Benedictine monk's mission in Hispanic community

SCHUYLER - In his office called El Puente, the Rev. Paul Kasun finished up a phone call.

He was assisting one of his clients through his Hispanic outreach ministry program at the St. Benedict Mission House in Schuyler.

Kasun is the newest member of the Benedictine community. He pronounced his Temporal Monastic Vows earlier this year. He joins the six other monks in the community and is the only one who is from Nebraska. In fact, he is one of two monks in the community who was born in America.

The monks of Christ the King Priory are part of the Missionary Benedictine Congregation of St. Ottilien, Germany. The monks came here because they were searching for financial help in the United States for their missions overseas after the Hitler Regime had stopped all support of the missions and closed many religious houses, including the motherhouse.

The bishop of Omaha invited the monks to come to Schuyler in 1935. They were assigned to an empty convent of the Notre Dame Sisters of Omaha at St. Mary's Parish in Schuyler. That was their home until there was a need for a larger facility. Fifteen acres of land four miles north of Schuyler were given to them to build a new facility. The new facility was built there and opened in 1979. The St. Benedict Center was later constructed and opened in 1997.

The missionary work of the monks extends to Africa, Asia and Latin America, but here, Fr. Paul heads El Puente, or The Bridge, and reaches out to the growing Hispanic community in the Schuyler area, helping them with immigration matters.

“Our goal is to help people, bring them into our community, integrate them and explain to them what you can expect of the law. It keeps you safe, but you can also use the law to have a more enjoyable life,” Kasun said.

Currently, Kasun, who speaks fluent Spanish, said he has 45 clients whom he helps. He has experience in ministering to Hispanics through his work in the priesthood prior to joining the Benedictine community. He was ordained in the Archdiocese of Omaha and served at Sacred Heart Parish in Norfolk, St. Agnes and Our Lady of Guadalupe parishes in Omaha, and St. Leonard's Parish in Madison.

Kasun, 42, joined the community in 2003. He was urged to use his past experiences to select Hispanic ministry as the way he would serve the community when he joined.

Mission work is what Kasun said drew him to the Missionary Benedictines. He said he first began to think about a religious vocation when he was in high school while attending Elkhorn Public High School after he spent part of his elementary years going to Catholic school in Omaha.

He was hesitant to tell anyone of his thoughts of the priesthood, even his parents, because he wasn't certain that was the life for him.

“I always thought I wanted to be a priest, but then I would think I don't know if I want to be a priest,” Kasun said. “I had a girlfriend in high school and thought, ‘how do you tell your girlfriend you want to be a priest?'”

But when he was a senior, he talked to a priest and decided religious life was for him. He did his undergraduate studies in religion and philosophy at Conception Seminary College at Conception Abbey and graduated there in 1986. In the year that followed, Kasun began to consider missionary life. He did missionary work in Eastern Los Angeles in a predominately Mexican neighborhood where he was director for religious education at a church.

After returning to the diocese in 1991, he continued to pursue Hispanic ministry and took a course through the University of Nebraska-Omaha to learn Spanish. But the desire to be a missionary never went away, he said.

Upon getting permission from the bishop, Kasun began the process to enter the Missionary Benedictines in 2002.

Most cases Kasun works with through his Hispanic ministry concern family visas. Because of his work with churches in the area, Kasun said he is well known in the surrounding communities. He is still actively reaching out to those in need. He will be helping to host a special conference in Schuyler geared toward answering general questions about the law on March 5.