Novices, Hail & Wind storm, Birthday

On Sunday, August 14, two men entered the novitiate for Conception Abbey. Novice Daniel is originally for Alton, Illinois. Novice James is originally from Clarence, MO.

Novice Daniel Friedel receives a copy of the Rule of St. Benedict
from Abbot Gregory

Novice James Chinn recives his copy of the Rule from
Abbot Gregory

Birthday cake for Father Anthony's 90th birthday
August 21, 2011

Father Anthony at his birthday party

Damage to windows, roofs and trees from a very intense
wind and hail storm on the evening of August 18

More damage

Window damage at the Printery House

On the evening of August 18, toward the end of Compline we began to get a tremendous storm. The electricity went out. As we left compline it was starting to rain and soon the hail came with it. The winds reached up to 90-100 mph and the hail lasted for a good twenty minutes or so. We received quite a bit of damage, the Sisters at Clyde received even more damage. All the crops in this area were ruined -- especially the corn and soybeans. We were without electricity until Saturday morning, August 20.

Photos of storm damage courtesy of Brother Maximilian, OSB

LEISURE AND VACATION

Last Tuesday, August 2, I returned from about 9-10 days of vacation and time for visiting relatives and friends. I really enjoyed these days even though the temperature was up to about 100 degrees each day. I got to see many of my relatives who live in the Brunswick, MO area, as well as my brother Harold and his wife Dee in Kansas City. Also, I got to see many old friends who I had known or worked with years ago.

I did not do anything unusual except eat more than I usually do. So many want you to come to eat a meal or they want to take you out to a meal. But, I got lots of rest, went down to the parish church and celebrated Mass either concelebrating with the new pastor, Father Rob Fields, or celebrating the Mass myself when Father Rob was gone.

I came back relaxed and felt like I had a number of leisurely days. My roots certainly go back to this little river town in North Central Missouri. I was born in a farm house there, went to church regularly at the Catholic church there, was baptized there, confirmed there, served many Masses in that church etc., as well as celebrated my first Mass there in 1959.

It seems to me that when we are younger we like to be on the go a lot -- taking trips, going to see things etc. As a result we frequently come back more tired than we were when we left. It seems only as I have gotten older have I learned to relax and to enjoy leisure. Sometimes I just enjoy being alone.

At any rate I am back at work again now. As usual when you are gone for a few days, there is work waiting for you when you return. But, I have gradually gotten caught up.

One of the things I enjoyed when in Brunswick was the "friendship wheel" lunch at the St. Boniface Church Hall. This is a once a month activity. The five churches in Brunswick take turns hosting it on the fourth Wednesday of each month -- skipping December and January. In July it was hosted by the Catholic church. Anyone comes who wishes, each person is asked to leave a $3.00 donation for the meal, although most seem to leave more than that. The Baptist minister and Lutheran pastor were there for this dinner and of course the Catholic pastor. It brings the people together from the different religions. The churches that take part in this are the St. Boniface Catholic church, the Methodists, the Lutherans, the Christians and the Baptists. I enjoyed it very much.

Here at Conception work is proceeding on the new guest house. With the weather so hot the workers have been coming to work as early as 6:00 or 6:30 AM and quitting then about 2:30 PM. That makes sense to me in hot weather.

Our new students start arriving on August 17 so that is not far off.

Some photos: Many of you remember the quaruplets that were born to
one of my grandnephews and his wife in 2009. One
of the boys died a couple days after birth. The other
three are pictured about and seem to be doing well.
They were two years old on July 7

Work proceeds on the new guest house.

While work progresses on the new guest house, windows
are being replaced on the north side of the library

HOT, HOT, HOT AND YES, ALSO HUMID

As I am sure many of you have read or heard the mid-section of the country is in an extreme heat wave. Of course you have probably also heard, or seen news, about the flooding Missouri river. A number of the roads along the Missouri river, including Interstate 29, which goes from Kansas City to Omaha and beyond, is closed due to the flooding. Evidently they had an unusual amount of snow up north in Montana this winter and then some heavy rains in the spring. So they are having to let a lot of water out of the dams up north. That is what is causing the river to flood.

And then for the past week or more we have had day after day of very hot and humid weather. With all the water around that only makes it more humid. So they are telling people to take it easy, take a lot of breaks if you work outdoors and drink a lot of water.

They have now started to work on the new guest house. As you can see from the above picture they have been grading and preparing the area for building. It is expected to take a full year to complete the building. J.E. Dunn is the construction manager but of course there are many sub-contractors. (click on picture above to enlarge it)

During the month of July we are having our LCCIP program for International Priests who are working or preparing to work in the United States. The letters stand for: Language, Culture, Church for International Priests. It is a three week program held every summer here at Conception to help these priests acclimate to the culture and language in this country. With the shortage of priests in this country many dioceses are going outside the United States to try to find priests who are willing to come to this country for priestly ministry.

Click on picture to enlarge it.

The picture above is of an alumnus and good friend of mine who just recently graduated from the Wichita Police Academy. Pictured is Randy Gorges, along with his wife Vera, and his son Isaac. I have come to really appreciate and admire the police. They render a real service to our communities and in so many ways risk their life to help us. After the shooting we had here in 2002, I realized they are really our friends and not out to try to catch us doing something wrong.

Toward the end of this week I will be going to my little home town of Brunswick, Missouri to spend about ten days relaxing and visiting family and friends.

My prayers are with all of you everyday.

God bless you.

GROUND BREAKING FOR NEW GUEST HOUSE

The J.E. Dunn construction trailer was moved
in this week.

Breaking ground for the new guest facility.

The blessing began in the St. Raphael Hospitality Center.
Pictured are Abbot Gregory, Mr. Bill Dunn and Father Benedict.
Brother Paul is just behind the Abbot.

Monday, June 20, we had the blessing and the ground breaking for the new guest house to be built just to the north of St. Joseph Hall. Most of the monks, many employees and construction people and architects were on hand for the ground breaking. This week they began to relocate some of the underground structure such as the water line, gas line etc. Soon then they will begin digging preparing the area for the new building.

Pictured above are Steve and Christy Arnold and their family who visited me last week. I had presided at the wedding of Steve and Christy in August, 1999. They now have five beautiful children and it was good to visit with them again.

Tomorrow I am going to Brookfield, MO to celebrate a funeral Mass. Evidently the priests of the diocese are all on retreat and they could not find a priest to have the funeral. So they called the Prior and I am going down to do this on Friday. I just helped at this parish this past Holy Week so I know a number of the parishioners.

Most of you have read of all the flooding on the Missouri river. Fortunately we are far away from that but we all assure these people of our thoughts and prayers at what they are going through. Unfortunately it sounds as though it will last through most of the summer because of the heavy snow up north last winter and the heavy rains this spring.

To read the new oblate blog click here. and then click on "oblates" on the left side of your screen.

Summer seems to have arrived

St. Raphael Church at Indian Grove, MO is today
celebrating it's 125th anniversary. This is the
church where my Dad and Mother were married
in 1921. It is still open today--a country church
at the little village of Indian Grove. Bishop Gaydos
will be there for Mass today.

Summer seems to have arrived. In the last couple of weeks we have had a lot of hot and humid weather. The weekend of May 28-29 and again on the weekend of June 4-5, I went to Kansas City to celebrate the Masses at St. Andrew Parish in the north part of Kansas City. The first weekend it was chilly when I left Conception so I wore a sweater. By the time I got to Kansas City it was hot so I did not even have to take the sweater out of the car. Both weekends I celebrated four Masses, one on Saturday evening and three on Sunday. I spent the nights with my brother and his wife, Harold and Dee Reichert who live very close to this church.

We have had enough rain so that everything is green and the flowers are blooming. It's a beautiful time of the year except for the heat and humidity. We do not have air-conditioning in the monastery except for a few rooms but most of us do have fans. We hope to eventually renovate the monastery and we will probably air condition then, but I don't know whether I will still be around by that time. Who knows? This summer we are planning to begin work on our new guest house. It will be toward the north part of the campus and will have 32 rooms as well as some meeting rooms. At the present time they are moving some gas lines in order to get ready to start building. I believe the ground breaking is scheduled for June 20.

I have been working on a little project, trying to write some of my memories down and make them available to my nephews and nieces, and other family members. It is kind of fun to do this and I enjoy such projects. I have, in the process, put together a number of older family pictures. A lot has changed in my life time for sure. We did not even have electricity on the farm until I was in the fifth grade.

Many of the monks are coming and going during the summer. Each final professed monk is allowed two weeks for a home visit or vacation each year. The latter part of July I plan to go to Brunswick and spend some time on the farm, just relaxing and visiting relatives. Sometimes during the summer we really get low on numbers, especially on weekends when many priests have to go out to parishes to help out.

Monsignor Louis McCorkle, a priest of the diocese
of Jefferson City and an alumnus of Conception, who
is in residence in our Health Care Center celebrated
his 90th birthday on May 28

Father Anthony Shidler, O.S.B. and Monsignor
McCorkle shake hands. Father Anthony will
celebrate his 90th birthday in August, 2011