Bishop blesses new Benedictine abbot

By Tanya Connor  |  The Catholic Free Press

Even though Abbot Marc Crilly isn’t a bishop, he has things usually associated with bishops: a motto, a coat of arms, a crozier, miter and ring.
He is the new head of St. Benedict Abbey in Still River, a community of Benedictines. Although abbots are not usually bishops, they are given these things because they are the heads of their communities.
“It shows the important relationship that every monastery has to the universal Church,” Abbot Crilly said.
He succeeded Abbot Xavier Connelly, who was elected in June 2010 and resigned in March because of illness. Abbot Connelly died April 8.
After his election to the lifetime role of abbot, Abbot Crilly chose a motto and developed a coat of arms. On Saturday Bishop McManus gave him a blessing, a copy of the Rule of St. Benedict and pontifical insignia – a crozier, miter and ring – at a special Mass that drew more than 200 people to St. John the Evangelist Church in Clinton.
Bishop McManus was main celebrant of the Novus Ordo Mass, a Latin Mass like the monks celebrate at the abbey, which is similar to the English Mass many Catholics are familiar with. The bishop celebrated the Rite of Blessing of an Abbot in English.
“Mainly it is the passing on of the … pontifical insignia,” after the prayer of blessing, Abbot Crilly explained.
“The Church is structured around the successors of the apostles – the bishops,” he said. The bishop, representing his diocese, recognizes the authority of an abbot, who is not directly under his authority but heads a community in the diocese. And “the abbot and the community recognize the role the bishop has in that central structure of the Church, and therefore they ask for the bishop to bless what they’re doing,” Abbot Crilly said.
“We appreciate the fact that the bishop is so gracious in allowing our presence in the diocese,” he said. And they rejoice that he knows that the diocese benefits from the prayers of local religious.
In a prepared talk for the Abbatial Blessing Mass, that he shortened because of the heat, Abbot Crilly said they used St. John’s Church, rather than the abbey, because of the number of people expected. In addition, he wrote: “We realized that this is not just an abbey event, but a Church event,” presided over by the diocese’s bishop.
“Today’s ceremony is about monastic life … a life of seeking God in a community of godly men … in the dignity of liturgical worship … in the daily living out of our vows. But it is also about seeking God in a place.” That place is their community – and the diocese.
Abbot Crilly said their main charism, as members of the Benedictine Order, is to make their liturgical prayer beautiful, and to give that to God. Those prayers are primarily Mass and Liturgy of the Hours, mostly in Latin.
“Our main prayer is done in common with others, so we’re praising God all together with one voice … together as a manifestation of the Body of Christ,” he said. They do lectio divina, a reflective reading of Scripture, individually, but it prepares them for the communal reading of Scripture and recitation of the Psalms. They also eat, work and recreate in common, he said.
Another important Benedictine charism is hospitality; “we recognize Christ in the guest,” the abbot said.
This is “our way of being apostolic,” he said. “Other (religious) orders … go out to do their apostolate – and they come here to allow us to do our apostolate for them” by providing them a place for a retreat. The monks at St. Benedict Abbey also welcome the public – lay men, women and families – to worship with them and make private retreats there.
While people pay to stay in the guest rooms, this is not a principal way the monks provide for themselves; benefactors support the apostolate, he said.
Abbot Crilly was once a guest there himself. Raised in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, he often came with his family while in high school, according to the community’s website, abbey.org. The third of 11 children, he was surrounded by parents and siblings who, with him, shared their singing and drama with the monks. (Members of his family helped with the music at Saturday’s Mass.)
After finishing high school in 1976, he joined the community. Professing monastic vows on Sept. 8, 1981, he completed his college education at the abbey, and studied for the priesthood at St. John’s Seminary, Brighton. He was ordained on May 29, 1993.
He was an assistant at the barn when the abbey had dairy cows, and worked in the kitchen. He was formation director and remains choir director. (In a small community of eight monks, including one novice and one who recently made final vows, the work must be shared.)
Preaching at Saturday’s Mass, Bishop McManus noted that leadership in the Church today is challenging, and spoke of leaders being servants and Abbot Crilly being strengthened to build up the common life.
Abbot Crilly told The Catholic Free Press that he chose a crozier the abbey had that was once adorned with a statue of St. Mark, his patron. He had the statue reattached. He also chose a ring the abbey had, as he didn’t want to spend money on a new one. The Holy Rood Guild at St. Joseph Abbey in Spencer made the miter to fit him.
His coat of arms bears a winged lion for St. Mark, whose Gospel calls Christ “Son of Mary,” and a Benedictine cross combined with a Marian cross. A poppy in the cross’ center symbolizes joy.
Abbot Crilly said he chose his motto – “Caritas congaudet veritati” (“Charity rejoices in the truth,” from 1 Cor. 13:6) – because “I want to foster joy in the community … a joy that comes from knowing the truth and living the truth.”
Asked how he hopes to do that, he said, “I think that … to have joy is to live the truth, which for a monk would be to live the life well. … Sanctity is found in the little things” one does.
Asked what it means to him to be abbot, he said it is humbling, that he needs prayers and will need to delegate some tasks.
“We all need to work together to bring out everyone’s strengths” and support each other to rise above weaknesses, he said.

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