T H E R I C H M O N D

A V E N

Mary Mother of the Church Benedictine Abbey 12829 River Road Richmond, Virginia 23238

R Abbey and Preparatory School Look to the Future

The asceticism of the early church was an expression of virtues embodied in the life of Christ, embracing His Father’s grand vision of salvation of all souls—“Be holy, therefore, as your heavenly Father is holy” (Mt 5:48) and “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”(Mt 28:19). Monasticism, though not missionary in nature, is a living out of this vision in a very defined and unique way in the Church. It’s a vision passed on to every baptized Christian with a call to work to-ward its realization. Each Benedictine community lives out and expands this vision in some specific ways in a particular locale. The monks in Richmond have always sought to advance this grand vision since 1860 following a path into the new world paved by Archabbot Boniface Wimmer who founded Saint Vincent Archabbey in 1846 from Bavaria, Germany. In the past several months, the monks have engaged in a prayerful process of reviewing and clarifying our mission and vision for the future of Benedictines in Richmond. This is an effort to capitalize on the current positive energy and exciting developments in the monastic community and school.

Continued on Page 2

By Fr. John Mary Lugemwa, OSB

This is a very exciting time in the history of our com-munity. The vision of our predecessor monks continues to unfold with a renewed hope and vigor. Our school, the

Benedictine College Preparatory, finally

moved to its new home at the newly ren-ovated Goochland Abbey campus in 2013 and continues to grow. Once again the monks are reunited with the school as one Benedictine family. In February our Brother Vincent made his simple vows. At the same time, we welcomed

two vibrant young men, Br. Ambrose and Br. Joseph , into our community beginning their monastic journey as novices. We are blessed to be financially stable. For all these great achievements and the many signs of hope, we are very grateful. As part of the larger Benedictine family, we inherit a 1,500 year old vision of monasticism birthed by our father, Saint Benedict whose inspiration is drawn from further back in third century ascetic movement of the Desert Fathers, men such as Saint Anthony, Pachomi-us, Evagrius, Cassian, Basil, and others before him in the West. These men were spiritual giants but the story

is not complete until we trace it back to its primary origin.

September 2015

Looking to the Future

Continued from Page 1

This effort of clarifying and renewing our vision is aimed at inspiring holy, talented and dedicated young men to con-sider a vocation to our monastery. We seek to set ourselves on a path in building up a vibrant monastic community radi-ating monastic spirituality in Richmond bracing for the next century and beyond. Each day, the monks strive to live out our great mission of seeking God in the spirit of the Rule of St. Benedict as expressed through our prayerful Liturgy and the work of our ministries. We believe that a clear vision for the future is a critical component of our growth strategy. The past several years have presented some seemingly insurmountable challenges. However, we have fought the good fight, persevered patiently amid uncertainties, our friends have reached out to us with a generous hand, and with God’s grace and provident care we have triumphed. We are small but not weak. We are men driven with passion for our vocation and filled with zeal for our monastery—our home. The Unfolding of a Big Dream The vision roadmap can be traced way back at the founding of our priory and school in 1911. Up to this time since 1862, the monks founded and staffed a number of parishes around the Richmond Diocese. Responding to the call to open a boys’ high school in Richmond, the monks have focused their energy and resources on the education and formation of young men as their primary apostolate, operating on a small campus, less than three acres, on North Sheppard Street in downtown Richmond. As the de-mand for Catholic Benedictine education continued to grow, the monks envisioned operating a large campus in a serene rural setting allowing the abbey and school to thrive. Since 1911, the monks have formed more 6,000 young men sent out into the world doing amazing things and touching so many lives. The journey to fulfilling this vision began in 1994 when the monks purchased a 50 acre parcel of land in Goochland County. The move to a larger campus opened up an oppor-tunity for the monks to run a retreat and conference center as well as a religious gift shop. However, to free up space for the school to relocate at the Abbey campus, these two ventures have been temporarily put on hold since 2012. Our goal remains to reopen these two ministries in the future. At this point, we have given priority to our primary apostolate – the school. When the monks bought the property in Goochland, they envisioned a campus where students would have an oppor-tunity to interact with monks on a daily basis to achieve the core of Benedictine education i.e. the spiritual and moral formation of our students. In 2010, we sold the North Shep-pard Street property to the Diocese of Richmond. Renova-tions commenced on the Goochland campus. Despite some hurdles in the process, the school finally moved to the Ab-bey in fall of 2013.The new school facility provides state-of-the-art computer and science laboratories, expanded li-brary, larger classrooms, a 640-seat auditorium, a scenic cafeteria with outdoor patio, administrative office wing, ro-botics lab, and fine arts wing. We have also renovated and upgraded our monastic cloister to provide comfortable living

quarters for the monks. We have designed a robust and comprehensive formation program integrating leadership development to prepare our young monks to carry the vision of the Abbey and school forward of the Abbey and school forward. Operating on the same campus with the monks, the Cath-olic identity of the school has been strengthened and various programs such as Emmaus group (a spiritual and vocation discernment group), choir, and weekly Mass with confession comprehensive formation program integrating leadership s and devotions have been initiated to facilitate the spiritual and moral formation of our young men. Phases one and two have been a tremendous accom-plishment. We are grateful to our school community, alumni, donors, and friends whom without their support all this pro-gress would not have been possible. Looking to the Future The third phase of this vision roadmap is perhaps the most exciting and challenging of these ambitious projects. The full realization of the monks’ long-term vision lies in the steady growth of the monastic community and construction of a new monastery with a retreat center on the back of our property overlooking the historic James River. We inherit a rich Benedictine tradition of which we are very proud. Not only are we committed to this tradition, but we strive to expand the impact of its values on the young men who come through our school and on the people of the local community. Our growth strategy is contingent on the expansion of our physical infrastructure, rigorous vocation recruitment effort, as well as a strong well-rounded formation and education program for our monks. The eventual move from the current facility will free up additional space for the school to grow. As enrolment contin-ues to rise, additional classroom space will be required to meet the demands for a quality Catholic education. These recent milestones: the school’s move and being reunited with the monks, a revamped and shinning campus, financial stability, young men in formation, and strong local support cast a bright light on the future of Benedictine pres-ence in Richmond. We are filled with HOPE – a hope founded in faith, our common goal, a strong will, and determination to thrive as a vibrant monastic community. It is indeed time, now, to set a stage for a long term vision of the future. What will our next 100 years look like?

Bro. Joseph, Bro. Vincent, Bro. Ambrose, Bro. Jeffery and Fr. John Mary

@ the Abbey It’s not the Nutcracker

It’s not A Christmas Carol

It is the newest addition

to your holiday traditions

Sister’s Christmas Cathecism The Mystery of the Magi’s Gold

by Maripat Donovan Starring “Sister” Aubrey Manning and

Fr. Adrian Harmening

St. Nick’s Feast Day

Sheppard Auditorium

12829 River Road in Goochland

Sunday, December 6, 2015 at 2:00pm

Tickets: $30.00

Information online at www. RichmondMonks.org

or call 804 708 9654

Fr. Adrian Honored

60 Years a Priest

The Fr. Adrian Harmening Board Room was dedicated on the opening day for Benedic-tine College Preparatory. Fr. Adrian has been a part of the school since 1955, and served as Principal for 25 years. Father Adrian celebrated

the 60th anniversary of his ordination to the Priest-hood in June. The monastic community will honor his life-long service to the Abbey and the Church with a special Mass at 9:00am on November 15th, 2015. Please join us for this special moment. Father Adrian graduated from high school in 1943 and served in the Navy through the end of World War II. He believes it made him a better man and ultimately, a better priest. “It taught me,” he said, “a lot about peo-ple.” Speaking of the school, Fr. Adrian said, “the best part of my life has been watching students come in as boys at around 14 and leave at 18 as young men.” He added, “Seeing our alumni go out into the world and do such incredible things … it convinces me we are doing God’s work.”

In the early fall of 2013, I was asked by the Abbot President of the American-Cassinese Con-

gregation of Benedictine Monasteries, of which Mary Mother of the Church Abbey is a member, to serve as canoni-

cal administrator of the Abbey. Since Belmont Abbey had origi-nally founded the community in 1911, and is geographically the closest monastic community, there was already a bond be-tween the two communities. For me, it was also an invitation to attempt to make some return for all that I received from the monks in Richmond. Growing up in Saint Benedict’s Parish, and graduating from Benedictine High School in 1970, I had the monks as my parish priests and my teachers. It is a singular privi-lege to be able to return and serve with a community from whom I received so much. Much has transpired during the two years I have been with the community. Perhaps the most significant events have been the profession of simple vows last February by Brother Vincent, and the entrance into the novitiate at that time of Brother Ambrose and Brother Joseph. Our three men in for-mation are an encouragement and sign of hope for our commu-nity. Another encouraging sign for us has been Father Adrian’s strong and steady recovery from a bad fall last spring. In order to allow Father Adrian to concen-trate all his attention on his re-covery, Father John Mary has taken up leadership in the com-munity as acting Prior with dedi-cation and competence. One of the more significant events in the community’s life in recent years was the successful

move of Benedictine College Preparatory School from the original campus on Sheppard Street to the Abbey at the be-ginning of the 2013 school year. This is now the beginning of the third year at the more modern and spacious campus. Most significantly for our monastic community, the cadets and the monks are once again together on the same campus. I hope this newsletter will bring you up to date on signifi-cant events in the life of our community. Most of all, I hope you will join your prayers to ours, that Mary, Mother of the Church, will continue to inter-cede for us and for the welfare of our Abbey and school com-munities.

Belmont Abbot and Benedictine Alumnus

Chosen to Guide Richmond Monks

The Future is Now

at Benedictine

Benedictine College Prepar-atory is in the most exciting period of its history. The

school completed its move to a new campus on the James River, re-joining with its founding monas-tic community

after 20+ years apart. The school has completed $8 million of renovations to its new campus in just the past two years, and plans to add a new gymnasium and other ath-letic facilities in the coming years. The school’s mission, to form Christian men of con-science, discipline and achievement, is accomplished by a rigorous blend of academ-ic and leadership curricula. It’s 104 year history as a Catholic, all-male, military, day school makes Benedictine Col-lege Preparatory unique among all Catholic schools in the country. Continued on Page 4

By Abbot Placid Solari, OSB

By Jesse Grapes, Headmaster

Fr. Adrian and Cadet Nisely 1963

Published by the monks of

MARY MOTHER OF THE CHURCH BENEDICTINE ABBEY

12829 RIVER ROAD RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23238– 7206

804 784 3508

WEBSITE

www. RichmondMonks.org

Raven THE RICHMOND

Oblates Meet: Third Saturday

Sept. –May. 9am –noon Oblates are lay men and

women striving to incorporate Benedictine spirituality into

everyday life. Contact: Fr. John Mary 708 9653

Shroud of Turin Center The Center promotes an awareness and understanding of the Shroud of Turin and conducts research into its ori-gins. There are periodic multimedia presentations fea-turing images of the Shroud. Contact: Bryan Walsh at 784-3366

MASS SCHEDULE

Sunday 9:00 am

Mon– Fri 7:00 am

Saturday 8:00 am

ROSARY CONGRESS 2015

October 9 and 10th

at The Abbey

In summoning the Church to an Extraordinary Jubilee, A Holy Year of Mercy,

Pope Francis is calling on us to become living signs of love.

For more information on

line go to: RichmondMonks.org or call: 804 708 9654

Three Brothers Undertake Monastic Journey

Br. Ambrose Okema is originally from Uganda. He attended the St. Thomas

Aquinas Major Seminary. He is a highly trained au-tomobile mechanic. Prior to coming to Richmond, Br. Ambrose spent nearly ten years with the mis-sionary Benedictines in eastern Uganda. He is enjoying his no-vitiate experience and says ; “I love the Benedic-tine way of life centered on structured Prayer and Work (Ora et Labora). As a novice, I feel the joy of fraternity in the communi-ty and I am privileged to live and serve with others. God calls each one of us from near and far for a purpose that His name may be glorified.”

Br. Joseph Wasswa comes from Uganda. Be-fore joining the Abbey, he

was a seminarian for more than nine years. Joseph attended the Bukalasa Minor Seminary and Queen Apostles, Katigondo Major Semi-nary, Uganda, earning a Diploma in Social and Phil-osophical Studies. He also obtained B.A. degree in Philosophy from the Pontif-ical Urbaniana University, Rome. His time in formation is a realization of his dream: “I increasingly became interested in monastic life and now I am doing my novitiate formation to be-come a monk. I feel happy that my spirituality is in-creasing as I spend more time with the Lord in pray-er with this community. I am motivated by no con-sideration other than the Glory of God, the service of the Church, and the sal-vation of my soul.”

Br. Vincent McDermott is from Jersey City, New Jer-sey. Complet-ing his novitiate,

he took his simple vows in February. Brother Vincent said his “first blessing and grace,” was to know the life of a Benedictine priest and wit-ness how God uses priests to win people over and in-fluence them to live a way of life that leads to eternal life.” The Divine Office, he believes, is the heavenly mystery that prepares a monastic community to take part in the sacred liturgy of the word and sacrament. “A brother,” he said, “has a great responsibility to carry out this life of prayer for the salvation of the world.”

Benedictine From Page 3

Benedictine’s military pro-gram builds leaders as no oth-ers do, because the leadership program is founded on the truest model – Jesus Christ and his teachings informed by the mag-isterium of the Catholic Church. The school’s successes are evident. 98% of graduates ma-triculate to 4-year universi-ties. The football, basketball, wrestling and baseball teams have all won state champion-ships in the last five years. 19 of Benedictine’s Cadets are enrolled in the Emmaus pro-gram for young men discerning a religious vocation. All of our Cadets fill the pews in Mary Mother of the Church Abbey every Friday morning for Mass. Benedictine is a school that makes real men, and is always looking for adult male leaders that can help in the process.

The monks invite men

18 to 45

to join us for a

VOCATIONS

WEEKEND

October 16-18, 2015 Contact:

vocations@ richmondmonks.org

804 708 9653