Monastic Liturgy Forum – Discusses Paschal Triduum: Forty-two monastic liturgists from across the US gathered at St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith, AR, August 17-20. Founded in 1988, this was the tenth national meeting of the Monastic Liturgy Forum.
Keynoters Genevieve Glen, OSB, of Saint Walburga Abbey in Virginia Dale, CO, and Andrew Ciferni, O. Praem., of Daylesford Abbey in Paoli, PA, addressed the topic of Unfolding the Paschal Triduum in a Monastic Setting. One major objective of their presentations was to help liturgists develop a model for decision-making when preparing Triduum liturgies in their local monastic environment.
The speakers were continuing the scholarship presented in 2003 at the MLF gathering in Beech Grove, IN, by Abbot Patrick Regan, OSB, of St. Joseph, LA, and Sant’ Anselmo in Rome. (See the MLF Newsletter 16:3, Spring 2005 and the March 2005 issue of Worship.) Summaries of the 2005 presentations will be published in upcoming issues of the MLF Newsletter. Nine men’s and nineteen women’s communities sent representatives to Arkansas, including the Cistercian community of New Melleray Abbey, IA, and the ecumenical Community of Jesus from Orleans, MA.
Five monastics and their communities were recognized for service on the steering committee of MLF in recent years: Miriam Schmitt, OSB (Bismarck, ND), Patricia Schneider, OSB (Glendora, CA), Elias Lorenzo, OSB (Morristown, NJ), Michael Leek, OSB (Pecos, NM), and Julian Peters, OSB (St. Meinrad, IN).
Current steering committee representatives are Andrew Ciferni, O. Praem.; Dunstan Moorse, OSB (Collegeville, MN); Rita Rauschendorfer, OSB (Richardton, ND); Stephanie Schroeder, OSB (Fort Smith, AR); Patricia Ann Toscano, OSB (Yankton, SD) and Colleen Winston, OSB, chair (Covington, KY).
The Monastic Liturgy Forum was initiated to address the unique aspects of monastic liturgy, an assembly which lives, works, and prays together daily, creating a relationship within the group very different from that of a parish community. Other traits that differ markedly from parish communities include the way liturgy is entwined with daily life and the monastery’s position within diocesan organizational structure.
The next meeting of will be in June or July, 2007, at Sacred Heart Monastery, Yankton, SD. It will be the first joint meeting of MLF with the Benedictine Musicians of the Americas. The mutually significant topic to be addressed will be the impact of changing community life on the celebration of liturgy.
For general information about the Monastic Liturgy Forum, contact
Colleen Winston, OSB
St. Walburg Monastery
2500 Amsterdam Rd.
Villa Hills, KY 41017
E-mail: colleenmlf@yahoo.com
www.osb.org/mlf/
For copies of tapes from the 2005 conference or information on MLF membership or newsletter, contact
Dunstan Moorse, OSB
Saint John’s Abbey
Collegeville, MN 56321
E-mail: dmoorse@csbsju.edu
