Father Mark Gruber, O.S.B., is a Benedictine monk of Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology/Anthropology at Saint Vincent College where he teaches classes in anthropology. He received a B.A. in Philosophy from Saint Vincent College, an M.Div. from Saint Vincent Seminary and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Anthropological Sciences from the University of New York at Stony Brook.
Father Mark also gives retreats and provides spiritual direction to both Religious and the laity. He has published a trilogy of books on liturgical spirituality, including: Wounded by Love: Intimations of an Outpouring Heart, which presents reflections on the Lenten Paschal Mysteries; Exalted in Glory: Encountering the Risen Christ, a celebration of the Resurrection; and Waiting for Dawn: Portents of His Coming, a collection of nine meditations on the Advent/Christmas story. The books have all been favorably reviewed in the Catholic press.
To partially fulfill the requirements for his doctorate, Father Mark spent a year studying Coptic life and spirituality in the desert monasteries of Egypt in 1986-87. The results of his research have been revised for publication under the title: "Sacrifice in the Desert: A Study of an Egyptian Minority Through the Prism of Coptic Monasticism."
Father Mark has lectured widely in both anthropological and religious circles. He also writes articles in his areas of expertise for American and European presses. Two of his articles were translated into French and published in Limoges, France, in April 1993. Two chapters drawn from his doctoral dissertation, "Coping with God: Monasticism in Egyptian Culture," and "The Monastery as the Nexus of Coptic Cosmology," were published in June 1997 by The Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture, Oslo, Norway, in its book, Between Desert and City: The Coptic Orthodox Church Today.
Father Mark is also well known for his presentations on the Catholic intuition of gender as viewed from the standpoint of an anthropologist. He conducted two seminars on the issue in the summers of 1993 and 1994; the latter received a lengthy review in the September 16, 1994 issue of the Pittsburgh Catholic. His analysis of the "gender question" was again featured in a full-length article in the August 24, 1995 issue of Our Sunday Visitor. His publications also include: "The Meaning of Fatherhood in Heaven and at Home," which was published in the November/December 1995 issue of Lay Witness; "The Walking Very Nearly Dead," Our Sunday Visitor, June 2, 1996; "Facing Up to a Schism," Our Sunday Visitor, August 11, 1996; "Life on Mars and Faith on Earth," Pittsburgh Catholic, August 23, 1996; "How to Face a Moral Schism," Lay Witness, December 1996; "Memories of a Charismatic Boyhood," New Covenant, June 1997 and finally, "Bearing Christ to the World: The Holy Spirit's Role in Our Preparation for the Millennium" was published in the January/February 1998 issue of Lay Witness.
St. Vincent Spirituality Publications