Father John Klassen, O.S.B. Elected Tenth Abbot of Saint John's Abbey
Release Date: November 24, 2000
COLLEGEVILLE, MINN. — Father John Klassen, O.S.B., associate professor of chemistry at Saint John's University, was elected the tenth abbot of Saint John's Abbey (saintjohnsabbey.org/) on the morning of November 24. He succeeds Abbot Timothy Kelly, O.S.B., who has completed his eight-year term of office.
Abbot John will lead the community of 196 Benedictine monks who sponsor and work at Saint John's University, Saint John's Preparatory School, and The Liturgical Press as well as in parishes, hospitals and retirement centers mainly in Minnesota, and in small monastic communities in Nassau, Bahamas, and Fujimi, Japan. He has the option of serving as abbot for 24 years, until his 75th birthday.
Abbot John, 51, is the second oldest of the six sons and two daughters of Paul (deceased) and Catherine (Wiechmann) Klassen. He grew up on his family's dairy farm near the Stearns County town of Elrosa, just 40 miles west of Collegeville. He is the first of the abbey's ten abbots to be born in this immediate area. He attended high school, college and seminary on the Collegeville campus. He became a Benedictine monk of Saint John's Abbey in 1972 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1977.
The newly elected abbot received the doctorate in bio-organic chemistry from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in 1985. He taught chemistry at Saint John's Prep School (1972-77) and Saint John's University (1983-2000), and was the director of the university's senior seminar program (1986-88), and of the Peace Studies Program (1988-90). He served as a faculty resident of student housing (1983-89).
Abbot John was the director of monastic formation for the abbey from 1993-99. He has been a director of a Benedictine Values program for the lay faculty and staff of the university, and he recently co-authored an essay on "Catholic, Benedictine Values in an Educational Environment."
In his preliminary remarks to the monastic community following the election the new abbot recognized the enormity of the task facing him. But he took courage and comfort in an important word — delegate — and urged his confreres to "Stay close, so together we can continue our wonderful journey to God who is within us."
The 179 certified electors of the abbey chose Abbot John by the required two-thirds majority on the second ballot. Bishop John Kinney, bishop of the St. Cloud Diocese, will impart the abbatial blessing on December 17, the Second Sunday of Advent, at 4:00 p.m. The ceremony is open to the public.
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