January
2007
An Experience to Remember
On January 20, 2007, Brs. Marty Singer and Jacob Orcutt were among seven adults and forty-four students from area high schools who boarded a bus for our nation’s capital to take part in the March for Life. The one hundred thousand strong March was “inspirational and exceptionally meaningful”, as Br. Jacob pointed out, because “so many people of all faiths assembled together for one cause.”
Their trip included a guided tour of the Holocaust Memorial Museum, which helped underscore the similarities between the genocide of in Nazi Germany and our present day abortion holocaust. Masses at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the Verizon Center provided a faith context for the Catholic participants. Both young people and adults were changed this two and a half day trip, becoming more aware of the need to stand up for one’s convictions, especially in honoring and protecting God’s precious gift of life.
1/23/07
Nine New Novices
The Oblates of St. Benedict is a group of laypersons who wish to associate themselves with a monastic community while living the spirituality of St. Benedict in the world. Our own Oblate community, in its infancy stages, has made an important step forward with the enrollment of nine Oblate novices this past Saturday during the monastic celebration of Vespers. In a moving ceremony presided over by our Oblate Director, Fr. John Martin Shimkus, each new novice was presented with a copy of the Rule of St. Benedict and a Benedictine crucifix medal. The group then received a blessing and encouragement to persevere in serving God “not apart from, but in the world where they live and work”. These men and women will now be asked to complete a twelve month period of study and practical formation in preparation for their final promises to follow the teaching of St. Benedict in their daily lives.
For more information about the Benedictine Oblate program, please click on the sidebar link, “Oblates”.
Young Adults Learn to be Monks
We the monks of St. Benedict Monastery were happy to welcome the young adults of St. John Fisher Parish into our midst this past weekend. The group has been holding an annual retreat at our Subiaco Retreat House for the past eight years. This time the young people (college age through 40+) chose the theme of “Practical” Benedictine Spirituality for their gathering. We felt blessed to have the thirty or so retreatants prayerfully joining us three times a day for the monastic liturgy and spending their retreat time growing in appreciation of the wisdom and applicability of St. Benedict’s Rule.
For more information about the “Fusion” Young Adult Ministry at St. John Fisher, please go to www.myspace.com/fusionyoungadultministry.