Saint Vincent College Father Maximillian & Team Saint Anselm College Brother Paul Delbarton Benedictine College Father Marcus Benet Academy

Apostolates

From the foundation of our monastic Congregation in 1855, our monks have been engaged in both pastoral and educational apostolates in service of the local Church. In particular, the formation and education of youth in schools has deep and strong roots in the monastic tradition. St. Benedict himself mentions the youth in the monastery who were sent there by their parents for formation and education by the monks (RB 30). Consequently, the monasteries of our Congregation sponsor nine colleges & universities and fourteen secondary schools. Our colleges and universities are members of the Association of Benedictine Colleges and Universities (ABCU). Our secondary schools are members of the International Commission on Benedictine Education and its regional affiliate, the Benedictine Educators’ Network North America.

The monks of our monasteries are also engaged in pastoral ministry of the Christian faithful. This pastoral work is exercised in the monastery, in parishes, chaplaincies or in missions, as well as in spiritual conferences, retreats, lectures for the public. Without a doubt pastoral ministry by the monks of our monasteries builds up the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church.

An ancient form of monastic work is hospitality, which today offers not so much material relief as spiritual food in various and appropriate forms. St. Benedict teaches that “all guests should bereceived as Christ (RB 53). Thus the monasteries of our Congregation welcome guests as fellow pilgrims and brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Several of the monasteries of our monastic Congregation make significant contributions to the promotion of sacred and secular disciplines by research in philosophy, theology, liturgy, history, the social and natural sciences, and others. Such work is of great value not only for the respective disciplines but also for our monastic way of life, which receives true riches from the deeper understanding of both created things and the things of faith.

Finally, manual labor by the monks in the monasteries of our Congregation is not only very useful and a necessary element of common life but a genuine sign of solidarity with all people, especially the poor, who provide for themselves and the necessities of life by daily and humble work. St. Benedict instructs that we are truly monks when we labor by the work of our own hands (RB 48).

The colleges and universities sponsored by the monasteries of our Congregation:

The secondary schools sponsored by the monasteries of our Congregation:

St. Gregory’s University in Shawnee, Oklahoma closed in 2016.