Tower Topics ~ Summer 2002

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Abbey notes

Brother Justin Hernandez will travel to Europe this summer in celebration of last year’s 25th anniversary of his solemn profession and the completion of his doctorate in philosophy.

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Father Aidan McSorley, librarian of the Abbey’s rare book collection, hosted two visits from Alexandra Mason, a retired librarian from the Spencer Library at the University of Kansas. Ms. Mason has volunteered to conduct a national census of “incunabula,” books printed before 1500, and manuscripts. She also, on her own initiative, catalogued the Abbey’s 37 incunabula and one manuscript book.

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Father Adam Ryan led several retreats and days of recollection in the past six months.

On Jan.10-18 he preached a retreat for the theologians and pre-theologians of the Pontifical College Josephinum in Ohio. On Feb.18 he gave a day of recollection to the bishop and priests of the eastern half of the Grand Island diocese.

Father Adam also preached a day of recollection for the Sisters of St Francis of Savannah on Feb. 9 and on Feb. 21 presented an evening of recollection to the women of St James Parish.

March 17-21 he preached a tri-parish mission in Salina, Kan. At the Abbey, he offered a weekend lenten retreat Feb. 22-24, a New life in Christ Easter retreat April 6-8 and a retreat for a St. Louis chapter of the Blue Army April 19-21. And the week of April 22 he led a retreat for the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in Corpus Christi, Tex.

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Karen Ceckowski, pastoral associate for the Abbey Center for Prayer and Ministry, received the Bronze Pelican award from the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph for her ongoing support of Catholic programs in the Boy Scouts of America. For the past eight years, scouts who are earning their “Catholic Religious Awards” have come to the abbey as part of a program in which they learn about the Church’s sacraments. Ceckowski instructs the sections on holy orders and reconciliation.

Deaths
Lucille Marcotte, mother of Brother Michael Marcotte, died May 3 in Maryville, Mo. She was 83.

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Catherine Garr, sister of Brother Blaise Bonderer, died Easter Sunday, March 31, after a brief bout with cancer. She was 77.

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Two brothers-in-law of Father Joel Derks died in February: Alfred Meyer, 88, of Stanberry, Mo., on Feb. 6, and Joseph Ciemiega, 83, of St. Joseph, Mo., on Feb. 15.

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Al Buchholz, uncle of Brother William Buchholz's, died in January.

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