Twenty-five Years Later, The Song Sings On... ... ...



Reading through the Norbertine Necrology / Martyrology this week, I took a bit of a stroll down Memory Lane that began and continues at 1016 North Broadway. It was Monday, 25 January 2010; a reminder of the first time I stepped into Saint Norbert Abbey twenty-five years ago on 25 January 1985.


I had just begun my second semester of freshman year when my next door neighbor in Mary Minihan McCormick Hall -- then a residence hall for 195 Sons of Saint Norbert -- asked me if I would go to the abbey with him for an event that was sure to be a good time. Well what was guaranteed at least is that my buddy David Radzicki would get "extra credit" for his freshman Theology class if he would show up for the evening event.


David was enrolled in a class that was taught by a Norbertine Deacon. The deacon was going to be ordained a priest on the 25th, the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, and because he wanted a full church for the celebration, he offered his students extra credit! Sounds like something I'd do! Ironically, David would gain extra credit; I'd find a home.


What sticks out in my mind the most is seeing what looked like a couple of hundred priests processing into the church from the chapter room and down the south isle. As they walked two-by-two wrapping around the congregation in the nave and approaching the altar as two bowed and two reverenced, the congregation sang what seemed to be sung with the passion and conviction much like a high school victory march, "All Creatures of our God and King!"


Twenty-five years later some things have changed. The Norbertine ordained that day would eventually pursue married life. David would go off to gain even more extra credit as a successful business man (I hear) and would send a couple of nieces and nephews to the college. Bishop Maida would become the Cardinal Archbishop Emeritus of Detroit.


Twenty-fives years later something would remain the same. The Norbertine Community [including the guy who simply crashed the party] continues to gather at prayer -- its membership evolving over the years. And yet the beautiful song of praise chanted in our beautiful abbey and throughout our houses and churches continues to remind us of God's goodness to ourselves; compelling us to sing it over and over and over... ... ...




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