A Monk's Tale

Today I am coming to the last point on a whirlwind trip to Asia which included visits to China, South Korea and Japan. We are blessed with a large contingent of students from this part of the world and once a year I gather with their parents to celebrate that relationship. I cannot say enough good things about their children. Bright, talented, polite and respectful are words that only begin to scratch the surface. At our last regents’ meeting, one of the students played piano for us and left his audience breathless. Others in the past have executed and donated wonderful pieces of art. The Asian students have also helped raise the academic profile of the school by scoring incredibly well on national tests in math and science. They are a much beloved part of our residential program drawing accolades from Brett Hendrickson, our director. But most of all, these students always seem to have a good attitude about everything. I’m sure this experience is not all an easy street for them. We forget how far from home they are and how foreign our ways must. Yet, I can never pass one in the hall or on the way to the refectory without receiving a polite greeting and a warm smile. Perhaps they intuit the fact that a headmaster’s day is not an easy street as well?


At any rate, I am always excited to see Asia and this trip will include a much anticipated stay at the Saint John’s house in Fujimi, Japan called Holy Trinity Monastery. We have several of our monks living in a community that has been there since the 1940’s but recently relocated out of a busy section of Tokyo to a more remote, mountainous region which is more conducive to monastic life. In their beautiful new home, the monks feel more able to recruit native vocations and live a more contemplative life style. It must be working because there has been a sudden uptick in the number of young men joining the community. It would be very nice to see resurgence in the membership of that house.

The China visits included Shanghai where I saw about 12 parents and then Ningbo, a smaller city (by China's standards) but one of our hubs because of faithful parents who love Saint John's Prep.  Yesterday, I spent less than 24 hours in Seoul Korea but had a lively and incredible meal with several of our Korean families.  One of the couples drove over 4 hours just to be there.  More on all of this later.  In a couple of hours I will make my way by train to Fujimi hoping to navigate what I'm told is a complex but very efficient train system.