St Meinrad Archabbey and Seminary

Kurt Stasiak elected 10th abbot of St Meinrad Archabbey

Father Kurt Stasiak, 63, was elected the 10th abbot and seventh archabbot of Saint Meinrad Archabbey today by the capitulars. Until now, Father Kurt has been the Prior of the Community.

Abbot Kurt professed monastic vows in 1975, ordained priest in 1980. He was trained as a sacramental-liturgical theologian –he earned a licentiate (1986) and a doctorate (1993) in sacramental theology from Pontifical Anthenaeum of Sant′Anselmo, Rome. Over the years he has served the community as secretary to the archabbot, provost-vice rector of the School of Theology, vocation director for Saint Meinrad Archabbey, assistant novice-junior master at Saint Meinrad Archabbey and professor (1986-2016).

Father Abbot is the author of several books, A Confessor’s Handbook (a revised and expanded edition was published in 2010); Sacramental Theology: Means of Grace, Ways of Life; Return to Grace: A Theology for Infant Baptism and recently, From Sinners to Saints: A Guide to Understanding the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

The Saint Meinrad Archabbey press release is here.

The monastic community under the patronage of Saint Meinrad was founded by Einsiedeln Abbey, Switzerland, on March 21, 1854; it was raised to an abbey on September 30, 1870. The Church bestowed the title of “archabbey” on March 21, 1954.

Archabbot Justin Duvall was elected the elected 9th abbot on December 31, 2004. His resignation was accepted by the community and it elected a new abbot.

Monks of this community prepare men for service in the Catholic Church as priests, deacons and lay ministers; several priests have also been called to serve as bishops. The monks have a thriving retreat house and many monks serve the Church away from the abbey, for example in parishes, at Sant’Anselmo (Rome) or at Conception Seminary.

Cyprian Davis, OSB, dead at 84

The monastic community of Saint Meinrad announced the death of their confrere, Father Cyprian Davis yesterday. Those of us who are Oblates of Saint Meinrad will recall with great admiration the life and work of this monk and priest of Jesus Christ. Prayers for Dom Cyprian and those who survive him. The official obituary reads:

Fr. Cyprian Davis, OSB, monk and priest of Saint Meinrad Archabbey, St. Meinrad, IN, died on May 18, 2015, at Memorial Hospital in Jasper. He was 84 and a jubilarian of both profession and ordination.

Surviving are a cousin and a niece.

Fr. Cyprian was born in Washington, D.C., on September 9, 1930, to Clarence W. and Evelyn (Jackson) Davis, who named him Clarence John.

He studied at Saint Meinrad Seminary from 1949 to 1956. Invested as a novice monk on July 31, 1950, he professed his simple vows August 1, 1951, and was ordained to the priesthood on May 3, 1956.

Fr. Cyprian received a licentiate in sacred theology from The Catholic University of America in 1957, and the license and the doctorate in historical sciences from the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, in 1963 and 1977, respectively.

He was professor emeritus of Church history at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology, where he had begun teaching in 1963.

He also served as an archivist of Saint Meinrad Archabbey, of the Swiss-American Benedictine Congregation, and of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, of which in 1968 he was a founding member. He also belonged to the American Catholic Historical Association and the Society of American Archivists.

In addition to dozens of articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia and dictionary entries, Fr. Cyprian wrote six books. But it is his 1990 work for which he will be especially remembered. The History of Black Catholics in the United States is a 350-page study of the American Black Catholic experience from the early Spanish explorations to 1970, and it is regarded as the essential study of the American Black Catholic experience.

Among the honors he received for this book were the John Gilmary Shea Award in 1990, and the Brother Joseph Davis Award in 1991. Fr. Cyprian was preparing a revised edition of this work at the time of his death.

In addition, Fr. Cyprian contributed to the second draft of Brothers and Sisters to Us, the 1979 pastoral letter on racism published by the United States Catholic bishops, and he helped write the initial draft of What We Have Seen and Heard, the 1984 pastoral letter on evangelization from the black Catholic bishops.

Saint Meinrad

Today, the Benedictine liturgical calendar recalls for us the life and martyrdom of Saint Meinrad (+861) –the Apostle for Hospitality. Meinrad was a Swiss hermit. His life can be read here.

Join me in praying for those whose mission it is to offer hospitality (and who are often wounded in doing so), for the monastic community and oblates of the venerable Archabbey of Saint Meinrad in Indiana.

Luigi Giussani: “God was moved by our nothingness, by our betrayal, by our crude, forgetful and treacherous poverty, by our pettiness. For what reason? “I have loved you with an eternal love, therefore I have made you part of me, having pity on your nothingness.The beat of the heart is pity on your nothingness but the reason why is that you might participate in being.”

Why Christians need Antioch

These weeks we are hearing the narrative of the very early followers of The Way, that is, those who adhere to the Good News taught by Jesus, the crucified and risen one.

With the killing of the deacon while kidnapping the two bishops in Syria has me concerned about Christians losing the sensitivity to the importance of Syria as a key Christian center. Most Western Christians forget that our Christians origins in the West was first formed in the East. Recall from Acts that “it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.” It was in Antioch, not in Rome, not in Moscow, not in Constantinople, that the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth were first generated by the Holy Spirit, they were called by name. It’s not West OR East, but West AND East when comes to Christian faith. Does Antioch have any resonance with you Christians? Do you have any concern for our Christian heritage in Syria? What’s our concern for those being killed for being Christian today? Do we even care? Remember: God has created each of us to do Him some definite service; let us live and work in charity for our neighbor.

A famous Antiochian saint, the bishop Ignatius said this in his letter to the Magnesians, “It is right, therefore, that we not just be called Christians, but that we actually be Christians” (4.1).

Too often do I hear that it was much easier to be a Christian of the early years following the Ascension of the Lord and the Pentecost than today. That’s a crazy idea! First of all, no one who knows history can hold that idea as valid. Those who really and truly followed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, Messiah and Word made flesh, were harassed and/or killed. The Acts of the Apostles testifies to the fact that Jesus’ followers were killed. There is little difference with state of Christianity in AD 13 than in 2013. So what happened to the Christians in the 1st century is no different than what the dictatorship in Syria is doing now.

So, we can’t allow Syria to further unravel and act contrary to faith and reason. We need to remember that Antioch is crucial to our Christian identity today because our faith in the Lord is no less real, no less beautiful, no less controversial today than in previous eras. It is in Antioch (Syria) that we our Christian identity (belief, liturgy, church tradition, music, science and culture) was formed. Antioch (that is, Syria in general) and the people who live there is the place where and the community where we’ve learned the horizons of our Hope in what Jesus promised.

A preacher whom I like very much is the Very Reverend Denis Robinson, OSB, the president-rector of Saint Meinrad School of Theology. Dom Denis is a Benedictine monk and priest who teaches systematic theology. In 2007, he earned a doctorate in theology specially in the work of Blessed John Henry Newman from the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. Recently, he said,

As long as we keep stored up in ourselves the well-rehearsed scripts of indifference, ineptitude, pain, doubt, self-loathing. As long as we think we know the answers, after all that’s what mamma said, until we see that the world is more complicated than the truth we learned at our mother’s knee Brothers and sisters, there is one thing and one thing only that we need. We need Antioch. We need that identity. We need Antioch because we must learn to call ourselves something other than forsaken. We need Antioch. We need to learn to love rather than judge, to give rather than take, to provide for one another rather than constantly seeking the self, the damn self that will be truly damned if we cannot give ourselves over to Christ, all to Christ, fully to Christ, forever to Christ. Where will it be? Where will it be then? If not in Antioch, where will it be? Brothers and sisters we continue to revel in this Easter season knowing I hope full well that the complex completeness of Easter did not come on that solemn night of proclamation. Antioch beckons us in the name of towns and places as yet unseen, unknown, unexplored. And we respond full of hope that the fullness of Easter is still rushing in.

Latin Hymns for Liturgy of the Hours translated in new book

A book of hymns for the Liturgy of the Hours in Ordinary Time, Eternal Glory of the Skies, provides a translation of hymns from the original Latin by Fr. Harry Hagan, OSB, and Fr. Keith McClellan.

Father Harry, a Benedictine monk of Saint Meinrad Archabbey and a teacher of biblical poetry in the Seminary and School of Theology, translated the hymns for Lauds, Daytime Prayer and Compline. Fr. Keith, a priest of the Diocese of Gary, IN, and a former editor and author at Abbey Press in St. Meinrad, translated the hymns.

According to the authors, “These translations build on the poetry of the original text while opening new doors for the Christian imagination. They have been translated in the hope that they will be used in prayer.”

The cost of the softcover book is $6.95. Order online.

Visit St Meinrad’s – for 2 minutes — virtually

You can get a quick visit to Saint Meinrad’s Archabbey in 2 minutes via YouTube. David Yonke put together a very nice video with good images and music. Brother Francis de Sales Wagner posted the video on his delightful blog, The Path of Life.

I think a lovely experience in video format.

The Archabbey of Saint Meinrad has a great Oblate program, Seminary and Monastery.

Pics of the St Meinrad Archabbey

Here are some wonderful photos of the Archabbey of Saint Meinrad (in southern Indiana) by Mark S. Abeln, a photo journalist and blogger of 2010. The images are posted on Mr. Ablen’s blog, Rome of the West. I hope he has time to go back to and record some of the monk’s life, particularly the sacred Liturgy.

As a Benedictine Oblate of the Venerable Archabbey of Saint Meinrad, and a friend of several monks there I am very enthused. The Abbey is a spiritual home with great men of good spiritual reputation and considerable talent. Watch for the good work of Father Denis Robinson, OSB, president and rector of the Seminary and School of Theology.

The sites of interest:

Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Benedictine Oblation

As we Venerate the glorious memory of the most holy Virgin Mary, grant, we pray, O Lord, through her intercession, that we, too, may merit to receive from the fullness of your grace.

PAX

In the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

On this Feast of the Presentation in the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I, too, offer myself to God through this renewal of my oblation. I commit myself anew to Stability of Heart, Fidelity to the Spirit of the Monastic Life, and Obedience to the Will of God as a Benedictine Oblate of the venerable monastery of Saint Meinrad.

Daniel M. Buechlein, Archbishop of Indianapolis, retires

The Most Reverend Daniel Mark Buechlein, 73, has had his request for an early retirement from the Office of Archbishop of Indianapolis accepted by His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI due increasing concerns of health. In recent months has been dealing with the effects of a mild stroke complicated by other issues like cancer.

The Archbishop has served the Archdiocese of of Indianapolis as the 5th Diocesan Ordinary since 1992. In 2003, the Pope appointed the Archbishop a consultor to the Congregation of Clergy.

Archbishop Daniel will return to the Archabbey of St. Meinrad, the Benedictine abbey of his profession of vows and the place where he served prior to becoming Bishop of Memphis in 1987.

Saint Benedict and Saint Maurus, pray for Archbishop Daniel, and for us.