A generation of big names in “East coast Catholicism” in the past two years have died, and Right Reverend Father Gabriel Gibbs is numbered among them. Abbot Gabriel, 84, was the first abbot of Saint Benedict’s Abbey, Still River, MA.
Abbot Gabriel is likely to be remembered most for his questioning of religious liberty (no salvation outside the Church) that came to head in the doctrine put forward by the Second Vatican Council, though it was much discussed by theologians and bishops in the 1940s. Early in his life Abbot Gabriel was part of a robust Catholic center in Harvard Square, The Saint Benedict Center, where Jesuit Father Leonard Feeney lectured. After suffering for sometime with cancer, Abbot Gabriel died on March 27. Abbot is pictured above on the far right.