Leadership changes continue at abbey
Brother Anselm Broom, left, and Father Stephen Keusenkothen
Leadership changes continue at abbey Brother Anselm Broom has been appointed prior of Conception Abbey, a Benedictine religious community in eastern Nodaway County.
As prior, Broom holds the abbey’s No. 2 leadership role and serves as the top assistant to recently installed Abbot Benedict Neenan.
A native Texan, Broom, 37, professed monastic vows in 2004 and holds a bachelor’s degree from Conception Seminary College, which is located on the abbey campus.
He currently teaches philosophy and Latin at the college, which has a mission of preparing men for the Roman Catholic priesthood.
Broom is also a beekeeper whose hives produce honey for the abbey gift shop.
He discerned his vocation with a Trappist monastery in New York but later decided to return to Conception.
Broom succeeds Father Daniel Petsche, who at age 75, is stepping away from administrative duties.
The switch is among a series of changes made by Neenan, who according to an abbey release, is seeking to expand leadership roles for younger monks.
Other recent appointments include Father Paul Sheller as subprior, Father Macario Martinez as development director, and Brother Jacob Kubajak as business manager.
In other abbey news, Father Stephen Keusenkothen recently professed temporary vows as a Conception monk.
Kubajak presented Keusenkothen to Abbot Neenan, who, according to monastic tradition, gave Keusenkothen a new name — Aquinas.
St. Thomas Aquinas was a 13th century Dominican friar and priest whose philosophical and theological writings have had an immense influence on Western thought and culture.
As a temporarily professed monk, Keusenkothen will continue a lengthy discernment process that often leads to acceptance of a permanent call to monastic life.
A native of Dexter, Keusenkothen, 51, first came to Conception Abbey in 1990, leaving in 1994 for service with the order of Claretian Missionaries. He was ordained to the priesthood in 2003 and assigned to Kingston, Jamaica.
Keusenkothen returned to Conception Abbey last year and most recently worked in the pastoral formation program at Conception Seminary College.
