Chillicothe Native in 50th Year As Monk
Constitution-Tribune, Thursday, May 6, 2010

Br. Blaise Bonderer

A Chillicothe native, Br. Blaise Bonderer, marks a milestone this month as he reaches his 50th year as a professed monk at Conception Abbey in Conception, Missouri. Br. Blaise Bonderer was born George Bonderer on Jan. 29, 1940, in Chillicothe. He is the youngest of 12 children born to the late Mr. and Mrs. Frank and Mary Bonderer of Chillicothe. Rachel Coburn, Walt Bonderer and Franklin Bonderer all currently live in the Chillicothe area while Helen Wilson and Margaret Wilson live elsewhere.

His brothers Maurice, Bernard, Lawrence, John and David and sister Catherine Garr are deceased. Bonderer attended the Green Grove Grade School, completing studies in 1953 and then went on to St. Joseph's Academy in Chillicothe where he graduated in 1957. The following year, he entered Conception Seminary College to pursue priestly studies but found a stronger calling to the monastic way of life and entered the novitiate at Conception Abbey. After completing his novitiate he began his long monastic career, professing first vows on May 10th, 1960 and final vows May 10, 1963.

Due to his farming background, Br. Blaise immediately took to an agrarian line of work at the Abbey, starting with an assignment to the dairy barns for five years in the early 1960s. After that, Br. Blaise began his new assignment as the assistant manager of food services for one year and assistant superintendent of maintenance for the next three. For a short time thereafter, he was named the Abbey's assistant business manager and the Abbot's secretary while still continuing to help with Conception grounds.

For the next 10 years, he began a long and creative relationship working at the Abbey's press, The Printery House. Here he was able to take his skill and experience of cultivating flower beds and caring for plants to making and developing Christian greeting cards.

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