Anglican Benedictines?

I am curious if there are any Benedictines on the Forum. (I am a lay confrater and have used the Benedictine Office in the past, though now the daily routine consists of a mix of the 1662 and the 1979.) Does anyone else here have any experience with the Rule of St. Benedict or the sevenfold Office in an Anglican context? If so, what are your opinions regarding the possibility of practicing the Benedictine pattern within Anglicanism?

 

I Australia we have an Abbey in Camperdown Victoria. I have visited many years ago when it was bit smaller.

https://sites.google.com/view/stmarkabbey/home

Given the strength of the Benedictine component throughout English History I have a sense that the Benedictine pattern sits well within Anglicanism.

 

Have you read any of Martin Thornton’s books, by any chance? He talks about the links between English Benedictinism and the Book of Common Prayer quite a bit. You might find much in what he has to say that is worth mentally chewing over.

 

We have an Anglican Catholic group of Franciscan Order of Divine Compassion in GA that is centered at Saint Stephen's Cathedral in Athens GA. They follow the Rule of Benedict. Saint Stephen's is the seat of the Diocese of the South and home-cathedral of Archbishop/Metropolitan Mark Haverland.
The web-site for Saint Stephen's has a section on the FODC.

 

Are you connected with any Benedictine monastery, perhaps as an oblate?

 

I am a confrater of a particular monastery, but not (yet) an oblate.

 

There's a group called 'Anglican Communion Benedictines' based out of High Point, NC (I could have the city wrong but the abbot is in North Carolina). The Abbot is Danny Nobles. Whether they are in the Anglican Communion is somewhat dubious, and probably not an accurate description. Most recently, they were under the Episcopal protection of CANA West.

There is also Bethlehem Priory, who seem to be having some trouble finding a home. They've moved from KY to IN to MI in the last several years. But they are Benedictine and affiliated with the Anglican Catholic Church.

 

I have heard of associates and companions but not a confrater. What is one?

Have you not named the monastery because I did not specifically ask, you are not permitted to do so, or you choose not to name it?

 

Why is Anglican Monasticism such a small thing in the US

 

The Order of the Holy Cross is an Episcopal monastic order that follows the rule of St. Benedict and uses the Benedictine Office. They have two monasteries here in the United States. I'm sure they could share some insights if you reached out to them.

I personally don't see anything that could cause an issue with the Benedictine office or Rule being used within Anglicanism.

 

The only real issue I’ve run into is that, with regard to the Daily Office, the English Reformation intentionally collapsed the old monastic pattern into just two daily canonical services: Matins/Morning Prayer and Evensong/Evening Prayer. To return to the old seven- or eight-fold pattern outside a monastic communal context would entail not using the Prayer Book to cover the daily cycle, and to realize a different vision of daily formation than that prescribed by the Prayer Book. Yet the older monastic pattern is arguably superior in many ways. That is the basic dilemma I run into.

 

A confrater is simply an associate of the monastery.

 

I suspect because:
1) We’re a Protestant denomination and monasticism is very much the exception as far as vocations go;
2) As a denomination we’ve always been a very small percentage of the US population. The Episcopal Church by generous estimates only has about 3 million members.
It’s not much in the way of reasons but it’s the best I have at the moment.

 

They might have 3 million members but only about 600K show up

 

But you are probably right on this.

 

Hence my qualifier "by generous estimates". As is true with the other mainline churches, you have the "regular Sunday" crowd and the "Christmas and Easter" crowd. How many belong to each group is anyone's guess, but I suspect it's probably 1/3 of the total in the former and the 2/3 in the latter, which would mean about 1 million show up for the Sunday liturgy on average each week. Since we would not expect committed monastics to come out of the "Christmas and Easter" group, that doesn't leave much to work with in terms of new monastic vocations, at least in this country. Hopefully that will change over time. But for now Anglican monasticism in the U.S. is a very small phenomenon.

 

Those folks of Bethlehem Priory had better be careful, or else at the present trajectory they're liable to wind up in Ontario!

 

The border is still closed until at least the middle of August.

 

I'm afraid it's a small thing anywhere.

 

True.