Threshold - Fall 2003

Ten Make Oblation

The Mount community welcomed ten new oblates in a ceremony during vespers on May 3. They join the more than one hundred other women and men who have made a formal commitment to live Benedictine values and to associate themselves spiritually with the Atchison sisters.

They come from many backgrounds but have found a common spiritual ground. Bonnie Haghirian, an Atchison native now living in St. Joseph, has fond childhood memories of warm cookies in the monastery kitchen from her great-aunt, Sister Praxedis. As a teacher, and actively involved in parish ministry, she sees the Benedictine influence throughout her life and refers to her oblation as a homecoming.

John Heckert, on the other hand, grew up far away in Pennsylvania, where he was orphaned and struggled to find his place in the world. Foster families, military service, career changes and a blended family are all part of his journey. He is now well settled in Ottawa, an ordained deacon in the Episcopal church, and attends oblate meetings in Kansas City.

Many different paths have brought the oblates to Atchison. Shari Reilly attended college here, but struggled with many of the questions that young adults do regarding the Church. Strengthened by the challenges and supported by her oblate group in Kansas City, she serves as a campus minister in Warrensburg.

Nancy Fennell is also a graduate of the college who has life-long family ties to the community, especially through her aunts, Sisters Adella and Mauricita Schieber. An Omaha resident, she found her life very busy, but not as spiritually fulfilling as she wished. Early retirement enabled her and her husband to come to Atchison for a year of service to Benedictine College. Coming to community prayer, “I found the calmness I had been looking for.”

The calmness of prayer is undoubtedly an attraction for Cori Pursell of Overland Park, the mother of two small boys. As she sought to deepen her spirituality, she says, “I was surprised to find that the building blocks of my Anglican faith were the perfect stepping stones to the Benedictines.”

The connection with her faith was also part of the attraction for Kathy Slawson of the Topeka oblate group. Raised with a variety of religious traditions, she always found herself attracted to liturgy and has become active in service as a youth minister in the Episcopal church.

Judy Willis, a Presbyterian, is a participant in the Souljourners program at Sophia Center. Although she lives in Kansas City, she attends meetings with the Atchison oblate group. Of her discovery of Benedictine spirituality and of Mount St. Scholastica, she sees a series of “coincidences with God’s fingerprints all over them.”

Louise Glotzbach of Leawood would certainly agree. She grew up in Paxico, Kansas, with Benedictine teachers, and neighbors who became sisters, but left there to attend nursing school, raise a family and become a psychologist. Inspired by a friend who was an oblate, she found herself drawn into this way and energized in her faith.

The St. Joseph, Mo., oblate group boasts what is believed to be a first for the sisters: a mother and daughter oblation. Patricia DiIorio and her daughter Patricia (“Pam”) Allen share the same first name, careers in the mental health field, a love of their faith and now a common commitment to Benedictinism. Both found a spirituality which affirmed the same virtues which Patricia had imparted to Pam and her other children and which felt “like family” to them.

From wherever they have come and wherever they are headed, these oblates now carry Mount St. Scholastica in a special way in their hearts and actions.

See a photo of our new oblates


Oblation

An oblation . . .
an offering freely given -
not as the sacrifices of old
offered on blood stained altars of stone.
Instead
an offering freely given
of mind and heart
of soul and spirit
of hands and feet
before the altar where wheat and grapes
are broken and crushed,
infused with eternal Spirit...
becoming at once
Sacrifice and Offering...
an offering freely given
of past and present
of the known and unknown
of days to come
before the altar where the Word
is broken open and shared
infused with eternal Spirit...
becoming at once
Living and Active...
an offering freely given
in word and song
in promise and hope
in heart and mind
on the Holy Ground of yesterday and today
where years of servant’s feet have walked
where hearts infused with the eternal Spirit
have welcomed all,
the Holy Ground of Scholastica and her sisters -
this place of home-coming.

Bonnie Haghirian, Obl.S.B.