Missed Feast of Ascension This Year

Interestingly, this year, 2014, I missed the solemnity of the Ascension.  Yes, in the Province of St. Louis, which includes the entire state of Missouri the feast has been transferred to the following Sunday.  In the Province of Omaha, which includes the entire state of Nebraska it is still celebrated on Thursday.  So last week I was at our monastery, Conception Abbey, for our community retreat.  I returned here to Norfolk on Friday, May 30, and so missed the feast this year.  Kind of unusual I thought. 

We had a very good retreat last week.  The conferences were given by Monsignor Kevin Irwin, a priest of the archdiocese of New York, but who has spent much of his life in Washington, D.C. and in Rome.  He has his Doctorate in Liturgy from Sant' Aselmo in Rome and presently teaches at the Catholic University of America.  So the theme of the retreat was the Liturgy.  The conferences were all very interesting and helpful.  

As most of you know the monks have all moved out of the monastery at Conception and today, Monday, June 2, they should be starting with the demolition and then renovation of the monastery.  On one day of the retreat all the monks went to the monastery and the Abbot conducted a little prayer service, thanking all of our predecessors for all their work in building the monastery and asking God's blessing and protection on the workers who will renovate the monastery.  I am posting a couple pictures:

 This is Fr. Kenneth taken in the room and almost the exact

spot where I was shot on June 10, 2002.  The room is now empty

in preparation for the renovation.

Abbot Gregory conducting the prayer service with

the community gathered around him.  When Fr. Norbert and

I were shot in 2002 it was just inside the door you see in

this picture.

Another blessing the community received at the conclusion of the retreat was the ordination to the priesthood of our confrere, Father Macario.  The ordaining bishop was our own Archbishop Jerome Hanus, O.S.B., who just retired after serving as bishop for 26 years at St. Cloud, MN and then as Archbishop of Dubuque.

Left to right:  Father Macario, Archbishop Jerome

and deacon who is a seminarian studying for the

Sioux City diocese

Many guests were present for the ordination including some good friends of mine.  Among those present was Jeremy Long, an alumnus who now lives in San Francisco.

Jeremy Long and Fr. Kenneth

When I left Norfolk to go to Conception there were over forty novice directors and novices from Benedictine women communities throughout the United States here for workshops.  They were still here when I returned on Friday but left then on Saturday.  They seemed to all enjoy their time together.

I believe that Sister Pia Portmann, the superior here at Norfolk, who has been gone most of the month of May, returns tomorrow.

Finally in closing I want to refer my readers to a blog written by Father Paul Sheller, O.S.B., vocation director at Conception Abbey.  All the pictures I have on this blog were taken by him and he regularly posts on his blog.  He includes many photos.

Go to:  http://listenmyson.wordpress.com/

God bless you all.

COMMUNITY RETREAT NEXT WEEK

Next Sunday, May 25, I leave for Conception Abbey for our community retreat which will be from Monday evening until Friday morning.  I am looking forward to going home for this, although I do not particularly look forward to the drive and to and from there.  At least at this time of the year I should not have to worry about snow or ice. 

The monks at the abbey have all moved out of the monastery itself and into St. Joseph Hall where they will live during the renovation of the monastery building.  That means students who would usually live in St. Joseph Hall will take over one of the guesthouses next school year.  It must have been quite a big job for the monks to move out.  After all these years a lot of things had accumulated.  We monks who are living outside the monastery will stay, as we usually do when going home, in St. Gabriel guesthouse.  

Yesterday, on Tuesday, May 20, I was pleased to get a call from Greg Dolan's parents.  They were travelling from Wyoming to the Twin Cities and wanted to see if I was home and if they could stop to visit a while.  We had a great visit and many things to talk about.  Their son Greg was at Conception for his college work in the seminary but then decided to drop out of the seminary.  Just last year he graduated from medical school with his M.D. degree.  He is now in residency at Seattle Childrens Hospital. 

Charles and Mary Dolan

Tonight the 4th degree Knights of Columbus meets here in Norfolk so I will be going to the meeting.  Their meeting includes a meal and then a meeting.  On Saturday evening I will celebrate the regular Saturday evening Mass at Stanton, Nebraska.  Father Connealy who is the pastor there asked me if I could do that as he is taking some vacation time.  Another priest will be there for the Sunday morning Masses.  With two Masses here every day I cannot usually provide help on Sunday mornings.  

About forty Benedictine novice mistresses and novices are here this week for some classes and workshops.  Three are here from Clyde.  Always good to see some of the Clyde Sisters since I know most of them.  

Pray for safe travels this coming week.  And know you are all in my prayers.  

Coming of spring.

After a very cold and long winter it seems like spring is finally arriving, but even now winter tries to sneak back in now and then. I haven't seen any snow recently but after a very nice and warm week last week, on Sunday it turned colder again.  We still need rain up here but we seem to only get a little now and then -- about three tenths of an inch Sunday and Monday  Of course we can be thankful we missed the bad storms, with one hitting Omaha which is about a hundred miles south of here.  Western Nebraska and Colorado had snow again yesterday I am told.

I finally did make it to Brunswick, Nebraska a couple weeks ago.  This time I found it.  I like to get out when the weather is nice and drive around a bit.  For the most part I stayed home during the winter and tried to stay warm.  It seems as though Nebraska has wind even more than we do in Northwest Missouri and when the temperature is below zero and there is a strong wind it easily brings the temperature down to 20 or more below zero.  I am putting a couple pictures of Brunswick, Nebraska here.  It is smaller than Brunswick, Missouri but does still have a Catholic Church and a bank.  

I finally finished up all my work with the dentist here at Norfolk.  It's hard to believe how much money you can spend on your teeth just so you can eat.  I told someone I was not sure I would live long enough to get my moneys worth out of all the work they found needed to be done.  

Then this past Monday I saw a medical doctor here in town.  I thought I should have a primary care doctor while I am here.  They have a large and very nice hospital here in Norfolk.  There used to be two hospitals at Norfolk, one run by the Benedictine Sisters for whom I am now chaplain and one by the Lutherans.  Now they are combined into one and they built a new hospital with medical buildings etc.  The old Catholic hospital is just down the street from me and is now owned by the one hospital also and is now primarily a mental hospital.  The doctor I saw is a family practitioner and is in practice with some other doctors.  His name is David Lux, M.D., a good Catholic who comes to Mass everyday at 7:00 AM with the Sisters.  

Faith Regional Health Services, Norfolk, Nebraska

The Nursing Home where I am also chaplain is also now owned by this same medical center, called Faith Regional Health Services.  I have been to the hospital a couple times to visit a patient and it seems to be quite large and not an easy place to find your way around.  

In this blog I also wanted to let you know that I am going to be in Missouri twice these coming weeks.  On May 25-30 for our community retreat at Conception, and then June 19-July 3 on vacation.  On Sunday, June 22, I plan to celebrate the 10:00 AM Mass at Brunswick to celebrate 60 years as a professed Benedictine monk.  That's hard to believe, isn't it?  I first took vows on September 8, 1954, so that will be 60 years in September.  

Today and this week is moving day at Conception.  As most of you know we are preparing to do a major renovation of the monastery, the first wing of which was built in 1881.  The monks are  moving over to St. Joseph Hall and the students who live there during the school year will use one of the guest houses.  I am glad I moved everything out before I came up to Norfolk for this assignment.  I did not store anything at the abbey.  I either gave it away, threw it away or brought it with me.

Last Sunday, May 11, Mother's Day, I celebrated three Masses.  One for the Sisters at 7:00 AM, then at the nursing home at 9:30 AM, and then a third one in the Sisters Chapel at 11:00 AM as Raymond and Sally Moser celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.  They have a rather large family and had asked me many weeks ago if I could celebrate this Mass.  It was a very nice celebration and I enjoy people who celebrate such anniversaries.

This coming Sunday, May 18, I will host the Deanery Meeting for this deanery.  If all come it includes about ten priests.  We will meet here in my house.  We usually meet at 4:00 PM, and then at the end of the meeting pray vespers and then I will take them to Applebys for dinner.  

Better close this for now.  I hope to see some of you this summer and, remember, if you are in the Northeast Nebraska area, be sure to stop in to see me.  

Blessings and peace to all.

PASSION (PALM) SUNDAY, 2014

Today we begin that great and holy week when we celebrate the mysteries of our salvation.   We had a beautiful celebration this morning with the Sisters at 7:00 AM and had quite a number of lay people join us.  We had the blessing of palms in the hall front entrance and then processed to the chapel.  Two Sisters, Sister Pia Portman and Sister Berardine joined me for the reading of the Passion according to St. Matthew.  Then I went to the St. Joseph nursing home and again celebrated the liturgy.  There we had the blessing of palms in the chapel because of the many wheel chair patients.  I also used the shorter form for the reading of the passion. For many of these older people it is difficult enough to stay awake for Mass.  However, we did have a large crowd again today with pretty well every seat taken and a few standing.

Well, we started out this day with a little rain.  I came back to my house around noon and after doing a few things, sat down in the recliner and fell asleep.  When I awoke we were having snow.  It is a beautiful snow -- very wet and clinging to the trees etc.  The last few days it has been quite warm with temperature reaching up into the lower 80's.  Now today the wind has turned to the north and the temperature has dropped to about 30 degrees. Such is the weather in Nebraska.

This past Thursday myself and five of the Sisters took a little outing to Elgin and Raeville, Nebraska.  We left about 10:30 AM and went first to Elgin where we ate lunch at the senior citizen center.  Then we went on to Raeville.  Raeville has a large and beautiful church but practically no town is there anymore.  This is the place where the Missionary Benedictine Sisters first settled when they came to the U.S.A. from Germany.  Later then they moved to Norfolk. Here are some pictures I took there.

 Population of Raeville at entrance to the town

 Exterior and front of the church

 The rectory.   Now used by parishioners for family gatherings etc.

 One of the beautiful stained glass windows in the church

 The sanctuary

The Sisters and I who visited at Raeville. Picture taken in the sanctuary.

The church reminds me somewhat of the large church at Imogene, Iowa.  It too is located in a small town and is a very beautiful church.  The Sister next to me in the picture above is Sister Catherine.  She is the Subprioress here but was born and raised in the Raeville area and so is well acquainted.  Elgin, Nebraska is the home town of our former Father Wilford and Father Frederic, as well as Sister Ruth at Clyde. Father Martin Beckman was also from there but he left our foundation at St.Pius X and joined a diocese in Minnesota.  However, there are still many Beckmans around this area.

Have a blessed Holy Week and a glorious Easter.

Still snowing here as I complete this blog.

KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS 4TH DEGREE

On Sunday, April 6, some of the 4th degree Knights here in Norfolk took me to West Point, Nebraska to become a fourth degree Knight.  I had been a 3rd degree Knight since about 1990 and so was happy to be able to be accepted as a fourth degree member on this date.  I will also now serve as chaplain for the local 4th degree Knights which includes a number of the surrounding towns -- Madison, Scranton, Battle Creek, Pierce etc.  The ceremony concluded with Mass celebrated by the pastor at West Point and I concelebrated.  Then we enjoyed a banquet together.  There were 33 new 4th degree members from throughout this area of Nebraska. I am posting a couple pictures here taken after the Mass.

 The class of new 4th degree members.

Four of us from the Norfolk area.

I feel privileged to be a 4th degree member and am happy for all that the Knights here in Norfolk have done to make me feel welcome.

Last Thursday, April 3, we had another round of winter.  In the morning we had rain, then it turned to sleet and finally then to snow.  While not a big snow, it was possibly the biggest snow we have had this winter.  Today is just kind of a cool day but tomorrow they are predicting it will get up close to 80 degrees.  We'll see.

As I said the snow was nothing to be excited about but it was a very wet snow and was kind of pretty early in the morning on Friday.

This Thursday a couple Sisters and I plan to go to Raeville.  There is, I am told, a very beautiful church there.  Raeville is actually also the first place where the Sisters lived and had their first monastery when they came to this country from Germany.

I am preparing for Holy Week and the Triduum these days.  Sunday will be Palm Sunday.  I will have a Mass at the nursing home on Holy Thursday and a brief communion service down there on Friday afternoon, but nothing at the nursing home on Holy Saturday.   On Easter Sunday I will have a Mass down there at the regular time -- 9:30 AM.  The Sisters have their Holy Thursday Mass at 7:00 PM, Good Friday services at 3:00 PM and then the Easter Vigil at 8:30 PM on Saturday evening with another Mass on Easter Sunday at 11:15 AM.  

I hope you all have a Blessed and Holy Week and a glorious celebration of Easter. 

God bless you all.