“Giving a Reason for the Hope that Is in Us” by Fr Robert P. Imbelli

Robert Imbelli, BC and NY.jpeg



Last week, the Benedictine monks and nuns of St Mary’s Monastery (monks) and St Scholastica Priory (nuns) (Petersham, MA) hosted a public conference, “Giving a Reason for the Hope that Is in Us,” by Father Robert P. Imbelli for the Year of Faith given on April 20, 2013.


Father Imbelli, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York and is a Professor of Theology at Boston College. He studied in New York, Rome and is a graduate of Yale University.

The New Evangelization and St Benedict

Some Year of Faith initiatives

The monks, nuns and oblates of Saint Mary’s Monastery and Saint Scholastica Priory in Petersham, MA, had a day of reflection on October 20th that covered the New Evangelization and the Benedictine charism. Dr. Philip Zaleski, an Oblate of the monastery and Father Christophe Vuillaume, OSB, a monk at Saint Mary’s gave the two presentations.

Audio files

The Year of Faith and the New Evangelization

Saint Benedict and  the Life of Faith

Dr Zaleski is a professor at Smith College and a published author, and Dom Vuilaume is a priest and monk who as served at the request of the Subiaco Congregation in various locations,as of now he’s serving at Saint Mary’s.

The Monastery is celebrating 25 years of foundation this year. The monks belong to the Subiaco Congregation which is one of the largest groupings of monks and nuns in the world. Most often monasteries in the Subiaco Congregation do not engage in outside works and rely on the generosity of others. At Saint Mary’s. the Divine Office is prayed according to the traditional form of the Antiphonale Monasticum; Holy Mass is celebrated according to the Novus Ordo with the ordinary of the Mass prayed in Latin.

The nuns of Saint Scholastica Priory follow a traditional monastic life. They share the monastic church with the monks for some of the prayer times and Mass but have their own work. They were blessed recently to have two novices profess simple vows.