Page 4 - Priorities #15 2001-July

Benedictine Letter
BIy Father Piers Lahey
have a unique perspective from which to view the Priory. I write these reflections having been a student (Class of 1967), a member of the faculty (1971-78), an inquirer living in the monastery for two years, and a member of the board of trustees for a short time.
I have stayed in touch with the
monastic community, and recently I had
the privilege of celebrating the Spring Liturgy with the student body and faculty in the Priory Chapel.
I was not the world’s best student, my first two years at the Priory. In those days, those of us who were dorm students were not allowed to go home on weekends if our GPAs fell below a 2.0. I won’t tell you my grades—let me just say that I spent a number of weekends on the campus!
I guess I never had learned how to study. It was a struggle, those first two years. But there were bright spots, too. As a really poor Biology student, I hadn’t a clue what was going on. Then, one day, Father Leopold invited me to just sit down in the lab, with a microscope, and “look, observe, watch...tell me all that you see.”
He had prepared some slides and samples and specimens of many exotic creatures. Father Leopold knew I was no scientist...so he wanted me to experience the wonder and variety of life, of creation. I never forgot his kindness and creativity as well as his encouragement to a sophomore who felt he was in way over his head.
There was Mr. Knab, who taught English, and who basically taught me how to write and to love the use of words. Yes, he was strict. Yes, he could be very, very tough and extremely demanding. I well remember the weekly journal we had to keep, the variety of assignments we had to write, and the painstaking care and attention with which he corrected every paper. I never forgot his inspiration and commitment to the English language.
Father Christopher was headmaster. He also
4 taught philosophy to the seniors. I had never run into Plato or Aristotle or Thomas Aquinas, Kant or Hegel;
Father Chrisopher made them very real, explaining
their thoughts, unpacking their wisdom. I have vivid and fond memories of seeing Fr. Christopher return quiz papers in our class. Every so often, there would be a paper that had really missed the point. Fr. Christopher would hold up the paper between two fingers as if it was a dead animal, and solemnly (but with good humor) refer to it as a “miserable failure.”
Father Egon was the Prior of the monastic community. He also taught Western Civilization to the seniors. He had such a wide knowledge of European and church history! In one year, Father Egon led us through a marvelous survey that was filled with humor, wisdom and insights into many of the difficult events in history. His Western Civilization class gave me the best foundation I ever could have had for my later college history courses.
Of course, I am only one student out of many who have been part of the Priory community over more than 40 years. We came to the Priory seeking an excellent education, one that would prepare us for college and for our future lives. We came to the Priory seeking dedicated teachers, inspiring and competent and creative teachers willing to confront us and challenge us and push us harder than we might have thought we could go. And we came to the Priory seeking a set of values upon which we might build our lives; we came looking for a religious faith that would make sense and sustain us as adults, as married persons, as professional people.
It was a privilege, then and now, to be in a Benedictine school. The monks were not only our teachers—they were our confessors, our spiritual advisors. I remember thinking that when they were not in the classroom or in the dining room, they were either in the chapel or in the monastery storming heaven with their prayers for the Priory community. I am profoundly grateful for the education I received and for the experience of maturing under their guidance.
I learned that my life itself is God’s gift. And I learned the truth of these words...”What you are is God’s gift to you...what you become is your gift to God.”
. . . Father Leopold knew I was no scientist, so he wanted me to experience the wonder and variety of life, of creation. I never forgot his kindness and creativity . . .