Tower Topics ~ Winter 2002

Tending a tradition

Lined up end to end, the years of service by the monks of Conception Abbey would take you back before the birth of the man from Nazareth who makes it all meaningful.

Conception’s sixty-five monks have put in nearly 2,200 years of professed religious life. In this issue of Tower Topics, we profile eight (see Eight Monks...) who celebrated jubilee anniversaries this year – Father Malachy Riley, Father Norbert Schappler, Father Edgar Probstfield, Father Denis Dougherty, Father Regis Probstfield, Abbot Gregory Polan, Father Albert Bruecken and Father Samuel Russell. Among those eight alone, there are 342 years of experience as pastors, teachers, chaplains, scholars, counselors, scientists, artists, librarians, missionaries, custodians, managers, administrators, recruiters, fund raisers and editors.

Also prominent in this issue is the announcement of the public phase of “A Living Tradition,” a $10.25 million capital campaign for Conception Abbey and Conception Seminary College (see A Living Tradition).

It is fitting that the jubilarians and the announcement share this issue. It was a commitment to Christian service that called these eight men to religious life, and it is the same commitment that inspired the monks of Conception Abbey to move forward with the campaign.

St. Benedict wrote in the prologue to his Rule, “We must hasten to do today what will profit us for eternity.” The anniversaries of eight monks are a window into this simple conviction. These men, who live a peaceful existence in this quiet corner of Northwest Missouri, go about their work realizing that they are a small but vital part of Conception Abbey’s living tradition. That each simple task they
perform, whether it is scrubbing the floor of a restroom or instructing seminarians in the challenges of moral theology, joins with the tasks of all of their brothers to serve the People of God.

The abbey’s founder, Abbot Frowin Conrad, cultivated the tradition tended by today’s monks when he founded an abbey and seminary and built a magnificent church. But the word tradition is too often linked with history – the past. The men who celebrated jubilees this year have long resumes of service. But they aren’t done yet. Much service remains to be done.

Likewise, Conception Abbey has a rich history. But as is evident from the bold steps the monks are taking, they are assured that much of their tradition is yet to come.


Dan Madden
Director of Communications

Back to Table of Contents