catapult magazine

St. Gregory's Abbey and Benedictine monasticism

by Abbot Andrew Marr

Sections:

• The Bible and Monastic Values
• Historical Sketch
• Benedictine Living
• Benedictine Teaching on Prayer
• Ministry

Worship is the most important act of Christian living. Worship keeps
us in touch with God who loves us unconditionally and wills that we
love Him rather than use Him for our own purposes. Worship teaches us
that we need bridges between ourselves and God and between ourselves
and our neighbors, that we need to be healed and to heal others, and
that we need to be fed by more than just the food we eat. It is the act
of worship which is the central act of the monk.

A monastic order depends on the members of the church, and the
society in which it lives, in many ways. To begin with, the social and
political structure needs to tolerate the existence of monastic
communities rather than destroy such institutions for material or
ideological reasons. A monastic order depends on the material support
of those in civil order, who have funds available for such a purpose,
in order be able to live the life to which it is committed. Material
support is itself a sign of affirmation on the part of donors for
monastic values. Respect and moral support of monastic values by at
least a significant minority in the church and society are also
necessary to support those committed to that life.

Monastic institutions have always had an important effect on the
quality of life in society and the church. Monastic orders keep high
ideals for living the Christian life before others. Of course, this
commitment of monks does not guarantee fidelity to these ideals. A
layperson in the church with lower ideals might be more faithful to his
or her ideals and thus be a more credible witness to the Faith than an
individual monk. Nevertheless, the struggle to live by Christian ideals
through monastic discipline keeps these higher ideals in sight for the
whole church and the world. Indeed, there are times when the deep
struggle to live by monastic ideals enables monks to help other
Christians in their own struggles to live the Christian life. Monks, of
course, can also learn much from the experience of non-monastic people.
The church as a whole, and therefore society as well, benefits from
this ongoing sharing of life experiences governed by Christian ideals.

St. Gregory's Abbey of Three Rivers, Michigan, is a monastery in the
Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. which follows the Rule of St. Benedict.
We try to be faithful to the basic teaching of the Rule while seeking
to discern how it should be applied in our time and place. The
fundamental inspiration of the Rule, to which St. Benedict constantly
directs the monk's attention, is the Bible. In this case study, I shall
present historical background to St. Benedict, and to St. Gregory's
Abbey in particular. I shall also outline the most important teachings
developed in St. Benedict's Rule and in the Benedictine tradition of
1500 years. I discuss these teachings with the conviction that they are
valuable Christian teaching for anyone in the church and not just for
monks. However, it is not enough for monastic ideals to be read about
in books and preached from the pulpit. For that reason, Benedictine
teaching needs living communities dedicated to the struggle of living
up to its ideals in order to make them vital for the Church as a whole.

Next: The Bible and Monastic Values