Mt. Irenaeus Hosts Holy Name Province Leaders

On May 23, the Provincial Council of Holy Name Province and Fr. Kevin Mullen, OFM, provincial minister, visited Mt. Irenaeus. For some of these friars, it was their first experience at the Mountain. 

Br. Kevin Kriso described their visit and said it gave them "a chance to experience the “eremitical” form of Franciscan life that is the Gospel Manner of Life and Ministry of Mt. Irenaeus."

This form of life combines moments of action and then contemplative retreating to a wooded place to pray and ponder before heading back out to active ministry again. Far from being a new style of Franciscan life, the eremitical form of life was practiced by St. Francis of Assisi and the early brothers, but is much less common today.

"Our brothers on our Provincial Council had the chance to experience a small taste of our life before going back into the active world of meetings and planning," said Br. Kevin.

Fr. Mullen also shared his impression of Mt. Irenaeus and its important ministry.

"The Provincial Council of Holy Name Province joined the friar community and some lay volunteers at Mt. Irenaeus for a most enjoyable evening that included prayer, conversation, and a great meal. Over the years, the community of Mt. Irenaeus has been known for the warm welcome that is extended to all visitors. We received such a welcome and as a result gained a better appreciation for why so many people love the setting and value the ministry of the community."

Jason Damon Accepted into Holy Name Province’s Postulancy Program

I think it’s fair to say — and those who know me would probably concur — that sitting still, being quiet and listening with patience are certainly not strong suits for me. I was able to get a lot out of my college experience in part because jumping in, staying active, meeting new people and giving time and effort to clubs and causes was so easy and encouraged. There were rarely times when I didn’t have a lot on my plate.

Yet those aforementioned suits — patience, stillness and silence — are so very critical in discerning one’s path in life. They’re also things that are incredibly difficult to practice in a college setting if you don’t make time for them. I’m grateful to Mt. Irenaeus for a lot of things, and near the top of that list is providing a space where I can simply listen to the stillness. Listen to the silence. Listen to my own heart, so often drowned out by the noisy, if well-intentioned, activities of campus life. Listen and contemplate God’s will for me in a world that seems so often to be wracked with brokenness and violence.

It’s perhaps appropriate, then, that I received word I would be accepted into the formation program in Holy Name Province while I was staying here at the Mountain this past February. I’ve always been able to take a breath here, to meditate on my place within the Body of Christ. And not only here: I was able to take a piece of that silence, that stillness, back to campus with me as I gradually came to realize my vocational call to not only break bread, pray and joke with the friars but to join them. 

The brotherhood exemplified by the community here as well as at St. Bonaventure was something that drew me in more and more. Surprised and overwhelmed at first by my attraction to the Franciscan life, I’m at a point now where I can’t wait to get started in late August. And while two of my favorite sayings of St. Francis — “Who are You, O God, and who am I?” and “I have done what is mine to do. May Christ teach you what is yours to do.”— haven't and probably will never be fully answered in a way I can understand, I’m grateful for all of the support from you, the Mt. Irenaeus family. God bless all of you, and please continue to keep me in prayer!    

Mt. Irenaus: A Gateway to Service

SBU grad Hannah McGrath reflects on how the Mountain influenced her decision to serve for a year with the Franciscan Volunteer Ministry.

I often say that my time involved with the Mountain was the best thing about my four years at St. Bonaventure. The Mountain was where I first heard about Franciscan Volunteer Ministry (FVM).

I remember being at a women's overnight during my junior year, sitting by the fire eating Mountain dip, when I heard Sr. Suzanne Kush, O.S.F., (who at the time was in charge of some of the service trips at Bonaventure) talking about a Franciscan volunteer program that emphasized community, simple living and spiritual growth. Although I knew virtually nothing about the program, I felt called to it in a way that I've almost never felt.

 

I quickly found out as much as I could about the FVM program and its different sites, and I started the application process as soon as I could. I'm currently two-and-a-half months into the program and I could not be more sure of my decision to follow that calling.

 

I probably would never have heard about FVM if it weren’t for my time spent with the Mountain, or even if I had heard of it, I might not have felt called to it in that way if I hadn’t been at the Mountain. So it seems only fitting that the FVM program provides two retreats at the Mountain. We just returned from our fall retreat at the Mountain, the main theme of which was our Myers-Briggs results.

One of the incredible things that I associate with both the Mountain and FVM is the importance of recognizing God’s presence in yourself and sharing that presence with others. The Myers-Briggs test is based around eight different “gifts,” and over the retreat we discussed which gifts we had, how we could share those gifts, how we could appreciate the gifts of others, and how we could grow in some of the areas that we might not have developed quite yet.

The Mountain taught me the phrase, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive,” and I think that is what FVM tries to provide for its volunteers—the opportunity to use our gifts to fully live out God’s call to us. We are each gifted in different ways, and can use all of those gifts for our ministry. In a similar way, we are called to recognize the gifts of those we serve and to bring them fully to life.

I will always be so grateful for my experience with the Mountain—both during my time at Bonaventure and the retreats provided through FVM. The Mountain is where the Franciscan message of the school felt most real, and it will always be a home to me.

Looking Back

Charlie Specht, '10, shares what Mt. Irenaeus means to him. 

If I close my eyes, I can still see it.

You know, the path leading up to the chapel, the last leg of the journey to the summit of Mt.Irenaeus.

It is beautiful, still, quiet.

What defines it is not so much the chirping of birds or the feel of soft wind on your face as you climb, step by step, toward that wooden chamber of refuge.

No, what marks this particular journey is a sudden absence.

An absence of hurry.

Of speech.

Of haste.

Of doubt.

Of the cell phone's ding, ding, ding, listen-to-me pull that makes us wonder what we're missing someplace else.

The path, like the Friars who built it, who keep

Participants gather for a photo with Fr. Dan at a 2007 men's overnight event.

 it, whose sandals gently trod it each time the sun comes up, calls you to contemplation. To reflection. To a simpler place.

It's a place to take stock. To reflect on what we've gained, what we've lost, what we've felt as we've stumbled through this blur of hours we call life.

For me, it's place to remember.

I still see Chris Novak leading the way up the path on a dark September night.

Brother Joe stayed behind with the rest of us, still teenage in our years but with longing in our hearts: for something more, for something different, for something fun.

We got it that night at the Mountain, all twenty-something of us. We felt the peace of Christ in the chapel.

We felt the comfort and love as Father Dan shared the feelings of his heart with us and, in doing so, taught us how to share our own.

We felt the warmth of the bonfire as our ragtag group of Bona guys, "Wildmen, Warriors and Kings," puffed stogies and told jokes into the night.

We felt the guilt of a late-night pantry raid, and the joy of a bright morning.

We felt the warm embrace of God and each other ... by walking up the path ... at the Mountain.

Commemorating 30 Years With What We Do Best

Br. Kevin Kriso, ofm, describes the planned 30th Anniversary celebration in September.

A wonderful group of Mountain friends and Mountain residents have been contemplating the question, “How do you celebrate 30 years of blessing and the gift of helping to join with Jesus Christ in making all things new?”

Our 30^th Anniversary planning group wanted to do right by this momentous occasion. We thought big, and we thought small. We did not go so far as to suggest blaring horns, having a parade or setting off fireworks. In the end we decided to do what we do best and what has worked for the last 30 years with a few special touches, to bring back old friends and to make some new ones as well.

Thirty years ago, some land was purchased in Allegany County on a wooded hilltop. This capped a dream of Fr. Dan Riley and many others to have a place and a community steeped in prayer and hospitality. Over the years, we have increased our outreach to the community, inviting others to join us in our Gospel manner of life and ministry and adding more land, buildings, hermitages, trails, gardens, a common house and a chapel.

We have also strengthened the outreach beyond the Mountain with “Mountain on the Road” and “Mountain in Your Home” gatherings, which bring people together to share a sense of Mountain Time while “In the Valley.” In recent years, we have turned to the blessings of new technologies to reach out to friends far and wide.

Through all of our growth, we at the Mountain have kept close to our original formula of a daily rhythm of work, prayer, solitude and community that provides others with active and contemplative opportunities and to be attentive to the faith in their own hearts. We provide a place and community to reflect and respond to God's goodness, to seek out and find light and life … and share it with others.

It is, in the truest sense, “living out the Gospel in daily life." The life at Mt. Irenaeus is a practical and pragmatic way to live faith for all seekers, even those of us who are blessed to live on the Mountain each day. 

Our plans for our 30^th anniversary celebration on Sept. 19 and 20 will closely follow our original formula, because it has worked so well for us in the past 30 years. There will be time for work, prayer, reflection and community—only there will be more people on the Mountain those days, along with live music and lots of food and old and new friends and t-shirts and so much more.

Visit www.mounti.com/30 for more details about the 30^th Anniversary celebration schedule.