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Our monastic community gives thanks to God for the many gifts he has bestowed on us. First among these gifts are the friends and benefactors of Saint John’s. We are convinced that Saint John’s would not be what it is today without the great generosity of its friends and supporters. Such has been the case throughout our history. 

Your gifts continue our essential ministries, our focus on education and teaching, our pastoral and social outreach, and enable the Abbey to offer unique Abbey programs that bring the presence of Christ to our students, parishioners, guests, oblates, and friends. This generosity also enables us to serve those in need through programs such as the Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps and prison ministry and create new ministry venues such as the Center for Latino Ministry. 

Furthermore, we are able to reimagine and articulate a new Abbey Woodshop: Artisans, Organ Builders, and Woodworking. In sustaining and strengthening all the work of Saint John’s Abbey—your gift makes a vital difference. Thank you for helping Saint John’s be creatively responsive to the needs of our world—both locally and globally. Please consider gifts to the Abbey’s Annual Appeal. Also, please remember the Abbey in your planned giving: inclusion in your will or living trust, beneficiary designation in your life insurance, bank or brokerage account, or retirement plan. We trust that we can count on your continuing support in the future.

Yours in Christ,
Abbot John Klassen, OSB

 
 
 
 
 
 
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ENGAGEMENT IN OUR WORLD

  • For over two decades, the Saint John’s Abbey Benedictine Volunteer Corps (BVC) has provided recent graduates of Saint John’s University with volunteer opportunities to live and serve at Benedictine monasteries around the world. READ MORE

  • Mindful of their initial mission to the German immigrants and seeing similarities in today’s local Latino community, the monks of Saint John’s feel called to continue this 164-year-old mission to serve immigrants of central Minnesota, some of whom have been in the USA for years if not decades. READ MORE

  • Opened in 2006, the guesthouse has fully achieved its vision of being a place of hospitality, retreat, prayer, and reflection for all. The thirty rooms provide guests and retreatants access to the abundant natural beauty surrounding Saint John’s. READ MORE

 
 

INVESTMENT IN THE FUTURE

  • Encouraging and increasing monastic vocations is vital to the future of all of Saint John’s, ensuring an ongoing Benedictine presence in the Abbey’s apostolate. READ MORE

  • Until recent years, the monks of Saint John’s Abbey served in various apostolates at minimal or no salary. Now, in their retirement, the cost of medical care and housing remains a priority for the monastery. READ MORE

  • The Holtkamp/Pasi Organ in the church at Saint John’s Abbey is acknowledged by organ music lovers to be one of the finest in the country. A well-traveled organist wrote: “The Holtkamp-Pasi [Organ] is one of the most thrilling instruments I have ever gotten the chance to hear and play and one of only a few I know that is truly capable of playing any style of organ literature in a convincing manner.” READ MORE

 
 

COMMITMENT TO STEWARDSHIP

  • At Saint John’s, “handwork” is a creative expression of Benedictine spirituality. For over 160 years, the craftsmen at Abbey Woodworking have created high-quality furniture, architectural details, and other wood products. These handcrafted items reflect our values of stability and simplicity. READ MORE

  • When the Saint John’s Abbey Church was dedicated in 1961, the Catholic Church as a whole was struggling to modernize itself to meet the spiritual needs of the twentieth century. It recognized the call for a conscious effort at renewal in all areas of the Church’s life, in an attempt to bring the message of Jesus Christ into vital and meaningful contact with the contemporary world. READ MORE

  • Saint John’s Abbey celebrates the incredibly biodiverse and increasingly rare native plant communities found here. The area has been identified as “ecologically significant” by the Nature Conservancy’s Eco-Regional Plan and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources County Biological Survey. Our goal for this fund is to continue to promote a healthy and resilient forest that has a wide diversity of species and a wide range of tree ages. READ MORE

 
 

SUPPORTING THE ABBEY MISSION

  • Although prayer is central to our mission as an abbey, equally important is the work we do. It stands to reason since our motto is Ora et Labora, that is, Worship and Work. Besides the vital ministry of prayer, the abbey sponsors Catholic and Benedictine liberal arts education through the University and Preparatory School. READ MORE

  • Though broadcasting the Sunday Mass online for years, in 2020, Saint John’s Abbey began in earnest to reevaluate and renew this ministry to ensure the liturgy remained available online and with greater reliability and quality of production. READ MORE