The Collegeville Cane Club

Last year students of Ecumen’s employee leadership development program called Velocity spent time learning from people in other settings, including 3M, Mayo Clinic and St. John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minn.  Curriculum during each of these visits centered around part of our brand promise:  Innovate.  Empower.  Honor.  An article in Saint John’s Abbey’s Banner Magazine recently caught my eye.  It’s a neat perspective on aging and a longtime global tool of empowerment called "the cane."

The Collegeville Cane Club

By Dan Durken, OSB, a member of the St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minn.

Any photograph of the Collegeville Cane Club should include all the monks who have celebrated their 50th anniversary of monastic profession. On that occasion a cane is blessed and given to each jubilarian with this prayer: “Bless + them and bless the canes they carry. Sustain their hope in the saving love of your Son . . . and help us all to support one another as brothers of your Son, Jesus Christ.”

The monks you see here daily carry their canes to give them the support they need. The curly maple cane I received on July 11, 2000, was not put to use until Abbot John suggested several months ago that I use a cane after I had taken a few falls that gave me classic bruises. Since then my trusty cane has not been a stigma of frailty and old age but a sturdy friend whose support I appreciate.

The blessing of the cane calls upon all of us “to support one another.” No matter how young or how old we are, the support of others is absolutely essential. Only the hermit monk chooses to be “self-reliant, without the support of another” (Rule of Benedict, 1.5). I pity more than envy him.

As I prepare and present my last edited issue of Abbey Banner, I am filled with gratitude for all the people who have supported me page by page, picture by picture of these first thirty issues. Cane in hand, I now move on to whatever the future brings. If the past is preview to the future I am looking forward to more “good ol’ days.” Thank you and God bless you.