ON 25th OF MARCH 2021, Abbot Jeremias Schröder OSB, the President of the Missionary Benedictine Congregation of St. Ottilien, which Ndanda Abbey is a member, sent out this information to our confreres worldwide. We are happy to share the very same information with our friends, benefactors and all the people of good will worldwide:
“After the sad and sudden loss through illness of the late Abbot Placidus of Ndanda Abbey on 2 March, the chapter of the Abbey convened yesterday and today to elect its new abbot.
I have the honor to share with you the good news that the monks of the Abbey of Our Lady Help of Christians at Ndanda have today elected as their sixth abbot
Fr Christian Temu OSB,
monk of this monastery and currently Mission Procurator of the Benedictine Congregation of Sankt Ottillien. Fr Christian was in Sankt Ottilien during the election. When I contacted him, he accepted the election. He will be confirmed once I am back in Germany, and with the confirmation will obtain the full authority of the abbatial office. Dates for the ceremony of installation at Ndanda and the later abbatial blessing will be communicated in due course.”
THIS COMES after the unfortunate and untimely death of the 5th abbot Placidus Mtunguja OSB who passed away on 2nd of March 2021. After about three weeks of mourning, the community found a way to get together in order to move on. There is no doubt the former abbot will continue to be held dearly in the heart of the community.
The new abbot is taking over a community which during the time of abbot Placidus grew and strengthened itself in many ways. It has now a total number of 92 brothers and priests. A good number of these confreres are living in the abbey in Ndanda while others work in parishes or in the dependent houses. There is a good number of young brothers studying within Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, Zambia, Brazil and South Korea. Ndanda is still a mixed community of local vocations and expatriate missionaries. This mixed nature of the community has enriched the community in many ways. It is a community with the oldest monk in the entire congregation – Fr. Ulrich Stöckl who will be 97 in May 2021. And one can well guess, it is a community blessed with a very good number of young vocations.
One can say with certainty that, the new abbot will have nothing to fear. He will be surrounded by confreres – old and young – who form the pillars of the community. These brothers – young and old – will be his support and strength in achieving any missionary goals and visions he may want the community to achieve in the coming years.
In recent years Ndanda has been able to achieve a lot on the mission field. Be it within Tanzania or in Mozambique; Ndanda made a significant step in living up its vocation as monks and missionaries. One can expect that, the new abbot will continue to strengthen the monastic and missionary spirit of the community so that the abbey may continue to play its spiritual and social role in Tanzanian church and elsewhere. Thanks to the enduring support from our friends and benefactors from all over the world whose prayers and presence make us simply stronger.
The abbey experienced a profound support from our neighbors, friends and benefactors from near and far during the tenure of Abbot Placidus. As the community opens up a new chapter in its leadership history, we believe that your continuous support will sustain us so that we may continue to remain what we are meant to be: monastic and missionary.
