THE ABBEY BANNER - St. John's Abbey

JUBILARIANS 2007
Sixteen monastic profession and ordination
jubilarians celebrate 735 years of service to
abbey and church
by Richard Oliver, OSB, and Brennan Maiers, OSB
MONASTIC PROFESSION
70 YEARS
William
Borgerding, OSB
For thirty years
Brother Willie was
the herdsman, first of
the abbey’s Holstein
dairy cattle and
then of the Jersey herd at St. Mary’s
Indian Mission, Red Lake, Minnesota.
For the next thirty-five years he was
known as the “Night Abbot” for his
duties as the campus night watchman.
“Brother Willie’s Pub” in the student
center is named in his honor.
60 YEARS
John Patrick
McDarby, OSB
Father Patrick taught
prep school and college
English classes
for forty-three
years and chaired
the university’s English department.
He served on the chaplains’ team for
Saint Benedict’s Monastery and is the
abbey’s education facilitator. As editor
of Confrere, the abbey’s in-house
newsletter, he expresses his love of
language by explaining an esoteric
“Word of the Month.”
Don Talafous, OSB
After assignments in
the Bahamas and the
Bronx, Father Don
took up work at Saint
John’s as professor of
page 18 The Abbey Banner Fall 2007
theology, faculty resident, and college
and alumni chaplain. He continues his
popular writing in a quarterly letter to
a thousand alumni, his daily reflections
on the abbey’s home page (www.
saintjohnsabbey.org/reflection) and his
two volumes of Homilies for Weekdays
published by Liturgical Press.
50 YEARS
Allan Bouley, OSB
Father Allan is
professor of theology
and liturgical
studies at Saint
John’s School of
Theology•Seminary.
He also briefly taught
at Illinois Benedictine College, Lisle,
Illinois; Luther Seminary, St. Paul,
Minnesota; and Catholic University
of America, Washington, D.C. He
has served as the abbey’s director of
liturgy and is a charter member of the
North American Academy of Liturgy.
Brennan Maiers,
OSB
Father Brennan
served as pastor of
Minnesota parishes
in Cold Spring and
St. Paul and in the
Bronx, New York. He moved into
chaplaincy work at several monasteries
of Benedictine women and at the
Duluth Federal Prison Camp. He now
is assistant abbey archivist, daily dispatcher
of abbey cars and recorder of
the abbey chronicle for Confrere.
25 YEARS
Geoffrey Fecht,
OSB
Before his ordination
Father Geoffrey
held the university
positions of associate
campus minister and
director of residential
programs. As a priest he was associate
pastor and pastor of churches in
Hastings, Freeport and Saint Cloud,
Minnesota. He served the monastic
community as prior and chaired
the Abbey Guesthouse and special
events committees. He is currently the
abbey’s director of development.
Columba Stewart,
OSB
Executive director of
the Hill Museum &
Manuscript Library
and university
vice president for
programs in religions
and culture, Father Columba
is involved in microfilming ancient
manuscripts in Lebanon and Armenia.
He served as director of monastic
formation and chair of the abbey liturgy
committee. He teaches monastic
history in Saint John’s School of
Theology•Seminary.
Jonathan Licari,
OSB
Ordained for the
Duluth diocese,
Father Jonathan later
joined the abbey
and taught theology,
chaired the undergraduate theology