Benedictine Novices Profess First Monastic Vows
Release Date: September 6, 2006
COLLEGEVILLE, MINN. — Novices Peregrine Jakob Rinderknecht OSB and Peter Joseph Sullivan will profess first monastic vows in Saint John's Abbey Church on Thursday, September 14, 2006. They began a year of training and discernment in September 2005. During the year they lived the abbey's full schedule of worship and work while studying the Rule of Saint Benedict, Sacred Scripture, and other topics related to the life of Benedictine monks.
During the celebration of the Eucharist at 4 p.m. in the presence of Abbot John Klassen OSB, the Saint John's monastic community, family members and friends, Brothers Peregrine and Peter will make a public commitment to obedience, stability and the monastic manner of life.
Brother Peter Joseph Sullivan OSB, was born in 1974 at Mattituck, New York. He is the third child of Anna and Joseph Sullivan. His father, a probation officer, died prematurely of a heart attack when he was only 57 and Peter was 19. Anna Sullivan has managed a day care center for 37 years. Both of Brother Peter's siblings are married, His brother Tom lives on Long Island, New York, and his sister, Nina, lives in Radnor, Pennsylvania.
Novice Peter attended Mattituck public schools. He graduated from Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA, majoring in World Religions with a minor in Sociology. He continued his education by earning a masters degree in Elementary Education at Dowling College in Oakdale, NY. He taught school for two and a half years, but decided that teaching was not his calling. He turned a part-time job mowing lawns into his own successful landscaping business that he sold profitably after two years. Before entering the monastery he was receiving manager of a large PetSmart store. Brother Peter was largely responsible for putting together a handsome fish tank in the formation recreation room in the monastery.
Peter will begin employment in the Campus Ministry Office of Saint John's University during the fall term.
Brother Peregrine, 26, is the son of Joseph and Gail Rinderknecht of Shaker Heights, Ohio. His father is a Lutheran Pastor (ELCA) and his mother is a Veterinary Technician. Brother Peregrine has two younger brothers, Luke, 22, and Hans, 20.
Novice Peregrine spent his senior year of high school in a German gymnasium. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Valparaiso University with an Individualized major (pastoral theology, history and German) with minors in Hebrew and Classics. An Eagle Scout like his father, Brother Peregrine spent six summers as a counselor/interfaith chaplain at a scout camp.
In the summer of 2001 Brother Peregrine was an intern in the Office of Worship in the ELCA. As such he helped plan worship services during the ELCA Church Assembly and the Lutheran World Federation Assembly in Winnipeg. He spent some time in Holden Village, an intentional community, working part-time as a cook and part-time as a potter. In the spring of 2005 he completed a master of arts in Systematic Theology with a strong minor in Monastic Studies in the School of Theology of Saint John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota. During his studies he was received into the Roman Catholic Church.
In the fall of 2006, Brother Peregrine will be be engaged with administrative tasks and tutoring in the School of Theology on campus.
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