Most Rev. Elias Lorenzo, O.S.B., an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, will be the keynote speaker at the Fifty-Fifth annual Red Mass, which is sponsored by the Diocese of Greensburg, Saint Vincent Archabbey, College and Seminary and the Saint Thomas More Society. This year’s event will take place at the Christ Our Shepherd Center, Greensburg, at noon Thursday, October 3.
The Red Mass is celebrated throughout the United States to invoke God’s blessings upon the members of the bench, bar, legislature, law enforcement and governmental agencies—all protectors and administrators of the law.
Abbot Elias professed vows as a Benedictine monk of Saint Mary’s Abbey, Morristown, New Jersey, in 1983, and spent many years in secondary school education and administration at Delbarton School, operated by the monks in Morristown. He eventually became prior of the monastic community there and was elected abbot president of the American Cassinese Congregation in 2016 prior to being appointed by Pope Francis to serve as an auxiliary bishop of Newark in 2020.
Bishop Lorenzo made his first monastic profession on March 21, 1985 and was ordained a priest on June 24, 1989. He holds a master’s degree in liturgical theology from Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, and a licentiate in canon law from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
In his 30 years at Delbarton School, he served as director of campus ministry, teacher and chairman of the Religious Studies Department, member of the Board of Trustees, and vice president for development. In his role as educator, he also was engaged with Operation Smile International and served on its advisory board, traveling on multiple medical missions with Delbarton students to Bolivia, China, Honduras, India, Kenya, Nicaragua, and the Philippines.
In the monastery, Bishop Elias served as director of liturgy, prior of the Abbey and rector of Church. During this same time, he served as a member and chairman of the Paterson Diocesan Liturgical Commission for twelve years. Following his service as prior, he was appointed vicar for religious in the Diocese of Metuchen. Thereafter, he worked as canonical counsel for Praesidium, Inc. in the development of national safe environment standards and protocols. He subsequently served on Praesidium’s advisory board.
For the global Benedictine Confederation, Bishop Elias served at Sant’Anselmo, the international Benedictine university in Rome, as prior of the College. In addition, he worked as procurator general for the Benedictine Order in Rome. Bishop Elias is a founding member of the International Commission for Benedictine Education, a global association of 180 secondary schools in 36 countries. In his role as president of the Commission, he visited Benedictine schools throughout the United States, Western Europe, South America, Latin America, Africa, Australia, and the Philippines.
In 2016, he was elected Abbot President of American Cassinese Congregation, an association of Benedictine monasteries. Erected by Pope Pius IX in 1855 under the patronage of the Holy Guardian Angels, this monastic Congregation includes 25 monasteries in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, and Taiwan with 650 monks. The Benedictine monasteries of the American Cassinese Congregation sponsor 9 colleges and universities and 14 secondary schools in North and South America and serve in pastoral ministry in many dioceses in six countries.
As Abbot President of the Congregation, Bishop Elias served as a member of the Union of Superiors General, which meets bi-annually in Rome, and the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, which meets bi-annually in various regions of the country and at a national assembly each year.
His episcopal motto is taken from Luke 1:37 and is translated as, “Nothing is impossible with God”.
