Ben left the seminary he has worked for the Church -- as a youth minister in three parishes and now as Director of Faith Formation in a parish in Kansas City.  Please keep them in your prayers.

Fall is now here and some of the trees are now beginning to change color.  This is a beautiful time of the year, but unfortunately we all know that winter follows fall.  But, let's thank God for this time of the year and enjoy it as long as we can.  I am thinking of driving to Yankton, South Dakota tomorrow just to see the open country and how the crops are looking and trees that are changing color.  Yankton is a little over an hour drive from here.  

Finally I invite you to visit the Missionary Benedictine Sisters facebook page at:   https://www.facebook.com/MissionaryBenedictineSisters

Have a good week and God bless you all.

Reflections on 60 years as a Benedictine Monk of Conception Abbey

September 8, 2014, I celebrate being a professed monk of Conception Abbey for 60 years.  This is the feast of the Birth of Mary and it was on that day that seven of us made vows in 1954.

In September, 1948, I first came to Conception as a sophomore in high school, thinking I had a vocation to the priesthood and wanting to begin my studies for that goal.  I was 15 years old at that time and for the first couple months I was a very home sick boy.  Many times I wondered if this was the place for me.  When we came in September we did not go home again until Christmas vacation.  But, I stuck with it and then, after my 2nd year in college I petitioned to enter the novitiate of Conception Abbey.  Having been accepted I entered the novitiate on September 7, 1953.  At the end of the novitiate I petitioned to take vows for three years and, again being accepted, I took my vows along with six other young men on September 8, 1954.  Originally eight of us entered the novitiate but one left around Christmas time that year.

 My mother and Dad visited me for the first 

time in the novitiate at Easter, 1954.  My Dad is 

holding the first grandchild, Joe.

On Easter Sunday of 1954 my entire family 

came to see me.  My younger brother, Ed, who

died of cancer in May 1955, is holding our

first nephew.

The seven who made profession of vows on

September 8, 1954.  This is when I received

the name of Kenneth.  My baptismal and

birth name was Maurice Peter.  

Shown above from left to right (using their new

names and the title Frater which is what we

were called then -- simply is "Brother" in Latin.

Shawn Ryan, Alexis Saathoff, Damian Parker, Kenneth Reichert, Father Maur Burbach,

Novice Master, Virgil Mudd, Owen Moran and Paul Kelly.

On the day I took vows, September 8, 1954,

with my Dad and younger brother, Ed.

When I took vows the Mass and the entire profession rite was in Latin.  We wrote  our profession of vows and read it in Latin.  We were given our new name in Latin by the Abbot.  No one could figure out my name since the Latin for Kenneth is "Canicus."  Very few, if any, knew my name until after the ceremony.  The Mass at that time was celebrated with the celebrant having his back to the people.  The Prior was the celebrant for the Mass, but Abbot Stephen (our third Abbot) received our vows.

On September 8, 1957, four of us took our solemn and final vows.  Three left the monastery at that time.  Paul Kelly, Damian Parker, Alexis Saathoff and myself made our solemn and final vows that day, September 8, 1957.

Solemn profession, Setember 8, 1957

Left to right:  Paul Kelly, Damian Parker, Kenneth Reichert & Alexis Saathoff

Of the four of us who made solemn profession together, I am the only one still living.

And so as I reflect after sixty years as a Benedictine monk, I most of all feel a spirit of gratitude.  Obviously, there have been ups and downs in my life, as there are for most of us.  But, I have to say I have always felt a sense of peace in doing what the Abbot 
or other superior has asked me to do and persevering in what I promised on that day in 1954.  I have known many great men who have been members of Conception Abbey and are now in heaven.  Now that I have an assignment outside the monastery, I always try to make it a point to visit the cemetery when I go home.  Many, many of those buried there I knew in my life.  Some of them were very dear friends.  All of them were my brothers.  

I also think so frequently of my family and all they gave me.  I have come to realize that when a young son or daughter leave home, it is more difficult for our parents than it is for us.  But, my parents always encouraged me and helped me financially to go to the seminary and to go forward in the life God wanted me to follow.  

Living through the years in the 1960's and 1970's were sometimes difficult.  I remember at one time in those years thinking that I made a mistake and should have been a diocesan priest.  But, after prayer and reflection I stayed where I was.  God's grace, I know, helped me to continue to be faithful to the vows I made.  

The shooting event at Conception Abbey on June 10, 2002, was a major event in the life of the community and certainly in my own life.  I was critically injured and sometimes wonder why God left me here.  I'm sure God had a plan and I can only hope I am doing what he had in mind for me.  I am just grateful that I can continue to serve in some way even as I am now over 81 years of age.

At this time I can only hope that with God's help I can continue to serve the Church and my brothers and sisters as long as I am able to do so.  When my home parish at Brunswick, Missouri celebrated my 60th anniversary when i was home in June, I had a card printed and on it was this prayer:

"Lord, you have given me so much.  Please give me one thing more, A GRATEFUL HEART."

God bless you all.