Abbot Michael Brunner, O.S.B.

When Michael Brunner finally made the decision to seriously examine a Benedictine vocation, he was, as he describes himself, “a 43-year-old ex-Catholic, ex-Muslim, ex-radical, ex-just about anything I’ve ever been, now a Catholic again, planning another radical change in my life…” (Touched by God, 29). This was 1994, the beginning of his membership in a monastic community and congregation that has led him, in 2022, to take on the role of abbot of Portsmouth. His is a remarkable journey marked by repeated challenges. But as he remarks: “I like a challenge.” His most recent challenge involved uprooting himself from the very monastic community he had joined, to which he continued to feel deeply committed, to confront the uncertain future facing the Portsmouth community. If Newman is correct, that to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often, then Abbot Michael is indeed well along the path of perfection. Yet one also discerns, amidst the circuitousness change along his path, a steady note of consistency and continuity that is distinctively monastic: a perseverance, and a dedication all along the way to study and to prayer. 

One might say that Michael Brunner confronted his religious vocational discernment early, and often. Attracted to the Josephites as a teenager, he became a professed member of the order at the age of 21. An abiding concern for social justice and a related engagement in diverse communities led him to the order, described on its website as “a religious community of Catholic priests and brothers, committed to serving the African American community through the proclamation of the Gospel and our personal witness.” (Josephites) The summer after his profession, however, he describes having had a kind of existential crisis, in part prompted by a close friend leaving the order, and culminating in his own experiencing a kind of unraveling of his worldview and identity. He requested a leave of absence which was denied, prompting him to leave the Josephites, entering into a “period of spiritual disillusionment.” He began to question long-held tenets of faith. The Josephites had initiated his undergraduate studies at Howard University, “a private federally chartered historically black research university in Washington,” providing a politically engaged context that deepened his relationship with the black community, and he finished his studies there independently.  

At this time, he became deeply involved in Islam, studying it intensely, which included learning the Arabic language. He took on the Muslim name Abdullah, meaning “servant of God,” “to which I added Abdur-Rashid, meaning servant of the wise and righteous guide.” He absorbed a great deal of Islamic wisdom over the subsequent years of study and prayer, notably Benedictine-type activities, and this has consistently shaped his life. He continues to draw on the Islamic wisdom he absorbed then: “The five daily prayers are like a stream in which you bathe; if you wash five times daily, you will be clean”; “The greatest struggle is against the self”; “He who removes himself but a hand’s breadth from the community is lost.” These teachings of Mohamed provide a clear link to the wisdom of the monastery. Throughout the next two decades, his religious journey continued to be interwoven with his professional one. He entered into the management of hotels, moving between Washington, New York and Miami, at times having to learn from serious mistakes, at times unexpectedly landing dream jobs that were not able to live up to their hype. 

What he calls his “Damascus” experience led him back to the Christian faith. A 1988 drive home for Christmas, heading to his hometown of Rochester, New York, along the Susquehanna River and through the mountains of Pennsylvania and southern New York State, listening to Christmas carols: “Out of the blue the question came to me clearly and insistently: Who do you say Jesus Christ really is?” Fr. Michael refers then to a “cascade of connections and then an explosion of love and faith.” He subsequently became increasingly involved in a Catholic church near his house, more and more active in its ministries and again reassessing his religious journey. He came to see that, “Everything which I thought would prove I didn’t have a vocation and was an obstacle seemed to be vanishing…” (Touched by God, 45) After an exploration of various vocational options, a renewed reading of the Rule of Saint Benedict, and a communication with St. Louis Abbey in Missouri, he had found his calling. In the reception of hospitality, a concept that had framed his professional career, he was now being welcomed into the Benedictine community of St. Louis, whose tradition was itself shaped by radical hospitality. The process of entering that community was itself not free of its own vicissitudes and ups and downs, including a first postulancy in 1994, a departure, and a re-commencement in 1996. But in 1997, Michael Brunner entered the novitiate “and never looked back.” 

Installation of Abbot Michael, led by Abbot Christopher Jamison

His life in Saint Louis was fruitful, leading to an extended tenure as the headmaster of the Priory School. His pastoral interest and dedication to service also guided him into a pastoral role in Saint Anselm Parish which had been established at the Abbey. Academically, his years of personal study and his experiences prepared him well as an instructor of courses in Moral Theology, World Religions, World Music, and Monastic Wisdom. While in St. Louis, and leading up to the commitment of its abbey to assist at Portsmouth, Fr. Michael served on Portsmouth’s Board of Regents, gaining a kind of preview of the monastery and school. With the election of Gregory Mohrman as the abbot in Saint Louis, Abbot President Christopher Jamison turned to him to serve as the appointed Prior-Administrator, effectively the interim superior, until Portsmouth’s situation was clarified. In the meanwhile, Prior Michael has also served as the head of the Department of Theology as well as the Director of Spiritual Life. With the formal transfer of stability this summer to Portsmouth of Fr. Michael and two of his St. Louis confreres, the stage was set for the abbatial election. 

Portsmouth thus welcomes its fourth abbot, grateful for the talents and experience Abbot Michael brings to his central role in the monastic community, looking to its future with hope and with prayer for continued stability and growth.

A montage of Michael Brunner, 1968-1991

Note: Abbot Michael’s autobiographical sketch is found in Touched by God: Ten Monastic Journeys, Laurentia Johns, O.S.B., ed. (Burnes and Oates, 2008), and also retold on our own website.