Augustinians choose another American leader

The Order of St Augustine has elected Father Joseph Lawrence Farrell, OSA, as its new Prior General. He is the 98th successor in a line stretching back more than 750 years within the Augustinian family, to which Pope Leo XIV himself belongs. The election took place in Rome on Tuesday afternoon during the 188th General Chapter of the Order at the Pontifical Patristic Institute Augustinianum, where 73 capitular friars gathered to cast their votes. Father Farrell brings to this responsibility a wide-ranging academic and pastoral background. Born on 11 July 1963 in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, he entered the Province of St Thomas of Villanova and professed first vows in 1987, before being ordained to the priesthood in 1991.