Mount
Michael Abbey celebrates 50 years
 |
Abbot Theodore Wolff (right), current abbot
at Mount Michael Abbey in Elkhorn, and Father Raphael Walsh, the first
abbot there, stand outside the community’s chapel. The Benedictines came
to Elkhorn 50 years ago and have sent deep roots into the Archdiocese of
Omaha.
Photo by Elizabeth
Wells |
By Elizabeth Wells
The Catholic Voice
The deep roots of the many oak trees on the campus
of Mount Michael Abbey in Elkhorn offer insight into the community that makes
its home there. The Benedictines are permanently planted in the area and bearing
fruit annually.
Each member of their religious community makes four
vows. The first three are similar to other religious orders – poverty, chastity
and obedience. The fourth is the vow of stability.
“The vow of stability allows us to commit ourselves
to an area. When we move there, we don’t move around,” said Brother Jerome
Kmiecik, prior of Mount Michael Abbey.
The abbey began at that site 50 years ago this
year. That’s when Benedictine Father Dominic Lavin, under the direction of Abbot
Stephen Shappler of Conception Abbey, approached Omaha businessman Rex Olson and
asked about the availability of his hobby farm.
Olson said he wasn’t ready to sell, “but Father
Lavin told him, ‘We’re not asking you to sell it. We’re asking you to give it to
us,’” said Abbot Theodore Wolff, who leads Mount Michael today.
Olson said he’d have to consult with his spiritual
adviser, Bishop John L. Paschang of Grand Island, a priest of the Archdiocese of
Omaha who was appointed to the western Nebraska see in 1951. According to Abbot
Wolff, Bishop Paschang responded by saying, “Wouldn’t you rather raise priests
than prize pigs?”
Olson deeded the property to the Benedictines in
1952. The abbey’s history reports that the first carload of monks arrived at the
Elkhorn farm on May 14, 1953. They began working immediately on the minor
seminary and its buildings.
Three years later Mount Michael was raised to the
status of priory. Classes also started that year at what was called St. John
Vianney Seminary.
The new buildings on the grounds were added when
the monks opened a junior college in 1960. The monks’ quarters were converted
for student use and a temporary facility was built for the monks.
In 1964 the priory’s status was raised to an abbey
and Father Raphael Walsh was appointed the first abbot to lead the community
through the post-Vatican II days. The school at that time was thriving,
according to Father Walsh, who is now associate pastor at St. James Parish in
Omaha.
Over the years the school has undergone changes.
Throughout it remained a vital source of vocations and priest supply for the
archdiocese, said Father Jim Tiegs.
Father Tiegs, who is the chaplain and foundation
director at New Cassel Retirement Center in Omaha, is one of the many priests in
the archdiocese who attended either the seminary or high school.
Others include Father Frank Baumert, pastor of St.
Michael Parish, Albion, and St. John the Baptist Parish, Petersburg; Father R.
Michael Fitzpatrick, pastor of St. Stanislaus Parish and executive director of
Catholic Cemeteries, Omaha; Father Lloyd Gnirk, pastor of St. Pius X Parish,
Omaha; Father Michael Gutgsell, chancellor and moderator of the curia of the
Archdiocese of Omaha; Father Norman Hunke, rector and pastor of St. Cecilia
Cathedral, Omaha; Father Daniel Kampschneider, pastor of St. Philip Neri Parish,
Omaha; Father Owen Korte, pastor of St. Patrick Parish, Fremont; Father Gerald
Leise, pastor of St. Mary and St. Augustine Parishes, Schuyler; Father Ryan
Lewis, associate pastor of St. Bernard and chaplain at Roncalli Catholic High
School, Omaha; and Father Paul Ortmeier, pastor of St. John Nepomucene and Ss.
Peter and Paul Parishes, Howells, and Holy Trinity Parish, Heun.
The climate for vocations changed drastically by
1970 and the seminary was closed due to low enrollment. The monks opened Mount
Michael Benedictine High School in its place.
Father Walsh said that transition was one of the
biggest he witnessed in his watch as abbot, but he is pleased with the
results.
In the past year, the school has begun another
transition. It has gone from strictly boarding its all-male student population
to allowing male day students.
Father Tiegs said the school is “a gift of solid
religious training for future leaders. They are creating strong individuals who
can make an impact on society.”
Father John Hagemann, vocations director for the
abbey, said that their efforts have turned to the Internet because depending on
the high school “was much too limiting.”
“We needed to open ourselves up to the broader
world and really invite others to be a part of this wonderful thing that is
here,” Father Hagemann said. He also said their Hispanic outreach has been
fruitful.
Within the past few years, the abbey has seen an
influx of new vocations. They include two junior monks who have professed
temporary vows, and two novices, who are from Colombia.
“This is part of the hope for the future…a sign of
hope for the whole church,” said Brother Kmiecik.
Another sign of hope for the community and the
archdiocese is the proposed building project that the abbey hopes to undertake.
Brother Kmiecik said the abbey recently completed a feasibility study with the
Steier Group for a $7 million capital campaign.
“It was surprising and exciting to learn about the
many people who want an abbey in the archdiocese and are willing overall to
support it,” Brother Kmiecik said.
The campaign will finance an estimated $4.9 million
to cover the addition and renovation of the existing monks’ quarters. Brother
Kmiecik said the quarters built 40 years ago were meant to be
temporary.
The new construction to the abbey will add about 25
rooms and remodel the existing rooms, he said. The construction means all of the
monks would be under one roof – a dimension of community that has been missing
due to space, said Brother Kmiecik.
Plans include renovation of the care center and
novitiate and the addition of a small chapel, dining room and kitchen for the
monks, he said.
The remaining monies would be used for the school
and the endowments for both the school and abbey, Brother Kmiecik
said.
“It would finish our permanent building. Ours is
young if you look at the Benedictines’ other abbeys in Conception and in Europe
that have been standing for 200 or 300 years,” Brother Kmiecik said.
“It gives the idea of Benedictine stability. Our
grandmother abbey is 600 years old. Like them, we are committed to prayer and
work in that area,” he said.
It would also deepen the roots the Benedictines
have already developed in the Archdiocese of Omaha.
“We’ve been here for 50 years,” he said, “and we
intend to be here for another 50 years, and 50 years after
that.”