abbot – Page 2 – Communio

Father Anselm Atkinson, OSB New Abbot of Pluscarden

The Rt. Rev. Anselm Atkinson, OSB until now the
Superior of St. Mary’s Monastery, Petersham, MA (for the last 21 years) and Abbot-Visitor for the
English speaking province of the Subiaco Congregation of the Order of St.
Benedict has been elected as the third Abbot of Petersham’s motherhouse and the
monastery of his profession (1976) and priest in 1982, Pluscarden Abbey in Scotland. Pluscarden was refounded in 1948.

Abbot Anselm succeeds Abbot
Hugh Gilbert, OSB who will be ordained and installed on August 15 as the Bishop
of Aberdeen.

Congratulations to Abbot Anselm!

Ad Multos Annos!

h/t: Fr Guy Selvester

Vincent Bataille elected new abbot president of the Swiss American Congregation of Monks

Abbot Vincent de Paul Bataille, emeritus abbot of
Marmion Abbey, was elected for six-year term by the capitulars of the 44th General Congregation Swiss American Congregationon Monday, August 8, 2011. As the new Abbot President he’ll over see certain parts of the monastic life of little more than a dozen monasteries (see a previous blog post).

Abbot Vincent saw to the
renovation of Marmion Abbey, the building of the abbey church, and attracting
new vocations to the abbey, plus several additions to the academy. He earned the MA (Music) University of Notre Dame,
MEd from DePaul University,
Chicago. He taught Math and Language at Marmion Academy, and held the position
of Dean of Students at the Academy.

For a period of time he was appointed the Prior
of Priory of San José, Guatemala before being elected the 4th Abbot of Marmion Abbey
and President of Marmion Academy, Aurora, Illinois, in 1991. Until now he’s been the Vocation
Director for Marmion Abbey, and a member of the Abbot President’s Council,
Swiss-American Congregation.

May God grant Abbot Vincent the graces needed for certain and clear leadership.

Saint Benedict and Saint Scholastica, pray for us.

Blessed Columba Marmion, pray for us.

Thomas Frerking, Abbot, re-elected at St Louis Abbey

Today, the monks of Saint Louis Abbey elected for the third time, Abbot Thomas Frerking.

Abbot Thomas, 69, was first elected in 1995; he will serve for an 8-year term. The abbots of the English Benedictine Congregation have term limits: you can be elected indefinitely for 8 years each terms.

Abbot Thomas is a St Louis native. Harvard and Oxford University educated, Frerking studied Philosophy; he’s also a Rhodes Scholar. The Abbot is a noted Thomist.

Saint Louis Abbey operates the Priory School, Saint Anselm Church and the Oratory of Saints Gregory and Augustine. Abbot Thomas is the father of a monastic community which numbers 30 monks.

May God grant, through the intercession of Saints Benedict, Scholastica and all the Benedictine saints and blesseds, the graces needed to lead the monastic community of Saint Louis Abbey.

James Wiseman elected abbot of Saint Anselm Abbey, Washington, DC

Father James Wiseman, 66, was elected the new and fifth abbot of Saint Anselm’s Abbey, Washington, DC Thursday. Dom James will serve for an eight year term as abbot. He replaces the Prior Administrator Simon McGurk, a monk of Belmont Abbey in the UK.

The new abbot’s been called to serve his community in a variety of ways since his profession in 1966: priesthood (1970), abbot (1975-1983), novice master (1983-1994) and prior (1990-2006). In fact, Dom James has been elected as abbot for the second time; the first time around he was the second abbot.

Abbot James teaches theology at Catholic University of America, and has done so since 1985, and at the abbey’s school since 1969. Since 2007, he’s held the rank of ordinary professor at Catholic University.

He has served twice as chair of CUA’s theology department, and for a period of time as an associate dean. James Wiseman has written or edited six books and more than 30 published articles. He’s also chaired the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, a collection of monks and nuns interested in questions of interfaith relations. For 12 years Dom James edited the Bulletin of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue.

Saint Anselm Abbey is one of three Benedictine abbeys in the USA of the English Benedictine Congregation, there are a total of 13 EBC houses of monks. The others being Saint Gregory the Great (Portsmouth, RI) and Saint Louis (St Louis, MO). The Benedictine monastic community was founded in 1923 Father Thomas Verner Moore and some companions. In 1961, Blessed Pope John XXIII gave the Benedictine community the rank of an abbey. Today, there are 15 monks at Saint Anselm’s.

Through the intercession of Saints Benedict, Scholastica and Anselm, and Father Luigi Giussani, may the Blessed Trinity give Abbot James the wisdom and love to serve well and prudence. Especially offer your prayers for the monastic community as it continues the work of deepening their faith and giving clear witness to monastic witness of the Gospel. There’s is an unique vocation in the Nation’s heart.

Hugh Gilbert: Benedictine abbot elected bishop of Aberdeen

Pope Benedict XVI nominated as the new bishop of Aberdeen (Scotland) the Right Reverend Dom Hugh Gilbert, OSB, 59. This appointment was made public today.

Until now, Dom Hugh has been the abbot of the Pluscarden Abbey, a position he’s held since 1992. He’s been a Benedictine for 37 years. In the monastery he’s held several positions of service as well as serving as a member of the Union of Monastic Superiors and on the Abbot Visitor’s Council for the Subiaco Congregation of monasteries.

Pluscarden Abbey is the under the patronage of Our Lady and Saints John the Baptist and Andrew. It was founded in 1230 by King Alexander II; the monks were under Carthusian rule of life at the time of the colonization and later adopted the Rule of St Benedict while following Cistercian customs. By 1599, the abbey closed due to the Reformation. Providence saw to it that property was purchased for the monks in 1897 and the community formally was re-founded in 1948; it became a conventual priory in 1966 and an abbey in 1974. The community numbers 16 with a couple novices.

The Diocese of Aberdeen dates to the 6th century and was organized in 1063; it has 70 parishes. Due to the Reformation the Catholic diocese ceased until 1878 when it was restored. Today, the overall population of the Diocese of Aberdeen is 718,000 of that 18,600 are Catholics. There are 49 priests, 11 permanent deacons, and 45 religious.

Dom Hugh is the author of Unfolding The Mystery: Monastic Conferences on the Liturgical Year (2007).

The news article from BBC online can be read here.

May the Lord bless Dom Hugh as he assumes his new ministry as bishop.

Rome’s Pontifical Liturgical Institute celebrates 50 years, Pope marks event

This week the Pontifical Liturgical Institute centered
at the Pontifical Athenaeum of Saint Anselm (AKA Sant’Anselmo) held the Ninth International
Congress on the Liturgy in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of Institute’s
foundation. The theme of the congress was “The Pontifical Liturgical Institute:
Between Memory and Prophecy.” In the Clementine Hall, the Pope met with Abbot Notker Wolf, Abbot Primate and Chancellor of the Pontifical Athenaeum, Dom Juan Javier Flores, professors and participants in the Congress. The Italian version of the Pope’s talk is here; he English translation: Benedict XVI to Pontifical Liturgical Institute May 6 2011.pdf The Pope said several noteworthy things, among them:

“Blessed John XXIII, recognizing the requests of
the liturgical movement that sought to give new impetus and a new spirit to the
Church’s prayer, shortly before Vatican Council II and during its celebration,
asked the faculty of Benedictines on the Aventine Hill to establish a center
for study and research to ensure a solid basis for conciliar liturgical
reform,” said Pope Benedict XVI.

Continue reading Rome’s Pontifical Liturgical Institute celebrates 50 years, Pope marks event

Abbot Timothy Kelly, OSB, RIP

The monastic family of Saint John’s Abbey and the American Cassinese Congregation mourns the passing of Abbot Timothy Kelly who died on October 7. He was 76 and had been suffering from cancer.

Abbot Timothy was the 9th abbot of St John’s Abbey (1992-2000) and was the Abbot-President of his congregation of monks from 2001 till this past June. The Abbot’s monastic life was rich in service to abbey and the wider Church.

The present abbot of Saint John’s, John Klassen, has an obit here.

Saints Benedict and Scholastic, pray for Timothy and the Saint John’s community.

May the angels lead Abbot Timothy to the Kingdom.

Photographer Monk: Abbot Barnabas engages in contemplation through photography

I love photography. There is something attractive in looking at old and new, color and black-and-white photographs. And every photograph tells a story because each picture is the result of a friendship with reality. In photography I see a quality of the beautiful that is drawn out the subject: there is an innate sense of the sensual that leads me to an act of contemplation; it also leads me to a deeper sense of my own humanity and to God; the same can be said of music and taking in an art show of the renaissance period (as I did last week at the Yale Art Gallery). I think back to my friend Kevin Locke who had a wonderful eye for the beautiful as well as my friend Brother Mark Kammerer, a Benedictine monk of St Louis Abbey in St Louis, MO, who himself is an excellent photographer who discerns the beautiful in images. Kevin and Brother Mark see life with a keen eye for grace’s activity.

You’ll get a better sense of what I am talking about if you watch the Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly article called the “Photographer Monk,” which highlights the good work of Abbot Barnabas Senecal. For him, the photographer engages in a practice of monastic mindfulness that finds him being aware of God’s presence today, with me and with the world as Saint Benedict tells us to do. He’s spiritually, fraternally and intellectually nourished by taking and gazing upon pictures because they are tools to communicate, but gifts for seeing the daily activity of God and man and woman. For him, and certainly for me, photography helps us to see something God wants us to see anew. What does Christ want me to see in thus-and-such image?

There’s also an extended interview with Father Abbot Barnabas here.

The great thing about this story is that it reminds us of the need for beauty in our lives. Something Father Michael Morris at Dunwoodie Seminary always reminded me of. Plus, Abbot Barnabas keeps a live the tradition of monks doing art and advancing cultural sensibility. Where would we be without our monastic artists?

This story about the abbot made me think of the last talk the Pope gave to artists in 2009. At that time Benedict reminded us that an artist has a vocation (ministry?) to know and to engage infinity: the true, the beautiful, and the good; the artist’s vocation is about an engagement with reality that scientists don’t have because art shows us humanity’s desire for its ultimate destiny. The artist, unlike any other vocation save for the priesthood, shows the life of the soul and its that reaches out, grasps and desires to understand. My experience and perhaps yours too, is that an artist lives in friendship with his or her artwork. It is not mere blood-sweat-and-toil but a genuine flourishing of communion. Likewise, the artist is contemplative in his or her search for God and happiness and shows us the horizons –if there are any limits of the search– in their medium. For the Pope, and I hope for us, there is a belief that an artist lives a vocation given by God. Hence, the making of art is not a career opportunity for money, power and fame, it is not about a person’s escape into an irrational, deceitful, superficial realm but art “fills us with new hope, gives us the courage to live to the full the unique gift of life.”

Abbot Barnabas’ brief interview doesn’t talk about transcendent power of beauty in art, but I think he would agree that nothing replaces beauty’s search for the infinite in our lives and the transformative power it has for heart and mind, faith and reason of humanity. My intuition is that the abbot’s sensibility tends toward the harmony between being truly human and the reality of the beautiful is made concrete in snapping a photo for the sake of whole person and not just for the sake of being creative.

Let me draw this reflection to a close by appealing to the Pope’s closing closing remarks to the artists when he said something important that I think bears repeating about art because the abbot also intimated it, and it is useful for our lectio:

… it opens up and broadens the horizons of human awareness, pointing us beyond ourselves, bringing us face to face with the abyss of Infinity, can become a path towards the transcendent, towards the ultimate Mystery, towards God. Art, in all its forms, at the point where it encounters the great questions of our existence, the fundamental themes that give life its meaning, can take on a religious quality, thereby turning into a path of profound inner reflection and spirituality. This close proximity, this harmony between the journey of faith and the artist’s path is attested by countless artworks that are based upon the personalities, the stories, the symbols of that immense deposit of “figures” –in the broad sense– namely the Bible, the Sacred Scriptures. The great biblical narratives, themes, images and parables have inspired innumerable masterpieces in every sector of the arts, just as they have spoken to the hearts of believers in every generation through the works of craftsmanship and folk art, that are no less eloquent and evocative.

The Abbey of Saint Benedict (Atchison,KS) founded in 1857 is home to 50+ Benedictine monks who, among many things, run the well-regarded Benedictine College.

The College is getting the more and more recognized as a place to live the Rule of Saint Benedict in the formation of the whole person. Recently, Benedictine College dedicated its new nursing center in honor of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta and they’ve broken ground for a new academic building. May Saint Benedict and Saint Scholastica intercede for the monks and laity at BC!

Abbot Thomas Confroy, RIP

A week ago today the monastic community of St Mary’s Abbey (Morristown, NJ), indeed the Church, lost a faithful monk, priest, abbot and friend. Abbot Thomas Confroy made his final passover to the Lord, his Destiny at the abbey on August 23. News of Abbot Thomas’ death can be read here.

When I lived with Abbot Thomas I knew him to be dedicated in praying the holy Rosary and his various oblations on behalf of others. But I didn’t make all the extent of his prayer life and how much it was spent interceding for others, especially his prayer for me, for those who struggle, for those who just needed prayer. How blessed we were that he lived his sacred priesthood! Striking to me was the cursus he followed:

Sundays: St Mary’s Abbey, especially those in most need of strength;
Mondays: those in religious life;
Tuesdays: the faithful departed and the poor souls in purgatory;
Wednesdays: his natural family and special requests made to him;
Thursdays: the pope, cardinals, bishops, suffering priests, deacons, pastoral ministers, seminarians and vocations to the priesthood;
Fridays: for missionaries
Saturdays: for himself, for forgiveness if any of his actions harmed others spiritually or emotionally.

Plus, his quite example of suffering patiently and quietly from depression since his retirement and relying upon the Way of the Cross written by Saint Alphonse Liguori.

What can we learn from Abbot Thomas? I believe his witness to Christ as a merciful good shepherd who cares intensely for the sheep, near and far, whole and broken, happy and miserable. Perhaps we ought to take his daily intentions?!?!

Benedictine Oblate and friend Lynn Gordon Latchford wrote a fine panegyric to Abbot Thomas, “God Family Country: The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Monk, that can be read here: Abbot Thomas Confroy 2010.pdf.

May Abbot Thomas rest in the arms of the Good Shepherd.

Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, husband of Mary, pray for us.

Saint Benedict of Nursia, pray for us.

Saint Thomas the Apostle, pray for us.

John Brahill elected 5th abbot of Marmion Abbey

Father John Baptist Brahill, 61, was elected by his confreres of Marmion Abbey (Aurora, IL) to the 5th abbot. Abbot John succeeds Abbot Vincent de Paul Battaille who has served Marmion’s abbot for the last 18 years.

The newly elected abbot of Marmion Abbey is a 1967 graduate of Marmion Academy and has been a member of the Benedictine community since 1978 and a priest since 1982.

A little more than a year ago Abbot John returned to Marmion Abbey after serving for many years (1992-2009) as prior of San Jose Priory in Guatemala. Most recently he has served as the master of novices and as the liaison for Abbey Farms.

Abbot John will serve an indefinite term as abbot. The election was confirmed by Abbot Peter Eberle, the Abbot President of the Swiss-American Congregation. He’ll receive the abbatial blessing from the Bishop of Rockford, Thomas G. Doran, at some point in the future.

Abbot Vincent has oversee many significant projects at Marmion including the building of the abbey church (St Augustine of Canterbury), various renovation projects at the same and at the Academy. Likewise the community has grown with a number of vocations.

Marmion was settled by monks of Saint Meinrad Archabbey in 1933. The monks of operated a military acdaemy, staffed a few parishes and founded a community of monks in Guatamala at the request of Pope John XXIII who asked religious communities to sacrifice 10% of their community to do missionary work. Since 1965, Guatemala’s San Jose Priory educates high school seminarians in the Benedictine spirit.

You may be familiar with the name Marmion, the 19/20th century abbot who is now known as Blessed Columba Marmion. Marmion lived in the years of 1858-1923. Of Irish and French heritage the young Marmion was first ordained a secular priest for the Dublin Archdiocese before becoming a Benedictine monk at the Abbey of Maredsous in Belgium. His gifts recognized Marmion was a founder and later appointed prior of Mont Cesar (Louvain) and later elected abbot of Maredsous 1909, a position he held until his death.

For me, this is amazing series of events because a saintly abbot whose cause for canonization was not begun until 1957 and yet not 10 years after his death Marmion caught the eye of a monk of Saint Meinrad enough to name a monastic foundation for. Now we ask the Lord raise Blessed Columba to sainthood.

You may be interested in viewing the Abbey’s vocation video: Introduction, Part 1, Part 2, Fidelity to the Monastic Way of Life, Stability, Obedience and Monastic Priesthood.