St. John’s will host a missioning celebration/ceremony in commemoration of St. John’s historic corporate transition on Monday, May 21 with a reception at 3:45 p.m. in the Great Hall and a 5 p.m. ceremony in St. John’s Abbey and University Church. Both events are open to the public.
On Sept. 6, 2011, the monastic chapter of St. John’s Abbey authorized the creation of a new civil corporation for St. John’s University, effective July 1.
The abbey and university together began to work toward a reconfigured governance and management structure for the university in 2006. The goals were to enhance governance authority for the university, reduce organizational complexity and to strengthen the relationship between the abbey and university into the future. Five years of systematic, thoughtful and deepy respectful dialogue resulted in a decision to create a new university corporation. St. John’s Preparatory School and Liturgical Press will remain operating divisions of the existing abbey corporation.
The mutual commitments of the abbey and university ensure their close relationship will continue and the Catholic, Benedictine tradition integral to St. John’s will endure and flourish. The university will remain as a major educational and pastoral work of the abbey, and the monks of St. John’s will remain a vital part of the university.