Juniorate Summer School 2022 at Belmont Abbey

Greetings from Belmont Abbey! We are very excited about having the opportunity to host the Juniorate Summer School this year at Belmont Abbey in North Carolina, and to welcoming those junior monks who are able to attend. We were originally planning to host this event in 2020, when it was interrupted by the pandemic. But, given how everything seems to be developing and opening up at this time, we are feeling confident that we will be able to have the event this summer.

The program will be from June 6-16, 2022, with the first and last days planned as travel days. The registration form is attached to this message and the cost per participant is $600. As is apparent with so many things these days, we have found the costs a little bit higher than two years ago.

We are putting together what hopes to be an engaging and formative monastic experience for the juniors with excursions to the Biltmore House, the Basilica of St. Lawrence in Asheville, Sacred Heart Convent of the Sisters of Mercy - alongside whom we have ministered for over a century, and the National Whitewater Center - with an opportunity for rafting and various outdoor activities for those who are interested. We'll also have several classes on monastic spirituality and history, opportunities to sing in the monastic schola and serve in liturgy, and numerous opportunities for the juniors to speak with each other and recreate with each other.

Please pass along this announcement and invitation to the relevant members of your community. We ask that participants register by April 11th, if possible, or at least let me know who is planning on attending so that we can solidify plans. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me!

Fraternally,
Fr. Elias Correa-Torres, O.S.B.
Belmont Abbey

54th General Chapter at St. Benedict’s Abbey, Atchison, KS

The 54th General Chapter of the American-Cassinese Congregation will begin Sunday evening, June 19, 2022 and conclude Friday, June 24, 2022. Saint Benedict’s Abbey in Atchison, Kansas will host this 54th General Chapter.

Communities need to arrange to elect a delegate and alternate to the 54nd General Chapter and inform Abbot John Klassen who they are along with their email addresses not later than November 15, 2021.

International Congress of Abbots. Orientation for new abbots on September 6-7, 2021, with arrival on September 5, 2021; Congress proper on September 8-14, 2020, with arrival on September 7 and departure on September 15, 2021. For more information on registration, accommodations, etc: www.congressusosb.com

Benedictine Oblate World Congress at Fraterna Domus Convention Center, Rome, Italy. For information, contact

Synod on Synodality.

Earlier this summer, the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Last week, the General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops released several documents in preparation for the 2023 Synod Bishops, with the theme of “For a synodal Church: communion, participation, mission.” The Preparatory Document is “a tool to facilitate the first phase of listening to and consulting the People of God in the particular Churches.” The Vademecum is the handbook for listening and discernment in local churches, with a focus on the work of the Diocesan Contact Team.

Earlier this summer, the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life invited conferences of religious from around the world to participate in the synodal journey by seeking and providing input in preparation for the Synod. Specifically, Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, prefect of CICLSAL, has asked to provide feedback in Spring 2022. In doing so, he notes that “To ensure the synodal church is not a mirage, but rather a dream to be realized, it is necessary to dream together, to pray together, and to work together.”

Decision on next Congress of Abbots. One of the key decisions of the recent Synod of Presidents was whether to hold a Congress of Abbots in September of 2022 or wait until the normal scheduled congress in September of 2024. The latter date will be either an additional four-year mandate for Abbot Gregory Polan or the election of a new abbot primate.

A second major consideration for the timing of next Congress of Abbots is the course of the pandemic. The Confederation is truly an international organization with abbeys across five continents. However, at this time there were two uncertainties: 1) How many monastic communities in the developing countries are fully vaccinated? How many abbots from developing countries have the financial resources to come to a Congress of Abbots meeting in a non-election year? Scheduling a Congress for September of 2022 could result in a meeting of abbots from Europe and North America, a genuine misrepresentation of the diversity of the confederation. Furthermore, the preparation work for such a meeting by the staff of Sant’ Anselmo is significant and it could potentially underserve the confederation.

Abbot Presidents realized that there is still significant uncertainty about the course of the pandemic through September 2024. That is, it is more likely that we will be dealing with a “new normal,” a situation that is not like either fall of 2020 or 2021! However, it is surely likely that we will know more about the pandemic by then and will have strategies in place for traveling and meeting safely. Thus, the abbot presidents voted to hold the next Congress of Abbots in September of 2024.