Pope Francis has appointed an Irish Benedictine to lead the Vatican’s dialogue with the Anglican Communion. The Irish Catholic reports Fr. Martin Browne OSB, a monk at Glenstal Abbey in Murroe, County Limerick, Ireland will shortly take up the post in the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. He succeeds Fr. Anthony Currer as the official for Methodist and Anglican Relations at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Fr Browne entered Glenstal Abbey in 2001 and after his novitiate taught history and religion at Glenstal Abbey School and served as a Housemaster and director of the school’s choir. After spending three years earning a higher degree, Fr. Browne returned to Glenstal Abbey as headmaster in 2009 and was appointed president of the school in 2022.
Fr. Browne’s introduction to the Anglican and Methodist world came during a two year living and studying in St John’s College, Durham, England, which incorporated the Cranmer Hall and the Methodist Wesley Study Centre.
