Print Issue: May 9, 2002

Abbot Of Conyers Community Steps Down

By Gretchen Keiser

CONYERS - Abbot M. Basil Pennington, OCSO, resigned as abbot of Our Lady of Holy Spirit Abbey on April 30, a position to which he was elected in August 2000.

Abbot Pennington, 70, who became an abbot for the first time and was chosen from outside the Conyers community, said in a statement that he has helped the community during a transitional period and believes that it is time for the community to choose an abbot from among themselves.

He entered the Cistercian order in 1951 at St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Mass., his lifelong community, and was consecrated as a monk in 1956 and ordained a priest in 1957. Over his lifetime, he has written 57 books and 1,000 articles, particularly on centering prayer. He was the sixth abbot of the Conyers community, succeeding Dom Bernard Johnson, OCSO, who retired when he reached the age of 75.

Dom Pennington announced his resignation at a community chapter meeting in the presence of the order's Abbot General, Dom Bernardo Olivera, from Rome, Italy, and Dom Damien Thompson, abbot of the Cistercian monastery in Gethsemane, Ky., who were attending an international meeting of lay Cistercians being held at the Conyers monastery.

His successor will be elected by the Conyers community in the coming months. Father Anthony DeLisi, OCSO, the prior, is acting as the temporary superior.

The community said in a statement they are "deeply grateful for (Abbot Pennington's) ministry and leadership." In the 20 months since he became the abbot, he had had the refectory renovated and installed new elevators so that the monastery would be accessible to the needs of the many elderly monks. He initiated renovation of the infirmary, where elderly or infirm monks are cared for. He encouraged new vocations through a discernment and vocation program. This past Christmas, he inaugurated a new fruitcake industry to increase the community's self-sufficiency.

There has been a gradual transformation of the guesthouse into a center of spirituality through a stronger emphasis on contemplative prayer, in particular, centering prayer.

Being a scholar of Cistercian spirituality, he also placed emphasis on the restructure of the monastic studies program.

"But above all there was the nurturing spirit," said Brother Elias Marechal, OCSO, of the abbot. "(He) so encouraged his monks to keep growing in tenderness of heart, in the ways of prayer, in service of one another, in generosity and compassion, in the unique offering of hospitality to guests-irrespective of religion or denomination."

"That the likes of us at the monastery could be associated with a man of his stature is hard for any member of our community to fully appreciate or comprehend. All we can do is offer a profound bow of gratitude to so generous a monk."

In his letter of resignation, Abbot Pennington said, "All the days of my life and into eternity, I will hold each of the men of this community in a very special love and prayer."