Ranks of lay people making commitment to Benedictines swell

Published: 2005-09-23

ROME (CNS) -- While religious orders worldwide continue to deal with declining numbers, the ranks of lay people making a commitment as Benedictines are swelling. Although speakers said lay people have had a spiritual association with Benedictine monasteries for centuries, the Sept. 19-25 World Congress of Benedictine Oblates in Rome was the first international gathering sponsored by the order. Some 300 people representing more than 25,000 oblates associated with close to 1,200 Benedictine monasteries around the world attended the meeting. Oblates live with or are associated with the Benedictines but do not make vows. The largest group of delegates came from the United States, which has at least 10,000 oblates, said Lavern Hayworth, an oblate from Oregon's Mount Angel Abbey and the lay leader of the North American oblate association. Despite the declining number of Benedictines, she told Catholic News Service, "oblates are spreading Benedictine spirituality, and it is touching thousands of people around the world."

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