Benedictine Father Allan Richard Bouley, 87, died April 22 in the St. Cloud Hospital. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 27, in Saint John’s Abbey and University Church, with interment in the abbey cemetery.
The second oldest of six children of Richard and Agnes (Payette) Bouley of Anoka, Minnesota, he was born on April 22, 1936, and named Richard. He attended St. Stephen’s Parochial School in Anoka through eighth grade and then enrolled in Saint John’s Preparatory School in Collegeville.
After graduating from the Prep School in 1954, he enrolled in Saint John’s University as a priesthood student. In July of 1956 he entered the novitiate of Saint John’s Abbey and took the name Allan. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1959 and was ordained to the priesthood on Sept. 15, 1962. Father Bouley received his Licentiate in Sacred Theology and later his Doctor of Sacred Theology.
In his long career as professor of liturgical studies, from 1969 to 2008, Father Bouley also served as liturgy director for Saint John’s Abbey and a member of the Liturgy of the Hours Revision Committee. He was an advisor to the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Liturgy and a charter member of the North American Academy of Liturgy. For 25 years he was an associate editor for “Worship Magazine.” In later years, he began a course on monastic liturgy as part of a master’s program in monastic studies.
Father Allan wrote many articles, presented lectures, workshops, and conferences, and collaborated with co-authors on numerous liturgical topics. He compiled and edited “Catholic Rites Today: Abridged Texts for Students” in 1992.
He is survived by his brother Charles, sister Karen (Ted Kaden), brother-in-law Abraham Hernandez, and many nephews and nieces, in addition to the community at Saint John’s Abbey.