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Links to various monastic or intentional communities or related organizations may be found throughout the brief biographies of this year's presenters. Two other noteworthy groups are Bridgefolk and New Monasticism. Monos, which studies monastic culture and spirituality, may also provide good resources. To suggest other relevant links, please email Rose Beauclair at rbeauclair@csbsju.edu.
Monastic Institute 2008--Presenters and Responders
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Abbot John Eudes Bamberger, OCSO, Abbot John Eudes graduated from the University of Cincinnati Medical School with an MD in 1949 and entered Gethsemani in 1950. He was ordained in 1956 and later completed further studies at Georgetown University Hospital in psychiatry and St. Anselmo in Rome in theology. Abbot John Eudes was Master of Junior Professed at Gethsemani, then Novice Master, and was Secretary General of OCSO (Trappists) from 1969 to 1974. Elected Abbot of Genesee Abbey, Piffard, NY, in 1971, Abbot John Eudes retired in 2001. He then served as temporary Abbot in the Philippines from 2002 to 2003. He has lived in hermitage at Genesee Abbey since 2003. Photo © John Eudes Bamberger, OCSO. http://www.geneseeabbey.org/john-eudes.html. Used with permission. |
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Tim Otto, Associate Pastor, Church of the Sojourners, San Francisco, California Tim Otto joined the Church of the Sojourners, located in San Francisco, in 1989. Sojourners is an ecumenical church community in which the members share housing, money, and live by a common calendar. Tim has served as one of its leaders for fifteen years. In the early 1990s, before effective drugs for HIV, Tim pursued a degree in nursing and worked for 14 years in the AIDS ward at San Francisco General Hospital. In 2005, Sojourners sent Tim to Duke Divinity School where he received his Masters in Theological Studies. While at Duke, Tim lived in a new monastic community, Rutba House, for two years. Tim co-authored the book Inhabiting the Church: Biblical Wisdom for a New Monasticism. Tim is currently back in San Francisco at Sojourners. Two days a week he does home health care nursing for elderly and uninsured patients. He devotes the rest of his time to Sojourners, primarily through preaching and teaching. |
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Deaconess Louise Williams, President of DIAKONIA World Federation Currently the President of DIAKONIA World Federation of Diaconal Associations and Communities, Deaconess Louise graduated from Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN, in 1967, receiving a BA with honors in Theology, with minors in Psychology and Sociology. She has served as a parish deaconess in both Canada and the United States, and from 1971 to 1972 was a psychiatric social worker at Alberta Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Since 1975, Deaconess Louise has been a part-time Assistant Professor in Theology at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, IN. From 1974 to 2007, she was Executive Director (formerly, Director of Deaconess Services) of the Lutheran Deaconess Association in Valparaiso, IN. In 1992, she received her MA in Religious Studies with a concentration in Christian Spiritualities from Mundelein College in Chicago, IL. From 1992 to 2001, Deaconess Louise was Vice-President of DIAKONIA and President of DIAKONIA of the Americas and Caribbean. She has served as DIAKONIA’s delegated representative to the World Council of Churches Central Committee and the 8th Assembly in Zimbabwe and the 9th Assembly in Brazil. Her writing has been published in a variety of publications. |
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Sister Christine Vladimiroff, OSB, Prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Erie, Pennsylvania Sister Christine has been a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie since 1957. She served as Director of Initial Formation from 1968 to 1971, Director of Scholastics from 1982 to 1990, and served on the Monastic Council of her community from 1982 to 1994. Sister Christine served on the Council of the Federation of St. Scholastica from 1990 to 1994. In 1998 she was elected to serve as Prioress of her Benedictine monastic community, a position that she continues in today. Her ministries in the past have included: President and CEO of America’s Second Harvest National Network of Food Banks from 1991 to 1998, Secretary of Education for the Diocese of Cleveland from 1982 to 1991 and teacher and administrator in secondary schools and at the university level from 1959 to 1981. She has done graduate work in Scripture and Theology and holds a masters degree in Spanish Literature and a doctorate in Latin American Studies from Universidad Internacional in Mexico. In August 2003, Sister Christine was elected Vice-President of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). In August 2004, she became the President of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an organization of the congregational leadership that represents over 76,000 women religious in the United States. She has served on the National Board for Bread for the World and chaired the Board for three years, from 2000 to 2003. Sister Christine has also served on the National Council of Pax Christi USA. |
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Father Martin Shannon, Community of Jesus, Cape Cod, Massachusetts Father Martin is an Episcopal priest, husband of Mary and father of four grown children. He is a member of Community of Jesus, an ecumenical Benedictine community of mixed vocations (families and celebate brothers and sisters) on Cape Cod, MA. He works primarily in areas of liturgy and formation and has a PhD in Liturgical Studies from Catholic University of America. His dissertation was on Damasus Winzen, founder and prior of Mount Saviour Monastery, Elmira, NY. |
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Abbot Timothy Kelly, OSB, President of the American-Cassinese Congregation, Retired Abbot of Saint John's Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota President of the American-Cassinese Congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict since 2000, Abbot Timothy entered Saint John's Abbey as a novice in 1954 and professed in 1955. He was ordained a priest in 1961. He graduated from Saint John's University in 1957 and 1961. Abbot Timothy completed further graduate studies at the University of Minnesota, Mexicano-Norteamericano Instituto Relaciones Culturales in Mexico City, and Ateneo Sant' Anselmo, Rome, Italy. His teaching and pastoral assignments have taken him to Mexico, the Bahamas, New York City, and various locations in Minnesota. He is past director of the Institute for Religion and Human Development, Saint John's University, Collegeville, MN. He has been Director of Novices at Saint John's Abbey, Collegeville, MN; Rector of Saint John's Seminary, Collegeville, MN; Abbot of Saint John's Abbey, Collegeville, MN; Chancellor of Saint John's University, Collegeville, MN; and Chancellor of Saint John's Preparatory School, Collegeville, MN. Abbot Timothy has been involved in ecumenical and interreligious dialogue in the United States and around the world. His work has included serving as a board member and chair for Monastic Interreligious Dialogue (MID), formerly known as North American Board for East/West Dialogue. Abbot Timothy is currently a member on the Alliance for International Monasticism international board. He has done significant work with monasticism in China. |
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Sister Gail Fitzpatrick, OCSO, Retired Abbess of Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey, Dubuque, Iowa Originally from Connecticut, Sister Gail entered the only Trappistine Monastery in the country at the time, which was in Wrentham, MA. In 1964, she was part of the group of women who moved to Iowa to found Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey. She was novice mistress for 14 years and Abbess for 24 years. She has published one book, Seasons of Grace. |
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Kathy Berken, L'Arche Community House Coordinator, Clinton, Iowa Kathy is the house coordinator for a home in a L’Arche community in Clinton, Iowa. She has been an assistant there since October 1999 and has lived with eleven core members at various times. Before becoming part of the L'Arche community, Kathy was a high school and college math teacher and, more recently, a journalist and marketing manager for The Compass, the newspaper for the Green Bay Diocese. She is a single parent with two grown children and one grandchild. Kathy is a first-time author, as Liturgical Press is publishing her book of stories about her life in the L’Arche community. The book (whose title at the moment is still under consideration) should be available at the institute. |
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Father Gregory, OJN, President of the Conference of Anglican Religious Orders in the Americas, Guardian of the Order of Julian of Norwich, Waukesha, Wisconsin Currently the Guardian (the Superior) of the Order of Julian of Norwich in Waukesha, WI, Father Gregory has been in the Order for 17 years. For most of that time, Father Gregory was the Order's Groundskeeper, until he founded a branch house and then was elected Superior. He has had some essays and poems published and does extensive retreat work in the US and occasionally in the UK. |
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Steve Clemens, Community of St. Martin, Minneapolis, Minnesota Steve is a member of the Community of St. Martin, an ecumenical faith community in Minneapolis, MN, committed to nonviolence, social justice, and inclusiveness. He also serves on the boards of Pax Christi Twin Cities and the Iraqi/American Reconciliation Project. Steve has been active in nonviolent witness/protest since 1969 and has been an advocate for peace and social justice for many years. He was a member of the Iraq Peace Team in Baghdad in December, 2002. From 1975 to 1990, Steve was Resident Partner at Koinonia Partners, an intentional Christian community and birthplace of Habitat For Humanity, near Americus, GA. In his sixteen years there, he served as Volunteer Program Coordinator, Housing Ministry Director, Construction Crew Leader, and Coordinator of Activities. Moving to Minnesota in 1990, Steve was Inkind Donations Manager for Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity from 1991-2003. He has a degree in sociology from Wheaton College and was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War. Raised in a Mennonite/Evangelical tradition, Steve spent one and a half years in voluntary service with Mennonite Central Committee in rural Mississippi and Washington, DC. Married thirty years to Christine Haas Clemens, they have two grown sons. |
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Pastor Sally Schreiner Youngquist, Living Water Community Church, Chicago, Illinois Sally Schreiner Youngquist has been a covenant member of Reba Place Fellowship, an urban Anabaptist common purse community, since 1973. RPF just celebrated its 50th Jubilee year last summer. She is a founding pastor of Living Water Community Church, a Mennonite congregation in the Rogers Park community of Chicago. She is married to Orwin Youngquist, and is stepmother to three stepdaughters, and grandmother of two grandsons. She has worked for the Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education and the Mennonite Central Committee and has served on the board of the Mennonite Board of Missions. She holds an MDiv from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries. |
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Reverend Vivian Gruenenfelder, Assistant to the Abbot, Shasta Abbey, Mount Shasta, California Born in Austria to American parents, Reverend Vivian was raised Catholic, aspiring in her earliest years to be a missionary nun. As a teenager, she found that she was no longer interested in Catholicism. Reverend Vivian received a BA with honors in General Studies in the Humanities from the University of Chicago in 1974, and an MA in Art History from the same institution in 1979. She completed all requirements except the dissertation for a PhD in Aesthetics, Art Criticism and Anthropology at the University of North Carolina in the late 1970s and early 1980s. While traveling in Europe and Asia before beginning her dissertation, Reverend Vivian first encountered Buddhism at a month-long retreat in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery a 45-minute walk from the outskirts of Kathmandu. She then spent ten years traveling and working to support her travel. In 1995, after living on San Juan Island, off the coast of Washington state, for four years, she realized she wanted to be a Buddhist monk. Reverend Vivian entered the postulancy at Shasta Abbey in 1997 and was ordained a monk in 1998. She was given the Dharma Transmission by her Master, Rev. Master Ekō Little, in 2003. She was made a Teacher of Buddhism in 2005 and is currently Assistant to the Abbot. |
Last updated: 6/23/08 RB
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