On Sunday the American Cassinese Congregation Benedictines will meet for its 51st General Chapter at St. Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe, PA. The capitulars, the sitting abbots and priors plus one delegate meets every three years to work on matters common to the monasteries of the Congregation. Abbot Hugh Anderson serves the body as it President.
The Congregation has 768 (2012 numbers) in 20 autonomous monasteries with 8 dependent priories in the USA, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Canada, China, Columbia and Mexico. But with these monasteries there remains to be seen how many can survive as some are in a fragile situation given demographics and economics.
The purpose of the American Cassinese as stated in the Constitutions:
The Congregation exists to promote and protect the growth of its autonomous member monasteries in their life according to the Gospel, the Rule of Saint Benedict, and their own sound traditions, for the up building of the Body of Christ. It aims to do this, with due respect for the principle of subsidiarity and for legitimate pluralism, both by juridical means and by the encouragement of fraternal cooperation and support.
The monasteries of the Congregation follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the supreme law of all Christian life, the Rule of Saint Benedict embodies a monastic inspiration, spirituality, and structures that must be lived, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, with creative fidelity in the changing circumstances of time and place.
May Our Lady of Monks, Saint Benedict and all Benedictine saints and blesseds and the Guardian Angels with the Holy Spirit bless the Benedictines of the American Cassinese Congregation.
Leave a comment