The 2016 Monastic Institute took place in July of this year, hosted by St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville with a day at St. Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, MN. The focus was on “Monastic Profession” and the meaning that our promises have in shaping the rest of our lives. Abbot John Klassen and Prioress Michaela Hedican shared the presentation time in each session, weaving wonderfully varied and yet somehow coherent patterns around the theme of each of the talks.

Several sisters and two oblates we able to attend the Institute.  All of us were utterly taken with the talks, and their applicability for oblates as much as for professed monastics.  The links below should successfully take you to the talks, while the little sound icon (if it shows up on your computer) will just play the particular talk through your browser.  Most are about an hour in length.

Audio recordings now online

The audio recordings of the talks are now available online on the Monastic Institute 2016 web page.

July 3, 2016 (Sunday):
Where We Have Been — Where We Are Going: Today’s Context for Monastic Profession 

July 4, 2016 (Monday):
Baptism and the Paschal Mystery as Lived Out in Monastic Profession: Part I
Baptism and the Paschal Mystery as Lived Out in Monastic Profession: Part II  

Monastic Profession: A Call to Conversatio in the Rule of Benedict

July 5, 2016  (Tuesday):
The Spiritual Significance of Dynamic Stability 
Entering into Kenosis: Monastic Obedience  

July 6, 2016 (Wednesday):
Entering into Kenosis: Relational Fidelity in Monastic Life  

Entering into Kenosis: Monastic Simplicity  

July 7, 2016 (Thursday):
Monastic Profession as a Way to Fullness in Christ