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Mowing monk pays tribute to slain confrere
By John Baccala
Special to Tower Topics
 Benedictine Father Benedict Neenan walked the grounds of Conception Abbey, vividly remembering a conversation he had with Brother Damian Larson more than five years ago. Larson, known by many as “the weather monk,” was the abbey’s groundskeeper and a great lover of the outdoors. So, too, is Father Benedict.
“Brother Damian built an outdoor Way of the Cross,” Father Benedict recalled. “He tended that and kept the path between the different stations cut. At one point, I remember him suggesting we do a longer trail, through a wider section of our property.”
That suggestion turned into a 1.7 mile walking and jogging trail, completed in the spring of 2002.
A cross greets walkers on the "Brother Damian Trail," a trail completed by
Brother Damian not long before his death at the hands of a gunman in 2002. Seminary president and rector, Father Benedict Neenan, continues to maintain
the trail in memory of his deceased confrere.
“It was quite nice, quite beautifully trimmed and cared for,” Father Benedict recalled. “He planted grass in different places, and cut out trees and shrubs in other places to make way for the trail.”
Just a few months later, on June 10, 2002, Brother Damian and Father Philip Schuster were shot and killed by 71-year-old Lloyd Jeffress, who entered the basilica with a .22 caliber rifle in one hand, and an assault rifle in the other. Jeffress wounded two other monks with the assault rifle before turning the .22 on himself.
Since that day, Father Benedict has tended the trail like it was his own.
“It’s kind of been in memory of him and to respect his desire,” he said, gazing down the path that bears the fallen monk’s name. “But, I very much enjoy the opportunity to get outdoors and be in nature.”
Father Benedict, the president-rector of Conception Seminary College, cuts the trail himself every week. With mountains of paperwork to tackle and numerous phone calls to make and return, he said getting outdoors provides “great balance.”
Brother Damian Larson, OSB
“I took it upon myself to keep the trail trimmed in the summer and try to improve it in small ways,” Father Benedict said. “I get a great deal of satisfaction from that and a great deal of relaxation and kind of a change of pace from the other things I’m involved in.”
The 1.7 mile trail starts just outside St. Joseph Hall on the north side of the abbey campus. The Stations of the Cross were made from old floorboards taken from the abbey barn. From there, the trail begins to wind through a nut grove which, like everything else, has Brother Damian’s fingerprints all over it.
“Those are actually walnut and pecan trees that Brother Damian planted probably 30 years ago,” Father Benedict said, pointing toward the grove.
“Everyone knew him as the weather monk, but we knew him as the tree monk.”
The trail then meanders along Maria Laach pond, through an apple orchard, and across two roads before circling Lake Placid. The monks and visitors alike use the trail frequently for walking, jogging and reflection.
Many stop and sit at the gazebo at lake’s edge. Off in the distance, a crucifix stands among the pine trees. Hard to imagine, a place of such peace, named for a man who died so violently.
Seated at a picnic table, Father Benedict looks at the trail. Immediately, he pictures Brother Damian.
“I think of him all the time,” he says, his voice trailing off with each word.
Then birds start chirping near Lake Placid. The grass along the trail, beautifully lush and green, is covered in sunshine. Apples fill the trees in the orchard.
For a moment, it was almost like Brother Damian was still there.
John Baccala is a reporter for the Catholic Key, newspaper of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, in which this article previously appeared.
We welcome your comments:
communications@conception.edu
www.conceptionabbey.org
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