1. Notes from Saint Meinrad - 5/18/2020
    Very Rev. Denis Robinson, OSB

    Dear Brothers and Sisters,

    Here we are brothers and sisters, another day, another week, another time of waiting. Here at Saint Meinrad, about half of our summer community has now departed. We have 25 or so seminarians and 12 staff members. Careful attention may be given to ALL. Living as we are in the beginnings of a reawakening, we see more folks about, our devoted housekeeping staff has started to clean student rooms. More administrative personnel are appearing in offices, more faces, more voices. All good.

    I know that many of you are still sheltered somewhere, however, and I want you to know that we haven’t forgotten or forsaken you. We are Saint Meinrad, even in diaspora.

    Peace,
    FDR
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  2. Sixth Sunday of Easter

    May 17, 2020
    Very Rev. Denis Robinson, OSB

    With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip
    when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing.

    So much action in the Acts of the Apostles, its very title tells us the nature of the thing.

    I was reminded yesterday of the very powerful book titled Markings, a diary written by Dag Hammarskjold, the Secretary General of the United Nations who was killed in a plane crash in 1961.

    He wrote: In our age, the road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action.

    In these days, our world, our Church, our age seems, at times, to be frozen. We are fearful. We are anxious. We don’t know what the future holds. We are afraid of going out into the world.

    Perhaps we are not so different from the apostles of old, those tireless missionaries we have been hearing about for the past many days in Acts.

    What have we learned from their journeys? Here are a few lessons

    Things have never been easy
    There was an attempt on the life of Paul and Barnabas at Iconium
    They were hailed as gods three verses later.
    Things are just crazy

    Do you ever wonder if the whole world is just going to spin out of control?
    School children, church congregants, none can gather
    We hear of riots in our cities. But it seems so far away since we haven’t seen Ferdinand in two months

    No one can go to the hospital

    No one can have a wedding, or a reception

    Ordinations are limited to ten or twenty people.

    If there is anything we have learned in this quarantine it is this:
    That is not the Church. The Church is not supposed to be safe. The Church is a clamoring crowd, a boisterous gang, it is a chance, not a certainty, unless we mean by certainty a constant chance for change.

    What are we to think of all of this? What are we to believe about all of this?
    There is a singular quirk in the message of the Church:
    While everything looks like it’s getting as bad as it can get, we are bound for something…

    You all know what that is: We are bound for glory

    The Easter season continues to unfold

    Things look bad but there is light

    With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip
    when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing.

    The road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action.

    My brothers, how will the missionary spirit we have been inebriated with in these days, pass from this place of isolation into a world of action.

    What do we have to offer the world in peril, the world in need, the world in trouble?

    The road to holiness passes through the world of action

    Brothers, if we cannot find God in this life, so tainted for us these days with the tincture of death

    If we cannot obtain happiness in this world, even as the siren cry of lament troubles our ears, dispels the setting of our hearts

    If we cannot hope for glory rather than despair
    If we cannot aim ourselves toward the target of success
    If we cannot find some good in the diseased world
    If we cannot love when there appears to be no cause to love
    If we cannot live into any reality but the cannot
    What hope is there?

    If there is no hope there is no action. But when there is action, hope abounds and so the question becomes:

    What are we going to do? What will be the signs we offer to a world desperate for signs of action?

    This nightmare will come to a close.

    What will be our legacy?

    The journey is coming to a close and the journey is just beginning.

    Soon Paul will wind his way to Rome and a destiny with death on the Via Ostiense.
    Soon we will wind our way back to places as far flung Ferdinand.
    Soon Jesus will offer some words of encouragement to a world that, while seeming to fly apart is in fact arching toward glory. Our world is arching toward glory and will find its launching pad precisely because we are men of action.
    Soon we are going to shine forth, shedding the dark mantle of skepticism and degradation, and putting on the armor of Christ. Rise up brothers
    Soon the word will rush in, it is rushing in
    Soon the bread will be transformed. And we will be transformed
    Soon the wine will intoxicate us with the effervescence of godliness
    Soon and now.

    The world is not going to hell in a handbasket

    There is life and there is hope in this celebration of the Eucharist in and those celebrations of the Holy Mass unfolding at this very moment in thousands of places throughout this troubled world.

    Unfolding with only these ten, these nine.

    This is the age and this is the era in which all things are to be renewed in the brightness of the living God.

    And we are his beacons, living active examples of his faithful care as we are strengthened and enlivened for the glory that is to come.

    The road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action.

    Let us pass dear brothers, dear sons, let us pass.
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  3. Notes from Saint Meinrad - 5/14/2020
    Very Rev. Denis Robinson, OSB

    I was recently asked to write a short essay on relaxation for our Benedictine oblates. I laughed quite a bit at the assignment, but I thought you might like to see it.

    Relaxation

    It is something of an irony that I should have been asked to prepare an essay on relaxation. To some, my life might seem like an instance of clinical workaholism. For others, including me, it might just be that I’m interested in a great many things. Life, as we know, is a balancing act. St. Benedict appreciated that. He knew that work and prayer must be balanced and that monks need some down time as well as structured engagement with various tasks. He also knew, I believe, that there was a tension between work and the need to feel satisfaction in our work.

    In today’s world there is so much conflict, particularly when we consider our individual relationships with what we do. For so many, work is a drudgery, or a way of making money so that we can have relaxation. Of course it is problematic when most of our days are filled with activities that we do not find very meaningful, which we do only to have the chance to do something we find more meaningful. Of course the irony of so much of western culture, and I am sure St. Benedict would agree were he here, the irony of culture is that we do not find much meaning in anything, in our work or in our recreation and relaxation. For so many in our culture “relaxation” is a means of escaping the world and so many turn to drugs, alcohol, or other diversions to make them forget, just for a minute, that life is not very meaningful. The word relaxation means to be “free from tension”. How does that relate to modern life?
    I believe that the first ideal of relaxation is finding meaning in one’s life, first through work. Good, meaningful work is the key to relaxation.  I know that sounds somewhat counter-intuitive, but I believe it firmly. What do you do? We might ask the question like this: What is your vocation? To what are you called? I believe a vocation might be anything, it might be a formal vocation, or it might be a call to be the best _____ that I can be, no matter what the ____ is.

    I don’t think we will ever find relaxation until we find something to completely and absolutely devote our lives to. Am I working only in order to play? My daily tasks need to be important and meaningful and some of this is in the nature of the task, but a great deal more of it is in the attitude we have about the task. St. Benedict certainly knew this. Can we have an eager heart and spirit about doing some very mundane things? We can find ways, if we wish, to make the most mundane tasks truly interesting. St. Benedict also knew that many hands make light work. Working with others, even on what we might think of as boring activities, can make the activity interesting because it builds fellowship and community. Work can, (I would say), must be interesting to us if life is to have any real, tangible meaning at all.

    Then there is fun. People kid me because my idea of a vacation is going somewhere and absolutely wearing myself out exploring the place, walking around, finding museums, talking to natives. For me this is fun, this is relaxation, though others find it exhausting. There is no way I could “relax” by going and sitting on a beach all day. When I am at home, in the evenings, I am usually reading a book, watching a television show, writing a homily, working on my stamp collection and doing all of that at the same time. I have recently taken up crocheting and knitting, which are, by far the most difficult things I have ever tried to do. Is this relaxation? For me, it is. I am thoroughly renewed for it, but I also enjoy my day. I have had the opportunity several times, in the recent quarantined situation, to say: I have never been bored. Is this frenetic activity everyone’s idea of relaxation? Certainly not, it is mine, however, and everyone should find his or her own. Is your work boring? Find a way to make it interesting. Is your life away from work unfulfilling? Find a hobby (or six). Life is too short to sit around and mope about having nothing to do. The world is too filled with opportunity not to explore every single one, even if we have to do it from the quarantined comfort of our own homes.
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  4. Fifth Sunday of Easter
    May 10, 2020
    Very Rev. Denis Robinson, OSB
    I’ve had enough. Quarantined, no go on travel, no Agaves, no Chopstick House, no … nothing
    And this endless, absolutely infinite jabbering of Jesus in John’s Gospel
    I don’t blame Jesus, he seems quite able to control himself rhetorically in the other Gospels but in John we have this ceaseless circumambulation of Dolally Hill
    I am in the father
    The father is in me
    I am the door, the gate, the shepherd, the shepherd’s helper, The shepherd’s administrative assistant, I am the father, the father’s helper
    You are going to the Father
    We are going to the Father
    You are not going to the Father
    I am going to the father … I say: Go already and let us get back to ordinary time!
    St. John is something like my great Aunt Pearl, telling the same stories over and over, always with a fresh eye, always thinking, no one has heard this bit before.
    And then there is Acts. This one sets out. These two set out. Everyone is prancing about, that’s St. Luke. There are now apostles hiding upstairs. There are now disciples spanning the globe. And through it all, Paul talks, Paul preaches, Paul witnesses, Paul cannot shut up. Endless
    And NOW today, we have gone backward. Am I mistaken in remembering that Stephen died about ten days ago? …  and now he’s back.
    Don’t get me wrong, I love St. Luke and I like St. John but some decent editorial help from the Mader Center might have done both a good service. All this running around is wearing my quarantined self out.
    What do we have left for some Good News this morning?
    St. Peter … Ah Peter. Now here’s a man who doesn’t mince words, even when they might be betraying words
    Peter.  You are the Christ, the Son of God
    Peter: I will never deny you
    Peter: Lord, you know I love you.
    Peter knows how to edit and doesn’t elaborate, he accentuates, he transmogrifies:
    You are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
    a holy nation, a people of his own,
    so that you may announce the praises” of him
    who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 
    Peter just lays it out and illuminates for us a simple Truth.
    Jesus is the simple Truth. Jesus is the one who changes us. Jesus. Everything, absolutely everything, all of the words, and the exhortations, and the exegesis aside, we depend upon Jesus, only Jesus, always Jesus. Always
    And of Him, of His spirit, His body, His blood, of Him, we can never have enough.
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  5. Notes from Saint Meinrad - 5/9/2020
    Very Rev. Denis Robinson, OSB
    Graduation Day
    Dear Brothers and Sisters,
    Today is graduation day, one of my two favorite days of the year, the other being opening day in the fall. I usually get up early on graduation day and go downstairs for breakfast early. At that time the people having breakfast are those who have lots of work to do today. After a quick breakfast I try and look in on the bishop who will be presiding at Mass, today it was to be Bishop Medley. Then I usually return to the dining room where seminarians are beginning to have breakfast with their families who have arrived for the graduation. I love the old adage “you know nothing about the person until you meet the family”. Perhaps it is true, perhaps not so much. I love the parents, the proud, yet reserved siblings. There is usually a baby or two, always some young children. Grandmas and grandpas are also on hand. Some have been to countless graduations before and for some, this is as far academically as any member of the family has ever gone. Graduate students also begin to trickle in with families, their children, sometimes grandchildren. We get to the Mass and today we would have a glorious day, a sun-shiny but chilly day, the bells of the archabbey church peeling and the NEW Saint Meinrad flag, straight today from Switzerland (courtesy of Fr. Harry) flying triumphantly on the flagpole. The music swells as faculty and formation staff process in through the wide-open front doors. Deb is on fire this morning and there are TRUMPETS and TIMPANI and someone who plays something no one has ever seen before. 
    The Mass would be so nice, the schola well prepared and drilled by Corey. At the lunch there would be chaos in both dining rooms. Salads are the fare, chicken, tuna, green, ambrosia, There would be cake, Italian wedding cake, carrot cake and chocolate cake, which the young siblings and nieces and nephews would grab up and run through the dining room. Some kid will fall down and there will be wailing. But eventually everyone will have been fed and watered. It’s time to get ready.
    All of us would go to our separate rooms. Seminarians will realize they didn’t steam their gowns well enough and they will look like walking sacks of black laundry. Chances are that is how they will look for the rest of their lives. Faculty will dress up in their wild outfits with hats to match. I will ask Donna or Karen to pin my chain into place (I never remember to look for safety pins until the last minute). The photos will be taken. Dr. Marx would be holding the mace, and then it’s time to line up. Someone finally remembers to go and get the bishop. He looks terrific in his pink cape. In we go to the strains of pomp and circumstance. Speeches would have been given, Deacon Peyton would eloquently recollect for the deacons and then point forward to the future. All of this is about the future. We would then hand out the diplomas and here, my tears start to flow, after all I’m a crier at heart. My heart beats with this cadence: The last time. The last time. The last time. After we sing the Saint Meinrad song, the procession goes out, into the canyon and there are so many hugs and pictures taken. More hugs and more pictures and then …
    It’s over. Some folks will then continue to pack up their rooms, pile crap into their cars and then …
    They are gone. It is wonderful for five minutes and then, I realize that there is nothing I miss more in the world every summer than seminarians and graduate students. I realize that through the years, my bodily rhythms have been conformed to academic years. My days are governed by what happens in the chapel, in the dining room, the classroom. When they are gone, I am haunted by the black and white rectangular pictures, the rooms where so and so USED to live, the hallway on fourth floor where so and so’s shoe is well stuck up on the exposed beam, the hallway where the indelible stain in the carpet was caused by this one’s spill. If I listen closely, I can hear echoes of music, laughter, glasses clinking, hallway golf or cornhole, the giveaway room is overflowing and the best efforts of Armbuster have not succeeded in keeping it neat, this one has a small hole in his wall, this one left eleven cents, a nickel and six pennies on his sink. I will have real tears in my eyes as I drag myself finally upstairs to work on the stamps of Norway. That is how it should have been.
    This graduation day, now lost to us, is about ministry, about priesthood, about who we are as Benedictine religious who serve the Church in this way. It is beautiful and very holy. My brothers and sisters, particularly our graduates, I wish you a very happy graduation day. Let us continue to love and support one another during these trying times and pray, pray hard that we shall all meet again in the very, very near future on a windswept hill called Saint Meinrad.
    Peace in Christ,
    FDR
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  6. Notes from Saint Meinrad - 5/7/2020
    Very Rev. Denis Robinson, OSB

    Dear Brothers and Sisters,

    As we progress with the close of the semester and the beginning of summer, it is important for us to try and make as many decisions as we can about moving forward. We have received from the State of Indiana and from the Archdiocese of Indianapolis directives which are intent upon helping us. They offer us parameters of how we here, in our particular circumstances, shall move forward. Move forward we must. As you will see, many of our directives are more conservative than the state is offering us. I believe our particular case here warrants such caution. Below are the directives and the dates as they currently stand. They are open to revision as the summer progresses. Details aside, I am reminded of this quote:

    “None of us have ever truly walked this way before but if there is no map, no route, no arrowhead to follow there is sometimes a star. And we do not make our way without companions. As the road unfolds we travel side by side and share the shift from darkness into light.”

    My dear brothers and sisters, if we don’t know what to do, if there is confusion, we can continue to pray for one another, to think of one another, to authentically and truly love one another and side by side, we shall travel. I pray so hard every day that we may never lose anyone on our way, that I as pastor may lose none of those that God has given to me and to Saint Meinrad. My love is greater than my fear, but sometimes fear catches me off-guard as I know it catches you. For those of us who are priests, let us be bold without compromise in serving, serving until it hurts, the needs of a people so confused and so downtrodden. As for the rest of us, let us serve too, and pray so hard that God will continue to show us the shift from darkness into life.

    General Norms
    • Fr. Archabbot has asked that the separation between the seminary and the monastery be maintained for now.
    • Fr. Archabbot has also asked us NOT to attend ordinations this year.
    May 11 – Saint Meinrad
    • Seminarians may go out for essential shopping and services. Drive-through restaurant services may be used.
    • Doctor and dental appointments may be resumed.
    • Staff and faculty should continue to work from home, but may come to offices if needed.
    • The internal cloister will remain in place.
    • Face covering should be used when going out.
    • Restrictions on Guest Services will remain.
    • Graduate Theology programs have decided to proceed with an online format for the summer sessions. An assessment will be made about the fall.
    • One Bread, One Cup programs have been cancelled on campus for the summer. An internship program is being designed for late summer.
    • The Institute for Priests and Presbyteries has cancelled all summer programs, including the mini-sabbatical.
    • Permanent Deacon Formation is working with client dioceses on an individual basis. Summer is a fairly calm time. Homiletics programs, usually held on campus are being reconfigured.
    • The library will reopen in a limited capacity.
    June 1 – Saint Meinrad
    • Cloister will remain in place with the possibility of external movement with permission. The cloister will remain accessible by co-workers only with permission.
    • Seminarians may remain indefinitely at Saint Meinrad if needed by restrictions in dioceses of origin.
    • Seminarians will continue to have separate dining room and chapel.
    • Seminarians may go out for meals with permission, following the guidelines given for restaurants.
    • Face covering must be used when going out.
    • In general, school administration and support staff return to work under advisement of supervisors.
    • Faculty may come to offices at will.
    • There will be no groups at Saint Meinrad through guest services; this includes retreats, until at least August 1.
    • The library will be fully reopened to on hill patrons. Seminarians may use it observing separation from other patrons.
    July 1 – Saint Meinrad – If previous initiatives have been successful
    • We will begin a review as to whether guest services and retreats will resume business as usual under internal restrictions provided. A decision will be made by August 1.
    • All school administration shall return to work.
    • Programmatic plans for Graduate Theology, the Institute for Priests and Presbyterates, and Permanent Deacon Formation should be in place for the remainder of the summer and the fall.
    • Plans are developed now through July for the next formation year with a decision concerning fall programs, including seminary, on August 1.
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  7. Notes from Saint Meinrad - 5/4/2020
    Very Rev. Denis Robinson, OSB

    Dear Brothers and sisters,

    In the past weeks we have all undoubtedly been engaged in the same sort of activity, searching the headlines for clues as to how the present crisis is going to play out. On the one hand, the shuttering of activities was fairly straightforward. We shut down quickly and were able to do so because of the cooperation of so many. In many ways it was quite edifying. Undoubtedly, reopening is going to be somewhat more difficult, not to mention controversial. I am attaching today our in-progress summer plan based on the guidelines provided by the state of Indiana. As you can see we are taking a slightly more conservative approach to the question than the state in general. As this is a work in progress I invite any constructive responses you may have. I hope you know that my prayers for all of you are unceasing. I am proud of what the men and women of Saint Meinrad are doing. I am proud of each of you and you will remain in my prayers.

    Peace,
    FDR

    Indiana State Regulations in Black
    • Stage 1 is the phase we have been in since mid-March. This phase included essential manufacturing, construction, infrastructure, government, business and other critical operations will remaining open. Schools remain closed.
    • Stage 2 will begin on Monday, May 4 for most counties. Marion and Lake Counties will begin Stage 2 on May 11. Cass County will start Stage 2 on May 18. The stage includes: Those 65 and older or high-risk should remain at home as much as possible. Social gatherings can increase to 25 people. Restaurants can open at 50% capacity starting May 11. Essential travel restrictions will be lifted. Remaining manufacturers that were not considered essential will be able to open. Retail and commercial businesses will open at 50% capacity.
    • While state rules would allow Indianapolis to begin Phase 2 on May 11, a stay-at-home order for Marion County extends through May 15.
    • Restaurants and bars that serve food may open starting May 11 at 50% capacity, but bar seating will remain closed.
    • Personal services such as hair salons and tattoo parlors can begin to open May 11 by appointment only and must follow social distancing guidelines.
    • Those who work in office settings are encouraged to work remotely whenever possible.
    Saint Meinrad Regulations in Green
    • Seminarians and staff may go out for drives or bicycle rides at any time as long as they avoid persons from the outside
    • Fr. Archabbot has asked that the separation between the seminary and the monastery be maintained for now.
    • Fr. Archabbot has also asked us NOT to attend ordinations this year.
    May 11 – Saint Meinrad
    • Seminarians may go out for essential shopping and services. Drive through restaurant services may be used.
    • Doctor and dental appointments may be resumed.
    • Staff and faculty should continue to work from home, but may come to offices if needed.
    • The internal cloister will remain in place.
    • Face covering should be used when going out.
    • Restrictions on Guest Services will remain.
    • GT programs, OBOC, IPP and PDF will remain on hiatus.
    • The library may reopen in a limited capacity.
    • Starting May 8, for all counties, Indiana worship services may convene. Indoor services are limited to 10 people are fewer. Those 65 and older are asked to stay home.
    • On May 24, Stage 3 can begin: Those who are high-risk may venture out, cautiously. Those who can work remotely should continue to do so. Social gatherings of up to 100 people may occur. Retail stores and malls can go up to 75% capacity. Movie theaters can operate at 50% capacity.
    June 1 – Saint Meinrad
    • Cloister will remain in place with the possibility of external movement with permission. The cloister will remain accessible by co-workers only with permission.
    • Seminarians may remain indefinitely at Saint Meinrad if needed by restrictions in dioceses of origin.
    • Seminarians will continue to have separate dining and chapel.
    • Seminarians may go out for meals with permission, following the guidelines given for restaurants.
    • Face covering should be used when going out.
    • In general, school administration and support staff return to work under advisement of supervisors.
    • Faculty may come to offices at will.
    • Restrictions on Guest Services will remain until June 21 then may resume with groups less than one hundred. Guidelines will be provided at the time.
    • The library will be fully reopened. Seminarians may use it observing separation from other patrons.
    • Attendance at ordinations is suspended.
    • If still on track, the state can move to Stage 4 by June 14. Face coverings will be optional. Zoos and museums can open at 50% capacity. Social gatherings of up to 200 will be allowed. State government buildings will reopen to the public. Office employees can resume work at full capacity. Retail can open at full capacity. Dining service can open at 75% capacity. Recreational sports and leagues can resume.
    July 1 – Saint Meinrad – If previous initiatives have been successful
    • Guest services will resume business as usual under internal restrictions provided. They will only employ Bede Hall and Guest House facilities. There should be NO guest traffic in the main seminary buildings.
    • All school administration shall return to work.
    • Programmatic plans for GT, IPP and PDF should be in place for the remainder of the summer and the fall.
    • Plans are developed now through July for the next formation year with a decision concerning fall programs, including seminary, on August 1.
    Indiana Stage 5 would begin July 4
    • Fairs, festivals and sporting events can resume, with social distancing guidelines. Remote work will still be optional. Retails stores, gyms, personal services and dining can operate at full capacity. Restrictions will be lifted at amusement parks and like facilities.
    • At Stage 5, the state will decide how to approach the next school year.
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Fr. Denis Robinson, OSB
Fr. Denis Robinson, OSB
Fr. Denis Robinson, OSB

Fr. Denis Robinson, OSB, is president-rector of Saint Meinrad School of Theology in St. Meinrad, IN. A Benedictine monk, he is also an assistant professor of systematic theology. A Mississippi native, Fr. Denis attended Saint Meinrad College and School of Theology, earning a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1989 and a Master of Divinity in 1993. From 1993-97, he was parochial vicar for the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Memphis, TN. He joined the Saint Meinrad monastery in August 1997. Fr. Denis also attended the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, where he received a master’s degree in theology in 2002, a licentiate in sacred theology in 2003, and doctorates in sacred theology and philosophy in 2007.

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