Benedictine News and Elections : January 2025

During an extraordinary General Chapter in Waegwan, Korea, the Congregation of St. Ottilien elected a new abbot president on January 18th. Abbot President Javier Aparicio Suarez, is a monk of the Archabbey of Sankt Ottilien. Until his election he served as Mission Procurator of the Congregation.

On 11 January, Pope Francis appointed Abbot Jeremy Driscoll of Mount Angel Abbey, of the Swiss American Congregation, a member of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

The community of Göttweig Abbey, of the Austrian Congregation, elected Fr. Patrick Schöder its 66th abbot on 8 January 2025. He succeeds Abbot Columban Luser who had been abbot since 2009.

In Sant‘Anselmo, the new prior Fr. Brendan Coffey, monk and emeritus abbot of Glenstal, of the Congregation of the Annuntiation, took office on 7 January 2025. His predecessor Fr. Mauritius Wilde, prior since 2016, will take a sabbatical and then continue to work at Sant‘Anselmo in several functions.

Maredsous Abbey, of the Congregation of the Annuntiation elected a new abbot on 19 December: Fr. François Lear. His predecessor, Abbot Bernard Lorent, took over as president of the AIM on January 1st.

In Kellenried, an abbey of nuns of the Beuronese Congregation, the abbot president appointed Sr Veronika Kiechle as Prioress Administrator December 17. She follows abbess M. Regina Kuhn.

On 13 December, the Dicastery for Consecrated Life established a new Congregation of Benedictine nuns in the United States, under the title of “Mother of the Incarnation”. It comprises the monasteries of Petersham, Blanco and Virginia Dale.

On 19th November, Abbot Primate Jeremias established a Juridical Commission. Its members are Abbot President Franziskus Berzdorf of the Beuronese Congregation, Prior Brendan Coffey of Sant’Anselmo/Glenstal and Prof. Fr. Laurentius Eschlböck of Sant’Anselmo/Vienna.