New Benedictine Abbot President elected*

The Benedictine Congregation of the Annunciation, to which the monastery at Mt St Benedict belongs, has elected Fr Maksymilian Robert Nawara OSB, Sub-Prior of the Benedictine monastery in Lubiń, Poland as Abbot President, September 9. He replaces Fr Abbot Ansgar Schmidt.

Fr Maksymilian was elected by the General Chapter at a September 4–11 assembly in Subiaco, Italy. He received the benediction at the Sacro Speco monastery, September 10. Fr Maksymilian was born March 10, 1979 and entered the monastery in Poland in 1998. He was ordained priest May 18, 2008. Abbot John Pereira OSB and Br Richard Diaz OSB represented Mt St Benedict (Trinidad) at the chapter.

The Benedictine Congregation of the Annunciation, formerly known as the Belgian Congregation was erected by Apostolic Brief on February 20, 1920. Its website, annuntiatio.org, states that it is the only one not to bear the name of a place.

The Benedictine Congregation of the Annunciation has a presence in Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia and America—North America, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago.

The main purpose of the Chapter was to reflect on the fraternal life in respective Benedictine communities as well as the election of the new President of the Congregation. – KJ