Fulfilling a desire to serve

Owyn J. Ferguson is in for the experience of a lifetime.

Ferguson is in the final stages of preparation to travel to Israel as a member of the Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps (SJBVC), where he will serve 12 months of volunteer service at Tabgha Monastery, in Tabgha, Israel, to participate in the monastic life of the community.

Ferguson and other volunteers will be responsible for keeping Biet Noah running on a daily basis – this includes welcoming and serving guests, cleaning, repair and maintenance work, gardening, cooking for the community and construction projects for the retreat house, monastery and church.

The Benedictine Volunteer Corps (BVC) of Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota, exists to provide a year of volunteer service for graduates of Saint John’s University, Minnesota, at a monastery of the worldwide Benedictine confederation and to support the work, prayer and life of Benedictine monasteries around the world. The BVC has sent over 170 men to 26 Benedictine monasteries around the world.

“My reason for doing the program, in general, is that through the last couple of summers working in corporate citizenship, I really just gained an appreciation for the citizenship part of corporate, and I thought that a volunteer experience would be very humbling, and give me an appreciation and recognition for dignity in all types of work and all types of people, and that’s why I wanted to do a volunteer program.”

Ferguson, who is awaiting his travel visa, is expected to arrive in Israel between November 7 and 19.

He said he chose to serve in Israel because of the service the monastery offers.

Tabgha Monastery is a dependent priory of Dormition Abbey and is located on the Sea of Galilee. The mission of the monastery is to be caretakers of the Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes, and to run the retreat house Beit Noah.

Ferguson will be living at a site in Tabgha where roughly 5,000 pilgrims visit every day during peak season. Overnight guests are welcome to stay in the retreat compound and pray with the monastic community.

“The reason I picked Israel in particular is because of the service that the monastery there does as a guest house for traveling pilgrims, so I would be able to meet people from all over the world, of all different religions, as well as a retreat center for persons with disabilities, which is a group of people I’ve never had a chance to work with before, and in addition to that, the monastery is like on the Sea of Galilee, which I think spiritually is something pretty significant, and powerful.”

SJBVC volunteers like Ferguson work for the retreat initiative Beit Noah, which services handicapped Jewish, Christian and Muslim children from throughout the Holy Land.

He will also be provided with food, lodging, laundry facilities, access to local transportation and other basic needs. Saint John’s Abbey will provide him with a $350 monthly stipend that is considered adequate to cover a volunteer’s personal needs, entertainment and vacation.

Benedictine volunteers are discouraged from relying on additional resources from family to supplement their monthly stipend; an exception may be made in the case of travel for enrichment and vacation.

SJBVC organizers said it is important that Benedictine volunteers have ample time to learn about and experience the countries where they serve and have time to renew themselves during the year of service. The corps considers three weeks away from the monastery, in a 12-month commitment, an appropriate length of time for vacation, discovery and renewal.

Ferguson will be expected to work no less than 30 but no more than 40 hours per week during the time of his service. Time in prayer is considered part of the calculation. The expectation to participate in two prayer services of the monastic community each weekday, with one of the prayer services being a morning service, is a non-negotiable part of the commitment of a Benedictine volunteer.

Ferguson is late in getting his year of volunteerism started, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first case of which was reported by officials in Wuhan City, China, in December 2019.

On January 20, 2020, the first known case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the United States, in the Pacific Northwest state of Washington, in a man who had returned from Wuhan on January 15.

On January 30, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

To prepare for his year of service, Ferguson and other Benedictine volunteers participated in a two-week retreat that began the day after their college graduation in May.

Due to COVID-19 precautions, some host monasteries are not able to accept volunteers, and most volunteers are currently living, working and praying with the monks at Saint John’s Abbey.

While the start to Ferguson’s volunteer year was put on hold for months due to worldwide travel restrictions, the Vatican sent a travel exemption request for Ferguson and two other volunteers who will be going to Israel, as some sites began accepting volunteers once travel restrictions were lifted.

He returned home for two weeks before heading out.

“I am very excited,” said Ferguson. “I was pretty nervous at first, just because it is in the Middle East, but I do think that the reward that can come out of this is worth it. Also, that particular city – Tabgha – in Israel, is considered one of the safest places in the world. I think a lot of people just have respect for it.”

The northwestern corner of the Sea of Galilee where Ferguson will be living, was one of the focal points in Jesus’ ministry. According to the SJBVC site, many of the archeological sites surrounding the Sea of Galilee suggest that Judaism and early Christianity existed alongside each other before they developed into two separate religions. Evidence for this initial coexistence can be gathered from archeological sites in Tiberias, Magdala, Capernaum, Bethsaida and Tabgha, which sits in the midst of all these sacred sites.

The site notes that at the end of the fourth century AD, Spanish nun and pilgrim Egeria traveled to the Holy Land and recorded her impressions and experiences in detail. Her report mentions a small church built over the rock, where “the Lord fed the multitude with five loaves and two fish”. In the fifth century, the small Syriac church was replaced with a much larger and more elaborate Byzantine structure, it is said, possibly to accommodate the rising number of visitors. This church contains the beautiful mosaics depicting animals and plants as well as geometric figures, all of which contribute greatly to the splendor and charm of today’s Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes.

At the end of his service, Ferguson will also have to participate in a re-entry retreat that is usually scheduled for mid-July after the time of service. A chapter reunion retreat is scheduled for late-December, following the year of service.

The cost for sending a Benedictine volunteer for a year of service is close to $15,000 a year, which covers administration expenses, travel, food, lodging and stipend.

The retreat complex includes a 33-bed house, four canvas tents, four smaller rooms, two bathhouses, separate kitchen, natural pool, garden, orchards and various animals.

Ferguson and other SJBVC volunteers will also have the opportunity to visit sites in the Holy Land and travel on weekend trips with the monks.

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