Little Flower Monastery — Saint Paul’s Abbey

St. Paul’s Abbey belongs to the Ottilien Congregation of the Benedictine family. This congregation has its origins in the missionary movement that was newly awakening in the Church in the nineteenth century. Fr. Andreas Amrhein, a monk of Beuron, believed that the Benedictines, too, could share in this missionary movement and keep alive the monastic missionary tradition of the Benedictines that existed in the first millennium in Europe. He founded his congregation in Bavaria, Germany in 1884. Almost immediately Rome assigned the monks of the new congregation the southern half of present-day Tanzania as their territory.

World War I brought a set back to that monastic mission work in East Africa. All the German monks were detained from 1917 on for the remainder of the war and then returned to St. Ottilien in Germany. The missionary monks realized that they had to expand their base in personnel beyond Germany if they were to be able to continue. At the same time, the post war period in Germany was economically difficult. St. Ottilien looked towards the USA. In 1921 it assigned one of its former East African missionaries, Fr. Michael Heinlein, to come to the United States to solicit funds for mission work and to scout out a place for a foundation.

After several years of looking throughout the country, Fr. Michael settled on the East as the best place to make a foundation. In the meantime, St. Joseph’s Abbey in Louisiana had received monks from St. Ottilien to help them. In 1922 four monks traveled to Louisiana. These would eventually find their way to Newton. By the end of 1923 it looked like the Diocese of Newark, NJ would be open to receiving the Benedictine monks of the Ottilien Congregation. Contact was made with St. Joseph’s parish in Newton, NJ and Rev. Michael Donnelly helped Fr. Michael to locate the Red Gate Farm on what is now Route 206. This farm consisted of about five hundred acres. It had a stone house that dated from about 1849, a frame house and several out buildings as well as a twenty acre lake with its own farm house and barn.

In January 1924 the bishop of Newark gave his consent to the foundation. In early March the property was purchased and on March 15, 1924, Fr. Michael and Fr. Matthias Nett came to take possession of Red Gate Farm.  The stone farmhouse was cleaned and prepared to welcome a monastic community. Several other farm buildings were likewise made fit for the common life. On April 21 the first Mass was celebrated by Bishop Thomas Spreiter, who had formally been the superior of the missionary monks in East Africa. The community was placed under the patronage of Blessed Theresa of Lisieux and called Little Flower Monastery.

In May of the same year, the first band of six brothers arrived at Newton from several monasteries in Germany. By March 1925 the community had doubled in size when monks who were part of a proposed foundation in Washington State were transferred to the new monastery at Newton.  The former farmland was reactivated with dairy cattle; the milk was sold locally. An apple orchard was planted near the lake whose produce was eventually sold or made into cider. Land not cultivated was planted with trees. This project later evolved into the Abbey Christmas Tree farm.

In the late 1920s the whole foundation was threatened with closure, but after the newly elected Archabbot Chrysostom Schmid, O.S.B. made his initial visit to the monastery in 1931, a green light was given to continue with the community. The first thing Father Michael did was to plan for a larger building. It was to house all the community members as well as his dream of a Benedictine Mission Seminary. By October 1932 the building was completed and there were fifteen students in the seminary. In 1934 one of the alumni of this seminary entered the novitiate and the following year saw the first American vocation, Fr. Boniface Cronin, make profession.

In 1936 the community was raised to the rank of a conventual priory by the Holy See. This meant that the community life was stable enough that the monastery could be an autonomous, independent monastery in the Ottilien Congregation. The founder, Father Michael, continued on as superior and the first conventual prior. He continued to put his energy into vocations and in the summer of 1938 a boy’s camp, Camp St. Benedict, was started. It ran, with a hiatus during the war years, until 1978. This camp did bring several vocations to the monastery over the years, including two of its abbots. The camp peaked in enrollment in the early seventies. But by 1978 the nature of camping had changed, there was a shortage of monastic personnel as well as insufficient funds and the camp was closed.

The rapid growth of the community, the arrival of American vocations and the financial woes connected with the Depression brought much stress to Father Michael and in July 1941 he stepped down as superior. He had done his work well and the community now numbered nine priests, fifteen professed brothers and six clerical novices. The responsibility of leadership now fell to Fr. Aquilin Sendelbach, O.S.B., a monk of Münsterschwarzach Abbey in Germany. He was appointed administrator in July 1941. It was Fr. Aquilin who led the community during the war years as well as trying to keep it economically solvent. One fruit of the growth of the community was that in 1945 two Americans were sent to the missions. Fr. Andrew O’Sullivan and Fr. Paul Keohane were sent to the Zululand missions of the Ottilien Congregation in South Africa. Fr. Paul eventually went on to East Africa and taught at a mission station school there.

On June 9, 1947, the priory was raised to the dignity of an abbey. In August of that year an American, Father Charles Coriston, became the first abbot. At the same time permission was granted to place the new abbey under the patronage of Saint Paul, the missionary apostle. The abbey continued to expand. The monastery building of 1932 was too small to hold the monks and the seminarians. In 1948 a temporary structure was put up to house the students. There was an increase of vocations. Some of the German monks now joined their young American confreres, who had gone to East Africa, and took a turn at mission work in South Africa. In the 1950s it was also decided to phase out the farming operation. Some of the brothers who had worked in the barns now became missionaries in Venezuela and Colombia.

In 1960 plans for a new monastery building on a site across the highway and away from its noise were drawn up. In November 1962 the community moved into its new home. At the same time the former monastery building was renovated to house the Queen of Peace Retreat House. Retreats at the monastery had begun in the late 40s and a wooden building had been put up for this program at some distance from the monastery. With larger quarters the retreat movement expanded even further, and school groups were added to the usual weekend retreat groups.

The 1960s were an exciting time for the Church, especially with Vatican II. There was also much happening in the United States as well. The Civil Rights Movement and peace movements were challenging the ideas of many. These trends and experiences affected life in the country and also had their effect on the community of St. Paul’s

Some members of the community became involved in these movements with their concerns for peace, justice and social awareness. A number of members left the community at this time to find new apostolates and new vocations. By 1965 Abbot Charles had led the community for nineteen years. He decided to step down for a younger person. In December 1966 Father Augustine Hinches, O.S.B. was appointed prior-administrator. In September 1970 he was elected as the second abbot of St. Paul’s Abbey. He oversaw the completion of a new seminary building––changing times eventually forced its closure in the early 70s. As the former business manager of the monastery, he continued to keep the community on solid financial footing. The Christmas Tree Plantation expanded tremendously under his direction. Eventually it became a Choose ‘n Cut operation, sales increased, and a regular planting schedule was implemented along with experimentation in various kinds of conifers. Another area that also expanded was the retreat work. The Matt Talbot retreats for men and women in recovery mushroomed and became the dominate feature of the community’s retreat work. While the community was able to stabilize after the departures of the late sixties, it was not able to recover its vocational losses, and few new members joined the monastery.

In March 1982 Abbot Augustine was succeeded by Abbot Justin Dzikowicz, O.S.B., the monastery’s third abbot. He inherited a community that was now small in numbers, but with a sizeable physical operation. A period of self-study was undertaken, and questions of the future began to emerge. At the same time the community opened itself to welcoming monks from the congregation’s monasteries in Africa. They received their orientation to American life at the monastery as well as intensive language courses. They were then placed in American Benedictine colleges for further study. In addition, there was a spirituality program offered here for members of the Ottilien Congregation. It ran twice.

The missionary commitment of the small community remained strong. While one member returned after fifteen years at Inkamana Abbey, South Africa, another was sent there and another was assigned to the young priory in Nairobi, Kenya.

At home the community realized that it was growing older and so a portion of the monastery was renovated to care for the needs of the senior members. In the early 1990s the Abbey Gift Shop that originally had been started in the fifties was also completely renovated.

On December 31, 1996, Abbot Justin resigned. In early January 1997 the community elected Father Joel Macul, O.S.B. as its fourth abbot. He had spent the previous five years at St. Benedict’s Priory in Nairobi and Tigoni, Kenya. At the time of his election there were ten monks living in the abbey. Most of them were in their eighties. The situation regarding the future needed to be faced directly. But first the community celebrated the 75^th anniversary of its founding in 1999 with a celebration on October 2.

In the Jubilee Year 2000 the community took up the task of praying and deciding its future. Several members had died since 1997 making the situation more critical. In the process of discussion and sharing it became clear that very shortly the community would not be able to care for itself. In the autumn of 2000, the members agreed to enter into a process of phasing out the monastic community at Newton. The General Chapter of the Ottilien Congregation in October 2000 heard the community’s petition and reluctantly agreed to the community’s decision and allowed the process of phasing out to begin. The monks began to look for new monastic homes.

In the meantime, a visit of the congregation’s new abbot president, Archabbot Jeremias Schroeder, O.S.B., in January 2001 opened up another possibility for the future of monastic life at the abbey. He supported the community’s decision but did not want to have an empty monastery. He approached Waegwan Abbey in South Korea and asked them to consider taking on the monastery in Newton. Since there is a sizeable Korean Catholic community in the New York-New Jersey area, there would be a ready apostolate for these Korean Benedictine monks.

There was already a special bond between the abbey and Korea. One of its monks, Br. Marinus LaRue, O.S.B. had been a Merchant Marine captain at the time of the Korean War. He had authorized the evacuation of 14,000 refugees from North Korea on his ship the Meredith Victory at Christmas 1950. At the time the rescue was recognized by the new South Korean government and the US Congress, but for the most part had been forgotten over the years. The year 2000 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the evacuation and old memories revived. Now elderly and sick, Br. Marinus was still alive, and his story was revived. Since one monk of Wagewan was a very small boy on board that ship, the Waegwan community was also well aware of the connection. The new abbot of Waegwan came for a visit to assess the situation and ascertain the support of the local Korean Catholic community. In October 2001 the monks of Waegwan Abbey agreed to form a community at St. Paul’s Abbey. In December 2001 the first six monks arrived from Korea with Fr. Bosco Kim, O.S.B. as their superior. A new chapter in the history of the abbey was beginning. In January 2002, on the feast of St. Paul, the American monks formally handed over ownership and care of the abbey to their confreres from Waegwan Abbey.

Assisted in the beginning by three monks from the former American community, the monks of Waegwan have made an effort to adjust to a new country and life style and at the same time to serve the spiritual needs of Korean Catholics living in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area. Like the German monks who first came here in the 1920s, the Korean monks too are meeting the challenges of a new country and at the same time keeping the spirit of St. Benedict alive in this part of northern New Jersey.

God’s providential care has its own mysterious ways. One generation faded out and a new one has begun. Out of apparent death, new life takes shape. The Church continues and the Benedictine tradition is being handed on.

2024 부활

Happy Easter!

뉴튼 수도원을 아껴 주시는 모든 분께,

복되고 영광스러운 우리 주 예수 그리스도의 부활을 진심으로 축하드리며, 주님 부활의 은총과 기쁨 평화가 여러분과 가족 모두에게 가득 깃들기를 바라며 기도합니다. 주님 부활을 기뻐하며 뉴튼 수도원의 소식을 전합니다.

구상나무: 우리 뉴튼 수도원 크리스마스 트리 농장에는 약 3만 그루의 트리가 자라고 있는데, 그 종류가 5가지 정도 됩니다. 그중에 한국에서 구상나무라고 불리는 Korean Fir는 제주도를 포함해 대한민국의 산지에 자생하는 고유종인데, 현재는 한국에서 멸종 위기에 처해있다고 합니다. 그런데 이 구상나무가 우리 뉴튼 수도원 크리스마스 트리 농장에 150여 그루 자라고 있어서 한국에서 관심을 받고 있으며, 특히 제주에서 온 식물학자들이 이 나무를 잘 보존해 주기를 청하였습니다. 그래서 3월 4일부터 일주일 정도 봉헌회원 Chris Megna와 수도원 근처에서 농장을 운영하는 Snyder씨의 도움을 받아 수도원과 학교 사이에 공터를 정리한 뒤에 트리 농장에 있는 구상나무 가운데 상태가 양호한 나무로 67그루를 옮겨 심었습니다. 한국 고유종인 구상나무가 뉴튼 수도원에서 우리 한인 수도자들과 함께 잘 보존되고 성장해 나가길 희망해 봅니다.

형제들 소식: 여러분의 기도와 관심 덕분에 우리 형제들 모두 잘 지내고 있음에 감사드립니다. 수도원 재정을 책임지고 있는 이 베르나르도 수사가 3월에 Montclair State University에서 회계학 석사 학위를 받았습니다. 수도원의 많은 업무를 보면서도 밤에 시간을 내어 성실하게 공부를 하여 학위를 받게 된 것입니다. 작년까지 약 6년 동안 네브라스카 주에 있는 스카일러 수도원의 원장으로 수고해 주었던 죠엘 아빠스가 1월 24일부터 약 1주일 동안 그 수도원을 방문하여 반가운 시간을 가졌습니다. 박 블라시오 아빠스님이 1월에 정기 시찰을 하고 돌아가신 뒤에 수도 형제들에 대한 인사 이동을 하였는데, 우리 뉴튼 수도원의 김 덕현 요셉 수사가 4월 1일 부로 한국 왜관 수도원으로 발령을 받았습니다. 요셉 수사는 3월 20일에 휴가를 위해 스테튼 아일랜드에 있는 어머니집으로 갔으며 아빠스님의 허락을 받고 4월11일에 한국으로 갈 예정입니다. 저는 1월 8일에서 10일까지 장례 미사를 위해 피츠버그에 다녀 왔으며, 그 다음 날인 11일 저녁에는 미국인 봉헌자 Chris Megna와 함께 뉴튼 지역에서 활동하고 있는 콜럼버스 기사단 모임에 참석하여 그분들의 도움에 감사하고 수도원의 소식도 전하는 시간을 가졌습니다. 그리고 2월 2일부터 5일까지 San Diego에 있는 Prince of Peace 수도원에서 있었던 미국 베네딕도회 장상 모임에 참석하였습니다. 미국에는 약 11개의 베네딕도회 연합회가 활동하고 있는데, 우리 뉴튼 수도원이 속한 연합회는 독일 성 오틸리아 연합회로서 미국에 두군데가 있습니다. 죠엘 아빠스가 작년 초까지 원장으로 있었던 네브라스카 주 스카일러 수도원인데, 이번에 새롭게 원장으로 온 Anastasius Reiser 신부도 참석하였습니다. 아나스타시오 신부는 독일 뮌스터슈바르작 수도원 출신으로 12년동안 탄자니아 페라미오 수도원에서 아빠스로 재직하였습니다. 아빠스 사임 후에 작년에 스카일러 수도원의 원장으로 임명 받아 오게 되었는데, 이번 7월에 있을 뉴튼 수도원의 정기 시찰과 재정 시찰 담당자로 오게 될 것입니다.

친애하는 형제 자매 여러분, 우리 공동체에 있어 2024년은 특별한 의미가 있는 해입니다. 1924년 뉴저지 주 뉴튼 이라는 작은 마을에 독일 성 오틸리엔 연합회 베네딕도 수도자들이 기초를 놓고 수도생활을 시작지 100년이 되는 해이기 때문입니다. 2001년 12월에 우리 한인 수도자들이 와서 이 지역에 베네딕도회 수도생활이 계속 이어지고 더욱 깊이 뿌리 내리기를 바라며 생활해 온 지도 벌써 22년이 지났습니다. 뉴튼 수도원 설립 100주년을 어떻게 기념하고 새롭게 성장해 나가야 하는지에 대해 생각해보지 않을 수 없습니다. 주님의 크신 은총으로 성소자도 생기고 또 한국 전쟁 당시 흥남 부두에서 14,000명을 구한 마리누스 수사에 대한 시복 시성 청원이 잘 이루어지길 기대해 봅니다. 외적으로는 수도원 성당을 새롭게 보수하여 수도원을 찾는 사람들이 오래 머무르고 싶고 기도하고 싶은 마음이 들 수 있는 성당이 되었으면 좋겠습니다. 100주년 기념 미사는 10월 6일 주일에 거행하는 것으로 정하였으며, 100주년에 대한 좀 더 자세한 소식은 여름 소식지를 통해 전해 드리도록 하겠습니다. 우리 뉴튼 공동체는 여러분의 기도와 도움에 늘 감사드리며, 주님 부활의 크신 은총 속에서 기쁨과 사랑 넘치는 풍요로운 생활 되시길 기도합니다. 감사합니다.

Fr. Samuel Kim, O.S.B., Prior
and the monks of St. Paul’s Abbey