{"id":6979,"date":"2010-09-10T17:51:02","date_gmt":"2010-09-10T21:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/?p=6979"},"modified":"2013-05-10T15:24:25","modified_gmt":"2013-05-10T19:24:25","slug":"september-10-2010-photographer-monk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2010\/09\/10\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\/6979\/","title":{"rendered":" Photographer Monk"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

JUDY VALENTE<\/strong>, correspondent: The Abbey of St. Benedict, founded in 1857 \u2026<\/p>\n

Benedictine monks praying together: \u201cGlory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

VALENTE<\/strong>: The abbey is located on the campus of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. Fifty-two monks live here. They lead lives of prayer and contemplation. The abbot is Barnabas Senecal. He has found a spiritual practice in photography.<\/p>\n

ABBOT SENECAL<\/strong>: Taking photographs reminds me of the positive. Monastic mindfulness is pursuing what Benedict taught about being aware daily of your presence of God with you and in the world. It\u2019s mindfulness of creation and of sharing that with others.<\/p>\n

\"post01-photomonk\"VALENTE<\/strong>: About 40 of his photographs are now on exhibit at the abbey. His photos include his fellow monks.<\/p>\n

ABBOT SENECAL<\/strong>: Those who didn\u2019t know his name call him Father Time. He was an inspiration to us\u2014just a gracious man who also swam every day until he was 100 years old, a man of prayer, a man who came to our communal prayer even when he was 100 years old. We give thanks for a man of such character.<\/p>\n

VALENTE<\/strong>: Father James Downey\u2026<\/p>\n

ABBOT SENECAL<\/strong>: Late in his life liked to read, liked to sit out on the porch and smoke his pipe. What we save is a memory of a man, a face that\u2019s\u2014he\u2019s very content with life and just a wonderful smile. You know, in Benedictine life we take a vow of stability, and it means that this community is where we live out our life, even where we are buried.<\/p>\n

Father Bruce Swift\u2014he loves going down to Lansing to the state penitentiary twice a week, hears confessions, offers Mass for the prisoners. It\u2019s a ministry to him, and he\u2019ll do it until he can\u2019t move. At some point in time his health will give way, but he\u2019s ready to travel that road.<\/p>\n

VALENTE<\/strong>: At the Vatican\u2026<\/p>\n

ABBOT SENECAL<\/strong>: We sit in silence admiring beauty, and this is beauty from centuries ago. We ought to let it influence our heart, let it be a moment of reflection and yet not be intimidated by it.<\/p>\n

VALENTE<\/strong>: At St. Peter\u2019s Basilica\u2026<\/p>\n

ABBOT SENECAL<\/strong>: They let you go on this upper balcony above the Bernini altar, so I shot through the grate into the south transept gaining a sense of depth by the size of the people. This is an amazing place where amazing grace is found by many.<\/p>\n

\"post02-photomonk\"VALENTE<\/strong>: The pews at a church in Brazil\u2026<\/p>\n

ABBOT SENECAL<\/strong>: I liked the image of light\u2014an inviting light inviting people into the church, into prayer. There\u2019s lots of images of light in the Scriptures. Christ the light of the world, the light that enlightens us in our hearts and minds.<\/p>\n

VALENTE<\/strong>: You take a lot of photographs of children.<\/p>\n

ABBOT SENECAL<\/strong>: They\u2019re natural. They don\u2019t have to pose. People feel that if you got everything lined up it will be good. St. Thomas talks a lot about order as reflecting God\u2019s presence. This is a fun moment, and yet we can interpret it as a way of seeing life.<\/p>\n

I am nourished by taking pictures. Yes, it\u2019s a spiritual exercise in that I don\u2019t just take a picture and store it. I will reflect on it. Entering into these moments of photograph is a conviction that I\u2019m seeing something that I didn\u2019t make, the other person didn\u2019t make. It\u2019s there, it\u2019s there because it\u2019s part of God\u2019s creation.<\/p>\n

VALENTE<\/strong>: A grasshopper on a leaf. He wrote this reflection on the photograph.<\/p>\n

ABBOT SENECAL<\/strong>: A quick camera shot, up close, holds that beauty before me. I don\u2019t own such beauty. No one does. It is the Creator\u2019s forever, and mine for now, and I share it with you.<\/p>\n

VALENTE<\/strong>: For Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly this is Judy Valente at the Abbey of St. Benedict in Atchison, Kansas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photography, according to Abbot Barnabas Senecal of St. Benedict’s Abbey in Atchison, Kansas, is an exercise in monastic mindfulness, and he says his pictures reflect “being aware of the presence of God with you and in the world.” More →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":17129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6569],"tags":[8602,5824,8606,5780,5242,751,985,989,6716],"class_list":["post-6979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-videocast","tag-abbot-barnabas-senecal","tag-benedictine","tag-mindfulness","tag-monastery","tag-monastic","tag-photography","tag-prayer","tag-spirituality","tag-st-benedict","topics-ethics","faith-christian"],"yoast_head":"\nSeptember 10, 2010 ~ Photographer Monk | September 10, 2010 | Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Photography, according to Abbot Barnabas Senecal of St. Benedict's Abbey in Atchison, Kansas, is an exercise in monastic mindfulness, and he says his pictures express "being aware of the presence of God with you and in the world."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2010\/09\/10\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\/6979\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"September 10, 2010 ~ Photographer Monk | September 10, 2010 | Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Photography, according to Abbot Barnabas Senecal of St. Benedict's Abbey in Atchison, Kansas, is an exercise in monastic mindfulness, and he says his pictures express "being aware of the presence of God with you and in the world."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2010\/09\/10\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\/6979\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBS.ReligionEthics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-09-10T21:51:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-05-10T19:24:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2010\/09\/thumb02-photomonk.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Yi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionEthics\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ReligionEthics\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Yi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2010\\\/09\\\/10\\\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\\\/6979\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2010\\\/09\\\/10\\\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\\\/6979\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Fred Yi\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0576fe5f06986bc0418635994a2bcd47\"},\"headline\":\"Photographer Monk\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-09-10T21:51:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-05-10T19:24:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2010\\\/09\\\/10\\\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\\\/6979\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":669,\"commentCount\":6,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2010\\\/09\\\/10\\\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\\\/6979\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/files\\\/2010\\\/09\\\/thumb02-photomonk.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Abbot Barnabas Senecal\",\"Benedictine\",\"mindfulness\",\"Monastery\",\"Monastic\",\"photography\",\"Prayer\",\"Spirituality\",\"St. Benedict\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Videocast\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2010\\\/09\\\/10\\\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\\\/6979\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2010\\\/09\\\/10\\\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\\\/6979\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2010\\\/09\\\/10\\\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\\\/6979\\\/\",\"name\":\"September 10, 2010 ~ Photographer Monk | September 10, 2010 | Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2010\\\/09\\\/10\\\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\\\/6979\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2010\\\/09\\\/10\\\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\\\/6979\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/files\\\/2010\\\/09\\\/thumb02-photomonk.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-09-10T21:51:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-05-10T19:24:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0576fe5f06986bc0418635994a2bcd47\"},\"description\":\"Photography, according to Abbot Barnabas Senecal of St. Benedict's Abbey in Atchison, Kansas, is an exercise in monastic mindfulness, and he says his pictures express \\\"being aware of the presence of God with you and in the world.\\\"\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2010\\\/09\\\/10\\\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\\\/6979\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2010\\\/09\\\/10\\\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\\\/6979\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/files\\\/2010\\\/09\\\/thumb02-photomonk.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/files\\\/2010\\\/09\\\/thumb02-photomonk.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":100},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/\",\"name\":\"Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly\",\"description\":\"An examination of religion's role and the ethical dimensions behind top news headlines.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/search-results\\\/?q={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0576fe5f06986bc0418635994a2bcd47\",\"name\":\"Fred Yi\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/author\\\/yif\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"September 10, 2010 ~ Photographer Monk | September 10, 2010 | Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS","description":"Photography, according to Abbot Barnabas Senecal of St. Benedict's Abbey in Atchison, Kansas, is an exercise in monastic mindfulness, and he says his pictures express \"being aware of the presence of God with you and in the world.\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2010\/09\/10\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\/6979\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"September 10, 2010 ~ Photographer Monk | September 10, 2010 | Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS","og_description":"Photography, according to Abbot Barnabas Senecal of St. Benedict's Abbey in Atchison, Kansas, is an exercise in monastic mindfulness, and he says his pictures express \"being aware of the presence of God with you and in the world.\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2010\/09\/10\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\/6979\/","og_site_name":"Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBS.ReligionEthics\/","article_published_time":"2010-09-10T21:51:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-05-10T19:24:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":200,"height":100,"url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2010\/09\/thumb02-photomonk.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Fred Yi","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionEthics","twitter_site":"@ReligionEthics","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fred Yi","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2010\/09\/10\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\/6979\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2010\/09\/10\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\/6979\/"},"author":{"name":"Fred Yi","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/#\/schema\/person\/0576fe5f06986bc0418635994a2bcd47"},"headline":"Photographer Monk","datePublished":"2010-09-10T21:51:02+00:00","dateModified":"2013-05-10T19:24:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2010\/09\/10\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\/6979\/"},"wordCount":669,"commentCount":6,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2010\/09\/10\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\/6979\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2010\/09\/thumb02-photomonk.jpg","keywords":["Abbot Barnabas Senecal","Benedictine","mindfulness","Monastery","Monastic","photography","Prayer","Spirituality","St. Benedict"],"articleSection":["Videocast"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2010\/09\/10\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\/6979\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2010\/09\/10\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\/6979\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2010\/09\/10\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\/6979\/","name":"September 10, 2010 ~ Photographer Monk | September 10, 2010 | Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2010\/09\/10\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\/6979\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2010\/09\/10\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\/6979\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2010\/09\/thumb02-photomonk.jpg","datePublished":"2010-09-10T21:51:02+00:00","dateModified":"2013-05-10T19:24:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/#\/schema\/person\/0576fe5f06986bc0418635994a2bcd47"},"description":"Photography, according to Abbot Barnabas Senecal of St. Benedict's Abbey in Atchison, Kansas, is an exercise in monastic mindfulness, and he says his pictures express \"being aware of the presence of God with you and in the world.\"","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2010\/09\/10\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\/6979\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2010\/09\/10\/september-10-2010-photographer-monk\/6979\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2010\/09\/thumb02-photomonk.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2010\/09\/thumb02-photomonk.jpg","width":200,"height":100},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/","name":"Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly","description":"An examination of religion's role and the ethical dimensions behind top news headlines.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/search-results\/?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/#\/schema\/person\/0576fe5f06986bc0418635994a2bcd47","name":"Fred Yi","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/author\/yif\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}