News

Students live monastic practices in new class

Published: November 8, 2008   

Seniors are enrolled in a Benedictine monasticism course at Subiaco Academy, offered this fall for the first time.

Seniors are enrolled in a Benedictine monasticism course at Subiaco Academy, offered this fall for the first time.

SUBIACO -- Even though Benedictine spirituality is threaded throughout daily life at Subiaco Academy, there hasn't been a course specifically designed to address Benedictine monasticism -- until now.

Beginning this school year, the academy is offering a Benedictine spirituality class for seniors taught by school chaplain, Deacon Roy Goetz.

"The course seemed like it would be best suited to the seniors," Goetz said. "They are most likely to have the skills and maturity to immerse themselves in the reading and the prayers."

Goetz designed the course after talking with Father Timothy Donnelly, Father Hugh Assenmacher, Father Brendan Miller and Abbot Jerome Kodell.

"Father Hugh has helped me a great deal with books and materials," he said.

The class surveys the history and spirituality of Christian monasticism.

"We begin with Anthony of Egypt and the fourth-century desert fathers," Goetz said. "From there we will study the life and Rule of Benedict of Nursia as well as the other monastic practices that started to move west into Europe during the centuries leading up to the Middle Ages."

The day-to-day life of medieval abbeys, such as Cluny and Clairvaux, will be explored, as well as their role as centers of culture and learning in the life of Europe in the Middle Ages leading up to the Renaissance, according to Goetz.

"We will look at the spread of Benedictine monasticism to other parts of the world, focusing on the abbeys of the Americas and, of course, our own community here at Subiaco," he said.

To best understand monasticism and specifically Benedictine spirituality, students will live some of the routines that monks have practiced since the times of the desert fathers.

"Each day, we will recite morning prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours," Goetz said. "Once the students are familiar with the content and structure of the prayer, they will each take a turn presiding at the communal prayer."

They will also read a portion of the Rule of St. Benedict along with a commentary and read selections from the desert fathers. Lectio Divina will also be practiced on a regular basis.

"This is a practice of reading and meditation which focuses on the Scriptures," Goetz said.

"The monks of Subiaco will be involved as much as possible in the classroom to share their personal experiences and knowledge," Goetz said. "Hopefully, this will give the students some idea of how monasticism made its way from the Egyptian desert to Arkansas over the course of centuries."