Well, it may not be “live,” but the annual Abbot’s Reception took place again this year at the New York Yacht Club. The event has long been a gathering point for the extended community of Portsmouth Abbey, whose New York affiliations stem from our earliest days.

Headmaster Matt Walter addresses the Reception

Since the early days of the 1910’s, when Dom Leonard Sargent began to collect supporters of his vision of a kind of rural spiritual haven, the monastic community has held close ties to New York City. These ties have been revived and maintained over generations, both in the educational offerings of the school, as well as in the spiritual community centered here in the monastery. While the school’s development office has expanded the receptions offered, which now extend throughout the year and around the globe, the New York reception holds pride of place as we recognize and nurture that longstanding relationship and again gather friends of the Abbey.

Patrick Gallagher '81 (regent) and Ms. Elizabeth Benestad (faculty)

Prior Michael Brunner, Fr. Edward Mazuski, and Br. Sixtus Roslevich attended representing the monastic community, departing on Wednesday and returning from the city Friday. They were joined at the reception by 250 guests who filled the Yacht Club’s festively-decorated reception hall to its capacity. The assembled gathering heard remarks from interim head Matt Walter as well as from Prior Michael, updating them on the health of the school and the growth of the monastic community. Besides the three monks who serve as Regents, the reception was attended by other members of the board who had spent the afternoon in a scheduled 4½-hour meeting at the equally historic Harvard Club next door. A handful of Regents, unable to travel to New York, took an active part in the meeting via Zoom. Other attendees included a large number of New York area alumni, current and former faculty, including Cliff Hobbins who received a warm ovation. Fr. Joseph Healey, a Maryknoll Father, shared with various friends and relatives attending his ongoing experiences working as a missionary in Africa. Fr. Joe, one of the Healey Legacy Family of PAS, is uncle of Jeremiah Healey '91, and great-uncle of Jack '21 and Rebecca Healey '24.

Prior Michael Brunner, Mr. Michael Garvin (St. Louis Priory School '13), Abbot Gregory Mohrman (regent)

Another guest who represents a younger generation continuing that connection between the two schools was Michael K. Garvin, a 2013 graduate of St. Louis Priory School, currently doing his doctoral work at Fordham. His father, Charles, was a classmate of Abbot Gregory’s in the Class of 1976 at Priory. Ironically, Michael was unable to attend Priory’s own alumni event Tuesday night in Manhattan due to academic commitments but happily accepted the invitation to mingle with a different flock of Benedictine “Ravens” on Thursday night. Speaking nearby to another group, Br. Sixtus noted that “the reception underscores the ongoing partnership between Saint Louis Abbey and Portsmouth Abbey, especially as evidenced by the presence tonight of Abbot Gregory Mohrman,” who continues to serve as a Portsmouth Regent.