Summer Newsletter from Fr. Thomas

Dear Friends,

Amelia Earhart

During a recent visit to our Benedictine neighbors to the South, the Sisters on Mount Saint Scholastica in Atchison, KS, I learned more about one of this city’s famous citizens, Amelia Earhart. Born in 1897, she was the second person, after Charles Lindberg, and the first woman who flew solo and nonstop across the Atlantic. She also authored several books. In 1937, she tragically went missing while trying to fly around the world.

Amelia Earhart was a go-getter. “There is no failure except in no longer trying,” she would say. Try and don’t give up! She was able to think big of her own life and of that of others: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams,” she wrote. She knew that standing with the vision one has for one’s life is not always easy but worth the effort: “The greatest difficulty is to be brave enough to be yourself.” Plus, she had the patience to go about worthwhile projects step by step: “Acting for a better world doesn’t mean being a saint. It means trying to do good, one step at a time,” she reassures us.

Looking at the earth from above helped Amelia to maintain this wider perspective, marveling about what a tree looks like when a person looks down upon it: “You have not seen a tree until you have seen its shadow,” she wrote. – A retreat at St. Benedict Center is a very good opportunity to gain a wider, perhaps quite surprising perspective from a certain distance: on our life, on our faith and on our world.   

Regarding St. Benedict Center, I can report that we have replaced our chillers, resulting in drier and more pleasant air indoors during the cooling season. Also, we purchased a larger natural gas generator that can power the whole building in case we are faced with prolonged loss of electricity again due to a storm! Last but not least I can announce that we have an even more user-friendly new website. Please check it out: www.stbenedictcenter.com – I am looking forward to seeing you again soon!

Fr. Thomas Leitner, OSB, Administrator