This morning in my inbox I found a fine human interest story on a relationship being built between a colony of Benedictine monks and academics and students of business from a Jesuit university. The key to this whole story is mutual understanding and respect for the other and lived culture, that is genuine friendship. In this case, the monks of Conception Abbey and Rockhurst University School of Management’s professors and students. Read the story… Pray for each group.
Tag: Benedictine
Father Charles Dumont, Cistercian monk, priest, poet: RIP
On the solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, a few
hours after the Midnight Mass (in which he participated from his room), Father
Charles Dumont was born into eternal life. Born in Ixelles (Brussels) on 26
September 1918, he entered Scourmont Abbey on 11 June 1941, he professed solemn
vows on 16 July 1946, and was ordained priest on 15 May 1950. He served
several times as chaplain at the abbey of Notre Dame de la Paix (Chimay), as
well as at Soleilmont. For several years he assisted at Caldey and he filled the
office of Novice Master at Scourmont from 1993 to 1996.
He introduced many
people, especially within the Order, to the knowledge and the love of the
Cistercian Fathers, in particular St Bernard. He was the editor of Collectanea
Cistercienia, later Cisterciensia (1963-71) and assisted in the editing of Cistercian Studies Quarterly. Two of his
recent works are Pathways to Peace: Cistercian Wisdom According to St. Bernard
and Praying the Word of God. Cistercian Sister Elizabeth Connor wrote a book on
Father Charles entitled, Charles Dumont Monk-Poet: A Spiritual Biography. His
funeral took place at Scourmont on 28 December. May God grant Father Charles eternal light, peace and happiness.
people, especially within the Order, to the knowledge and the love of the
Cistercian Fathers, in particular St Bernard. He was the editor of Collectanea
Cistercienia, later Cisterciensia (1963-71) and assisted in the editing of Cistercian Studies Quarterly. Two of his
recent works are Pathways to Peace: Cistercian Wisdom According to St. Bernard
and Praying the Word of God. Cistercian Sister Elizabeth Connor wrote a book on
Father Charles entitled, Charles Dumont Monk-Poet: A Spiritual Biography. His
funeral took place at Scourmont on 28 December. May God grant Father Charles eternal light, peace and happiness.
Benedictine named bishop in Chur, Switzerland: Abbot Dr. Marian Eleganti
Abbot Dr. Marian Eleganti, 54, until now the Abbot of the Abbey of Saint Otmasberg (Abtei St. Otmarsberg), has been nominated by the Holy Father to be an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Chur, Switzerland. He was elected abbot of his monastery on 15 July 1999 and in 2003 defended a doctoral dissertation on Romano Guardini at the University of Salzburg. Abbot Marian speaks seven languages and is a published author.
The Abbey of Saint Otmasberg belongs to the Congregation of Saint Ottilien, a grouping of missionary Benedictine monks who take vows to a particular monastery as other monks do, but since mission work is their common apostolate, monks are assigned from various monasteries for this mission work in monasteries in other parts of the world. This congregation of monks have a slightly different understanding of the monastic of stability but no less vital for monasticism and for the Church. There are two monasteries of the Congregation of Saint Ottilien in the USA: Saint Paul’s Abbey (Newton, NJ) and Christ the King Priory (Schuyler, NE).
Bishop-elect Marian is one of 32 Benedictine monks ordained to the episcopacy worldwide.
May God grant many years to Bishop-elect Marian and may Saint Ambrose sustain the bishop with his prayers. So, we pray for Abbot Marian and for his Benedictine community who will now prepare to elect a new abbot.
Rule of Saint Benedict
The monks of Saint Benedict’s Abbey have put on their
website Father Boniface Verheyen’s translation of the Rule of Saint Benedict. The monks at this Abbey have a terrific college and get a steady stream of vocations. This year they have 7 novices: three for Kansas and four for Brazil.
I would recommend reading a chapter a day or a portion of it since some chapters are longer than others. My recommendation echoes to significant voices:
Christ present!
The Christian announcement is that God became one of us and is present here,
and gathers us together into one body, and through this unity, His presence is
made perceivable. This is the heart of the Benedictine message of the
earliest times. Well, this also defines the entire message of our Movement,
and this is why we feel Benedictine history to be the history to which we
are closest.
The Christian announcement is that God became one of us and is present here,
and gathers us together into one body, and through this unity, His presence is
made perceivable. This is the heart of the Benedictine message of the
earliest times. Well, this also defines the entire message of our Movement,
and this is why we feel Benedictine history to be the history to which we
are closest.
~Monsignor Luigi Giussani, Founder of Communion and
Liberation
Liberation
Familiarity with the Word, which the Benedictine Rule guarantees by
reserving much time for it in the daily schedule, will not fail to instill
serene trust, to cast aside false security and to root in the soul a vivid
sense of the total lordship of God. The monk is thus protected from convenient
or utilitarian interpretations of Scripture and brought to an ever deeper
awareness of human weakness, in which God’s power shines brightly.
reserving much time for it in the daily schedule, will not fail to instill
serene trust, to cast aside false security and to root in the soul a vivid
sense of the total lordship of God. The monk is thus protected from convenient
or utilitarian interpretations of Scripture and brought to an ever deeper
awareness of human weakness, in which God’s power shines brightly.
~Pope John
Paul II
Paul II
Father John Oetgen, OSB, RIP
On 10 October 2009, Father John Oetgen, OSB, PhD, 85, died in the monastery of his monastic profession, Belmont Abbey (Mary, Help of Christians), Belmont, North Carolina. He was 65 years professed of monastic vows and 58 years a priest. Abbot Placid Solari celebrated the Mass of Christian Burial for Father John on Tuesday, 13 October in the Basilica of Mary, Help of Christians; he was buried in the abbey cemetery.
O God, Who did raise Your Servant Father John to the dignity of priest in the apostolic priesthood, grant, we beseech You, that he may be joined in the fellowship with Your Apostles forevermore.
I was speaking with one of the monks of Belmont Abbey two weeks ago, shortly before Father John’s death, and I realized intuitively that the end was near for a dear priest, monk and acquaintance. I got to know Father John on my visits to Belmont and when I had the privilege to being there for two months this past spring I had the opportunity to get to know him better. Though diminished in body he was not frail in mind or spirit. His presence, though strained because of his physical weakness was a significant example to me of placing trust in the Lord. One good connection I had with Father John was caring for his Saint Francis garden: I was elated when he came to visit me there on his way back from the doctor’s.
An appreciative interview with Father John published in the Spring of 2008 in Crossroads, the Belmont Abbey College magazine which gives a sense of who Father John was and why.
In February 2009, Abbot Placid gave him the Sacrament of Anointing, which I know he did several times later, in the company of the monastic community. My thoughts were posted here.
The Oblates of Belmont Abbey posted this obit for Father John.
The Gaston Gazette posted this obit for Father John.
May Father John Oetgen’s memory be eternal.
The response to God’s word is telling
First comes the word of God that addresses me, touches
me, calls me into question, wounds and judges me, but also heals and frees me.
Both prayer and silence can only be an answer to God’s word and may not precede
it.
Thus Benedict requires that prayer should be frequent, but short. In it the
monastic is to respond to the word of God and express his or her readiness to
follow God’s demands with deeds. Thus we find in Benedict’s Rule no teaching on
mystical prayer, but very sober instruction to open one’s daily life to God
again and again in every situation.
monastic is to respond to the word of God and express his or her readiness to
follow God’s demands with deeds. Thus we find in Benedict’s Rule no teaching on
mystical prayer, but very sober instruction to open one’s daily life to God
again and again in every situation.
What is crucial is not our doing, but
living before God, in God’s presence, listening to God’s word that addresses us
and shows us the way. In prayer the monastic responds that she or he has heard
God’s word and is now ready to follow it.
living before God, in God’s presence, listening to God’s word that addresses us
and shows us the way. In prayer the monastic responds that she or he has heard
God’s word and is now ready to follow it.
Benedict of Nursia His Message for
Today
Today
Anselm Grun OSB
Seeing the Invisible will allow you to do the impossible
The monks of Cistercian Abbey, Spring Bank, WI, are featured in a PBS video.
These monks are proprietors of LaserMonks.com, a non-profit work providing a discount prices items for your printers and other products (some of which made by monks & nuns of other monasteries).
Watch the video…it’s fascinating to see their vocation lived.
The hard work of being a person of peace
The Benedictine ideal of the human being is not that
of one who achieves and accomplishes things, not a person with an unusual
religious gift, not a great ascetic, but the wise and mature person who knows
how to bring people together, who creates around herself or himself an
atmosphere of peace and mutual understanding.
Behind this ideal image stands a
high demand. No one can simply resolve to become a peacemaker. Only those who
have created peace within themselves can make peace, only those who have become
reconciled with themselves, their own weaknesses and faults, their needs and
desires, their contradictory tendencies and ambitions.
high demand. No one can simply resolve to become a peacemaker. Only those who
have created peace within themselves can make peace, only those who have become
reconciled with themselves, their own weaknesses and faults, their needs and
desires, their contradictory tendencies and ambitions.
Making peace is not a
program of action that one could write on one’s banners; rather, it must arise
from inner peace. And inner peace is achieved only through a hard and
unremitting struggle for inner purity and through prayer, in which one seeks to
accept everything God presents, whether one’s own weaknesses or those of
others.
program of action that one could write on one’s banners; rather, it must arise
from inner peace. And inner peace is achieved only through a hard and
unremitting struggle for inner purity and through prayer, in which one seeks to
accept everything God presents, whether one’s own weaknesses or those of
others.
Benedict of Nursia: His Message for Today
Anselm Grun, OSB
PS: what Fr Anselm doesn’t say is that creating an atmosphere of peace is harder than it looks, but don’t stop striving…. The realization that we are person’s with great inner need, as in we need a mother or we need friendship, like we need God, is born out in our abandonment to the Divine Plan of seeking a deeper communion with God, as John rested his head on the breast of Jesus.
Visiting Bethlehem: the Abbey of Regina Laudis
One of the blessings in Connecticut is the presence of Abbey of Regina Laudis, a monastery of nearly 40 Benedictine nuns in the hills of Litchfield, County (in the Archdiocese of Hartford). Looking out in the choir there were 5 white veil novices and 1 postulant among the other professed nuns.
I went to the abbey with Father Ignacio today so that he could celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass for the nuns since they are without a resident chaplain. Father Ignacio is a newly ordained priest of the Bridgeport Diocese currently serving at Saint Rose of Lima Church (Newtown, CT). Mass at the abbey follows the Mass of Pope Paul VI, also called the Novus Ordo (the new Order [Mass]). Often Mass is celebrated using the Latin language except for the Scripture readings and homily. However, the Mass is often in English with the Latin chants.
Like a number of monasteries and convents the sisters are without a resident priest these days. And you can guess the reasons for this. The abbey’s past chaplain, a Benedictine monk, transfered his vow of stability from his abbey of profession to another. Thus, he had to move to his new abbey.
I was happy to be at Regina Laudis again after being away for 2 years. This time was especially happy because I was able to meet Mother Placid again after 9 years (I don’t usually call on the nuns for a visit when I stop in for a visit to the bookstore and chapel). Mother Placid is the first American vocation to stay at the Abbey with the foundress, Lady Abbess Benedict. As Providence would have it, I greeted the mother of a former student. And from a distance I saw a former classmate from the seminary. Amazing who one meets at a bucolic Benedictine monastery.
As a side note, the nuns are land based. Meaning, they farm the land by raising vegetables, tending the forest, raising a beef herd for local consumption and dairy cattle for the abbey’s use. Many of the nuns are professionally trained in the various sciences to assist in the proper use of the land. The good and proper use of the land is a particularly Benedictine characteristic. The nuns tend to the beauty of creation as a theological statement of belief in the Incarnation.
Additionally, the abbey has through the years attracted women from all walks of life and pedigree: some have been lawyers, physicians, artists, poets, actresses, theologians, minor nobility and the like. Mother Foundress’ leadership and vision was the result of the integration of faith and reason. She knew deeply the Catholic tradition of the religious, artistic and intellectual life. Hers was a monastic life that is virtually unknown in the United States. Regina Laudis is likely one of 4 or 5 similar monasteries of women. Historically, Mother Benedict knew personally Popes Pius XII, John XXIII and Paul VI and all of them encouraged the Foundress to keep alive Benedictine culture, ecumenism, the Latin chants and the intellect (that is, if a woman came to the abbey is a professional credential, or later earned one, she was keep current in that field).A good read is Antonette Bosco’s biography, Mother Benedict: Foundress of Regina Laudis
Benedictine missionary reflects
A Benedictine monk and priest for more than 50 years reflects on his vocation as a missionary in Africa. His call from the Lord may be spoken of as a call within a call found in a call. After all, he said he abandoned his will into the hands of the Divine Will. Father Damian Milliken is a monk of a missionary group of Benedictine monks who work around the world in local monasteries while doing proper missionary work of friendship, evangelization and projects of social concern. Read Father Milliken’s story.