St. Joseph’s Abbey elects, installs 
new abbot

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

SPENCER – Trappist Father Timothy Scott felt at home at St. Joseph’s Abbey when first visiting – and he’s still at peace there. He’s focused on Jesus and this community.
The now-Abbot Scott spoke this way to The Catholic Free Press about his life and the Abbey, where he was elected and installed abbot there on July 23, for a six-year term.
Abbot Vincent Rogers’ term ended that day, and he is to turn 75 (the “retirement” age) before six more years are over, Abbot Scott explains.
They are members of the men’s branch of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, commonly called Trappists. The nuns, or Trappistines, are starting to outnumber them, Abbot Scott said, and Africa and Asia have the most people entering the order. St. Joseph’s has about 50 monks, including two novices in formation and two men who’ve made temporary vows.
Many people know this abbey from the Trappist Preserves and vestments the monks and their employees make there to help support the monastery. Nestled in the quiet countryside, it also draws people seeking retreats or prayer with the monks.
“Hospitality is a very important part of the Rule of St. Benedict,” which the Trappists follow, Abbot Scott said.
What drew this man, one of three sons of John and Patricia Scott, who was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on Aug. 23, 1960, and grew up in Valparaiso, Indiana?
“I felt from the beginning ... after I graduated from college ... attracted to the religious life,” Abbot Scott explained. “I felt that real peace just thinking about the contemplative, cloistered life.”
St. Joseph’s Abbey nearby offered such a life. The young man had gone to Boston College, where he majored in English. He visited the abbey in 1986.
“I felt immediately at home – this is where God wants me,” he recalled.
He’d wanted to be a teacher, and saw friends putting energy into marriage and careers, but felt those paths weren’t going to work for him.
Prospective monks must wait at least a year, visiting and talking with the vocations director, before entering the monastery for a discernment period, he said. He entered in 1988.
“It fit,” he said. “That’s never really changed.” Even when visiting other Trappist monasteries later for workshops or meetings, “I always felt like the call was here.” (Trappists take a vow of stability; they stay with the same community for life.)
In 1994 then-Brother Scott made his solemn profession. From 1997-2001 he studied for the priesthood at Gregorian University in Rome, and in 2005 was ordained a priest by Bishop McManus at St. Joseph’s.
From 2007-2010, and again from 2025 until his election as abbot, he was director of novices. From 2010-2025 he was director of The Holy Rood Guild, where the vestments are made. From 2023-2025 he was also prior (the abbot’s assistant).    
Following the Rule of St. Benedict from the sixth century, Trappists elect their abbots, Abbot Scott said.
This time, he thought it a possibility that he’d be chosen and “I was nervous about the unknown.” But, “when it did happen, I felt very much at peace.” Now he says, “I’m looking forward to it.”
He was installed the day he was elected. He said he read the creed, made an oath of fidelity to the Church, and received the community seal and the key to the monastery, which, he quipped, “doesn’t open anything.” He sat on the abbatial throne and the monks put their hands in his and renewed their promise of obedience.
“The abbot, according to the Rule of St. Benedict, is the spiritual father of the monastery,” he explained. “So his task is, through his teaching and example, to help the brothers grow in the monastic life, in the love and service of God.
“Our life is built on … prayer and work. So my job is to see that these different elements are contributing to the … personal growth of the monk and the growth of the community, in God.”
Community prayer involves the Mass and Liturgy of the Hours, and personal prayer includes silent prayer and Lectio Divina, a prayerful reading of Scripture.
“One of the chief ways we build community is … doing work,” traditionally manual labor in common, in silence as much as possible, Abbot Scott explained. “We’re kind of like a little village. … We have someone who does the laundry, someone who’s the cook … the treasurer. … This is the way we … interact and serve one another. … Our primary vocation is prayer.” Monks can pray with fewer distractions if they don’t each have to cook and wash clothes, he said.
From 8 p.m.-8 a.m. the monks observe “the Grand Silence,” not talking, he said. They don’t talk during meals; at the main meal one does spiritual reading aloud for all to hear. The church and cloister (the central quadrangle of halls just for the monks) are always places of silence.
“We do talk to one another in appropriate times and places,” Abbot Scott said. “The monks are encouraged to go for walks together. We encourage good communication among the brothers.”
Speaking about his vision, Abbot Scott said, “The main thing in our life is to encounter with Jesus Christ, with the living Lord, who’s present and active,” and wants a relationship with us.
The monastery reduces the distractions of the world so the monks can listen to God and respond in love and service, he maintained. In the monastery, the monks “get at what is most essential and important in life … having God as the real center … and fraternal communion. … We make a lifelong commitment to one another. … [In] difficulties, trials … we’re in this together.”