The Constitution and the Statutes

of the Swiss-American Benedictine Congregation

Established by the General Chapter

Section II: Norms for the Individual Monasteries

A. Of the Organs of Government of the Monastery

C6 The structure of Benedictine authority is neither purely monarchic nor purely democratic; it is a particular blend of both. The authority of the cenobitic fraternity is received from God through the Church, and it is exercised principally through the abbot.

C7 Each autonomous monastery has two deliberative and consultative assemblies: the chapter and the council. The chapter is made up of the perpetually professed monks of the community. The membership of the council is determined by C 21-22.

S1 Monks who were perpetually professed originally without capitular responsibilities are not required to assume them now.

C8 The universal law of the Church (CIC 119, 127) shall be followed in all voting procedures of chapter and of council, unless this Constitution provides otherwise.

S2 In elections, the seniority of age prescribed as a deciding factor by CIC 119.1° is replaced in the Swiss-American Benedictine Congregation by seniority of profession.

S3 The decisions of the chapter and of the council shall be committed to writing and preserved.

S4 In the proper law of the Swiss-American Benedictine Congregation the word "shall" indicates obligation, while the word "should" indicates exhortation or recommendation.

S5 Since the principle of shared responsibility is rooted in the Rule, the abbot should refer certain questions to other members of the community and should share his responsibilities. He must refer to the chapter or to the council certain matters requiring either their consent or the expression of their opinions, or his acting collegially with the council, as prescribed by proper or universal law, before action may be taken (S 10, 29).

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