ASSUMPTION
ABBEY

CURRENT
NEWSLETTER

INDEX

SUBSCRIPTIONS

COLORADO MONK TRANSFERS
TO ASSUMPTION ABBEY

by Fr. Terrence Kardong O.S.B.

    Fr. Warren Heidgen has transferred his monastic stability to Assumption Abbey. When Holy Cross Abbey, Canon City, CO, was suppressed in recent years, Fr. Warren arranged to remain in his pastorate in Bailey, CO, until last year. Since September, 2007, he has lived with us on a probationary basis. Then in May of this year he was accepted by the vote of the community to full membership.

    Leon Heidgen, Jr. was born and raised in Elmhurst, a suburb of Chicago, in 1934. He attended the Catholic schools of that town until he took the train west to Canon City for college. He entered the novitiate of that abbey in 1954, made first vows in 1955 and was ordained simplex in 1960.

    During his half-century in the monastic life, Fr. Warren spent most of his time as a parish priest. His first enduring assignment was at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Boulder, Colorado where he was resident from 1965 to 1979. The last decade of his time in Boulder was spent as pastor of this large, vibrant urban parish where Vatican II was taken very seriously. From 1984 to 1998 he served as pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church in Buena Vista, Colorado. From 1998 to 2007 he was pastor of St. Mary of the Rockies Church in Bailey, Colorado.

    If someone wonders what Warren was doing from 1979 to 1984, the answer is simple: he was Abbot of Holy Cross! At that time, the Abbey had a prep school, so this took a good deal of the community’s energy. But by the time Warren was abbot, the community had experienced a significant reduction in personnel from its high-water mark of 99 to about 45 members. Finally, the group was down to 13 members when it opted for suppression.

    Besides his apostolic zeal, Fr. Warren has a lively interest in the great outdoors. He is an Eagle Scout and greatly enjoyed skiing and hiking in the mountains of Colorado. During the past year at Richardton, he has worked away with his trusty chain saw at clearing the large numbers of dead elm trees on our property.

    Fr. Warren seems to relish his time with our community. He is a warm, gregarious person who converses easily with a variety of persons. He likes to play cards with the “pinochle gang” but also watch sports on TV. He works as a part-time chaplain at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Dickinson, and has done extended pastoral supply work in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We welcome Fr. Warren to monastic life in our midst.

ASSUMPTION ABBEY
418 THIRD AVENUE WEST

RICHARDTON, ND 58652

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