Because it’s Brotherhood Day, the death anniversary of Brother Bernard Adam Klim, C.S.C., and the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Patron Saint of Ecology, I am here to tell you a story of a brother in Holy Cross: a Zen Spiritual Master, an Artist, a Farmer, an Engineer, and a Religious Brother in Holy Cross who found God in everything but silence. Courage and renewal with hope to re-create a new defined his resilience in ministry. A story that never fades in East Africa is when he was asked to preach to prisoners on one Sunday at Katojo Prison near my little country village of Saaka in Fort Portal, Uganda. After all the week’s preparations, Br. Klim stood up at the time of the homily and said, “Courage,” and that was the end of his homily! What more do you think a prisoner would have wanted to hear from a Sunday Homily? Hope and Courage that Brother Bernie delivered I tend to believe.
Bernie often said, “Holy Cross has given me opportunities, and I have taken them.” He described himself as leading a monk-style life and said, “A Brother is dedicated, no matter what; just a quiet, giving person.” His favorite sayings, which capture his wisdom of being a Christian Zen, are: ‘Never stop giving,’ ‘Wisdom comes through silence,’ and ‘Be aware of every word and every thought.’
This takes me to the choice of my reflection title today: “Maybe we have to listen more.” Brother Bernard Adam Klim, C.S.C., born on March 29, 1930, passed on October 4, 2015 (Age 85) at Notre Dame, Indiana. Through his Zen meditations, he listened more, even to the voice of God, and always spoke less but upheld values imbued in listening. We talk about being men who work and pray in Holy Cross; he was one. His life and ministry stories are life-changing, from witnessing to his love of God in all things to praying and listening to God in everything with a niche of recreating through his gift of art, renewing hope in objects.
He even went ahead and made objects that triggered silence, like the beautiful bells blown by the wind that he made in the different community houses. I know of one that was at the Holy Cross Novitiate at Lake Saaka! Whenever it would ring, we could be reminded of Holy Silence. His images are nothing rather than something you look at and introspect to think! Maybe we have to listen more. I found these true testimonial stories from the Province of East Africa that are so touching and also helped me better understand how inspired his fellow brothers in Holy Cross were by his life, faith, and life’s work, featuring testimonies of the Most Rev. Bishop Patrick M. Neary, C.S.C., Ordinary of the Diocese of St. Cloud, USA; Rev. Fr. Caxton Peter Mayanja, C.S.C., Provincial of PEA; Rev. Fr. Fred Jenga, C.S.C., the current President of Holy Cross Family Ministries; Br. Jim Nichols, C.S.C.; among many other members of the Congregation and Province.
http://brothersofholycross.com/bhc/wp-content/uploads/MidMid-BernieCompilation.pdf
To understand the life of Br. Bernard Klim well, I had to read more about his obituary.
Brother Bernard Klim, age 85, died on October 4, 2015, at Columba Hall in Notre Dame, Indiana. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, on March 29, 1930, the son of Kazimer and Magdelena (Nijis) Klim. His parents emigrated from Poland to the Detroit area, and his mother died when he was just two months old. He attended elementary school in Emmett, Michigan, until 1947 and worked for a neighbor to learn a variety of skills in carpentry and farming. At age 17, he worked in auto mechanics at a General Motors factory. A nun told Bernie she saw a religious vocation in him. After a visit from Brother Eymard Salzman, he followed a calling and joined the Brothers, entering St. Joseph’s Novitiate in Rolling Prairie, Indiana, and pronounced his first vows as a Brother of Holy Cross on February 2, 1952. He still remembers thanking his novice master, Brother Dominic Elder, and telling him, “What little I have, I give it all!” and indeed he gave all he had.
He was assigned to work with Brother Flavian Lambert at Columba Hall to learn more mechanical skills. After six months, he went back to Watertown to serve as director of maintenance for a year. In 1953, he assumed the maintenance and gardening duties at Gilmour Academy for six years. In 1959, after a visit with the provincial, he told Brother Donatus he was interested in serving in India or Brazil, but instead, he was assigned to Rome as the maintenance director at the Generalate for 15 years and then served the same role for 11 years at Notre Dame International School. Bernie still persisted in asking to become a foreign missionary. In 1963, Brother Theophane, after serving on the General Council, wanted to take Bernie with him to Liberia, but Father Lalande said he was needed in Rome. During his years in Rome, Bernie became involved in creative artistic talents and gained notoriety as a “heavy metal sculptor.” He would take scrap metal and weld it into a variety of designs. He visited Roman flea markets to collect damaged tools and scrap. One time he saw a broken monkey wrench and could visualize a horse. This talent and foresight resulted in the production of a variety of magnificent creations. His metal sculptures were exhibited at museum showings in Rome, and many are found in community houses in the Midwest Province.
A major transition in Bernie’s life took place while in Rome in the 1980s. He found dissatisfaction with his experience in the Church and his religious life and began to read about other religious traditions. When a Jesuit Zen Master gave a retreat in Rome, Bernie attended it and had a ‘rejuvenating experience.’ He asked to begin a serious pursuit of the practice of Zen. He came back to the U.S. in 1985 to attend Zen workshops in the Catskill Mountains of New York and at Mount Baldy in California. When he returned to Rome, the Zen Master asked Bernie to be in charge of the “zendo” and help as an interpreter for Italians who didn’t know English. On one occasion, when the retreat master took ill, Bernie was asked to conduct the retreat. That experience was a new beginning for him.
In 1992, when the International School was closing, Brother John Gleason offered Bernie a chance to go to the missions in East Africa, a desire he had first expressed more than 30 years before. He was assigned to join the staff at Holy Cross institutions in Uganda, where his creative construction talents led to numerous projects for the schools, churches, dormitories, chapels, formation houses, and grottos in the Holy Cross community. He also continued his Zen practices and gave Zen retreats.
In 2013, Bernie returned to the U.S. for medical tests and treatment and took up residence at Columba Hall. He continued his Zen pursuits, gave presentations, and always exhibited his example of ‘mindfulness.’ He recently suggested a project to beautify a hillside behind the entrance to the kitchen. He directed and assisted in transforming it into a “Meditation Garden,” now a fitting memorial to his passing.
Likewise, St. Francis of Assisi died on October 4, 1226, at the age of 45. He was baptized Giovanni di Pietro Bernardone, called Francis by his father, and initially seemed destined for an ordinary life. But he later found God and chose to abandon all for God’s sake. Today we celebrate him as the patron saint of Italy, a man who understood and lived poverty for the sake of Christ, patron of ecology, who inspires us in the Church by his radical prophetic witness, taking the gospel literally to respond to God’s call, serving with humility and simplicity, and living up to his passion for nature. He had a special reverence for finding God in every creature. Our Holy Father Pope Francis took his name from the inspiration of St. Francis of Assisi, and today his faith and spirituality inspire the world as it seeks to respond to the growing concern and need to care for creation.
Br. Klim renewed hope in creation; all his artworks and items were made from refurbished items and stones. There he built altars, made candlelight shelters, and designed compounds in many ministry places of Holy Cross in East Africa and beyond. Here are a few you might want to look at: http://brothersofholycross.com/bernard-klim-sculptures/
In summary, I found it inspiring to highlight the contributions of Br. Bernard Klim on this feast of St. Francis, which happens to be his death anniversary, reflecting on their legacies and how they motivate me to embody service beyond self, simplicity, and stewardship of the environment. I have been inspired in many ways as I think of my life and what is happening in the world today as we celebrate the feast of St. Francis to end the season of creation that started on September 1st. I have also been able to ponder the reality that our gifts can be a big blessing in making God known, loved, and served. Whereas Br. Klim shared faith through his gift of art and spirituality in Zen meditation, St. Francis left the treasures of the world to choose a path of simplicity and service to God’s people.
No one is too poor not to afford to give something or care for Mother Nature. Francis had great love for creation . He saw nature, wildlife, and natural resources as a gift that needed to be appreciated and protected. Each day brings us more news about the climate change catastrophes that are happening to this wonderful gift of creation. We also see the suffering of God’s people and His creation—a challenge for us to unite as a human family and work together to protect and conserve our common home.
We must begin to think of those special gifts and small acts or daily practices we can adopt to care for God’s creation and share thoughts with those we serve on how we can each day grow in humility to appreciate and uphold the dignity of God’s creation. In his encyclical “Laudato Si’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord,” Pope Francis invites us to discern “an attitude of the heart” (no. 226), which in some way is reflected in St. Francis’s canticle of creation that reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life.
With all this, I have been able to question and ponder the precepts of the Lord that give joy to the heart and can only be understood through prayer, meditation, and reflection on the reality, learning deeper ways of listening and using every one of my gifts to make Him known, loved, and served, but also to appreciate Him by caring for His creation.
If you are anything like me, I feel inspired and challenged to listen more to God’s voice and act quietly, drawing inspiration from these spiritual and holy people. The cry of the earth and the cry of the poor are loud enough for those who are attentive enough to hear. Pope Francis in “Laudato Si'” encourages us to embrace a preferential option for the poor when he says, “the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor” (LS, 2). All these blended together make me realize that Holy Cross has an inspirational story of hope in Br. Klim’s work and ministry.
I request you to visit these sources for more information about Br. Klim as a reflection on his life and death anniversary on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron of ecology. Read about his family story: https://sippican.theweektoday.com/article/mother-son-exhibit-art-work-mattapoisett-library/18546
His artwork and image credit: http://brothersofholycross.com/bernard-klim-sculptures/
A school community residence at St. Joseph’s Hill was named after him in the Province of East Africa, and many people have found hope and an understanding of God’s love through Holy Cross. See some of these stories here: https://www.holycrossusa.org/article/finding-the-holy-cross-family-an-understanding-of-love-and-universality/
Maybe we have to listen more… I couldn’t help but put this thought forward for today’s feast.
Br. Adolf Mugume, C.S.C.,
Director of Communications
Congregation of Holy Cross
Rome, Italy
