Elias R. Lorenzo
Elias Richard Lorenzo, OSB is an American Catholic prelate who has served as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Newark in New Jersey since 2020. He previously served as Abbot-president of the American-Cassinese Congregation of Benedictines. He was the third member of St. Mary's Abbey in Morris Township, New Jersey, to hold this position and the first to become a bishop.
Biography
Early life
Elias Lorenzo was born on October 6, 1960, in Brooklyn, New York to William Elias and Mae Theresa Lorenzo. He attended St. Agatha Parish Elementary School in Sunset Park, Brooklyn and Cathedral Preparatory School and Seminary in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.Lorenzo enrolled in Don Bosco College in Newton, New Jersey, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy. In 1983, he entered St. Mary's Abbey in Morris Township, New Jersey. That same year, he started teaching at the Delbarton School in Morristown, New Jersey. He made his first profession to the Order of Saint Benedict in 1985.
Priesthood
Lorenzo was ordained a priest of OSB at St. Mary's Abbey by Bishop Frank Joseph Rodimer on June 24, 1989. After his ordination, OSB named him as director of liturgy at the Abbey, a position he would hold for the next ten years. He continued to teach at Delbarton, fulfilling several roles until being named vice president of the school.Within the Diocese of Paterson, Lorenzo joined the Paterson Diocesan Liturgical Commission in 1988 and was named chair in 1991. At St. Mary's Abbey, Lorenzo was named prior in 1995 as director of liturgy, prior of the abbey and rector of the Abbey Church.
Following his service as prior, Lorenzo 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 served on Praesidium's client advisory board from 2016 to 2020, a body of major superiors of men's and women's religious orders who provided client feedback to Praesidium on their safe environment stanards for religious youth-serving groups.
In 2009, Lorenzo went to Rome to serve as prior of the Primatial Abbey of Saint Anselmo. In addition, he worked as procurator general for OSB in Rome. After his return to New Jersey in 2011, he was named president of the International Benedictine Confederation, holding that post until 2016.
In 2016, Lorenzo was elected abbot president of the American Cassinese Congregation, an association of Benedictine monasteries in the United States. As abbot president, Lorenzo was a member of the federal Union of Superiors General and the Conference of Major Superiors of Men.
Lorenzo holds the following advanced degrees:
- Master of Liturgical Theology from St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota
- Master of Education in counseling psychology from Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey
- Licentiate in Canon Law from the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C.