NOVEMBER 28
On this day in 1999, Father Odo Gogel, a founding member of our community and our first oblate director, died at St. Bernard’s Hospital in Milbank. Father Odo was born in Mariah Hill, Indiana on February 10, 1924. He attended the minor seminary at St. Meinrad and entered the novitiate there in 1944. His solemn profession of vows was made in 1948 and he was ordained a priest in 1950.
      Father Odo had numerous assignments in his lifetime as a monk of Blue Cloud. He approached each of these with great fervor. Sometimes the stretch of his enthusiasm was excessive. A student in the church history class he taught during the days of our own seminary, remarked, “Odo covered six centuries in one hour during our class.”
He served as the pastor of several parishes in the Sioux Falls Diocese, and was the chaplain at Government Indian School in Flandreau and at Mother of God Monastery and Harmony Hill High School in Watertown. For a time, he was stationed at Immaculate Conception Mission, Stephan. In addition to all of these works, Father Odo earned three master degrees: in theology, psychology, and education. Soon after his arrival here, he went to South Dakota State University to take courses in agriculture. This was in preparation for becoming farm manager. He became our procurator instead. While at SDSU, he was instrumental in establishing the Newman Center.
      The great disappointment in his life came in 1995 when he was called back to the monastery from his hospital and nursing home chaplaincies in Aberdeen. “There’s nothing to do here,” he was overheard commenting to abbey visitors. But he soon found things to do. Writing “spiritual snippets” to a multitude of people was a daily occupation. He made a point of meeting people and putting them on his mailing list. During the few months before his death, he was desperately trying to write a book, which he described as one about the real meaning of monasticism.
Father Odo was an intense kind of person. He seemed to look upon relaxation as a burden. Conducting one of several spiritual programs— Cursillo, Koinoma, REC, or Search—was how he liked to spend a weekend when not committed to other duties.