Chuck's Trip: St. Meinrad Archabbey with Jeff

After Louisville, I was cruising through farm land in Indiana on my way to St. Meinrad. St. Meinrad is the name of the town, but the only thing in the town is St. Meinrad's Archabbey, which houses a Benedictine monastery and a seminary for Catholic priests. My buddy Jeff H. is currently studying to become a priest there, and I had been meaning to visit him for a while.

View St. Meinrad in a larger map

View St. Meinrad Pt II in a larger map

The next nearest town is called Santa Claus. Not kidding. Apparently they have a giant Christmas-themed theme park there.

I got there in the early afternoon, and I checked into my small guestroom. St. Meinrad has brand new guest facilities where visitors can stay for nominal rate. After checking in I walked towards the towering church where I met Jeff in a sweeping plaza. He still had a few classes to attend, but I went and explored the grounds of St. Meinrad until we were to meet for daily mass.

One of my first stops was the cemetary for the abbey. All of the Benedictine brothers are buried here after they pass on. The cemetary sits on a long green slope that overlooks a calm pond. A very peaceful resting place.

These buildings comprise the classrooms and offices for the seminary, as well as the seminarians living quarters. The hallways of these buildings were very clean and decorated with fantastic art. I spent quite a few hours walking the hallways and enjoying the art. I also walked around the grounds and explored. Jeff explained that I could go anywhere, but I should respect the privacy of those living in the Abbey (that area was off limits).

I met Jeff up for daily mass with all of the seminarians. Mass was quite a unique experinece. Obviously, participation in the mass was very high. Everyone sang, and it the sound was booming yet masculine. Very beautiful actually. The collective responses for parts of the mass were loud and in a very deep and masculine tone. I sounded like a little schoolgirl with my responses. I quickly fixed that. Honestly, the best way I can describe the booming collective voice was by comparing it to the borg in Star Trek. That is exactly what it sounded like. It was such a cool experinece. All the rules of the mass were followed to exacting specifications. I guess for the seminarians, this is part of their training. At the end of mass, the main presider asks if there are any guests, and Jeff announced my presence to the community.

All meals are done with the community in cafeteria style. Meals were great. I sat with Jeff, and everyone was very welcoming and friendly. Most of the seminarians are around my age, so it was just like hanging out with a few friends at meal. Honestly, a lot of the nuisances and practices of the seminary were very reminscent of high school (I went to an all male catholic school), so I felt pretty comfortable in this environment, although at first I was very restrained in my behavior for fear that I would break some rule unknown to me. After sitting around and talking with people at meal time, I felt much more comfortable.

Jeff had to go back to class. Having already spent a decent amount of time exploring, I took a nap and worked on the blog until dinner time. Before dinner, he gave me an excellent tour of campus. He showed me many of the buildings that the seminarians frequent in everyday life. He pointed out his favorite pieces of art, showed me the library, and took me around to lot of hidden gems that I would not have discovered on my own. One of these gems was a chapel on campus where Eastern rite masses can be held. Jeff explained with enthusiastic and fascinating detail how several priests at St. Meinrad are capable of doing the Eastern rite mass. He explained how the priest enters a gated area and performs a dramatic consecration full of symbolism that and detail that is much different than the Roman rite. It was very interesting, and I would love to attend one if these masses at some point in my life.

For dinner, we headed to "The Unstable," the pub on campus. The Unstable used to be a horse stable way back when, and it somepoint it was designated as the student recreation area, hence the funny name "The Unstable." This place is the one area on campus that belongs completely to the students. No faculty are allowed (except by invitation, maybe?). It is the one place the students can relax with fellow students and discuss/complain about the complexities of seminary life, always in a charitable manner of course (amusingly, the word charitable was used in excess at the seminary).

You may also be thinking that it seems odd that a seminary has a bar on campus. I guarantee you that priests and seminarians are just normal people and can appreciate a brew with friends every now and again. Remember, this is not a baptist seminary, and, monks have been skilled producers of beer worldwide. But still, over indulgence is very much frowned upon. The bartenders are seminarians, and I guess it is a duty assigned just like anything else (the baristas in the coffee shop were also seminarians....they run this whole joint). Still, I did find it amusing when I was greeted by a giant Miller Lite banner that bore the Unstable's name on it when I walked in.

That night, they students in Jeff's class were celebrating a classmate's birthday. Delicious pizza was procured, beer was drank, and fellowship commenced. I had a great time hanging out with those guys.

Apparently, the Unstable is known for its birthday traditions. If it is your birthday, you must kiss the moose-head mount in the bar. For whatever, reason, the actual giant moosehead couldnt be there, and a surrogate stuffed animal moose took its place. It wasnt my birthday, but Jeff said that I should kiss the moose anyways if I wanted the authentic Unstable experience. After a fun time with Jeff and his classmates at The Unstable, I headed back to my guest room for sleep.

The next morning, I went to morning prayer at the main sanctuary with the Benedictine brothers instead of the seminarians. Unfornately, I didnt take as many pictures of the inside, mainly because I didnt want to be irreverent during the service. The ceiling was soaring. The benedictine community sits up front, and they sit not in pews, but rows of individual cubicle-like wooden chairs. Jeff explained that the purpose of this is reinforce that while each person is apart of the community, they are still individuals. The prayers were all sung as chants. The tone of these chants was surprinsingly much different than I heard from the seminarians. The monks sang elaborate chants with a much gentler and more crisp delivery that greatly contrasted with the masculine and powerful singing of the seminarians. It gave me chills, and I sat with the other people in the small guest section delighting in this ritual.

Here is a picture of the monks chairs (courtesy Mark Scott Abeln: https://www.flickr.com/photos/msabeln)

While Jeff was in class, I did exploring. The first thing I did was to circumnavigate the campus. It was no small campus, but it was such a mild and enjoyable day, that I took the several hour hike to examine this landmark from every angle. The campus really is smack dab in the middle of nowhere. Surrounding the immediate campus are well manicured rolling green hills.

Next, I hopped in the car and drove a couple miles away to check out several of the massive churces in the area. The first was the cathedral at the Convent of the Immaculate Conception. Jeff told me it looked like the Zelda castle, and he was totally right. I found it striking that such a large and elaborate church was completely in the middle of nowhere. There was a very small town in the area, but for the most part, the only thing surrounding the convent was miles of farmland. I guess the sisters at the convent are gonig to devote their lives to prayer, they probably want to do it in beautiful surroundings.

After walking around the exterior for a bit, I made my move to go inside. Actually it took me a while to figure out how to get inside. It turns out, the whole church is on a slope and the sanctuary is on the upper floors. After trying to open countless locked doors, I found a small staircase hidden away. I felt like I was walking up a secret passage. The stairs lead to a small tower that looked out over the grounds. Awesome.

After taking the stairs, I was finally on the main level. I walked through a very elaborate walkway meant to imitate European architecture that lead to the main sanctuary. It had mosaics on the wall and beautifully painted statues.

The sanctuary was soaring, but very sleek. Everything was gorgeous, from the baptismal font, to the stations of the cross, to the hand carved embellishments on the pews.

The focal point of the sanctuary is definitely the tabernacle. The tabernacle itself is surrounded by a domed wooden structure. I heard someone at St. Meinrad refer to it sarcastically as the "space egg." Many Catholics are critical of modern attempts at religious art and architecture. I see his point (and it made me laugh), but I still thought it looked cool.

After getting back to the Archabbey, I still had a little time to burn before Jeff was done with studying. He told me about a small Marian shrine that was on the the other side of a pond on campus. I took the short hike to check it out.

After a full day of exploring, and a full day of class for Jeff, we ate dinner. We spent the rest of the evening enjoying a cigar and continuing our "Deep Thoughts" tradition from our college dorm. It was a nice night, and we sat under a pavillion, discussed our deep thoughts, and invited passersby for conversation.

The next morning, it was back to work for Jeff. We ate a quick breakfast, and I headed on my way. Jeff informed me that there was one more church that I had to see before I left. It was St. Boniface in a small town called Fulda. As a matter of fact, this town is so small, St. Boniface was not even listed on Google Maps. I thought about adding it, but I figured its inaccessibility was part of its charm. I will let the pictures speak for themselves, but this church is magnificent. Ironically, the exterior is so plain jane that I thought I must be at the wrong place considering how much Jeff had raved about it. The colors on the paintings and sculptures were so bold. And apparently, they record pipe organ performances that are aired on the radio program Pipe Dreams ( I am a nerd, and I listen to this program on occasion, so I was geeked out. Check out Pipe Dreams Sunday nights on your NPR station).