Schuyler's Benedictine Hospitality
St. Benedict Center and the Benedictine Mission House are “a haven in the world, but with a cultivated distance from the world.”
Story by Molly Garriott
Photography by Alyssa Schukar
I felt myself slowing down even as
my car approached the long drive that winds its way to St. Benedict Center.
The surroundings induce calm. Removed in its rural setting, St. Benedict gently
invites its visitors to cast off the hurried pace of modern living . . . at
least for a little while.
Four miles north of Schuyler, the
monks at St. Benedict Center are known for their hospitality. St. Benedict,
the order’s sixth-century founder, instructed his monks to welcome anyone
who came to them for help, guidance and hospitality. To Benedict and his followers,
a rich man was the same in God’s eyes – and therefore in their eyes
– as the slave that served him. This concept of equality was unusual in
his time.
Today’s Benedictine monks still
adhere to this principle. All who walk through the front doors of St. Benedict
Center are welcomed regardless of their religious beliefs, or lack thereof.
The center is a non-profit, ecumenical retreat and conference center founded
by the Missionary Benedictines of Christ the King Priory.
“As Benedictines, we share our
hospitality with those who search for personal and spiritual growth,”
reads the center’s mission statement. “We welcome individuals and
groups of all Christian denominations, as they seek God in a peaceful and quiet
setting. We provide an atmosphere that is conducive to prayer, rest, and renewal
for laity, clergy, and religious.”
Transplanted to the Nebraska Prairie
Two main buildings make up St. Benedict’s
campus: The Benedictine Mission House (the monastery), and the retreat and conference
center a stone’s throw away.
The word “monastery” conjures
up images of steepled buildings festooned with gargoyles and buttresses in the
gothic vein, or red tiled with open air porticos in the Spanish mission style.
But rather than lifting its face to the skies like a traditional monastery,
the Mission House is rooted firmly in the land. Angular, squat and constructed
of concrete blocks, it is built mostly into the rolling hills. The monks’
rooms open onto balconies, and natural light filters in through windows in the
common rooms, but essentially the monastery is burrowed underground.
“In 1979, we came to the hills,”
said Fr. Germar Neubert, prior of the Missionary Benedictines of Schuyler. The
community moved from its downtown Schuyler home when the local Ehernberger family
donated nearly 15 acres of land.
It was the height of the energy crisis
and the monks thought it was a smart move to build into the ground. “We
said, ‘Let’s build for the future’ in case the energy crisis
happens again,” Fr. Germar said.
Given the rising cost of energy today,
the move was prophetic. The building stays warm in the winter – though
muggy summer weather prevents the monks from dressing in their full monk garb.
“We don’t wear all this,” Fr. Germar said smiling, batting
about the many folds of his monk’s robe. “We go around like cowboys.”
If the image of a monk dressed like
a cowboy seems humorous, consider that most of the monks in question are German.
Other than three Americans, the Missionary Benedictines of Christ the King Priory
are transplanted from Munsterschwarzach, about 80 miles north of Munich.
Monks from the order first came to
the United States in 1935 to escape Hitler’s tyranny and to ensure the
survival of their missionary work. The bishop of Omaha, Joseph Francis Rummel,
had been a classmate of one of the community’s abbots. Aware of the persecution,
he offered land from the Omaha diocese in Schuyler.
As a railroad town in the middle of the United States, Schuyler was ideally situated for the monks’ missionary work and fundraising. In two days’ travel, they could be at either coast. They traveled eight or nine months a year, going door to door to ask for money to support their missionary work.
Imagine – five German monks,
speaking patchy English at best, asking people of Czech, Polish, French or Dutch
ancestry for money even as the monks’ native country was conquering much
of Europe.
“Everybody is your enemy, and with good reason,” Fr. Germar said, referring to the obstacles his predecessors faced. “But the Americans reacted wonderfully because they knew our problems with Hitler. American money saved our missionary work during and after the war.”
Fr. Germar himself can personally
relate to what those first German monks felt when they arrived on the Nebraska
prairie. Thirteen years ago, he received a call from his abbot telling him that
he was needed in Nebraska.
“I thought, ‘Oh, Lord.’
I went to Nebraska, like a paratrooper down, with just six weeks of English,”
he said, laughing. But English was relatively easy for him, having learned both
Latin and Greek during his studies to become a monk. Still, his first conversations
with local farmers were…interesting. “The farmers heard me and responded,
‘Huh? Huh?’” he said.
When they came to America more than
70 years ago, the missionary branch of the Benedictine order was still young.
St. Benedict began his missionary work in Europe in the sixth century; in 1884,
his monks began taking the message to the far reaches of the globe, starting
with what is today the African nation of Tanzania. Since then, they have worked
in other parts of Africa, as well as Korea, China, the Philippines, India, Venezuela
and Colombia.
In the monastery’s public section,
glass cases display the artwork and craftsmanship of the peoples the monks have
aided. They include wood carvings from Tanzania, brightly-colored jewelry from
Zululand and Kenya, unique flower arrangements from the Philippines, musical
instruments from Togo, woven baskets and crockery from Colombia. Many of the
pieces are for sale to help raise money for continued overseas missions.