Page 3 - Priorities #66- Winter 2017

Dear Priory Community,
These last few months have given us a chance to celebrate 60 Years of Being Benedictine. Father Egon said the first Mass on the Priory grounds in the ranch house on November 11, 1956. It set the stage for the “beginnings” of a Monastery and a school which is thriving today–thanks to so many of you who have provided the resources needed to grow and prosper.
The Priory as a Catholic Benedictine school and community has lived our mission to spread the Good News and teach students “who will productively serve a world in need of their gifts.” We are very proud of our many domestic and international graduates and their families living the spirit of the Priory in their daily experience. We are humbled by the many blessings and gifts which have allowed us to touch the hearts, minds and souls of thousands of young people over the decades. We are Priory!
This fall our major celebration was on Sunday, November 13 when we gathered as a Hungarian/American community for a Mass of Thanksgiving. We were pleased to have Father Mathias Durette OSB, Prior of Saint Anselm Monastery, as our celebrant and Father Kelemen Saray Szabo OSB, Prior of Gyor Priory in Hungary, in attendance.
The Mass program contained letters from Abbot Mark Cooper OSB of Saint Anselm, Archabbot Astrik Varszegi OSB from Pannonhalma and a Proclamation from the Town of Portola Valley wishing us congratulations. Over 400 people gathered in the Priory chapel to sing, listen, pray and celebrate our Founding Monks and the hand Divine Providence had and continues to have in the flourishing life of Woodside Priory. We know that the founding of the Priory was
a dream that became a reality through the Monks who sacrificed to make it happen–Fathers Egon, Christopher, Benignus, Achilles, Emod, Stanley, and Leopold. They have been joined over the years by many Monks and lay people who have kept that dream alive through some very difficult times. They, too, believed in the value of this school for young people of the local and global communities.
Abbot Mark in his letter states, “It is then with great gratitude that we celebrate this milestone” and “we are reminded of Saint Benedict’s admonition to always trust in the Lord for what is not possible by nature, let us ask the Lord to supply by help of his grace.” Divine Providence, again and again when times looked bleak, aided us through the grace of others.
Father Egon, in his book Beginnings says the Priory was truly “an American miracle” as the Monks were immigrants, had very little money and did not know the language and culture. Yet they survived–Halleluiah!
In this issue we honor one of our current Monks, Father Pius Horvath OSB, who arrived here in 1960. He mentioned at the Mass of Thanksgiving in November that when he arrived, he was the youngest and now he is the oldest–and “not sure which is better.” His sense of humor and smiling eyes endear him to faculty and staff. He has a special place in all of our hearts and is loved by all those on this campus, especially the many children who “light up” when they see him. Enjoy the article.
Everything is very green on this 51-acre campus right now, and it is astonishingly beautiful. Such was not the case in August 1956. I am sure when the other six Monks joined Father Egon here and saw the dry, parched earth and the distance from “civilization” they looked skyward and wondered Dear God what did I get myself into? To their huge credit, they did not lose faith but followed the words in the Prologue of The Rule of Saint Benedict and “established a school for God’s service.”
May God continue to hold us in the palm of His Hand, bless us with the riches and gifts of the people who serve here and by His grace allow us to always–Listen...with the ear of our heart.
All of us at the Priory wish you a blessed New Year!
Tim Molak Head of School
3
HEAD OF SCHOOL