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CARLOS BRICENO | FLORIDA CATHOLIC ST. PETERSBURG BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 11.09.07

ED FOSTER JR. | FC 2001
Father Issac Camacho is presented to those in attendance on the day of his ordination at St. Leo Abbey.

There was no puff of white smoke to announce the winner, which is the customary way Vatican officials announce the election of a new pope in Rome. But then again, this was not a pope who was being chosen, but an abbot.

On Oct. 27, the Benedictine monks of Saint Leo Abbey in St. Leo elected Father Isaac Camacho, 43, of the Order of St. Benedict, to be the sixth abbot of their monastic community.

There have been three administrators in the past 11 years who have shared the leadership of the abbey and its ministries. Robert Velten has been the most recent.

Those who were eligible to become abbot included the 575 priests who are members of the American Cassinese Congregation of Benedictines representing the 20 abbeys in seven countries of the Western Hemisphere.

Father Camacho has been a Benedictine monk since 1988, previously serving in the Tepeyac Abbey in Mexico. He was ordained to the priesthood at Saint Leo Abbey Dec. 22, 2001. Most recently, he has served as parochial vicar at St. Mark’s Parish in Tampa. He was born in Mexico City, Mexico, where his family still resides.

A Mass of installation will take place Dec. 1 at Saint Leo Abbey and will be attended by Bishop Robert N. Lynch. The Florida Catholic will introduce Abbot Camacho in December as part of coverage of the Mass.

People e-mail me all the time with story ideas, tidbits of info, sometimes short articles, sometimes stuff that just makes you think. One example of the latter was contained in an e-mail from Heidi Sumner, who works for prison ministry for the diocese. She sent me some poems from a man who is in prison. The poems were spiritual and well-written, and I decided to learn more about their genesis. So Heidi got me in touch with the poet’s mom.

This is what his mom had to say, in an e-mail exchange:

“Spiritually, David tells me he is supposed to be where he is today,” Susan Wilson wrote about her son. “He believes God has placed him there to give him the opportunity to have a closer relationship with him. David is upbeat, although of course he has his days, but for the most part he is at a place with God where he believes it is his calling to try to reach out to others, his family and those inside with him, to try to bring them to the Lord. He tells me to place his situation in God’s hands because it is he that is in control. David is amazing the way he is handling his situation and that really is not just the proud mom speaking.”

I didn’t ask why her son was in prison. I was more interested in getting in touch with her to find out about why he wrote the poems.

“He said he was inspired to write the first poem, ‘The Cristi,’ because he was feeling down and wanted to share the sad times as well as the good times with his family,” she wrote. “The other poem (“etFili”) he forewarned me not to interpret it as if he was depressed. He said he was feeling so good about the Lord that he wanted to put pen to paper and express how close he felt to him.”

By now, I’m sure you’re curious to read the poems: THE CRISTI | ETFILI

Enjoy!

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