Conception Abbey

Partnering for Future Priests – St. Joseph- Oct 9, 2009

It’s always nice to be part of a new successful venture. On the evening of Oct. 9, Conception Seminary in conjunction with our development staff launched the first annual Partnering for Future Priests fundraiser in St. Joseph with a focus on the northern deaneries of the diocese. We had a wonderful crowd which filled the tables of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish hall in St. Joseph. The people supported the work of forming future priests not only by purchasing banquet tickets but also joining in the excitement of the silent and live auction. The seminary mariachi band provided some lively entertainment as people were gathering before the banquet. We have great hopes that our loyal friends will be back again next year having recruited their friends and neighbors in the process.

Board of Regents and Soccer/Volleyball Tournaments

The weekend of Oct 16-18 was special for a number of reasons this fall. This was the weekend meeting of our Seminary Board of Regents which meet here twice a year. Our very good friends, including sponsoring bishops and lay people, gather with the seminary administration to share ideas and the future of our seminary. Since we traditionally ask two of the Regent bishops to be principal celebrants at the Eucharists on Friday and Saturday, it provides the seminarians with the opportunity to hear the thoughts of bishops other than their own. Conception Seminary College values very much the loyal and insightful suggestions made by the Board of Regents.

While the bishops were inside, warm, and dry, pondering various seminary position papers and specific questions an exciting soccer and volleyball tournament was shaping up up on the outside. Picking up the tradition of last year, Conception hosted the annual gathering of soccer and volleyball teams from various seminaries. This year we had teams from Mundelein, St. John Vianney, the Josephinum, St. Gregory’s and Our Lady of Guadalupe (the latter two from the Lincoln, NE diocese). The games were played with great verve and the final outcome saw Conception pick up the win in soccer and Mundelein winning in volleyball. Besides the fierce competition on the field and courts, this occasion provides some good opportunities of sharing at the student level among seminaries.

"Fire in the ‘tube’"

We had some excitement just before supper on Wed, Oct 21. After a day of rain some underground power cables going from the new St. Michael’s junction box to that building shorted out and caused an insulation fire in the conduit. The seminarians going by on their way to supper had quite a sparks and smoke display from the junction box. The emergency crew from St. Joseph, MO arrived quickly and began the repairs which continued into the early morning hours. The monastery power was turned off for about two hours as part of the repair work. Since the internet and computer services are headquartered in St. Michael’s which was without power until early morning there was a bit of "internet deprivation syndrome (IDS)" throughout the campus as no one could send or receive emails! Oh, how dependent we’ve become on those little computer chips!