The Art of Winning Souls
Fr Brendan has been at work in Rome and Assisi on the Monastic Formators' Programme, 2022
Monks and nuns can often be taken by surprise when approached by their Superior and asked to be the Novice Master or Mistress - on to use a modern term, 'formator'. Where do I begin? What do I do? Help! St Benedict describes the task as 'the art of winning souls': guiding new entrants into the life, prayer and spirit of the Community.
Normally the main thing new formators have to go on is their own experience of being a Novice. But in 1996 the Abbots' Congress meeting in Rome said: "Let's organise a training Programme to help them!" Hence the Monastic Formators' Programme was born, and Fr Brendan has been the Director of the Programme since its inception in 2002, working alongside Fr Mark Butlin a monk of Ampleforth who retires this year at the age of 89, and now Fr Javier Aparicio, a monk of St Ottilien near Munich. Initially the Programme ran every year - now it is every 2 years. It is open to monks and nuns from all over the world who follow the Rule of St Benedict.
This year, from March to June, 26 monks and nuns gathered in Rome and Assisi. They came from 16 different countries. It is a programme that benefits from some of the finest monastic teachers today for example Sr Aquinata Bockmann OSB, probably the greatest living scholar on the Rule of St Benedict, and Fr Michael Casey OCSO, perhaps the best monastic writer in the English-speaking world. The Abbot Primate, Gregory Polan, who is a Biblical scholar teaches the Psalms and Lectio Divina. The list could go on, together with the range of subjects taught - from human development to monastic history, prayer to community dynamics.
It is wonderful to study the monastic tradition in the land of St Benedict, and to visit the places associated with him. But most of all, the success of the Programme comes from the monks and nuns sharing their own experience - studying, praying and sharing their life together for three months. A few Italian ice creams are also shared along the way! Rome gives an experience of the universal church and a sense of its history; a stay in Assisi is a more reflective time that allows us to connect with Umbria's two great saints - Benedict of Norcia and Francis of Assisi.
Here are some photographs taken on the way.
