Abbot's Letter              Abbey & Seminary Letter              Fr. Bernard's Letter

Hello from Mount Angel, good friends! I am writing this, as usual, weeks before it will come to you. It is only early February, but since I will be away when Fr. Paschal has his deadline for this issue, it's best for me to write right now.

We have been doing a number of things with regard to our capital campaign, and I am making visits to prospective donors in places both near and far. Our development office has designed an informational booklet that helps us tell our story to those who will listen to us and perhaps help support the Abbey, Seminary and other programs we have here.

Next week is the annual abbots' meeting, when the American Benedictine abbots meet to discuss business of the order, to have some spiritual refreshment and to enjoy each other's company. The meeting this year is at Prince of Peace Abbey, near San Diego, California.

Here at home we have been doing a lot of things. My desire as Abbot is to find things that we need to do to improve ourselves as a religious community. Some of these things have to do with the Abbey, some with the Seminary, and some with various segments of our whole operation. Right now we are having a performance review of the business office and are finding lots of things we can do to improve that important segment of our Abbey and Seminary. Up to now we have just been putting a monk into that office and expecting him to do more or less everything that affects the Abbey and Seminary materially. We have found out that in this complex world of today we can't approach things that way any more. Over these last years Fr. Joachim has done a great job, and we're grateful to him for it. Now, though, some changes need to take place.

A second area of interest for us right now is our "aging monk population." We have been having community meetings entertaining topics on a number of areas of need in the monastery, and one of them is our aging monks.

Most monasteries of Benedictine men and women have infirmaries where the aging religious live together in one area. We haven't had that. Our monks here, when they get older and perhaps sick, have simply lived in their rooms with no centralized services. We need to do something about that. I was counting a couple of days ago and we presently have 8 monks using canes, walkers, or wheelchairs. They are constantly "en route" to various places to eat or pray or celebrate Mass or read the paper. Most monasteries have a centralized living and provisionary area for those growing older and that is obviously a growing need for us here at Mount Angel. I think I understand this better than some of the younger monks, for I am elderly myself, though still quite mobile, thank God! But I am elderly, soon to be 78. One of the older fathers said to me a couple of years ago, "I like your style." I said, "Why?" And he replied, "Because you haven't insisted that I have a regular job. I think that is because you are older yourself and don't have some theory on how we should work forever." And that is true. I am getting older and I wouldn't mind having a little more leisure myself.

A number of things happen to you when you are growing old. You certainly have less mobility in your body. Some have back or knee or hip problems. Some get incontinent (or occasionally have an accident). Some can have balance problems, so that they do not feel steady on their feet or when walking or even when standing still.

I was telling the Prior not long ago how when I am washing my hair and have soap in my eyes in the shower, how it is now harder for me to turn around into the water stream with my eyes closed, and that it is helpful for me to hold on to the water spigot. He thought that was funny. Or you can have memory problems; one of our fathers is dying of Alzheimer's disease. Or you can have nutritional problems. We had a couple of priest monks in our parishes a few years ago, who stopped preparing their meals as they got into their 80's. They would eat like a horse if you took them to a restaurant, but on their own they weren't doing well. So we brought them home. And monks in a parish often don't like to come home. Often they have been there for years and they have become resocialized towards independence and the kind of work they do in a parish.

There is a spiritual dimension concerning the sick and the elderly. We owe them care and service in their older years, because for years they have served people and the monastery. In the time when the quality of their life is being diminished, they need and desire care. And they usually don't want to go to a nursing home. We need to "take care of our own." St. Benedict is insistent that care be given to the sick. We profess that we love one another and I would think that in a special way includes taking personal care of our sick and elderly, who really are at our mercy.

I am telling you about this to inform you that we, too, as a monastic family have this problem. Often persons in nursing homes are sort of forgotten by their families. They are perhaps no longer fun to be with, and they can't respond as they once did, so we may not be inspired to spend time with them. Well, they need our time and our attention. Here at the monastery we are trying to discern how to better provide that. We are going to try to build an addition to provide the space. Please say a special prayer for us in this regard.

There are other interesting projects and things going on here on our hilltop, but I will wait for another time to tell you about those.

God bless you during the days of Lent and may you have Blessed Easter!