The annual Benedictine Junior Institute will take place on July 12-21, 2023 at St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman, Alabama. This opportunity provides junior professed monks from our own monastic congregation to meet other juniors from different monastic congregation, to explore and expand their appreciation of Sacred Scripture and to visit local sites, including the Civil Rights Museum in Birmingham and the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, among other social and formation experiences. The registration form is due May 1, 2023.

The International Oblate Congress originally for scheduled for November of 2021 has been rescheduled again for September 9-16, 2023. Presumably the pandemic will be over by that time. This rescheduling was announced on December 1 by Abbot Primate Gregory Polan, O.S.B. in his letter to superiors of monasteries, Abbot Primate Gregory said, “We count on your usual collaboration for the success of this important event, which we are working on together with the International Team of Benedictine Oblates.” For more information you may contact the website for the congress or email Father Benoit Alloggia, O.S.B., who has been coordinating plans for the congressa.

The next Benedictine Educators Network conference, sponsored by the International Commission on Benedictine Education, will be held at Colegio São Bento in Rio de Janeiro from October 11-14, 2023. The conference is for administrators and teachers in Benedictine secondary schools. Please visit the website for more information and registration.

Prior's Conference at Saint Leo Abbey, Florida, November 9-12, 2023 Contact Fr. Prior at for reservations.

Earlier this summer, the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Last week, the General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops released several documents in preparation for the 2023 Synod Bishops, with the theme of “For a synodal Church: communion, participation, mission.” The Preparatory Document is “a tool to facilitate the first phase of listening to and consulting the People of God in the particular Churches.” The Vademecum is the handbook for listening and discernment in local churches, with a focus on the work of the Diocesan Contact Team.

Earlier this summer, the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life invited conferences of religious from around the world to participate in the synodal journey by seeking and providing input in preparation for the Synod. Specifically, Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, prefect of CICLSAL, has asked to provide feedback in Spring 2022. In doing so, he notes that “To ensure the synodal church is not a mirage, but rather a dream to be realized, it is necessary to dream together, to pray together, and to work together.”

One of the key decisions of the recent Synod of Presidents was whether to hold a Congress of Abbots in September of 2022 or wait until the normal scheduled congress in September of 2024. The latter date will be either an additional four-year mandate for Abbot Gregory Polan or the election of a new abbot primate.

A second major consideration for the timing of next Congress of Abbots is the course of the pandemic. The Confederation is truly an international organization with abbeys across five continents. However, at this time there were two uncertainties: 1) How many monastic communities in the developing countries are fully vaccinated? How many abbots from developing countries have the financial resources to come to a Congress of Abbots meeting in a non-election year? Scheduling a Congress for September of 2022 could result in a meeting of abbots from Europe and North America, a genuine misrepresentation of the diversity of the confederation. Furthermore, the preparation work for such a meeting by the staff of Sant' Anselmo is significant and it could potentially underserve the confederation.

Abbot Presidents realized that there is still significant uncertainty about the course of the pandemic through September 2024. That is, it is more likely that we will be dealing with a “new normal,” a situation that is not like either fall of 2020 or 2021! However, it is surely likely that we will know more about the pandemic by then and will have strategies in place for traveling and meeting safely. Thus, the abbot presidents voted to hold the next Congress of Abbots in September of 2024. For more information on registration, accommodations, etc: www.congressusosb.com