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Support Our Seminarians Dinner

It was a successful evening in Kansas City, at the 22nd Annual Support Our Seminarians (SOS) event.  The proceeds from the dinner and auction benefit Conception Seminary College and the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and Kansas City-St. Joseph. Conception Abbey’s baked good (“Abbey Oven”) were on sale during the event- bread, cookies, and…

Monk’s Hobby Part II

Fr. Pachomius is our in-house iconographer.  He does a lot of different art work in terms from pen and ink to painting.  In this video he explains his passion for art and making beautiful creations to give glory to God.  More appropriately, he views what he does with art as a calling more than a…

Moving Right Along

After the extensive demolition of the monastery, the renovation seems to be going smoothly.  The contractor says that we should still be ready for a July 1, 2015 move in date.  Within the next month, the monks will pick out their rooms based on seniority.  I am still in favor of having some kind of…

March for Life

Fr. Samuel and I, along with 10 seminarians from Conception Seminary flew to Washington D.C. for March for Life. It was a day of many blessings as we prayed and witnessed for the dignity of life. I was grateful to cross paths with seminary classmates and good friends from Sts. John and Paul parish in…

Monk’s Hobby

I am starting a new video series to focus on different monks and their hobbies.  The written version in Tower Topics is called “By the Work of their Hands.”  In this first video, Br. Etienne talks about his enjoyment of digital photography.

Sunset Time Lapse

This weekend we welcomed 30 guests for a “Discernment” retreat.  Men and women of all ages and different backgrounds were here to discern God’s will in their lives.  I was co-leader of the retreat along with Karen Ceckowski, who works in our Abbey Guest Center.  I have to admit that I was a little nervous…

Onward, Renovation!

Here are a few updates from the monastery renovation project over the past couple of weeks.  The monastery renovation is on time and should be completed May/June 2015. Above:  Workers brought in a large crane to left some of the heating and cooling equipment (don’t ask me exactly what it is). Above:  West side of the…

Ask a Monk Videos: Part 3

Back by popular demand, we filmed some more Ask a Monk videos with all new questions! If you missed the first two installments, please be sure to check out the blog postings:   Part 1 and Part 2  

Sunrise Time Lapse

Before Lauds, I set up the camera to record the sunrise this morning with the time lapse feature.  It turned out pretty well for the first one I have recorded.  I hope to do more videos like this in the future.  It is a cold and windy day at the Abbey. From the rising of…

SEEK 2015

After 5 days in Nashville, Tennessee (Jan. 1-5), Br. Maximilian and I returned to the monastery very late at night, or very early in the morning- depending upon how you look at it.  It was 2:45am, so either way, we were completely exhausted and ready for sleep, but incredibly grateful for the past few days.…