Our cattle operation was blessed this winter by the addition of several gift bulls. Not only did we receive a couple of them from the Schaff family south of Mandan, but two other parties also donated animals. Some friends of deceased Fr. Wilfrid from Terry, MT, gave us a young angus bull and Bro. Placid’s nephew Alvin Braun gave us two more critters. All of this greatly helps our ranching operation, which is one of our good sources of income. We never look a gift bull in the teeth.

      Abbot Brian traveled to Bogotá during the last week of March to conduct the triennial visitation of our priory of Tibatí. He was accompanied in this work by Fr. Conrad Schaeffer of Cuernavaca, Mexico, who served as a visitator and interpreter. Even though Fr. Abbot works away at it, learning Spanish at an advanced age is not easy. There are currently twelve members in our South American priory. Only one of them, Fr. Francis Wehri, is a North American. So it can be said that the foundation there has taken root in native soil.

      Easter this year fell on March 23, which is almost as early as it can possibly occur. To back up that remark, consider the following numbers: the last time Easter came this early was in 1913 and the next time will be about 2160. So don’t hold your breath waiting. Since a number of feastdays fell in Holy Week this year, they were displaced. St. Joseph was bumped backward to March 15, St. Benedict was bumped ahead to April 2 and Annunciation was also advanced to April 1. Poor old St. Patrick was bumped altogether, but that did not prevent some of his followers from celebrating.

      This month the Abbey Library went “on line.” That is to say that we have purchased a book cataloguing program and new books are now being entered into that system by Bro. Michael. At this point we have not decided to computerize the books that are in the paper card file. When and if we do that, it will take a good deal of work since we have upwards of 90,000 volumes. Of course, the bulk of our library is theological, but we also have good holdings in history and literature. A monastery without a library is like a day without sunshine.

      On April 3, Fr. Terrence spoke at the Earth Day program at the University of Mary in Bismarck. He was introduced by Fr. Victor, moderator of the E.C.O.S. club. Fr. Terrence’s talk concerned one of the environmental problems in North Dakota, namely, the slow development of wind power. Recent studies have shown that North and South Dakota possess 20% of the wind potential of the entire nation; but we currently produce only 2% of its wind power. The speaker placed much of the blame for this sorry situation on the power companies and the state government.

      This April, Pope Benedict XVI visited the United States for a few days. Usually these papal visits do not much impact our community, but in this case it did. Bro. Anthony actually had an audience with the Pope! He traveled to New York with fellow seminarians from St. Meinrad’s Seminary, Indiana. One of the monks at home was watching the event on TV and asked another brother: “Say, who is that man in the white cassock standing next to Brother Anthony?” Our local coordinator for TV watching of the papal visit was Bro. Nicholas.

      On the weekend of April 25-27, the spring retreat for our Oblates took place. The speakers for this event were Fr. John and Abbot Brian. Thirty Oblates attended, so these events are gradually growing in popularity. This is largely due to the hard work and careful attention of Fr. James, who is our director. The most important element in these retreats is for the Oblates to feel welcome and accepted by the monks. James makes sure that happens.

      Several of the monks were involved in supply-ministry this spring. Fr. Warren helped at the Cathedral in Cheyenne, WY, for a couple of weeks. Fr. Lawrence replaced the pastor at Kenmare for five weeks in May and June. Both of them were familiar with their situation since they had lived and worked in those parishes before. The Bismarck Diocese has announced many changes for this summer, but none of them involve our monks working in the home diocese.

      Our retreat this year was held during the week of May 25-29. The retreat giver was Fr. Xavier Nacke, O.S.B., of Conception Abbey in Missouri. Over the years we have been blessed by a number of retreat masters from that famous abbey. Two come to mind: Fr. Hugh Tasch and Fr. Marcel Rooney, but there have probably been others. Until a few years back, Conception monks staffed the mission at Fort Yates, ND, and did so for no less than 110 years! So they are no strangers in the Dakotas.

      Bro. Bertrand recently informed the community that he does not expect that our bees would produce any honey this year. This is the third straight year of no honey, and it is largely due to a disease that is decimating hives throughout the country. Added to that, the dry and cold spring weather we have had is exactly the opposite from what bees need for production. According to the statistics Bertrand published, the Abbey honey crop has varied widely over the years. In 1963 Bro. Gordon harvested no less than six tons, but a couple of years later there was none at all.

      Bro. Anthony returned home on May 17 with a degree from St. Meinrad Seminary. The certificate on the bulletin board reads: Master of Arts in Catholic Philosophical Studies. We used to debate whether philosophy could be Catholic, but apparently this question has now been settled. 

Bro. Placid at work in the kitchen. In addition to growng food on the farm, he sometimes cooks it as well. He looks so happy that he is probably preparing one of his German-Russian dishes.