Conception Abbey

"Try to remember… Oh, try to remember, the times of September…" the haunting lyrics and melody from the old musical The Fantasticks capture some of the beauty but also the blurring activities of the fall season. Through it all there seems to be connecting threads of activity throughout the months of September and October here at the abbey and the college seminary.

The Seminary Program moves forward: It’s always rather amazing to see the various pieces of our three-fold formation program coming together into a seamless garment of care and challenge for the young men who come here looking to join the priesthood. Some of the returning seminarians have the advantage of seminary experience behind them; others come with many questions about what lies ahead of them as they plunge into this new lifestyle. It’s heartening to see the enthusiasm and dedication these young men bring to the work of discerning whether God might be calling them to priestly ministry. The challenge for the whole formation staff, namely, academic formation, spiritual formation, and character formation, is to guide, support and even challenge that enthusiasm toward a mature and lasting response to the movements of grace in these young men. These young men learn that the work load is heavy and balancing one’s time between work, leisure, and prayer is always a challenge. The seminary administration, faculty and staff take their mission and responsibility very seriously with an eye toward bringing the best out of the seminarians, but also encouraging them for their future ministry. As it so often happens, those in charge may not know the immediate impact of their time and effort, but every now and then grateful alumni will express deep and lasting appreciation which makes it all worthwhile.

Construction and the "new look": With a new building for our new guest house going up right in front of our eyes, it soon becomes a focus for monks and students alike. The in-house entertainment from one day to the next is to try to guess how the various spaces will be used. The recent installation of the metal stairs gives a good reference point for the rest of the building. The steel roof girders also give more shape to the building. With good weather we hope that construction can march forward at a good pace.

Alumni Reunion and a walk down memory lane: The annual alumni reunion, Sept 23-24, hosted seventy-two returning alumni. Some of the alumni returned for the first time in forty years! They found quite a mixture of the old and the new. Re-connecting with friends and faculty represented the "old" and touring the new and re-modeled buildings provided the "new." Comments from alumni representing their graduating class at the banquet were very inspirational for seminarians and monks alike.

Using the new translation of the Psalms: After a tremendous amount of work in formatting, proof-reading, and printing the new books for the monastic Liturgy of the Hours has been completed. We began to pray the Psalms in September according to our new Revised Grail translation and also new psalm tones. Old habits die hard and therefore it requires extra attention and focus to deal with new wording and new music. In time and with practice we can enter into a deeper spirit of prayer which the Psalms provide for us in their ancient richness and scope of feelings.