pat loughery

This entry is cut n pasted from a section of a paper that I’m writing on spiritual formation for my BGU Overture I class. It’ll probably format like crap on the WordPress blog, but I thought that the section would make a good entry anyway.

The Benedictine Abbot

An interesting feature of monasteries in contrast to churches is the role of the leader. Most monasteries – “old” or “new” are led not by a pastor but by an abbot. The role is envisioned differently between monastic orders and communities, but as most monastic communities are deeply influenced by St. Benedict’s Rule, his understanding of the role of the abbot is worth mentioning here.

St. Benedict’s conception of a monastic community was distinctly that of a spiritual family. Every individual monk was to be a son of that family, the, Abbot its father, and the monastery its permanent home. Upon the Abbot therefore, as upon the father of a family, devolves the government and direction of those who are committed to his care, and a paternal solicitude should characterize his rule. St. Benedict says that “an abbot who is worthy to have the charge of a monastery ought always to remember by what title he is called,” and that “in the monastery he is considered to represent the person of Christ, seeing that he is called by His name” (Rule of St. Benedict, ii).[1]

The title abbot comes from the fatherly term abba and takes the image of head of a family as its primary illustration. Benedict’s Rule commands the abbot to teach more by his actions than by his words, and to not tarnish his teaching by sinning and receiving the consequences of his sin[2]. The abbot is not to give preferential treatment in grace or in discipline[3]. He is to discipline earnestly and fairly and with regard to the unique character of the disciple[4]. The abbot is also to soberly value the soul care of his community, for whom he will give account to God[5]. He is to be concerned for the care of community members who are disciplined and are for a time outside of the fellowship as well as for the safety of the rest of the community[6]. He is to be the chief of hospitality, eating with guests when they are present, and otherwise eating with members of the family[7]. Finally, the abbot is elected by the brothers who asses his character, doctrinal wisdom and judgment[8].

Note that I use the masculine term here intentionally as Benedict originally used it. However, as Catholic religious orders, Celtic monastic communities, and more contemporary communities have abundantly proven, the role of abbess is a natural equivalent to that of abbot. The Order of St. Benedict’s website takes pains to explain this in a very specific way in their web based translation of the Rule of St. Benedict[9]:

Today, women monastics outnumber men by more than two to one. Thus, the even-numbered chapters below have been adapted for a women’s community. The odd-numbered chapters are for a men’s community such as Saint Benedict would have known.

This disciplined approach to leadership speaks to me in its difference from the current model of pastoral ministry. Much of pastoral ministry in contemporary churches is organizational leadership in forms similar to contemporary business, and the goal of good leadership is numerical growth of the community. The role of abbot is limited by how well the abbot can know his family and teach, train and disciple them according to their unique personalities.

A community influenced by monastic communities would be wise to study Benedict’s Rule and his expectations of the abbot. I find the methods of discipline overly harsh (largely a cultural difference between the day of Benedict and today), and the overall image of the abbot can be quite authoritarian to my mind, but with care, this role could prove to be a very valuable image. On the positive side, I am most impacted by the way Benedict commands the abbot to understand the personality types of each individual in his care, and to teach and discipline according to each individual’s needs. I would describe this approach as “handcrafted” to each member of the community, and also to the community as a whole.

Because of the nature of this personal approach, the Benedictine abbot model would imply a smaller community than a larger one. However, some contemporary Benedictine abbeys are quite large, numbering into the several hundreds of monks. One avenue for future research in this area is to speak with Benedictine abbots in smaller and larger monasteries about their understanding of leadership in a faith community. Another avenue for research is to speak with Benedictine oblates and monks about a similar topic, and to gather feedback on how their spiritual journey is shaped by their abbot directly and indirectly.