Two Monks Profess Final Vows
Release Date: July 11, 2005
COLLEGEVILLE, MINN. — On Friday, July 11, 2003, two Benedictine junior monks will profess solemn, or final, monastic vows at Saint John's Abbey. Abbot John Klassen OSB will accept their professions during the 10:00 a.m. Mass honoring Saint Benedict, the Patriarch of Western Monasticism. At the same ceremony five monks will be recognized on the anniversary of their becoming monks 50 or 60 years ago.
Christopher Fair, OSB
Brother Christopher, 34, is the youngest of six children of Donald and S. Joan Fair. He was born and completed Catholic elementary and secondary in Omaha, Nebraska. After graduation from high school he studied architecture and engineering at the Lincoln and Omaha campuses of the University of Nebraska.
During university studies Christopher was an active member of the Knights of Columbus Squires Council and served as a state officer for two years. Later he becamea third-degree member of the Knights with the Belleville,Kansas, council.
Before moving to western Nebraska and Kansas he worked as an inventory supervisor for a heating and air conditioning company in Omaha. He then spent nearly eight years working in custom cattle operations, about which he wryly remarks, "I've spent sufficient time at both the business and the duty ends of a cow."
Christopher's most developed skills and talents find expression in manual labor. Relying on his varied work experiences, h can fabricate and weld metal, do job-related construction, operate large trucks and heavy equipment, repair grain elevators and treat sick animals.
In the summer of 1998, Christopher participated in the abbey's Monastic Experience Program and entered the novitiate in 1999. He professed first vows on September 14, 2000, and has completed three years of monastic formation.
Since coming to the monastery, Brother Christopher has expanded his knowledge of woodworking under experienced mentors in the Abbey Woodworking Shop. He learned the art of book repair and restoration in the university library. Brother Christopher serves on the Abbey Fire Department. He spends his free time writing poetry and short stories, but most of all he likes to plan and build wooden toys and other items.
Xavier David Schermerhorn, OSB
Brother Xavier, 44, recalls many happy days growing up on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River at Hammond, New York. His older sister and he often swam in and boated on that storied river when his parents ran a boat marina.
After graduating from high school and unsure of what he wanted to do, David worked at a Watertown, New York, bank as a teller for four years before getting an associate degree in liberal arts at the local community college. Transferring to Platsburgh State University of New York, he then earned bachelor's and master's degrees in elementary education. A teaching job at Northwest Catholic School in Pascoag, Rhode Island, occupied his talents for some years before he moved "out West."
David traveled to Colorado because of an interest in estate planning. In Denver he supervised the housekeeping staff of a four-star hotel and also served in a variety of liturgical ministries at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
At the cathedral he came to know a Benedictine monk from Saint Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, who was on leave to serve as the cathedral's organist. He engendered in David a great interest in Benedictine life, and the monk encouraged him to contact Saint John's Abbey.
Following a number of extended visits to the abbey, David was accepted into the novitiate in 1999 taking the religious name of Xavier. He professed first monastic vows on September 14, 2000. He underlines that he has "been engaged in many activities, lived in many places, but nothing has been as fully satisfying until my life here."
Brother Xavier is employed part-time as a nursing assistant in St. Raphael Hall, the retirement center, and part-time as sacristan in the abbey church. Since March 2003, Brother Xavier serves as master of ceremonies for Bishop John Kinney when the bishop presides in parishes of the Diocese of Saint Cloud. In his free time, Brother Xavier enjoys walks in the woods, reading mysteries, swimming, music and theatrical productions.
Jubilarians
At the same ceremony on Friday, July 11, 2003, five monks celebrate anniversaries of monastic profession. Father Gunther Rolfson OSB marks 60 years as a monk. Fathers Jim Reichert OSB, Donald Lemay OSB, Alberic Culhane OSB, and Gordon Tavis OSB mark 50 years.
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