Dear Oblates,

The Feast of Pentecost is for me a great spiritual signpost in the liturgical year. As we celebrate the presence and power of the Holy Spirit at work in Christ's Church, we come to the end of paschal time and enter into "ordinary time," a liturgical period that symbolizes our monastic determination to be faithful to the Lord's promise in the everyday rhythms of our lives.

This year the Feast of Pentecost includes remembrance of all our mothers on Mother's Day, even as we continue our celebration of Mary, our Blessed Mother, in this month which is especially devoted to her. At the abbey we also are celebrating this Pentecost weekend the ordination and the first Mass of Br. Damian Daprai (10:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 10). Whenever one of our monks is ordained to the priesthood, we ask the Lord to give him the grace to touch the lives of many others through his sacramental ministry and pastoral gifts. I know that all of you will join the abbey community in giving thanks for the gift of Br. Damian to Marmion and to the Church. We also give thanks to have retired Bishop of Rockford, Arthur O'Neill, as the ordaining bishop. He will take the place of Bishop Thomas Doran who is recovering from a broken ankle.

Other abbey news includes the return of Fr. Andrew from his pilgrimage to Lourdes (May 1-7). The abbey community is most grateful to oblate Tom Mulligan for helping to sponsor Fr. Andrew and his brother Bob Whamhoff on this pilgrimage through the aid of the Knights of Malta. Fr. Andrew celebrated 50 years as a priest on May 3 and the Church celebrates 150 years since the appearance of the Blessed Mother to St. Bernadette at Lourdes. In addition to praying for Fr. Andrew's health, please continue to keep in prayer Br. Anselm (soon to undergo additional intestinal surgery), Fr. Barnabas, Fr. Gregory and Fr. Christian.

There will be some comings and goings of other monks in future weeks. Fr. Paul will leave for Northern Iraq at the end of May and be there for three months, serving troops as chaplain. Br. Kevin will leave at the end of the month for St. Mary's Abbey in Morristown, New Jersey. He plans to spend the next school year there, teaching at Delbarton school and discerning a possible transfer of his stability. He waned to be closer to his mother who lives in Philadelphia. Br. Marcos, who is finishing his last year of philosophy studies at Mundelein, will leave this month for his first visit to his native Colombia since he entered the abbey. He will return in June with his mother, who will visit Marmion for the first time. It has also been announced that Fr. Thomas will spend next year at Conception Abbey, teaching in their college seminary. But there is also a monk who is returning-Fr. Prior John Brahill will arrive back at Marmion at the end of the month. He is expected to help Fr. Charles in the Development Office.

The upcoming month holds the usual array of Academy functions as well, including the Baccalaureate Mass on May 18 and Graduation on May 25. One of the outgoing faculty at the Academy who will be honored at the end-of-the-year luncheon is our oblate Jon Bakken. Jon, who has taught Advanced Placement/Honors Physics these past few years, will be sorely missed. But our loss is Fermi Lab's gain.

I am pleased to announce that our plans for the Way of the Cross have been approved and we have purchased the first materials. Largely due to the energy and effort of Pat Williams, work is expected to begin at the end of May. More information will be given on the planned construction at the meeting on May 18th. At our May meeting we will fix our June monastery visit. Unfortunately, the desired trip to St. Meinrad had to be canceled because of lack of rooms at the St. Meinrad Guest House. So I am planning to have a day trip to St. Procopius and Sacred Heart Monasteries in Lisle, on Monday June 2. It will include a midday Mass and lunch. We will discuss transportation, schedule and numbers at our May meeting. I ask that you bring to the May meeting your own calendars, so that we might discuss the schedule for the year 2008-09. Before our meeting at 3:30 on May 18th in the library we will have our usual session on the Rule (chapters 60-63 and 71-72) in the abbey day room.

In Christ,

Fr. Joel
Oblate Director