{"id":4553,"date":"2011-11-04T11:32:11","date_gmt":"2011-11-04T18:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/?p=4553"},"modified":"2011-11-04T11:36:17","modified_gmt":"2011-11-04T18:36:17","slug":"the-abbeys-kool-aid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/the-abbeys-kool-aid\/","title":{"rendered":"The Abbey’s Kool-Aid"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to a July 8, 2011 article in the St. Cloud Visitor<\/em>, Brother Eric Pohlman, a 29-year-old junior monk at the abbey…<\/p>\n

1. … felt called to Benedictine living and sought out St. John\u2019s
\n2. … because it was a larger community
\n3. … with various employment opportunities
\n4. … interesting architecture
\n5. … a reputable history in liturgy renewal and ecumenical dialogue
\n6. … feels good about the way St. John\u2019s has addressed and handled sexual abuse allegations when they have been made against monks.<\/p>\n

Really? Let’s take a closer look:<\/p>\n

1. … felt called to Benedictine living and sought out St. John\u2019s<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

At best, this statement is misleading. More likely, it is a fabrication of the truth produced by the abbey’s PR machine.<\/p>\n

When Pohlman “felt called to Benedictine living”, he sought out\u00a0St. Procopius Abbey\u00a0in Lisle, Illinois. (See 2005, below)<\/p>\n

According to the Saint John’s Abbey web site, Pohlman left St. Procopius Abbey\u00a0after two-and-a-half years with “a need for greater worldly experience.”<\/p>\n

To fulfill his worldly experience cravings, Pohlman “found work in a food production plant in his hometown” and studied at Ohio State University, a hundred miles away.<\/p>\n

2005<\/strong> \u00a0[\u00a0Link<\/a>\u00a0]\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On October 15, 2005, Eric Pohlman, Class of 2000, professed temporary vows as a Benedictine monk in the abbey church of St. Procopius in Lisle, Illinois.\u00a0 His parents are Charlie and Janice Pohlman and his home parish is St. John’s in Delphos.\u00a0 A monk in temporary vows makes a commitment for three years and professes vows of obedience, stability in the community, and conversion to a monastic way of life as lived at St. Procopius Abbey.<\/p>\n

\u00a02011<\/strong>\u00a0 [\u00a0Link<\/a>\u00a0]\n

\"\"<\/a>Brother Eric Pohlman, a 29-year-old junior monk at the abbey, first heard about St. John\u2019s through seeing the abbey church in a book about architecture. A native of Delphos, Ohio,\u00a0he felt called to Benedictine living and sought out St. John\u2019s\u00a0because it was a larger community with various employment opportunities, interesting architecture and a reputable history in liturgy renewal and ecumenical dialogue.\u00a0He also feels good about the way St. John\u2019s has addressed and handled sexual abuse allegations when they have been made against monks.<\/p>\n

2. … because it was a larger community<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Coming November 11, 2011<\/p>\n

3. … with various employment opportunities<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Coming November 18, 2011<\/p>\n

4. … interesting architecture<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Coming November 25, 2011<\/p>\n

5. … a reputable history in liturgy renewal and ecumenical dialogue<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Coming December 2, 2011<\/p>\n

6. He also feels good about the way St. John\u2019s has addressed and handled sexual abuse allegations when they have been made against monks.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Coming December 9, 2011<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to a July 8, 2011 article in the St. Cloud Visitor, Brother Eric Pohlman, a 29-year-old junior monk at the abbey… 1. … felt called to Benedictine living and sought out St. John\u2019s 2. … because it was a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[328,185,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eric-pohlman","category-paul-richards","category-paul-vincent-niebauer","wp-image-borders"],"views":1460,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4553"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4624,"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4553\/revisions\/4624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}