Programs and Events
of the Mount Angel Institute

Painting in the Field of the Lord – An Exhibition

September 3-22, 2023
Mount Angel Abbey Library

Mimi Fox’s new paintings are a result of her study of the Parables of Jesus and his life. The Abbey library is a quiet place of reflection and peace and a fitting place for Fox’s paintings. Painted with intense vitality of spirit, she draws the viewer into her paintings of faith and hope. “They are,” says Fox, “a direct reaction to the oppressive, societal issues we experience today. Because we are companions in the community of life, the paintings are to inspire people to come together and stand up for the truth, and we know who that is.

Fox taught college-level art courses throughout Oregon for much of her career, including the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Mount Angel Abbey Seminary, the Benedictine Sisters of Queen of Angels Monastery, Eastern Oregon University, Portland State University, and Newport Oregon Community College.

She and her fisherman husband live on the Washington coast. “This lifestyle inspires my art. A strong connection to the Creator of all things is felt in my paintings. When growing up in Mount Angel on our farm, I attended school and helped care for my five siblings with my father. So children are included and meaningfully depicted in my paintings.”

She has exhibited her work in Paris, France, Blackish Gallery in Portland, Oregon, Gallery 110 in Seattle, Sparrow Gallery in Sacramento, California, and throughout the United States. She holds a Masters of Fine Arts degree from WSU and has studied theology and philosophy at Mount Angel Abbey Seminary and with the Benedictine Sisters of Mt. Angel.

In 2024, at Coos Art Museum, she is exhibiting her work, “Painting in the Field of Faith and Hope,” from April 26 through June 30.

For more information, click here.

On Politics and Love: Learning from Shakespeare

Christian in the World – 4-part series
September 9 | 9:00 – 11:50 am
Mount Angel Abbey Library
with Fr. Stephen Rowan, PhD

Shakespeare’s plays have held the stage from the time they were written (c. 1590-1610) because people have found that they speak to the heart about topics that concern them deeply.

In Richard III, a history and tragedy, Shakespeare shows how a deeply flawed man becomes a tyrant and how his conscience – and the consciences of an aroused people – take him down.

In As You Like It, a comedy about people in love, Shakespeare looks beyond clichés and commonplaces to examine how love can hope to avoid the extremes of sentimentality and cynicism in order to survive over time.

In four talks over four months, these talks will focus on what the wisdom of Shakespeare, one of the world’s greatest dramatists and poets, offers to everyone but especially to people who are Christians in the world.

The presentations are held in the Abbey library auditorium on the second Saturday of the month: September 9, October 14, November 11, and December 9. The mornings begin with a prayer at 9 am and end at noon, with a break mid-morning.

Gallery Talk: Painting in the Field of the Lord

September 16 | 3:00 – 4:15 pm
Mount Angel Abbey Library

Join us for an afternoon with artist Mimi Fox who will share her insights on her gallery, Painting in the Field of the Lord, on display in the Abbey library entry. They reflect a direct reaction to the oppressive societal issues we experience today. The paintings are to inspire people to come together and stand up for the truth.

Against Nature? St. Maximus on the Spiritual Humility of Deification in Christ

October 7 | 3:00 – 4:15 pm
Mount Angel Abbey Library
with Jordan Daniel Wood, PhD

Jesus Christ, wrote St. Maximus in a letter, came “to liberate humanity from the world and nature” (Epistle 9). Maximus not infrequently characterizes the ascetic struggle or the process of deification as being “against nature.” But since nature is created by God and is therefore good, what can Maximus mean? We will consider this question and, in the course of doing so, glimpse Maximus’s profound vision for why the excess inherent in the call to become God in Christ is ultimately a sign of great spiritual humility before God’s own love for us, poured into our hearts in the Spirit (Romans 5:5), so that Christ might “be in and be all” (Colossians 3:11).

Jordan Daniel Wood, a scholar in residence at Mount Angel Abbey, obtained his PhD in Historical Theology from Boston College in 2018. His first book, The Whole Mystery of Christ: Creation as Incarnation in Maximus Confessor, was published by the University of Notre Dame Press in 2022, and his complete translation of St. Maximus’s Letters into English (for the first time) is due to appear in the Fathers of the Church series with the Catholic University of America Press in 2024. He is a stay-at-home dad of four young daughters, who are definitely to blame for the slow pace of his translation work!

On Politics and Love: Learning from Shakespeare

Christian in the World – 4-part series
October 14 | 9:00 – 11:50 am
Mount Angel Abbey Library
with Fr. Stephen Rowan, PhD

Shakespeare’s plays have held the stage from the time they were written (c. 1590-1610) because people have found that they speak to the heart about topics that concern them deeply.

In Richard III, a history and tragedy, Shakespeare shows how a deeply flawed man becomes a tyrant and how his conscience – and the consciences of an aroused people – take him down.

In As You Like It, a comedy about people in love, Shakespeare looks beyond clichés and commonplaces to examine how love can hope to avoid the extremes of sentimentality and cynicism in order to survive over time.

In four talks over four months, these talks will focus on what the wisdom of Shakespeare, one of the world’s greatest dramatists and poets, offers to everyone but especially to people who are Christians in the world.

The presentations are held in the Abbey library auditorium on the second Saturday of the month: September 9, October 14, November 11, and December 9. The mornings begin with a prayer at 9 am and end at noon, with a break mid-morning.

How to Experience Shakespeare:
an Enhanced Screening of King Lear

November 4 | 2:00 pm – 4:45 pm
Mount Angel Abbey Library
with Dr. Katie Jo LaRiviere

Join us for an afternoon of wine and snacks as we screen Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of King Lear with introduction and guided discussion by Dr. Katie Jo LaRiviere. Together we will discuss ways to enrich your experience of the Bard’s works and glean insights into the complexity of human nature using one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies.

Dr. Katie Jo LaRiviere is an Associate Professor in the Department of Literature at Mount Angel Seminary.

On Politics and Love: Learning from Shakespeare

Christian in the World – 4-part series
November 11 | 9:00 – 11:50 am
Mount Angel Abbey Library
with Fr. Stephen Rowan, PhD

Shakespeare’s plays have held the stage from the time they were written (c. 1590-1610) because people have found that they speak to the heart about topics that concern them deeply.

In Richard III, a history and tragedy, Shakespeare shows how a deeply flawed man becomes a tyrant and how his conscience – and the consciences of an aroused people – take him down.

In As You Like It, a comedy about people in love, Shakespeare looks beyond clichés and commonplaces to examine how love can hope to avoid the extremes of sentimentality and cynicism in order to survive over time.

In four talks over four months, these talks will focus on what the wisdom of Shakespeare, one of the world’s greatest dramatists and poets, offers to everyone but especially to people who are Christians in the world.

The presentations are held in the Abbey library auditorium on the second Saturday of the month: September 9, October 14, November 11, and December 9. The mornings begin with a prayer at 9 am and end at noon, with a break mid-morning.

On Politics and Love: Learning from Shakespeare

Christian in the World – 4-part series
December 9 | 9:00 – 11:50 am
Mount Angel Abbey Library
with Fr. Stephen Rowan, PhD

Shakespeare’s plays have held the stage from the time they were written (c. 1590-1610) because people have found that they speak to the heart about topics that concern them deeply.

In Richard III, a history and tragedy, Shakespeare shows how a deeply flawed man becomes a tyrant and how his conscience – and the consciences of an aroused people – take him down.

In As You Like It, a comedy about people in love, Shakespeare looks beyond clichés and commonplaces to examine how love can hope to avoid the extremes of sentimentality and cynicism in order to survive over time.

In four talks over four months, these talks will focus on what the wisdom of Shakespeare, one of the world’s greatest dramatists and poets, offers to everyone but especially to people who are Christians in the world.

The presentations are held in the Abbey library auditorium on the second Saturday of the month: September 9, October 14, November 11, and December 9. The mornings begin with a prayer at 9 am and end at noon, with a break mid-morning.

Advent Organ Concert: The Music of J.S. Bach

December 10 | 3:00 – 4:00 pm
Mount Angel Abbey Church

Join us for an afternoon of music from composer J.S. Bach, played by Christopher Wicks and friends:

Prelude and Fugue in f minor, BWV 534

Alto Aria: Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter auf Erden?

Movement 2 from Cantata 137
Allison Knotts, alto;  Stephanie Barth, violin

Organ Chorale Preludes:

Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 699

(Savior of the Nations, Come)

Gottes Sohn ist kommen, BWV 703 (God’s Son Has Come)

Herr Christ, der einge Gottes Sohn, BWV 698

(Lord Christ, God’s Only Son)

Christum wir sollen loben schön, BWV 696

(Christ, Whom We Sweetly Praise)

Lobt Gott, ihr Christen allzugleich, BWV 732

(Praise God, Ye Christians, with One Accord)

Five Canonic Variations on Vom Himmel hoch, da kam ich her, BWV 769

(From Highest Heaven to Earth I Come)

Tenor Aria: Zion hört die Wächter singen, movement 4 from Cantata 140

Ryan Amend, tenor;  Stephanie Barth, violin

Organ Chorale Preludes:

Wir Christenleut haben jetzund Freud, BWV 710 (Christians, Rejoice Today)

Nun freut euch, lieben Christen gmein, BWV 734

(Now Rejoice, Dear Christians, All Together)

Lob sei dem allmächtigen Gott, BWV 704 (Praise to the Almighty God)

Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, BWV 722 (Praise to You, Jesus Christ)

Preaching Matthew

with Fr. Stephen Rowan
Wednesday-Thursday, December 14-15

This two-day workshop presents a series of reflections on Matthew’s Gospel, intended to give priests an overview of the Gospel’s themes for Year A of the liturgical year in the context of fellowship, prayer, and relaxation on the grounds of Mount Angel Abbey. Fr. Stephen Rowan, our presenter, is a priest of the Archdiocese of Seattle and a faculty member at Mount Angel Seminary.

To make reservations, please contact the guesthouse at 503.845.3025 or email retreat@mtangel.edu.

Cost: Free Will Offering
Note: This workshop is limited to 35 participants.