Bishop blesses new Conception abbot
CONCEPTION ABBEY PHOTO
Bishop James V. Johnston (pictured center with hands raised), head of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, prays during a Roman Catholic Rite of Blessing as Abbot Benedict Neenan, the newly elected spiritual leader of Conception Abbey, kneels at left.
CONCEPTION, Mo. — Father Benedict Neenan was officially ushered in as the 10th abbot of Conception Abbey during a Sunday Mass and blessing at the Benedictine community’s historic basilica in Eastern Nodaway County.
The blessing was conducted by Bishop James V. Johnston, who leads the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.
While the blessing served as a ceremonial welcome and a confirmation of Abbot Neenan’s new role, the veteran priest and scholar was elected to the post by the monastic community on Nov. 27 and became abbot immediately upon his acceptance of office.
During his homily, Johnston instructed the community’s monks and priests to seek God continually.
“Ultimately, to seek God is the purpose and goal of every vocation, but in a special way the monastic vocation,” Johnston said. “To seek God in your prayer, work, and life together in order to praise, reverence, and serve him, and through this cooperate in the work of your salvation and the salvation of others.”
Following the homily, Johnston officiated during the Roman Catholic Rite of Blessing of an Abbot, a tradition that goes back to the sixth century A.D.
Also during the ceremony, Neenan was invested with pontifical insignia, a ring, miter, and crosier, symbolic of the bond between the monastic community and the church.
According to the Rule of St. Benedict, written by the order’s founder, Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-550 A.D.), abbots, as leaders of monastic communities, stand in the place of Christ and fulfill the three-fold office of spiritual father, teacher, and steward.
Following Mass, Neenan greeted fellow abbots from other monasteries as well as his predecessor, Abbot Primate Gregory Polan, now titular head of the Benedictine Order.
“My first and primary job is to assist my brother monks on their lifelong journey of seeking God, and my second task is to train my successor,” Neenan said. “My third job, and that also of the entire monastic community, is to encourage more young men to discover this way of seeking God that is beautiful, profound, effective, and worth a lifetime. It’s not that we need monks, but that they need to be monks …”
Born in Kansas City in 1949, Neenan professed monastic vows in 1980 and was ordained as a priest eight years later. He was named Conception Abbey’s business manager in 2008 and became director of development in 2014.
Neenan holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Conception Seminary College, a bachelor of arts in history from Colorado State University, and a journeyman’s degree in woodcarving and sculpture from the Bavarian State School of Wood Carving and Sculpture in Germany.
In 1988, he earned a bachelor’s degree in sacred theology from the Catholic University of America before going on to receive a Ph.D. in church history from the same institution in 1996.
From 1996 until 2008, Neenan served as president-rector of Conception Seminary College, where he also taught theology and church history. The college is located on the abbey campus, and the two institutions are closely interrelated.
From 1990 until 1993 Neenan was prior of Conception Abbey, the community’s No. 2 leadership position. He also served as a spiritual director for seminarians and as monastic vocations director.
Founded in 1873, the Conception Abbey community consists of about 60 monks who, in addition to the college, manage the Abbey Guest Center and the The Printery House.
