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Storming the future
I had driven more than 450 miles, enduring 105-degree temperatures, in a
car that threatened to blow a radiator cap if I dared use the air
conditioning. During one agonizing stretch of stoplights, when I was
lost in Omaha, I had to blast the heater just to get the temperature
gauge out of the danger zone. I grumbled at tailgaters and grew dizzy
from the smell of baked blacktop through my open windows.
So why did I come home feeling refreshed?
Despite the Dante-esque horrors of the trip there and back, the three
days I spent in August attending the Benedictine Development Symposium
at the Benedictine Mission House in Schuyler, Neb., were rejuvenating.
Now, I know, words like development and symposium and Schuyler, Neb.,
don’t sound particularly inspiring or exhilarating. And to be honest, I
dreaded the entire affair. The deadline on this Tower Topics was
looming, and worse, I was asked to be a presenter. You have to realize,
I majored in journalism for two reasons – there was no math requirement,
and there are delete buttons on keyboards that can remove clumsy
sentences, unclear thoughts and ill-timed humor. There are no such
safeguards for my tongue. The idea of speaking to a room full of
Benedictine development directors was only a little less uncomfortable
than the hot Nebraska wind.
 I’ll skip all the useful tidbits I gleaned from workshops, conferences
and roundtable discussions, valuable though they were. The true gift of
the trip came in the soft prairie evening, when the day’s business had
ended and the gracious hosts of Christ the King Priory set out the
munchies and opened the bar for an evening social.
There in the dehydrated heart of Nebraska as I munched on cheese and
crackers and sipped from a tasty German beer, I saw a storm on the
horizon. Not the kind that would bring relief to the drought-weary
farmers, but a storm all the same.
The air crackled with conversation. Talk of collaboration between all
Benedictine houses, of theories on the role of Benedictines in a
troubled Church, and amusing anecdotes from their daily lives captivated
me. With apologies to Mark Twain, reports of the demise of Benedictine
life are greatly exaggerated. It has begun with the faint rumble of
distant thunder, but mark my words, a storm is coming.
While I attended the symposium, back at Conception Abbey two novices
made their simple profession, three postulants entered the novitiate and
the abbot welcomed two more postulants.
Meanwhile, on a hillside north of Schuyler, I met Sister Ann Patrice
Papesh of Indiana’s Our Lady of Grace Monastery, a woman who missed her
true calling as a stand-up comedian, and who seems willing, optimistic
and determined enough to carry the entire order to new heights. I had
the honor of talking for more than an hour with Abbot Leo Ryska,
president of the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy Foundation, a pastoral
priest of progressive thought, whose quiet confidence bespeaks patience
and faith in God’s strange ways.
And like a moth to light, I was continually drawn to the charming Sister
Lorraine Victorsen, who made the trip all the way from her monastery in
Queensland, Australia. Her infectious warmth, keen intellect and
unyielding compassion made me want to be a better Catholic. There were
of course many others who lit a fire under me in those days – sisters,
brothers, priests, and not be to be overlooked, devoted employees of
Benedictine houses.
The question that arose in almost every discussion was, “How do we
communicate the Benedictine spirit to the world? How will we convey the
energy, faith, sincerity and humor of the Order of St. Benedict?”
My answer? Tell stories!
Tell stories of joy and sadness, humor and hardship. Tell stories about
people and tell them with passion and love. After all, our entire Church
is built on stories. I know firsthand that Conception Abbey is rich
ground, and from what I heard at the symposium, it is not the exception.
For Benedictines, whose lives are unassuming and countercultural, this
will require a counter-countercultural effort. Religious men and women
who each day put community before individual needs, will need to step
forward at times and let their individual stories be told. The story of
the monk who makes rosaries, or the brother who leads a Bible study with
local farmers, or the story of how a community prayerfully accompanies
its oldest confrere in his last days of life, they all convey a small
piece of the Benedictine Spirit.
As my journalism professor once told me, “Everyone has an interesting
story to tell, it’s up to us to find it.” It’s OK for Benedictines to
brag a little. (Or better yet, hire a talented young man, who grew up
near your monastery and has a slight fear of speaking in front of large
audiences to do the bragging for you.)
The result will be as invigorating as a cold downpour in August.
Dan Madden
Director of Communications
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