Tower Topics ~ Summer 2001

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Bishop tells graduates:
'Be bearers of hope'

Working for God can be discouraging.

This was the warning Coadjutor Bishop David Ricken of Cheyenne imparted to the Conception Seminary College graduating class May 20.

Of 23 graduates, 20 will go on to theology schools

“There is a profound reason,” said the bishop, a Conception alumnus. “We believe in all things, visible and invisible. The absence, the silence, the apparent distance of God can be a harrowing experience and has often crushed the strongest of spirits.”

But by telling tales of great men of the church, reading poetry and quoting the wisdom of the late Father Augustine Stock, a Conception monk and scholar who died May 11, the bishop promised the graduates that they leave Conception with something that can protect and sustain them.

Hope.

“This seminary sends you out not just as graduates, but as bearers of hope,” he said. “Probably more than any other virtue needed today is hope.” But he said they should be realistic, well aware of the sacrifices involved and the inevitable discouragement they will face.

Bishop Ricken remembered that Father Augustine, his professor when he attended Conception, could bring hope and even humor to the prolific, dirge-like text of the Book of Job, “text that discouraged the most enthusiastic among us.”

“Father Augustine knew that hope is not easily won and it is not easily borne,” the bishop recalled.

There are lessons throughout church history, he said. He cited St. Peter Canisius, a man who founded a dozen colleges, re-evangelized Europe al-most single-handedly following the Reformation, wrote prodigiously, translated the works of the fathers of the Church and was an adviser to emperors, a man who said, “The only real problem we have in proclaiming the Gospel is discouragement, and there never is a reason for discouragement.”

Yet discouragement dogged his path throughout his days.

The bishop recalled John Henry Cardinal Newman, who was so devastated by his failures, he believed his life was over. Yet when he sat down in despair to write, he produced Dream of Gerontius, “one of the finest meditations on death ever written.”

Abbot Gregory presents Philip Rabbitt with his diploma.

“Who knows,” Bishop Ricken said, “some of you may rise to the greatness of a St. Peter Canisius or a John Henry Newman, but all of you have been prepared to become bearers of hope. And whether in grand or modest ways, your charge is to lift the burdens of others through bringing and bearing witness to the Gospel of life, of love and of hope.” Nineteen graduates received bachelor degrees, four were recognized for completing the college’s pre-theology program and an additional four were honored for finishing the Language, Culture and Church program.

Graduate Ruben Covos poses for family photos

The graduates receiving bachelor degrees were:

Bruce Ansems and David Cheney of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas;

Daniel Bachner and An Phan of Joliet;

Frank Brawner of Lexington;

David Carter and Mark Yosick of Knoxville;

Ruben Covos of San Angelo;

Benjamin Darnell of Springfield-Cape Girardeau;

Andrew Heiman, Jarett Konrade and William Wright of Salina;

Benjamin Nguyen of Wichita;

Matthew Wertin of Pueblo;

Brother John Hoang, Brother Philip Lam and Brother Dominic Le of the Congregation of the Mother Co-redemptrix;

Philip Rabbitt, studying for Conception Abbey;

and independent Gilbert Mendoza.

Joseph Irwin of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, Philip Niekamp of Jefferson City, Philip Vaske of Cheyenne and William Vit of Sioux City received Pre-Theology certificates.

Maximillian Mushi of the Diocese of Tulsa, Bernardo Montano of Salt Lake City; Daniel Roa of Wichita and Emilio Sosa of San Angelo were awarded certificates for completing the Language, Culture and Church program.

Graduate Gilbert Mendoza and Brother Cyprian Langois share a laugh following the Mass.

Twenty of the graduates will go on to advanced theology studies. David Carter and Matt Wertin were named to Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. Wertin earned High Academic Achievement in the senior class for having the highest grade point average and Carter received the American Bible Society Award.

Andrew Broom, a junior, won the Bailey/Bales Award for Excellence in Philosophy.

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