Brief history of 100 years of St. Paul’s Abbey -(E) Part 2

The visit of Archabbot Jeremias Schroeder, who was elected Archabbot of the Ottilien Congregation in January 2001, opened another possibility for the future of monastic life in the monastery, when he asked the Korean monastery of Wagwan to take over St. Paul’s Abbey. Abbot Simon Lee, who was elected abbot of Wagwan in August 2001, visited Newton in mid-September of that year, met with Korean clergy and faithful who were serving in the area, and then returned to Wagwan to formally propose the acquisition of St. Paul’s Abbey to the Waegwan Abbey’s chapter meeting.

At that time, Abbot Simon emphasized the close ties between St. Paul’s Abbey and Waegwan Abbey, which date back to the Korean War, when a future member of the abbey was involved in the Heungnam evacuation operation during the Korean War. He emphasized the ties between St. Paul’s Abbey and Waegwan Abbey: Br. Marinus LaRue, who as captain saved fourteen thousand evacuees during the Heungnam evacuation in the Korean War; the several visits of Bishop Abbot Bonifacie Shin to St. Paul’s Abbey to ask for financial help during the time of the Tokwon Abbey in the north of Korea, the roots of Waegwan Abbey; and the fact that Fr. Timothy Bitterli, the first prior of Waegwan Abbey, stayed at St. Paul’s Abbey to prepare for the founding of Waegwan Abbey after the Korean War.

With of these connections and the opportunity to serve the Korean immigrants and faithful living in the United States, the Waegwan community agreed to the proposal of Abbot Simon. On December 13, 2001, the feast of St. Odilia, the patroness of the Ottilien Congregation, the entire community of Waegwan Abbey gathered to celebrate the feast of St. Odilia, and on December 15, 2001, Fr. Kuin John Bosco Kim and five monks were sent on a mission and arrived at St. Paul’s Abbey. Finally, on the Feast of St. Paul on January 25, 2002, the American monks officially turned over the monastery’s ownership and management to the Waegwan Abbey brothers, marking the beginning of a new chapter in St. Paul’s Abbey’s history.

On January 25, 2004, two years after being declared a canonical branch of Waegwan Abbey, St. Paul’s Abbey was elevated to a simple priory, with Fr. Kuin John Bosco Kim as Prior and Fr. Samuel Kim as subprior, setting the stage for the growth of Benedictine life in the region once again.

On January 25, 2007, Fr. Bosco John Bosco Kim resigned and Fr. Samuel Kim was installed as prior, and since then, several vocations have entered the monastery, including three brothers who have made perpetual vows and one monk oblate. As of 2024, there are nine monks: two American, one Tanzanian, and six Korean.

St. Paul’s Abbey consists of monastic buildings, retreat houses, vegetable gardens, a gift shop, and a Christmas tree farm on approximately 430 acres, more than half of which is forested. The need for a retreat house arose after the arrival of the Korean monks in 2001. Still, the old retreat house was too old and difficult to maintain, so the monastery building where the monks lived was converted into a retreat house. The buildings used as infirmary rooms and training rooms for the monks were repaired and renovated to become a monastery.

In 2015, the monastery installed toilets and showers in each room to make it more comfortable for retreatants and now has 30 double-occupancy rooms. Since the 1970s, the Christmas tree farm has been planted on about 100 acres of land with many varieties of Christmas trees and sold from the day after Thanksgiving through the week before Christmas. It is so well known that it is often associated with St. Paul’s Abbey. The Abbey Gift Shop, located at the entrance to the monastery, provides the necessary sacramental and gift items and church books for the Church’s feasts. It is here that Br. Marinus, who entered the monastery in 1954, worked for many years, not only providing the faithful with sacraments but also witnessing to them the Lord’s love through his many spiritual discourses.

 Currently, the cause for the beatification of Br. Marinus is being promoted by the U.S. Maritime Pastoral Service, which, with the cooperation of the Diocese of Peterson and the full support of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference, is well underway, gathering evidence and materials for the beatification process and raising funds for the cause. In addition, our brothers are working to repair and maintain the vegetable gardens, buildings, vehicles, and farm equipment.

This is the 22nd year our Korean brothers have been here, called by God. When we first came here, our goal was to revitalize Benedictine monastic spirituality in the area by raising St. Paul’s Abbey once again after it had fallen rather than serving the Korean faithful.

But over time, we realized that it was more important to turn our attention to the Korean immigrants and faithful and to find things that would benefit them, rather than to have all the liturgies in English and to find things that would benefit the locals here. With the approval of Abbot Blasio, who was elected Abbot of Wagwan Abbey in South Korea in 2013, the monastery increased the number of Korean-language liturgies, renovated the retreat house to allow for more interaction with Korean immigrants, and built a reception room to make it more comfortable for those who visit the monastery.

Furthermore, the monastery planted about 500 different flowering trees around the monastery and built a path so that people could walk and pray around the monastery. In the spring, cherry blossoms, apple blossoms, and pear blossoms bloom not only around the monastery but also along the path, giving joy to those who visit the monastery.

Now that we are approaching the centenary of the monastery’s founding, rather than commemorating and celebrating the accomplishments and completions that have been made, we would like to use this occasion to begin anew.

We are grateful that with the grace of the Lord and the help of many benefactors, the monastery is gradually stabilizing. Now, our greatest desire is to repair and renovate the temple so that those who visit can meet the Lord in the temple and have a time of grace, thanksgiving, joy, and peace of mind. As Newton Abbey celebrates its centennial, we hope that it will continue to grow in God’s grace and provide spiritual shelter and peace to the local community and Korean immigrants and that in its simple life of prayer and work, it will continue to live a life of witness to Christ and his love for all who come, following the words of St. Benedict, “Consider nothing better than the Lord Jesus Christ.” A generation has passed away, and a new one has begun. We thank God and all who love Newton Abbey that the Church continues, and the Benedictine tradition lives on, just as new life forms out of apparent death.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version) and modified.