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New Board Meets
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Issue Contents
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Benedictine Confederation Meets in Rome
Reelects Notker Wolf Abbot Primate
The abbots and priors of independent
priories from around the world met in Rome, September 17-27, 2008. Such a gathering
occurs every four years. A principal focus for the meeting is the election
of
the abbot primate for the Benedictine Confederation. The Benedictine
Confederation was instituted in the late 1800s to create and consolidate
international contact between Benedictine monasteries of men, with a view to
furthering the common tradition of Western monasticism, providing a network
among Benedictine congregations, and educating monks through an international
house of studies at Sant’Anselmo in Rome. The abbot primate serves as a
unifying
figure for the confederation and the head of the community at Sant’Anselmo.
Abbot Notker Wolf, an Ottilien Benedictine, had completed an initial eight-year
term and was eligible for reelection to another four-year term. He was given
strong support in the only ballot taken, and will now serve another term of
leadership. He has done remarkably well in his first term, bringing strong
relationships and financial support. There were 230 votes cast, some by proxy.
Other matters voted on by the congress were changes in the
Lex Propria of the
Benedictine Confederation. These changes put into law the practices of
consultation that had been developed under Abbot Notker as he administered the
affairs of Sant’Anselmo and the confederation. The changes also established as
permanent policies the methods of taxation of member houses, the
subsidium and
the solidarity support.
The community of Le Barroux in France petitioned acceptance into the Benedictine
Confederation. This community was founded in 1978 and has been under review of
the Ecclesia Dei commission. A presentation to the congress was made by the
current abbot of Le Barroux, Dom Louis-Marie. The congress voted to accept the
community into the confederation. Besides work sessions, workshops, conferences, Liturgy of the Hours, and Mass in
common, the agenda for the congress included an audience with the Holy Father, a
visit to S. Egidio Community, and options such as Vespers at Saint Paul Outside
the Walls and pilgrimages to Subiaco, Monte Cassino, and Norcia. Twenty-four delegates from CIB were present for the sessions, as were delegates
from Orthodox communities. Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum (CIB) is the
international organization representing all recognized communities of
Benedictine women. Sister Judith Ann Heble, leader of CIB, addressed the
congress on the status of CIB. A keynote address was given by the recently
retired Cistercian abbot general, Dom Bernardo Olivera, OCSO.
Abbot Barnabas Senecal, OSB
St. Benedict’s Abbey, Atchison, KS
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