Abbot's Letter, Summer 2007.

The Monastery as Family, Abbot Patrick Moore, OSB

The word family can have many meanings.  We speak of the Family of Man or, if you don’t like that exclusive terminology, the Human Family.  Normally, if the context doesn’t say otherwise, we think of the family as parents and children, or the extended family which would include relatives and such. And then in a much broader sense the term family can apply to any group of related or similar things. In this latter sense the word family could apply to the grouping of men that form a monastic community.

      Nowhere in the Rule of Benedict does Saint Benedict ever use the Latin word familia to refer to the members of his monastic community. Rather he usually refers to them with the Latin word: congregatio, which is usually translated community. However, he does often use titles that are associated in most languages with members of a family: the abbot is abba or father, the monks are brothers to one another and in the very first verse of the Holy Rule he addresses the monks as son.  Listen carefully, my son, to the precepts of your master. (RB Prologue 1)  Furthermore, some commentators have stated that Saint Benedict modeled the authority structures in the Rule somewhat on that of the paterfamilias of the Roman legal system of his time in which the father of a family had absolute
authority over all members of his family.

      Be all of this as it may, the concept of family in the Holy Rule, though not directly stated, is very much present.  Monks of this or any abbey are very much tied together by strong bonds that are intended to last a lifetime such as in a family.  To insure this one of the principal tasks of the Novice Master in forming new recruits is to instill in them the idea that they are entering into a new family that must replace their family of origin.  In the past this aspect was strongly reinforced in many ways so that the novice was able to have very little contact with his family of origin during the years of formation: for the first year parents and siblings were not allowed to visit personally, no visits to his former home were allowed, few letters and phone calls were permitted.  The purpose was to make a break with the strong ties of the biological family and transfer those loyalties to the monastic “family.”  Nowadays, that aspect of the initial formation has been mitigated but the same goal is still present which is to introduce the new member to his new “family.”

   Now a biological family grows and increases through births and/or adoption.  The monastic family grows and increases through recruitment of new members who respond to a call from God to enter a particular community.  Mary Mother of the Church has grown slowly over the years since its establishment as an independent Abbey in 1989.  We started with twelve monks in final vows.  Of those original twelve who transferred to the Richmond Abbey from Belmont Abbey in North Carolina (the Mother House) along with one from Saint John’s Abbey, MN, and two from a monastery in Kentucky, seven have since died. Currently we have thirteen members who are permanent members of this abbey and two who are in formation.  The present Abbot-Administrator is on loan to this community for several years and comes from Assumption Abbey in Richardton, ND.  Thus the present monastic family of Mary Mother of the Church Abbey numbers 16.

   We rejoiced in the two professions of vows to this abbey that took place in the abbey’s chapel in July 11.  Brother Vincent McDermott, a native of New Jersey, professed his first vows for a period of three years – as is our custom. Brother John Mary Lugemwa, a native of Uganda, professed Solemn Vows binding him to this house for the rest of his life. (Photos of this event accompany this article)  At the same time, on July 10, Brother Paul Leuthard, also from New Jersey, began his year of novitiate.  So our monastic family is growing ever so slowly but with God’s grace it will continue to do so.

    
     We ask all our readers to pray for vocations to our community so that God will continue to bless us with new men to serve the Church of Central Virginia