Two Novices Profess Temporary Vows

Left to right in above picture: Abbot Gregory, Brother Basil,
Brother Etienne and Brother Bernard (novice master)

On Sunday, August 15, our two novices professed the vows of obedience, conversion of life and stability for three years. Abbot Gregory was celebrant of the Mass and accepted the vows with the community present. As is our custom each of them received a new name. Novice John Bosco will now be known as Brother Basil and Novice Eric Huard will be known as Brother Etienne. (the French form of Stephen)

Many new signs have been placed on campus to help direct guests and others to the proper area or building.

Another one of the new signs.

Some of the signs also have a message on the back of the sign.

As I write this blog on Tuesday afternoon we are getting a nice shower of rain. It is also much cooler and that is great. The new students arrive tomorrow, Wednesday, August 18 and then the returning students on Saturday.

SUMMER ACTIVITIES WIND DOWN

As the summer comes toward an end and the students will soon be returning, it is a good time to pass along some of the news of what has been going on here at the Abbey this summer. A lot of work has been done. Early in the summer some new sidewalks were poured to replace broken and cracked sidewalks.

Also, with the increase of students in the seminary we have had to refurbish and increase the number of washers and dryers for the students to use. I believe nine new ones were installed in St. Michael Hall alone.

Just in the last few days the sign company has been putting up new signage for the various buildings. The sign above is one example. Of course for some time we have been working on these signs, deciding where to put them and what kind of a design to use.

As students who were here last year will remember the last two years we had put in a lift for handicapped persons to use to go from the library floor of the ambulatory or walkway to the ground level. Now we have a concrete ramp to be used for this purpose. The picture above shows part of this.

As many will recall we were having a lot of trouble with the asphalt breaking up on some parts of the road system. This summer we had the entire road system re-sealed and from the parking lot in front of the church and monastery to the garage we have put a concrete road. We hope this will last much longer than the asphalt.

At the end of July an alumnus, and his wife and little boy visited here at Conception. The photo above shows alumnus Randy Gorges, his wife Vera and their little boy, Isaac. Isaac will be a year old in October. Randy left Conception in the year 2000.

Another alumnus and his wife visited here earlier in July and I also got to visit them in their home in Dayton, Ohio. Pictured above are Benjamin Darnell and his wife Alicia and their little boy, also named Isaac. Isaac was one year old on August 12.

This Sunday, August 15, two of our novices will make their first vows and receive new monastic names. John Bosco, from Omaha, Nebraska and Eric Huard, from Wichita Kansas. This is always a happy occasion for the monastic community.

For more photos go to my Smugmug albums and photos (click here)

Or see some my other photos go on my Picassa site (click here)

A Relaxing and Enjoyable Few Days on the Farm

St. Joseph Church at Hurricane Branch.
Actually just out in the country alone. (No town)
My mother was baptized here.

St. Raphael Church at Indian Grove.
My parents were married here in 1921

The Reichert triplets. The little boy is Brody

The Reichert triplets -- the two girls Emery
and Gracie

The three of them: Left to right: Emery,
Gracie and Brody (the other little boy, Jaxon, died a couple
days after birth.

I returned last Friday from an enjoyable few days on the farm at Brunswick, MO. That is where I was born and raised until I came to Conception. I still have a number of relatives who live around there. My only living brother, who lives in Kansas City, owns a farm there and keeps a mobile home on it so he lets me use that every time I go there. I also have one nephew who lives on a farm nearby and a sister in law who lives on a nearby farm. It's always a good place for me to relax and get caught up on sleep, while at the same time going to visit relatives and friends.

On the weekend I was there I was assigned to go to two nearby parishes to celebrate Masses. Celebrated one Mass on Saturday evening and then three on Sunday morning. Two at each parish, Brookfield, MO and Marceline, MO.

Many monks seem to be gone right now as they are trying to get in some days of vacation before school begins. As this is the last week of July that is not far off.

While at home I got to visit one evening with my triplet great grand nephew and nieces, and also with many other nephews and nieces and relatives. We had rain many days and it was usually very hot and humid because of the rain.

Until the next time, God bless you all.

GOOD WEEK OF VACATION

As I mentioned earlier on the blog I spent a week visiting friends in Buffalo, NY and in Dayton, OH. It was a great trip and I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with so many friends. In Buffalo I got to see probably about 16-17 of the 22 people who were on the pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2006. I stayed with the lady who led the pilgrimage, Barbara Shanahan. Barbara is an oblate of Conception Abbey and usually comes here for Christmas and the Triduum each year. She is the director of the Biblical Program in Buffalo and also teaches many of the classes. I enjoyed so many good meals and, while I had seen Niagara Falls before, this was the first time I had gone on a ride on the boat that takes you practically right under the falls. They give you a plastic rain coat to wear and it is needed. It was an exciting and beautiful boat ride.

After spending three nights in Buffalo I went on to Dayton, OH. A former seminarian and good friend, Ben Darnell, lives there. He and his wife Alicia have a little boy, Isaac Joseph, who will be one year old in August. What a delight it was to spend three days with them and to get acquainted with little Isaac. I presided at Ben and Alicia's wedding in 2008 at Springfield, MO. Alicia has just finished her Master's Degree in Theology at Dayton University. Ben is Youth Director at Precious Blood Parish in Dayton. We also visited the U.S. Airforce Museum which is located in Dayton.

About a week before I went on this trip Father David Coon and his parents stopped in to see me. It was wonderful to see him, as well as his parents. I was David's spiritual director in the seminary and I went to Charleston, MO to attend his ordination and first Mass some years ago. He is now the pastor at Popular Bluff, MO in the Springfield-Cape Girardeau diocese.

Here at Conception work during the summer proceeds. We have put in some new sidewalks which were needed. A lot of work is scheduled to be done on the roads in the next few weeks and some new laundry rooms have been put in the seminary dorm areas since the enrollment has gone up and seems like it will go up again this year.

Monks are coming and going as they each try to get some vacation days in before the students return. We are allowed two weeks. I hope to take about a week visiting family and relatives from about July 15-22 and will take a parish assignment at Brookfield and Marceline, MO that weekend.

I am posting a number of pictures here below of my trip to Buffalo and Dayton. To see more of these go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/frkenneth/BuffaloNYAndDaytonOHJune23292010#

Pictures below taken at Buffalo


















































Last three pictures below taken at Dayton, OH

Summer time is here

The new furniture of the St. Stephen Health Care Center came in this past week and it is now installed. It looks beautiful. The maker of the furniture is an almnus, and former monk and good friend of the Abbey, Cassian Heath. That is his photo in the bottom picture. The photo on the top is a general view of the sanctuary area of the chapel.

During the summer months it seems monks are sort of in and out. Some leave to give retreats at other places, some are on vacation, some are away at school. So the size of the community varies almost from day to day.

We have been having a lot of rain the last week or two so the weather has been muggy and hot most days. It seems that we get at least a shower of rain almost everyday. There are farmers who are still trying to get crops into the fields.

Front entrance of Health Care Center, St. Stephen, deacon and martyr.

Below brief film of chapel.



This Sunday afternoon, June 13, my nephew Mike and his wife Sheila and Jarrod and Katy were here for Mass and lunch. Then some of Sheila's family came and I gave them a tour. Had a good visit. We had a little more rain this morning and now it is again very hot and humid.