St. Meinrad

St. Meinrad, in southern Indiana, is one of two Archabbeys in the United States (the other is in Pennsylvania). I had the privilege of spending most of last week at their conference center. Twelve students came together from two seminaries to study spiritual formation. Six of the students were from Emmanuel School of Religion in East Tennessee and six were from Lincoln University and Seminary in Illinois. I am a student at the latter.

Our professor lives most of the year in Austria. One of the students had flown in from his home in Portugal; another had recently been to his home country of Korea. As is usual in these settings, only two of the students were women. I was one of them.

The Abbey is 150 years old, the cathedral spires rising hundreds of feet above the hill on which the church sits. Connected on one side is the monastery where 70 or so monks (some of them have never lived anywhere else) live. On the other side of the cathedral is a four story dormitory for 700 or so Roman Catholic Seminarians. Under separate roof is a gymnasium, library, and assorted out buildings. A cemetery on-grounds is the final resting place of dozens of monks. No names are written on tomb stones as it is only necessary for God to know who they are.

We were housed in the conference center, a newer building with dozens of rooms, both single and double. Although perhaps expecting some sort of monk-like cell-like room, the rooms are quite modern, all with private baths, desks, comfy chairs with footstools, lots of lamps....but no TV.
In fact one of the days I was there I heard what could only be a TV coming from one of the sitting areas. I hastened toward the sound to see what the news of the day might be. Alas, the only available channel was from the Vatican, teachings from one of the Cardinals. I hastened on.

Meals were taken in the conference center dining room being brought in from the Abbey kitchen which is housed in the dormitory. The kitchen includes a bakery....enough said. Along with our group there were about a dozen other folks there: a group of five guys from Canada who come every year and a few nuns on retreat.

We were the only non-Catholics on ground during the week. One of our students struck up a conversation with one of the monks (who was strolling around the grounds) and finally asked him what the monks thought of 14 Protestants coming for the week. He thoughtfully pondered the question and finally said, "It is a great mystery."

St. Meinrad is known outside of the Roman Catholic world for two things: Abby Press and for the quality of its caskets. Both businesses are on the grounds of the Abbey, along with a book store and gift shop. The gift shop also offers a cafe and the bakery treats we enjoyed all week. So I would say the Abbey is known for three things: publications, caskets, and bakery items.

Twice a day we joined the monks in the cathedral, for noon prayers and for vespers at 5 PM. If you are not catholic it only takes a time or two to 'get the hang' of a catholic service. There seems to be a lot of standing and sitting. Not much kneeling during these two services. The monks lead the songs, which are straight from scripture, and the congregants are invited to "Please sing softly, allowing the monks to set the pace and lead."

Shaped notes are used in the printed material. This is a throw-back to hundreds of years ago. There may be one word in the hymn with nine or ten shaped notes clustered as if for dear life above it. It takes a couple of services to realize that every note in the tight little cluster gets sung...in a specific order that takes some doing to understand...thus the admonition to sing softly. The acoustics are so perfect in the cathedral that one little errant note, even sung on key can be heard around the apses and naves and whatever other little nooks and crannies cathedrals have. I found this out the hard way. My student friends who were sitting across the church from me heard my miscue. It was after that the caution to sing quietly and let the monks lead appeared printed on the daily program.

Our first day there was All Saints Day. Pretty impressive robes and things. The Archabbot was resplendent with two assistants helping him with the staff and his head covering. You can tell by my vocabulary that I am not Roman Catholic. The next day could only be described as casual Wednesday, with khakis and jeans, tennis shoes and plaid shirts.

All of the Meinrad monks are white by race. They wear black robes. Imagine our surprise to see two black monks...dressed in white robes. I thought it was very racial until we discovered they were visiting from an African nation where the monks wear white robes.

There was a lot to take in and a lot to learn. But every morning the beauty of the place erased all the ignorance and the bells tolled out a welcome to the new day. Ah, the bells. Quite worth the drive to hear the bells chiming over the rolling Indiana hillsides calling the town to arise and be about the business of their lives.

There are not more words. And that's what I think about it.