Atchinson ? For years, people have urged Barnabas Senecal to record a CD using the same tenor voice with which he offers prayers four times a day.

He’s abbot of St. Benedict’s Abbey, which means he leads the 58 monks who belong to the order. It also means he’s occasionally asked to sing at confirmation classes for Catholic churches in the area.

“I always shied away from doing a CD,” he says. “What are you going to do? Sing at confirmation and then say, ‘Oh, by the way, I have CDs for sale in the back?'”

His attitude changed last week, when “On a Musical Journey” was released. The 22-track recording features Senecal and seven other monks singing both traditional Gregorian chants and newer compositions, some written by members of the group.

It also includes organ solos by the Rev. Blaine Schultz, organist at the abbey.

The CD aims to raise money for a major renovation and expansion at the church. Since the CD came out Jan. 26, almost 500 copies have been sold.

The recording took place over two days in the abbey’s church, a gigantic room with high ceilings that allows for several seconds’ reverberation for choral and organ music.

Music is an important part of each of the monks’ four daily gatherings – 6:20 a.m. vigils and morning prayer; 12:05 p.m. midday prayer; 5:15 p.m. Mass; and 6:45 p.m. vespers.

Most weeks, the monks sing songs from about six different faith traditions, Schultz says. The variety is important when you’re singing and praying so much, he says.

“You need it just to survive,” Schultz says.

Schultz, who has been at St. Benedict’s Abbey since 1954, describes the appeal of Gregorian chant music this way: “It’s just the nature of the music. It’s modal. It doesn’t call attention to itself – it stresses the text.”

But monks got away from doing only Gregorian chants in the 1960s and 1970s, when new music was written in the same faith tradition.

“There are some similarities, but they struck out in a new direction,” Schultz says of composers of that era.

Music continues to be written for the monks today. The new CD features compositions by Schultz and the Rev. Ambrose Nelson, another member of St. Benedict’s.

The CD will help raise a small chunk of the $10.6 million goal of the current capital campaign under way at the abbey. The money will go toward many improvements, including:

¢ Upgrades to make the facility compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

¢ New roof and windows for the older section of the abbey, built in 1929.

¢ An expanded gathering area for the church.

¢ Endowment funds to pay for future upgrades.

Most of the money is coming from private donations, although a few private foundations also have contributed.

Aside from raising money with the $25 CDs, Senecal hopes the recording is a reminder that the order of monks is nearby.

“It’s providing a presence of ourselves,” says Senecal, who has been at the abbey since 1957. “Many of our friends around don’t come up here often.”

The recording has been such a hit so far that Senecal says the monks might consider doing a Christmas album down the road.

“In terms of the effort it took,” he says, “it’s a pleasant way to raise money.”