Dom Francis Kline, OCSO, 1948-2006

Francis Kline Born Joseph Paul Kline, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was the son of Joseph Kline and Vanetta Hiltner Kline of Brigantine, New Jersey. Growing up in Philadelphia, Kline attended parochial schools and began playing the organ for church services when he was 10 years old. At 15 he played his first public organ recital, studying with Alexander McCurdy of the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, and then entered the Juilliard School in New York. During his last year at Juilliard (1970-71), he performed the complete organ works of J.S. Bach in 14 recitals in several Manhattan venues, a feat The New York Times hailed in a feature article on this young, accomplished organist. He subsequently played recitals in the United States and Europe and was broadcast on the Voice of America.

His rising musical career came to a halt when he entered the Trappist Monastery of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky, in 1972, taking the name Francis. He was ordained a priest in 1984 and was appointed Novice Director for the Gethsemani community in 1986. He was elected the third Abbot of Mepkin Abbey in 1990. He opened Mepkin up to the public and it thrived under his leadership. During his tenure, he had a new church built, a new addition for the senior monks and the Claire Booth Luce Library.

As a young monk, Fr. Francis had received permission from his order to take up music again and to integrate it into his monastic life. He had a fine organ installed in the Abbey church and played an occasional recital, including as featured soloist at the annual Piccolo Spoleto Festival of the City of Charleston. Over the years, he made Mepkin the scene of much musical activity. In addition to his enthusiasm for music, Abbot Francis was also well known as an active environmentalist. He established the Cooper River Forum to focus on preserving open space in Berkeley County, and under his leadership vast tracts of undeveloped land along the Cooper River near to Mepkin Abbey were saved from development.

In 2002 he was diagnosed with chronic lymphoactic leukemia, and while his last 5 years gave him intermittent good health, the cancer gradually overtook him and he died at his home at Mepkin Abbey on August 27, 2006.