Profession of Solemn Vows

Celebrating God's faithful and abundant love, the Mepkin community gathered with members of Father Kevin's family and a large number of friends on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (December 8 th, 2006) as Father Kevin expressed his response to God's love at work in his life by professing his Solemn Vows as a Cistercian of the Strict Observance.

We recognize first that it is God's work that brings a person to be able to endeavor to live a commitment of stability, obedience and conversion of life ( conversatio morum) – our three vows . And Father Kevin expressed this in the ancient ritual of our Order as he asked for the mercy of God and of the brothers three times, also singing three time the “ Suscipe ” (‘Uplift me Lord and I shall live and do not disappoint me in my expectation.')

Abbot Stan received Father Kevin's vows after which Father Kevin signed the vow formula and placed it on the altar. His brothers in community extended their hands over him to invoke the Spirit's blessing when he prostrated himself before the altar as one who would ask to take up this life of grace and service. The abbot then blessed the cowl in which Father Kevin was to be clothed. The abbot and the junior master, Father Guerric, then clothed him in the cowl of a solemnly professed monk.

In his homily, Abbot Stan reminded Kevin that the monastery is a “claustral paradise but it is not a country club.” The Rule of Saint Benedict provides us the means to fulfill our desire, but it is a life of embracing the cross every day. So on a day honoring Mary who lived in fidelity and trust, quietly welcoming the Word to share the Lord with others, Father Kevin was exhorted to welcome the Word and to be generous in service.

Kevin Walsh was born on October 5, 1951, in Rockville Centre , New York . The son of Vincent and Peggy Walsh, like his father, he is a twin. Father Kevin's three brothers and sister were present for the celebration. It has always pleased Father Kevin that when he entered Mepkin there were men having his brother's names. Gregory, his twin, met our Brother Gregory who was infirmarian for so many years. Stephen who attended with his daughter, Colleen, met our guestmaster, Brother Stephen. And the youngest of the brothers, Matthew, who was present with his wife Maria and their three children: Marissa, Daniel and Shannon, was informed of a postulant named Matt who was with the community in 2000 when Father Kevin entered. Father Kevin's sister, Candice, was also present and read the first reading for the liturgy of profession.

Educated in his local parish elementary school, Saint Lawrence the Martyr, and at a nearby co-educational Catholic high school named Seton Hall, Father Kevin entered the seminary college in 1969 and upon graduating completed his Master of Divinity at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception on Long Island in New York . He was ordained a deacon in January of 1977 and a priest in March of 1978. In preparing for ministry, he studied at the Institute for Latin American Concerns in the Dominican Republic . His studies in language and culture were essential to his many years of service in parishes with a Spanish speaking population.

In his diocesan service, Father Kevin assisted in many parishes and ministered as the director of vocations, and for five years as the director of a house of studies for men completing undergraduate work to prepare to enter the major seminary. During those five years he returned to the Dominican Republic for a month each summer to work in a parish mission on the border of Haiti . His work with candidates for diocesan priesthood and seminarians brought him to pursue a certificate in spiritual direction from the Center for Spirituality at Larchmont in the Archdiocese of New York.

After years of discussion with his spiritual director, Bishop Christie Macaluso, Father Kevin received permission to explore a monastic vocation. After visiting Mepkin for a week of retreat in 1999, he initiated a formal discussion with Father Aelred and Abbot Francis Kline to be considered for entrance.

As the rule recommends, the abbot set about testing this candidate. With the permission of Archbishop Cronin of the Archdiocese of Hartford, Father Kevin spent three months at Mepkin as an observer. During this time he entered into the schedule of prayer sharing in the daily work of the monks. After a process of approximately a year and a half, Father Kevin was told that he was approved to enter Mepkin and he began his journey as a postulant on December 8 th , 2000. Over the following year he lived the life attending classes with the others in the formation program.

Father Kevin was clothed as a novice on December 8 th , 2001 and the endeavor became all that much more intense. In this time, he worked on the farm, in the gardens or at whatever task was given him. When Brother Joseph had to have surgery, Father Kevin became his assistant in the feed mill and began to learn the intricacies of mixing feed for the laying hens essential to the egg industry of the monastery. Though he enjoyed the solitude and time for prayer in this work, approximately 14 months later, the abbot called him to serve as office manager in the administration building of the monastery, a work which became somewhat more demanding as Abbot Francis was discovered to have a serious medical condition and began a long road of treatment. In working closely with the abbot another set of responsibilities emerged having to do with those inquiring about entering the monastery. Slowly this work brought Father Kevin to have the responsibility of vocation director for the monastery. Having yearned to live a monastic life for many years, Father Kevin's deepening commitment brought him to offer encouragement to men stirred with the same desire for God.

The gathering of community, family and friends on December 8 th for profession was an assembly of God's people proclaiming that God who is generous and faithful in loving us does give to those who ask the grace and strength and fervor to persevere in the monastic call. We continue to pray with and for Father Kevin as he lives his “yes” to God like Mary in trust and hope.