- Laurence Mancuso
Laurence Mancuso (born
June 30 ,1934 - diedJune 10 ,2007 ) was the foundingabbot of theNew Skete Eastern Orthodox monastic community in upstateNew York . [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/nyregion/01mancuso.html?ex=1340942400&en=6021018438575d2d&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss "New York Times" "Laurence Mancuso Dies; Founding Abbot Was 72" June 30, 2007] ]Early life and career
He was born Gabriel Richard Mancuso in
Utica, New York in 1934. Mancuso was raised as a Catholic and joined the Byzantine RiteFranciscan s inNew Canaan, Connecticut 1957. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/nyregion/01mancuso.html?ex=1340942400&en=6021018438575d2d&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss "New York Times" "Laurence Mancuso Dies; Founding Abbot Was 72" June 30, 2007] ] He was ordained as a priest in 1960. [ [http://www.nysun.com/article/57427 "The New York Sun", "Laurence Mancuso, 72, Leader of Dog-Training Monks" June 27, 2007] ]New Skete
Mancuso founded the Monks of New Skete in 1966 with six other monks in a farmhouse in dn|Cambridge, New York. They built a new monastery nearby a year later and started a farm with livestock. Under his direction, the monks built a smokehouse and started selling farm produce under the name of New Skete Farms. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/nyregion/01mancuso.html?ex=1340942400&en=6021018438575d2d&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss "New York Times" "Laurence Mancuso Dies; Founding Abbot Was 72" June 30, 2007] ] The business also sold
cheesecake made by theNun s of New Skete who had joined the monks in 1969. [ [http://www.nysun.com/article/57427 "The New York Sun", "Laurence Mancuso, 72, Leader of Dog-Training Monks" June 27, 2007] ]A dog kennel in
New Jersey donated aGerman shepherd dog to the monastery in 1969. It ran away and the monks acquired two others and started a breeding program under the direction of another monk but with Mancuso's approval. The puppies became highly popular and by 1998 there was a two-year waiting list for puppies costing $1,000 each. Pet owners were also paying the monks to train the dogs. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/nyregion/01mancuso.html?ex=1340942400&en=6021018438575d2d&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss "New York Times" "Laurence Mancuso Dies; Founding Abbot Was 72" June 30, 2007] ]Under Mancuso's direction, the monks switched from being a Catholic order to an Orthodox order in 1979. He had been studying Eastern Orthodox
theology for years before the conversion. Mancuso translated old Greek and Slavonic texts into English. He also converted church choral music into versions that could be sung by a few monks. He produced an English translation ofpsalm s and published a collection ofsermon s called "Notes from a Poor Monk". [ [http://www.nysun.com/article/57427 "The New York Sun", "Laurence Mancuso, 72, Leader of Dog-Training Monks" June 27, 2007] ]The monks of New Skete have written a number of books on
dog training . "How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend" published in 1978 is in its 40th printing and "The Art of Raising a Puppy" from 1991 is in its 26th printing. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/nyregion/01mancuso.html?ex=1340942400&en=6021018438575d2d&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss "New York Times" "Laurence Mancuso Dies; Founding Abbot Was 72" June 30, 2007] ]Retirement
Mancuso retired in 2000 and went to live with his brother Norman Mancuso in
Natick, Massachusetts . He died following a fall in June 2007. [ [http://www.nysun.com/article/57427 "The New York Sun", "Laurence Mancuso, 72, Leader of Dog-Training Monks" June 27, 2007] ]References
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