Released on = November 29, 2005, 8:28 am

Press Release Author = Kit Friedrichs-Baumann

Industry = Entertainment

Press Release Summary = Father Sean Duggan, a Benedictine Monk, performs on
Saturday, January 14, 2006 at 2 p.m. at The Church of the Good Shepherd in
Manhattan. Proceeds benefit both The Abbey Hurricane Relief Fund and the Bring Back
New Orleans Fund.

Press Release Body = Graceful synergies begin to arise in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina which devastated the Greater New Orleans area.

Saturday, 14 January 2006, The Church of the Good Shepherd, an Episcopal church in
Manhattan, will host a benefit piano recital featuring Fr. Seàn Duggan, an
award-winning professor of piano at SUNY Fredonia who is also a Benedictine monk of
Saint Joseph Abbey, located just outside New Orleans. Proceeds will go to both the
Abbey Hurricane Relief Fund, to enable Fr. Duggan's community to repair damages and
sustain operations in the monastery and its liberal arts seminary college, one of
the oldest in the South, and to the Bring Back New Orleans Fund for the restoration
of New Orleans.

Fr. Duggan is a two-time winner of the J.S. Bach International Piano Competition, an
NPR radio host, and was a professor of music and Latin at the seminary college
before moving to SUNY Fredonia. In 2000, he completed an acclaimed world tour
performing the complete keyboard works of Bach in celebration of the 250th
anniversary of Bach's death. His artistry is evident in "A Monk and His Music," Fr.
Duggan's CD recording of Bach's Chromatic Fantasie and Fugue and the Goldberg
Variations.

Fr. Duggan and his former seminary classmate, Fr. Matthew Clark, now the Abbey's
development director, saw a hurricane relief benefit concert in New York City as a
providential opportunity. "All the arrows seemed to point in the direction of New
York," said Fr. Clark. "It was fortuitous that Fr. Seàn was teaching in the area,
and when he suggested the idea, it clicked. We thought it would be a wonderful
opportunity to share both Fr. Seàn's talent and the Abbey's story in support of
rebuilding the New Orleans area."

"Yes, we are going out on a limb in the New York market," Fr. Clark commented. "We
don't have a support base; we really don't know our way around. But given the
circumstances, creative thinking is necessary to restoring the Abbey and New Orleans
to health, and so far everyone's been enthusiastic and ready to help. We think New
Yorkers will respond generously."

Already SUNY Fredonia's office of development has contacted the Abbey to help
advertise the concert to their New York City constituents. The Ancient Order of
Hibernians in New York has also offered their support with the benefit. A New York
investment bank is donating a reception at Banc Café, 431 Third Avenue, in Manhattan
held after the concert for ticket holders.

The benefit concert is scheduled at 2 p.m. in The Church of the Good Shepherd, 240
E. 31st Street in Manhattan. Tickets may be purchased in advance on Saint Joseph
Abbey's website at www.sjasc.edu or at the door prior to the performance. For more
information, contact Kit Friedrichs-Baumann at 985-867-2225 or kbaumann@sjasc.edu.

- End


Web Site = http://www.sjasc.edu

Contact Details = Kit Friedrichs-Baumann
Saint Joseph Abbey and Seminary College
75376 River Road
St. Benedict, LA 70457
985-867-2233
985-867-2270 FAX
kbaumann@sjasc.edu