The month of August slipped by quickly! Two particular events made a great impact: Gratitude Day and the welcome of the new College of Saint Benedict president, Dr. Mary Hinton. Both felt celebratory, spirited and mission directed.

August 15, Gratitude Day, was a perfect day with 550 guests present plus about 100 Sisters! Sacred Heart Chapel reverberated with joyful song and organ music as we began by celebrating Eucharist for the Feast of the Assumption with many of our guests. Afterwards, gardeners happily displayed the fruit of their labors for a blessing.

The afternoon was filled with activities. Guests visited the Whitby Gift shop and Gallery and the Haehn Museum, where they enjoyed the 100th anniversary exhibit about Sacred Heart Chapel. Imagine building the 135-foot dome 100 years ago!

Gorecki Conference Center housed most of the activities. A delicious meal prepared by CSB catering services was served in late afternoon. During the prayer service held that evening, the Mother Benedicta Riepp Award was presented to Lorrayne Traut from Sauk Centre, Minn. Sisters then entertained our guests with parodies from Fiddler on the Roof. It was an effort to express gratitude to our donors, volunteers and Oblates in a humorous manner. We closed with Sisters singing a blessing on all our guests.

On Friday, August 22, at the President's Dinner, everyone was moved by the symbolic ritual of Sisters, CSB faculty, staff and returning students passing the torch to 545 first year students, as well as to the new president, Dr. Mary Hinton. Accepting the light is a commitment to "Let your light shine and make this a better world." Following the dinner was a prayer service in Sacred Heart Chapel, led by Sister Michaela Hedican, our prioress, and ending with a blessing by the Sisters.

In her presentation at the opening convocation on August 25, Dr. Hinton recounted the story, told to her by S. Michaela, of the building of the chapel 100 years ago. Dr. Hinton cited obstacles the Sisters faced, including building the dome. A mantra that ran through her talk harked back to Sister Priscilla Schmidtbauer, procurator at the time of the chapel's construction: "IT WILL BE DONE!"

Dr. Hinton closed her presentation by asking for a similar commitment to live up to the Benedictine, Catholic, liberal arts tradition. Representative groups responded: "IT WILL BE DONE!" ending with her own and St. John's President Hemesath's commitment that they will address the problems identified by students last spring with: "IT WILL BE DONE!"  

Jesus said, "I came that they may have life in all its fullness." (Ephesians 3:19) Gratitude Day and the opening of college had a common sense of that fullness. Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life, as we saw in abundance on Gratitude Day. Gratitude is also the response to seeing the freshness and energy of students, coupled with the wisdom and enthusiasm of faculty, staff and Dr. Hinton - a combination which looks set to bring "fullness of life" to the college as they begin their second century of educating young women in the Benedictine, Catholic tradition.