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Benedictine monks seek God
through prayer and work in community. In the Rule of Saint Benedict there is
an insistence that nothing be preferred to community prayer. Therefore, in
addition to the communal daily celebration of the Mass, the monks gather three
times each day for prayer.
Essential to the practice of
community life is the recognition that all are obedient to an Abbot, who is
the spiritual father and the leader of the community. Under his guidance and
through the "help of many brothers" the monks attempt to lead more perfectly
the Christian way of life. Through their common work and prayer, their obedience
to a common superior, they assist each other in the primary task of seeking
God.
Monks share their lives and
goods in common. Through their community of goods they support the apostolates
of the community, provide for the sick and retired of the community, and help
others in need. Though the nature of their work may keep them for long periods
of time outside the abbey itself, they recognize the bonds of brotherhood and
support each other in a variety of ways; communications from the abbot, a
monthly newsletter, and similar means of correspondence keep everyone abreast
of what is happening and help all share in what each is doing.
At Saint John's Abbey about 160
men aged 22-92 live, study, pray and work. They are part of the more than
300 men who comprise Saint John's monastic community. They have come for the
most part from the midwest, but many are from the east and west coasts as
well, and even from foreign countries. Recently many, but not all, have
come with a college degree or intend to continue academic or vocational
studies.
Monks engage in a great variety
of work. The president of Saint John's University and several vice-presidents
are monks; dozens of monks teach in a variety of academic fields; some program
computers and staff offices. Twenty monks staff the small, but unique,
college preparatory school on campus. Others are plumbers, carpenters,
electricians, garners, counsellors, nurses, chaplains, artists, students.
Several have earned international recognition for their work in liturgy,
ecumenics and the human life movement.
Monks staff some 35 parishes in
Minnesota. About 20 men serve as chaplains to religious communities, military
personnel, the sick, the elderly, the physically and mentally handicapped,
and prisoners. Some 50 staff missions in Puerto Rico, Japan and the Bahama
Islands. A dozen are pursuing graduate studies in American and foreign universities.
Saint John's Abbey is located among
more than 2,000 acres of water, woods and hills in south-central Minnesota,
ten miles west of Saint Cloud. Around the abbey has grown up an educational
comples that includes a university with a graduate school and a seminary, a
college preparatory school, a printing press and publishing house, a center for
Ecumenical and Cultural Research, the Hill Monastic Microfilm Library, a human
life center, and a state-wide network of cultural and educational FM radio
stations.
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