Br Mark Patrick Hederman, a Glenstal past-pupil who co-founded 'The Crane Bag', must be ordained a priest for his new role, writes Patsy McGarry
THE NEW Abbot of Glenstal Abbey in Co Limerick, Br Mark Patrick Hederman (64), will be ordained on December 8th.
Though his choice throughout the 45 years of his life as a monk at Glenstal was to remain a brother, he accepts that, as the one chosen by the community there to be its abbot, he must be ordained as a priest.
The Vatican requires that the abbot be a priest. "I accept that when the community here decided a brother should lead them, it is then part of the package and a question of obedience to the Holy Spirit." Br Patrick was baptised Mark, but took the name Patrick on entering the community.
He grew up at Ballyneel House near Ballingarry, Co Limerick, where his father John ran a stud farm. Educated at home, along with siblings Louise, John and Ted, by their American-born mother Josephine, at nine he was sent as a boarder to St Gerard's in Bray for three years before becoming a pupil at Glenstal. He was at school there for six years before joining the community.
He studied philosophy and theology at the Sorbonne in Paris for four years in the late 1960s and later studied philosophy and literature at UCD where he took a doctorate in the philosophy of education. Returning to teach at Glenstal, he went on to become headmaster at the boarding school, where he had been dean.
More recently he spent three years travelling the world searching for the Holy Spirit, which he documents in his 2005 book Walkabout - Life as Holy Spirit. "In the end, I found Him everywhere. What I thought was chance turned out to be God using coincidence," he has said.
He has lectured in Ireland, the US and Nigeria. With his past pupil, the philosopher Prof Richard Kearney, he founded/edited The Crane Bag, a cultural magazine. In "the very enjoyable, free-floating life" he has had since 2000, he wrote eight well-received books in which he explored faith and pursued the Holy Spirit, frequently through meditations on art.
On October 29th the monks at Glenstal elected him abbot for a term of eight years. As required he received the votes, in secret ballot, of at least three-quarters of the community, made up of 25 priests and 12 brothers. His election, he said, was "a surprise", to himself and the community. He succeeded Abbot Christopher Dillon, who served two terms.
Glenstal is a Benedictine monastery at Murroe in Co Limerick set on a 500-acre estate. Dedicated to Saints Joseph and Columba, it is home to a community of monks who combine prayer and liturgical celebration with managing a boarding school for boys, a farm and a guest house. The monks assemble in church five times a day for the Divine Office and Mass. This, Br Patrick said, was "the most important work of the community - maintaining the connection with God."
Abbot Patrick will be ordained by Archbishop Dermot Clifford of Cashel and Emly on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, a combination of words the new abbot once described as "the most unpoetical linkage of syllables that has ever been perpetrated by the human tongue."