When asked to name the most inspirational Nebraskan, many would point to a single towering figure. My answer is different. The most inspirational Nebraskans to me are a community: the Benedictine monks of Mount Michael Abbey, who for more than 70 years have quietly shaped generations of young men into people of substance, character, and purpose.
I am hesitant to name individuals because it requires omitting many monks from the list, but some of the monks that have had an outsized influence on the Mount Michael students and community are: Abbot Michael Liebl O.S.B., Fr. John Hagemann O.S.B., Bro. Jerome Kmiecik O.S.B., Fr. Daniel Lenz O.S.B., Fr. Stephen Plank O.S.B., and the late Bro. Mel Tichota O.S.B.
Jack Horgan
Mount Michael Abbey, just west of Omaha overlooking the Elkhorn River, was founded in 1956 by monks from Conception Abbey in Missouri. From its earliest days, the monks established Mount Michael Benedictine High School, a college-preparatory school for young men that has since earned a reputation for academic excellence. The school has produced many distinguished alumni, including Rev. Daniel S. Hendrickson, SJ, PhD, current president of Creighton University.
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But what makes the monks truly inspirational is what they teach young men about how to live.
The monks of Mount Michael live according to the Rule of St. Benedict, a set of guidelines for communal life written nearly 1,500 years ago by St. Benedict of Nursia. That Rule contains values that are strikingly countercultural in 21st century America. Although few will determine they have the vocation to be a monk, the monks engrain these values in their students, values that provide an antidote to many of the world’s modern issues.
Consider the Benedictine commitment to stability. In a world that celebrates restless ambition, constant reinvention, and the next opportunity, the monks vow to remain rooted in a single community for life. They teach young men that commitment is not a limitation but a freedom.
Consider humility. St. Benedict devoted an entire chapter of his Rule to its 12 steps, teaching that genuine growth begins not with self-promotion but with honest self-knowledge and reverence for something greater than oneself.
Consider obedience. It is not the blind submission to authority that modern readers will interpret the word to mean, but a deep, intentional listening. The Latin root, obedire, means "to listen." The monks teach their students to listen before speaking, to seek wisdom before asserting opinion, to submit to the discipline of learning before claiming mastery.
Consider hospitality. It means receiving every person "as Christ himself," recognizing the dignity in the stranger, the newcomer, the one who is different.
Consider moderation. This principle pushes back against a culture of excess, overconsumption, and overscheduling. The monks remind their students to make space in our over-scheduled lives to interrupt the busyness for others and for ourselves.
And consider community living, the conviction that finding one's best self requires us to live side by side with others, allowing the flawed edges to be worn down revealing progress of the individual and the community.
Together, they offer something our modern world desperately needs: an opposing force to political and social division, loneliness, materialism, overreliance on technology, the frantic pursuit of status and wealth that leaves so many feeling empty.
The monks of Mount Michael live a quiet, simple life. They rise before dawn, they pray, they teach, they serve. In doing so, they have shaped hundreds of young men (fathers, doctors, teachers, community leaders, and neighbors) who carry those ancient values into a world that needs them now more than ever. Nebraska has produced many great individuals. But for quiet, steady, transformational inspiration, the monks of Mount Michael are hard to beat.
