A community choice

Story and photos by Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

In a rare community election marked by the pealing of six bells inside St. Joseph Abbey Church, Benedictine Father Gregory Boquet was elected July 14 by 23 solemnly professed monks as the sixth abbot of St. Joseph Abbey in St. Benedict.

Video of Abbot Gregory's election 

Abbot Gregory, who has served for the last 25 years as the rector of St. Joseph Seminary College, succeeds Abbot Justin Brown as head of the monastic community. St. Joseph Seminary College is a pre-theologate within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans for men contemplating the priesthood.

New seminary rector to be named

Abbot Gregory, 65, will now consult with Archbishop Gregory Aymond and the seminary’s board of trustees about selecting his successor as rector of the seminary college. An acting rector will serve until the board meets in October.

Abbot Gregory said he was not expecting his election to the role of chief shepherd of the monastic community.

“It’s taken me away from a job that I’ve done for 25 1/2 years, but it’s refocused me back in the monastery, and I see this as a blessing,” Abbot Gregory said. “There’s a certain element of surprise, too, because it’s something that the community discerns. You don’t go and put your name in the hat. The community decides who’s going to be the abbot.

“It’s very humbling because it makes me aware, too, that enough of the community feels that I am the man to shepherd them for the next few years. It’s humbling, it’s a surprise and it’s also a blessing.”

Abbot Gregory said the community’s discernment was something he could not have predicted.

“Like any great blessing, you don’t plan; it’s just God’s work that just unfolds,” he said. “You just have to be willing to say ‘yes.’”

Abbot Justin, 65, had served as abbot for the last 22 years, and announced in June that he was stepping down to allow for the election of a new abbot.

Abbot Justin’s two immediate predecessors also served lengthy terms. Abbot David Melancon led the community from 1957-1982, and Abbot Patrick Regan served from 1982-2001.

Heart and soul

Abbot Justin said he was thrilled for the new abbot.

“I’ve known Father Gregory since we came together to the seminary in 1976,” Abbot Justin said. “His heart and soul are here at the abbey and seminary college, and he’ll give all his heart and soul, as he always has, to this new ministry.”

Abbot Justin has been elected Abbot President of the international Swiss American Congregation of the Benedictines, the branch of the Order of St. Benedict to which St. Joseph Abbey belongs. The congregation has member abbeys in the U.S., British Columbia and Mexico.

Abbot Gregory will be formally installed at St. Joseph Abbey Church on Sept. 17.

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