2020 Works

The turbine's imposing yet elegant presence has captured the imaginations of many. Kathleen Kiely incorporated it into a senior thesis for Roger Williams in 2013 Senior Thesis, posting on youtube a video from atop the nacelle. A student newspaper recently was created to supplement the School’s “Raven” and “Beacon,” naming itself “The Abbey Turbine” – perhaps to encourage students to keep churning out that writing! And, of course, Br. Joseph famously went viral, thanks to an unwitting drone videographer who captured him relaxing atop the turbine on a beautiful summer’s day. Just one of the various youtube videos posted on the event has 3.2 million views as of this writing. The original viral event was subsequently covered by various news outlets, including Inside Edition, who sent producer Lara Trump to interview Br. Joseph, climbing the turbine to see what the ascent was all about. The school website posted a mesmerizing video, still online, on the tenth anniversary portraying images atop the turbine of the dozens of students, faculty, and friends that Brother Joseph has brought up to experience the view.

Br. Joseph notes that the turbine has a predicted lifepsan of 20-25 years. This means that in another six years, it will be ready for a thorough assessment to determine the condition of various parts, from the base of the tower to the tip of the blades. It presently seems to be holding up very well, with this major assessment likely to lead to the replacement of some parts in the turbine's mechanics, but with ongoing production to continue apace.

Links to the School’s postings with information on the turbine and must-see videos:

"March 31, 2016: The Wind Turbine Turns 10!" (includes Inside Edition segment)

State's First Commercial-Grade Turbine "An Unequivocal Success"
In Its First Decade (includes video photo montage of pilgrims at the top of the turbine)

MBK quickly found that needs in the Fall River and New Bedford areas were great, and were thankful for the growing numbers of student volunteers that help meet that demand. The agency’s service model is fundamentally premised on the availability of volunteers to help make deliveries: the more hands available means the more furniture out, and the shorter the waiting periods for families in need, waits which can be weeks to months. MBK has years of experience working with students, and as director Eric Miller, President of the agency says, there is a fundamentally educational element in its work. Without fail, new volunteers receive a comprehensive orientation to the agency, covering its origins, mission, and present work. Mr. Miller speaks even of the value of the oversized cabs of the delivery trucks, not only to transport the crew, but to provide a space to discuss and debrief on significant aspects of each delivery.

Dr. Lavallee intends for the course to “integrate community service with course work and reflection to enrich the learning experience, foster civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.” It is a model of pedagogy that has taken root in many schools, and has a particular appeal to the connection of academics to the lived gospel. The mission of My Brother’s Keeper, “To bring the Love and Hope of Jesus Christ to those we serve,” articulates this link. The course requires an analytic essay of each student, describing their experience and situating it in the context of Catholic Social Teaching. Dr. Lavallee asks students to discuss how that teaching can “confirm, challenge, support what you saw and did,” and to “develop new insights… you have about social issues,” based on the experience. While many service learning courses consist predominantly of the direct service work or have a continuous, ongoing strand of service accompanying the academic study, Dr. Lavallee’s course currently provides this encounter as a single half-day experience. Students routinely find this catalytic to their study. They may encounter a family recently relocated, that has had to sleep on the floor for months. They may enter an apartment virtually empty of furniture, and leave with the space looking much more like a home. They may hear the stories of struggles with which various clients have had to deal, such as job loss, abusive relationships, or even the pernicious problem of bedbugs, which can wreak devastating financial damage to a family living day-to-day. The students return energized to reflect on what they have experienced, and to connect this real world encounter with the teachings they encounter in the gospel, and in a history of church documents seeking to articulate the challenging social teaching of Christ.
 

In this  Lenten week when we remember Joseph, it seems appropriate to offer in reflecting on “Works,” the following excerpt from Blessed Columba Marmion on the role of work in the monastic life, taken from a reflection on “The Cenobitical Society,” in Christ: The Ideal of the Monk. Marmion is so direct in enabling us to reutrn to what is most basic in our faith, particularly as expressed in Benedictine life.

In the supernatural society founded by St. Benedict, of which the aim is to pursue the perfection of evangelical holiness, a preponderant place will naturally be given to the practice of the virtue of religion. This is one of the reasons why the holy Legislator dedicates so many chapters of his Rule to organizing the Divine Office. This constitutes the work of works, that to which “nothing is to be preferred,” and that is to become for the monk, with the lectio divina, labor, and what is furthermore ordained by the vows, especially that of obedience, the most authentic means of attaining the end that he proposes to himself : union with God. Therefore, this work is indispensable in every monastery, and other works depend on the circumstances of place, time, and persons, and can only be undertaken in the measure that they do not interfere with the primal character of the Divine Office. That is and must remain the chief work excelling all others, because it is, according to St. Benedict’s beautiful expression, “The Work of God ”: Opus Dei, the one that directly glorifies God, at the same time that it becomes for the monk the most natural, important and fruitful source of his inmost prayer and assiduous intercourse with our Lord.

While the call to the service of others centers our Christian vocation, with restrictions on travel and the need for social distancing, finding ways to serve has become more challenging. These first few weeks of the spring term of the School would typically see students going out to deliver furniture to those in need, teaming up with St. Philomena kids on the playground or in tutoring, sharing a bingo game with the residents of Royal Middletown nursing home. These opportunities to serve have all been suspended, and with it the ability to address those important social needs in that manner. In this moment of crisis, much of the attention of our services is triaged, to take care of the most critical needs. How can we serve at his time, and moving forward?

The Theme of Holy Week: Service. Inaugurating the Masses of Holy Week with Palm Sunday, Pope Francis called our attention to a “leitmotif” of these holy days: service to others. The readings from the Mass of that day include Philippians 2.7: Jesus “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.” “Let us allow these words of the Apostle Paul to lead us into these holy days, when the word of God, like a refrain, presents Jesus as servant…” Taking up this theme, the Holy Father’s Monday homily starkly confronted us with our service to the poor as the basis of our judgment. The first question Jesus will ask at the final judgment: “How did you treat the poor?” He teaches clearly that when we feed them, when we visit those in prison or in the hospital, when we address the needs of the widow and the orphan, we serve him – he himself is there. In fact, that we will have the poor always contains also the guarantee that we may find Christ present always. On Tuesday, he spoke of “Each one of us has a destiny, a free destiny, the destiny of being chosen by God. I am born with the destiny…chosen to be a child of God, to be a servant of God with the task of serving… To serve is not demanding some benefit for ourselves other than serving.” Jesus, is himself the Servant of God who gives us an example of service. This is fully reflected in the Mandatum of Holy Thursday, in the washing of feet, and it is in this humbling gesture that the glory of Jesus is expressed, even in His was serving unto death: “It seemed a defeat but it was a way of serving,” the Holy Father said. Our hearts may not be entirely devoted to such service, and we may “slip and fall,” as Peter did in his threefold denial. But then, we must repent, as Peter did. When we lose touch with this fundamental Christian attitude of serving, we then “have apostatized,” and allow our lives to be ruled by other loves, turning to idolatry, or losing our sense of vocation. Wednesday’s gospel reading of the betrayal by Judas led the Holy Father to speak of the danger of action at the extreme opposite of service: exploitation of others and, instead of giving without counting the cost, worshipping mammon and even selling others for profit.

Fewer opportunities, Greater needs. One individual “on the frontlines” of the COVID-19 battle, is Dr. Timothy Flanigan, alumnus of the School, parent and board member, and deacon of the Church. He is entirely caught up amidst his busy and draining schedule, with an influx of patients, treating the many cases of pneumonia associated with the virus. The intensity of this medical work leaves Dr. Flanigan and so many others dealing essentially and almost exclusively with the realities of the moment. For Dr. Flanigan, this includes a good deal of prayer, trying to “keep batteries charged” to be able to continue through this extraordinary period. He points out that the coronavirus induces illness that is difficult to witness and to try to treat, with its associated breathing difficulties: “there is real suffering there.” Dr. Flanigan was deeply involved in the Ebola Crisis in 2014, travelling to Liberia to assist in controlling the virus and treating patients. With his expertise in infectious disease, he notes that it is still hard to know just how long these conditions will continue, when the “peak” will pass. The virus, he says, is “much, much more highly contagious” than previously imagined. But hopefully a “flattened curve” of fewer infections will soon enable the health care system to better keep up with care. We then could see the gradual loosening of restrictions, reversing the course by which we seen them introduced: number of groups allowed increasing, additional venues opened, while maintaining of social distancing and other preventative measures. He offers kudos to nurses who are carrying much of this burden, to social workers addressing people’s wider needs to help them negotiate this difficult period. “In the absence of family visits, the staff has to take up some of that slack, as well, to be health care workers as well as family for many patients.” But he has been forced to cut back on availability within the parish he serves: “Can’t get to the bible studies.” Dr. Flanigan has also had to reduce his work in prison ministries at the “ACI” (Rhode Island’s state Adult Correctional Institute), needing to reduce the number of visitors to reduce possibilities of contagion, but comforted that the ministry team on staff there, “has been doing a good job with this situation,” though he “would not be surprised” to see an outbreak occur in that population.  He looks to May with hope for an abatement of the crisis, and also to address critical economic needs to help people get back to work, to sustain themselves financially.

Rest assured that the prayer life of the monks of Portsmouth Abbey continues to be strong and vital, especially in these extraordinary times. We are all being tested and made stronger, and our faith, more valuable than gold, is being proved. What has been made crystal clear over the past months is just how vital the monks’ prayer and the work, ora et labora, is for so many members of the greater Portsmouth Abbey Family.
 
During the 10 years before I entered the monastery, I was blessed to have living near me, just across the Mississippi River in Illinois, my niece, her husband and their 2 teenage boys, one of whom was my Godson. The boys were at the right age, just before going off to college, to question me incessantly about the wisdom of giving everything away, selling my Jeep and condo, and becoming a monk. I’d like to think that I taught them a lesson about prayer one day. They both said that, yes, they did pray a lot, but they never got what they asked for. (You can imagine what teenage boys were asking for.)  I told them that their prayers were indeed answered by God, but that they simply weren’t listening or understanding. I told them that God’s answer is not always a resounding, “Yes! Of course!”  Sometimes it’s an emphatic and wise, “NO!  What are you thinking?!”  It’s a tough fact to face.

- Brother Sixtus Roselvich