Newsletter

September 2007

On August 20th, the Feast of St. Bernard we invested Br. Phillip Boelter in the habit of an oblate. Br. Phillip came to us about a year or two ago and has been a great blessing to our Abbey, and we hope we have been a blessing to him as well. Phillip works as a financial consultant for Catholic Finance Corporation in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and he currently lives in Eagan MN. Phillip has a Masters of Divinity degree from Luther Northwestern Seminary where he began his career as a Lutheran Pastor. In 1998 he converted to the Catholic Church.

"The Abbey has played a large part in my vocational discernment about what God wants me to do in this second half of my life. I'm not sure where this will lead, but I do know that praying the Office and serving Christ in His Church will be the way I get there. This conviction is due in large part to the example of my brothers at the Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank".

Phillip has two sons, Eric (15) and Matthew (13) who currently live with their mother and stepfather in Eau Claire WI.

Only a few weeks are left until the completion of a new garage which is situated off of Havenwood Road on the very corner of our property. The 60'x 40' garage was built by friends of the Abbey who work for Sterling Construction out of Superior Wisconsin. This garage will replace our older garage which has recently been renovated to be an Art Studio for Fr. Robert and a Wood Shop for Br. Joseph. This garage will be our main maintanence garage for Br. Adam and his youth workers. In the front of the garage you can see Luxor, our Egyptian Pharoh Hound, inspecting the garage for rabbits.

Construction on a new Campground Community Building for Sacred Pines has begun. Most of the construction work is being done by Br. Adam and youth workers.

The building is planned to be available as a Chapel and a group meeting area for groups and school events related to Sacred Pines campground.