(ZENIT News / Manchester, NH, 08.08.2024).- Last June 17, Saint Anselm Abbey, located in Manchester, New Hampshire, USA, elected Brother Isaac Murphy, OSB, as its sixth Abbot. As he is not a priest, he was granted permission to take up the position and to reconsider some of the Order’s liturgical habits.
The abbatial election was called when Abbot Mark Cooper became 75 years old and tended his resignation. The Abbot President, Jonathan Licari, OSB, of the American-Casina Congregation, presided over the election on April 29-30, 2024. The Abbey’s monks elected Brother Isaac for the office of Abbot. Canon Law exacts priestly ordination as a requisite to occupy the position, and a consultation was necessary to obtain the Holy See’s permission.
In May 2022, a rescriptio granted the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, an exception to the norm to permit the appointments and elections of lay Brothers to lead Religious Communities of Priests and Brothers with the Vatican’s permission, a “step that was seen as a general openness of Orders leadership positions of the laity.”
The situation of a layman at the head is a novelty as “traditionally the Abbot always presided over the Christmas Mass in the Abbey, which is no longer possible due to the fact he isn’t a priest. A distinction could possibly be made in the future between presiding and celebrating.
Abbot Isaac was born in Montreal in 1963. He made his simple vows as a monk in Saint Anselm Abbey in 1993 and his solemn vows in 1996. He obtained a degree in Political Science from Saint Francis Xavier University of Nova Scotia in 1984 and a Master’s in 1998, and a PhD from the University of Chicago in 2008. Since 2001 he has been a Professor in the Department of Politics of Saint Anselm College.
“We have elected the appropriate person for the Community,” said Brother Francis McCarty of the Abbey. “We elected Brother Isaac because he will be a good Abbot.” The new Abbot doesn’t believe that his lay condition is an obstacle to his running the Monastery. Neither did Saint Benedict of Nursia, author of the Benedictine Order’s Rule, receive priestly ordination.
According to Licari, President of the Order, “Murphy’s election is a great opportunity for the Association as it opens the door to more qualified individuals.”
