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Special Notice: Sabbatical for Abbot Owen
Abbot Owen Purcell, OSB, bid farewell to parishioners of St. Mary’s
Parish on New Year’s Day, 2007. He departs Atchison, KS for several
months on sabbatical beginning January 4. Parishioners held a reception
in the parish hall after Mass and applauded him for his years of service
to the community. |
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 May 30, 2007
will be the 50th Anniversary of Abbot Owen Purcell’s Ordination to the
priesthood in 1957. According to an unwritten policy of St. Benedict’s
Abbey in Atchison, it is a custom that a jubilarian may take a trip --
do something special. Abbot Owen has been granted the following
sabbatical beginning in early January 2007.
On January 4, he travels to Albuquerque, NM. After visiting friends for
several days, Abbot Owen will travel by bus to Tucson, AZ to the home of
friends who will then take him to Picture Rocks Retreat Center where
Abbot Owen will make a retreat with the Redemptorists. Then, after a
couple of days visit again with friends in Tucson, he plans to shuttle
to Scottsdale, AZ to visit for several days the
casa Paz y Bien. From there Abbot Owen will catch a ride to the Apache
Indian Reservation at Whiteriver, AZ to work with a Fr. Eddie Fronske,
OFM, a veteran missionary. Abbot Owen will live in a retreat house near
the Church and work with Fr. Fronske. Abbot Owen will continue that
service until the end of February or mid-March. Abbot Owen plans to take
a bus back to Kansas with several days’ stay in Colorado Springs to
visit friends.
Later in April, Abbot Owen plans to visit friends in New York City. Then
it’s on to Rochester, NY to visit friends of 50-years plus. Following
that visit Abbot Owen plans to spend a few days at St. Vincent Archabbey
in Labrobe, Pennsylvania, and then return to St. Benedict’s Abbey in
Atchison.
Read Father Owen's Messages...
View Father Owen's Photographs... |
