Benedictine Monk Models Life on Blessed Karl
This article was originally published in St. Benedict’s Abbey’s Summer 2020 publication, Kansas Monks. Click to learn more about St. Benedict’s Abbey in Atchison, KS.
On November 24, 2019, Br. Karel Soukup, O.S.B., made Solemn Profession as a monk of Saint Benedict’s Abbey in Atchison, Kansas. Taking the name of Blessed Karl for his name in monastic life, Br. Karel draws inspiration from Blessed Karl’s life of true service to Christ and His Gospel.
What brought you to St. Benedict’s Abbey?
I grew up in a small town, Lakin, in Southwest Kansas. I discovered St. Benedict’s Abbey almost completely by chance while studying Linguistics at the University of Kansas in 2004. At that time Benedictine College was a little more than half of the size it is today – and I had no clue there was a college or a monastery up here. One Sunday I was serving Mass at the St. Lawrence Center at KU and Abbot James, then Prior and Vocations Director, showed up out of the blue. He invited me to visit the Abbey. I spent about three weeks here split up over the course of a semester in the Spring of 2005, and I sort of got hooked. I entered in the Fall of 2005 with Br. Leven Harton.
The first time, you discerned that it wasn’t the right time to enter the monastic life; what was it like going back out into the world?
As a novice you don’t take any vows and you’re free to leave whenever you want – I left after about nine months. It was a hard thing to do at the time. Afterward I studied at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. After two years I came to the conclusion that diocesan priesthood wasn’t for me. Seminary is supposed to be a temporary situation, the whole point is to get you trained and get you formed and then go off into that pastoral work, but I really enjoyed the camaraderie, the brotherhood at the seminary in a way that disclosed to me that being on my own out at a parish wasn’t going to be a good fit for me. Leaving the seminary, I had no idea that I would come back to the monastery. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I spent a few years living and working odd jobs down around Wichita, Kansas, and it was at that point that I really discovered the need that I had for community life. The life that I was living wasn’t very glamorous, I was working at a grocery store trying to make ends meet, but I realized that the life that I was living was still a very selfish life – it was all centered around me and what I wanted. I knew that I needed something to draw me out of that and that’s where the idea of returning to the monastery first sprouted.
You’ve become quite the artist, where did you learn your craft?
I grew up in an artistic family, though I don’t know that anyone would consider themselves an artist. My dad paints and does woodworking and my mom does lots of different crafts. I grew up with the mentality that if you want to do something you figure out how to do it and then you do it. Immediately after leaving seminary I was sitting on my parent’s couch filling out job applications, which you can only do for so long, when I stumbled on a YouTube video about bookbinding. And I was sort of hooked onto this craft with a long tradition of craftsmanship that’s seeing a revival. Coming to the monastery I was encouraged by superiors to continue binding books. I’ve had the opportunity to participate in a few workshops with a local iconographer, Elizabeth Zeller, so I’ve taken up iconography and egg tempera painting in general. I’ve also been taking art courses at Benedictine College and am just trying to hone my skills.
Blessed Karl of Austria, Egg Tempera, 2019, Br. Karel Soukup, O.S.B.
Your name is unique, what can you tell us about your patron, Blessed Karl?
My patron is Blessed Karl of Austria. He was, to me, a really interesting person. He became emperor of Austria-Hungary during World War I – it’s really interesting, being a through and through American, that our enemy during a war was declared Blessed by the Church. One of the most extraordinary things he did (and was ultimately deposed by the Austrian generals for) was to try and broker a secret deal with the French. I thought that was an outstanding example of giving up everything to do what you thought was right. He was generally just a holy man; he died relatively young. The example of really embracing what God has in store for you when it seems that it’s all going wrong, I think is really beautiful.
What was on your mind as you approached your Solemn Profession?
My thought, at the time, was that it’s not a big leap to make. The fact of the matter is when I wake up on Monday morning I’m going to do the exact same thing I did on Saturday and Friday and Thursday – whether it’s the week of my profession or really any other week at the Abbey. The process of going into solemn vows, for me, had two main factors: first, the community’s affirmation of what I perceive to be God’s will. Our rector at Seminary explained that God’s will comes to you through the Church. If you aren’t voted forward to make solemn vows that’s a pretty good indication that it’s not God’s will for you to make solemn vows. Second, as in any lifestyle, there’s always things that attract you and things that grate on you; the question for me was, is it worth it being here? Are the hard things worth enduring for the sake of what is going right? Ultimately the conclusion I came to is “yes.” When I look back on my life and the way this community has formed me over the past five-plus years, and even beyond to my first novitiate fifteen years ago, I look back and say ,“It’s worth it.” There are hard things that I have to endure, and sometimes I almost want to run away. But at the end of the day I look back and I say, “God wants me here.” As long as I’m here I know that he is going to take care of me and lead me and that this community is going to form me to be a better man.